ROAD RACE
WORLD SUPERBIKE
CHAMPIONSHIP
(Far left ) Haga and
Ak lra Ryo made up
two-thirds of an al lJ apanese w inners
rost ru m in the
second race.
( Left ) Carl Fogarty
tell s us who is
numberonel
The Japanese riders on th~ rostrum
were also vcry happy.
"I was very di sappointed with my
first -race res ult and wa s determined to
w in the second," said the win ner , Haga.
" I r eall y wen t for it and I a m very
pleased to show I could race at the front
and win . I was aiming for six wins this
vear, but five in a seaso n is not so bad. 1
~m now more determined to race even
harder nex t season and want to start it
like 1did this yea r - winning."
Yanagawa finis hed second and was
naturally happy to be ther e, espec ially
co ns ideri ng th at h e wa s co mi ng ba ck
from the inju ry he sus tained a t Laguna
Seca.
"After m y Laguna cras h, I had never
thought to finis h on the rostrum before
the end of the season," he said . "If 1 had
made a better start, maybe I cou ld have
battled it ou t wi th Noriyu ki. So I know
now what to concentra te on during win ter testing."
Thir d went to Ryo, who was pleased
as well as surprised about this result in
his first World Superbike ride of the year.
Slight was far from happy af ter settling for sixth.
"There is no skirting around the fact
(that) I ju s t did not have the package
this weekend," said Slight. "I cou ld n' t
have possibly got a better start in this
race. I had clear road in fron t of me and
earl in sight, but I just could n' t ge t w hat
I needed from the machine. The cham pio ns hi p asi d e, that w as sim ply not a
good ra ce fo r m e . Right now, I fee l
drained. It has been anot her hard season
and I cou ld sleep for a mont h. I gave it
everything I had tod ay but lacked tha t
littl e bit more traction I need ed . Abo u t
10 laps into the race, I knew the cha mpionship was ove r for me."
Goddard end ed up 10th after another
battle with his teammat e Whi tham .
"I played it safe, but with hindsight (I
realize) I sho uld have changed to a d if-
fer cnt Dunlop tir e, w hic h would have
given me m ore grip," e xp la in ed the
Au s tralian. "I had a grea t battle with
Jam es and 1 was fa ster th an hi m on
some pa rt s of th e tr ack, bu t 1 simply
could not get past."
Russell fini shed 12th a fte r a poo r
start.
"You ca n' t d o a nythi ng w it hout a
good start anym ore," the Geo rgia n said.
" It is too to ugh a t this level to weave
throu gh the field . 1 also ma de a bad tire
choice on the rear. It was a ga mble but it
did not come 'off. My knees are killing
me as we ll : on e bec ause 1 h ave bee n
limping around after my cras h in Asse n,
and the other because I broke it a few
years ago. It is not the way 1 wanted to
fini sh the seaso n or wha t 1 thou ght 1
could do."
Edwa r ds wa s o ne pla ce d own in
13th, repeat in g h is p erformance from
race one.
"We actua lly mad e im provements
for the second race," he said . "I had a
better rear tire and ther e was only a little bit of chatter ou t of the chicane each
lap , but I could live with that. "
0
Sugo Circuit
Su go, Japan
Results: October 4, 1998
Q UALIFYING: I. Troy Corser 0:30.160); 2. Aki ra
Ryo 0 :30.285); 3. Noriyu ki Ha ga 0 :30 .036); 4. Ca rl
Fogarty 0 :30.599); 5. Akira Yana gawa 0 :30.767); 6. Ne il
Hod gso n 0 :30.929); 7. Keiich i Kitagawa 0 :30.%7); 8.
Wat aru Yos h i kawa 0:3 1.274); 9 . Pete r Go d d a r d
(1:31.286); 10. Aaron Sligh t 0 :30 .453); 11. Shinichi Huh
0 :31.317); 12. Shi nya Takcishi 0 :31.322); 13. Pie rFrancesco Chili 0:31.624); 14. Kensuke Haga 0 :31.734);
15 . Colin Edwa rd s II 0 :31. 736); 16 . Scott Ru ss e ll
(1:31.836); 17. Atus hi Wa tan abe 0:31.464); 18. Yuich i
TakPda 0 :31. 660); 19. Jam es Whitham 0:31.739); 20.
