Pier-Francesco Chili cemented his
position as a true contender for
World Superbike honors aboard the
Alstare Corona GSX-R750, by finishing fourth in the championship
after suffering a painful injury midseason through no fault of his own,
. and winning arguably the most
thrilling race of another spectacular
season at Monza - amidst a total of
11 visits to the rostrum in the
course of the year. Not too shabby.
The fact that Suzuki's 2000
Superbike success was achieved
with what is essentially a five-yearold motorcycle, which had already
been replaced in showrooms
around the world by a considerably
By ALAN CATHCART
PHOTOS By KEL EDGE
lr'he Suzuki brass should have been
U pretty satisfied with their company's 2000 road racing campaign.
Regaining the 500cc World Championship with the RGv500 delivered lots
of corporate prestige on the one hand
- while retaining the AMA Superbike
Championship with their GSX-R750,
in the world's largest motorcycle
market, was arguably even more
important in commercial terms, on
the other. On top of that, GSX-R750mounted Chris Walker came within
half a dozen laps of clinching the
British Superbike crown in the world's