Tam aki Se riza w a 0 :31.759); 21. G re go r io La vilta
0 :31. 954 ); 22 . Toshi yu ld Hamaguti 0 :32.293); 23.
Manabu Kam a da 0 :32 .605); 24. Ma r io In namor a ti
0 :32.688); 25. Igor jerman 0 :33.265); 26. Andrew Stroud
0:35261) 27 Jiri Mrkyvka 0:36.9!lO).
; .
RA CE O NE: 1. Kei ichi Kitagawa (Sw:); 2. Akita Ryo
t.'T (3285); 4. Pier-Fra ncesco Ch ili (2935); 5. Colin
Edwards II (279.5); 6. Noriyuki Ha ga (258 ); 7. Akira
Ya nagawa (2 10); 8 . Lam e W hitha m (173); 9. Peter
s
God d a r d ( 55 ); 10 . Scott Ru ssell 0 30.5); 11. Neil
Hodgson (1 24 .5) ; 12. Gre gorio Lavi fla (83.5); 13 .
Pie rgi orgi o Bonte mpi (58); H . Alessandro G ra migni
(56); 15. Igor [erman (4 7) .
1,
Brieflv...
It is more than likely that Gregorio Lavilla will ride the second
factory Kawasaki next year . Team manager Harald Eckl had been
talking to the Spanish Superbike sensation for several months but
then chose Raif Waldmann after the two met at the Oesterreichring
and the Grand Prix rider verbally agreed to Kawasaki's term s at the
Mu nich Intermot M otor Show . But then W aldmann changed his
mind. " It was my mistake. " Harald Eckl said at Sugo. " I should have
given him the contract at M unich and asked him to sign it there and
then. Instead. I believed him on his word and told the racing-department chiefs at Kawasaki to come over to Europe to sign the official
co ntract. Only then. when the Japanese were on a plane flying to
Europe. did W aldmann change his mind. It is all very unfortunate.
because we had done a considerable effort to agree to his terms .also from a financial point of view. W e would have liked a German
rider because of the importance of that market in Europe. but I think
that we will have a good European representative with Gregorio."
Ecld presented the cont ract to Lavilla on Sunday.
00
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24
Honda ri de rs Aar on Sl ight and Colin Edward s II had a new
e n gine (three for each rider) for the final race o f the season .
Even though the Japanese were traditio nally tight-lipped about the
specifi cations of the new engine . Syuhei Nakamoto. RVF750 pro ject leader at Honda , admitted that this was the first superbike
eng ine to have more po wer tha n an NSR 500 (whic h put s out
roughly 180 hpJ. The new engine is supposed to have some 183
horsep ower at 15.000 rpm (a. figu re that hasn't changed co mpared to the old engine). Aaron Slight. who tested the new engine
for the first time at Suzuka on W ednesday before the Sugo race
weekend. said that the engine had more powe r all over the range.
The new engine was not a lest-ditch effort to give Slight that extra
edge in the final race . In fact , it was scheduled to have been delivered earlier in the year . but was delayed beca use HAC was oye rwhelmed by the preparation for the Suzuka 8 Hours and its. 50th
annive rsary cele bratio n. The tw o other Hond a fact ory riders at
Su go (Sh inich l Itoh and Yuu ichi Taked a. ridin g Luck y St rik e'
backed bikes) had to make do With the old vers ion of the engine.
World Superbik e race weekends next year will likely host a
new ; yet -to -be -name d rac ing cla ss for young rider s ( 18 to 24
year s old) instea d of the Supermono races that were included in
t he program prio r to this season. "The main objective for this
.
"
class will be to give young riders a chance to show what they are
made of in front of the W orld Superbike and Super sport team
managers. " SB K vice pres ide nt Paolo Flammini said at Sug o .
"The bikes will have a capacity from 750cc upward. and the technical modification s wil l be mininial , in ord er to keep the co st s
down . Moreover. as soon as a particular motorcycle type (i.e .. the
Yamaha R1) turns out to be too strong for the rest of the field . its
performance will be brou ght down by using air restrlc to rs. After
every race ..the necessary adjustments will be made in this way in
order to keep all the bikes at a similar leveL"
Not even half of the factory rides for next year have been filled.
Honda will contin ue wit h the same two riders. Aaron Slight and
Colin Edwards II: Kawasaki will have Gregorio Lavilla next 10 Ak ira
Yanagawa; and Yamaha has confirmed that Nc nyukl Haga will be
on one of their two bikes. At Assen. Scott Russell was told that
Yamaha no longer required his services for next year. This leaves
all of the Ducati factory bikes. one of the Yamaha machines . and
three or maybe four o fficial Suzukis to be distri buted . Troy Co rser
and Carl Fogarty seem to be at the top of D ucati's shopping list.
though Pier-France sco Chili may end up being left off the team.
Even though the Italians claim every year that they want to reduce
the numbe r of fact ory riders from three to two. they allowed Luca
Cadalora to test-ride one of their bikes on the Mugell o circu it on
the M onday preceding the , Japanese round. Chili. of course. is
hoping to stay in the o fficial Duceti team. but has already let the
word out that he is - evaileble." The ltahan is said to have started
.. talks with Francis Batta and De Cecco. but only wanted to com ment on two other.option s. " Andrea M erloni from the Gattolone
team has called me up just before I left for Japan.· he 'said at
Sugo. "And there is also the Aprili a po ssibility . But I have not really spoken to them: I first want to find out if they believe their bike
is co mpetitive enough to put a fast rider on it fro m the first year
onward. or if they prefer to have a learning year first w ith a less
experienced rider." Cadalora is also talking to Yamaha. and team
manager Davide Brivio said that he hopes to know the name of
the secon d rider by the end of October. " It is very hard to find a
good rider ." he said at Sugo. " M ost o f the good W orld Superbik e
riders already have a co ntrac t for next year: I guess we will have
to wait until the G rand Prix teams have sorted it out before we
can try to get a good rider under co ntrac t." At Suzuki. the riders '
situation is still very unclear, w hereas Francis Batt a has been try ing to tempt some top riders to ride for his Suzuki team next year.
Fogarty and Corse rare known to be on his shopping list. but the
. team owne r has also approached Vittoriano Guareschi recently.
offerin g him a lucrative deal - including the reimburse ment of the
fine he. would receive for op ting out of his Belgarda Yamaha contract. which he has already signed for 1999. Yamaha wants to
keep the Italian in theSupersport series for one more year before
giving him the chance to move up to the Superbikes. Neil Hodqson has report edly had conversations with Federico Minoli about
an AMA Superbik e Championship program with Ducati.
. Suzuki Team manager L ester Ha rris feels confident he w ill run
the officia l Suzuki team again next year. He isn' t sure. however.
wh o his riders win be and what bikes they will be using. "One
thing is for sure." Harris said at Sugo. "The wiry Suzuki is running
the champion ship will dras tically change .next year. Given the present economic situation in J apan. the fact that Suzuki are also
running their Grand Prix team wi thout majo r sponsors. and the
mo re than acceptable level of co mpeti tiveness of the GS X-R750 .
they will now lease factory bike s to us and to the Francis Batte- .
run team . Right now, I am negotiat ing wit h spon sors and Suzuki
about next year' s program . Up to ' now , I have not had to look for
sponsorship. This might change a lot in the way the team will be
set up. First of all. we w ill. have to take into account the running
budget we will have at our disposal. and secondly. the sponsor
might have his own _
requirements as to the choice of the riders
and the markets they represe nt. But I am gg percent sure that we
will once again get a very good team together. The leasing formula will also allow us a bigger tec hnical freedo m. We are conv inced
that fuel injection is the way to go. but right now that bike does
not yet equal the performances of the carbureted machine . This
year. we also have the suspens ion okay. with the top speed never
. having bee n a problem. The one thing we will have to concentrate
on is the midrange pull. This is certainly nice fo rthe injec ted bike,
which is apart fro m the injectio n system identical to the carburet ed bike. W e think using a different fuel-injection syste m can solve
this problem. At the start of the projec t. Suzuki opted to develop
w ith Nippondenso their ow n system for com me rc ial reasons ,
knowing thatthls would take some mor e time to co me to the best
poss ible result s than if they had just used an existing system. If
we get enough technical freedom as a lease team. one o.f the first
things we will do is to loo k at fuel-injection syste ms from other
manufacturers. But before that. we will have to decide whe ther to
use the carbureted- or the injec ted bike. We will make a decision
duri ng the mon th of February . probably . afte r a long and intensive
winter testing program . ·As to the rider"s choice, J have inform ed
Peter Goddard and James Wh itham what the sit uation is. If it
we re up to me. we evould continue with them .but as I explained.
sponsors mightchange this. "
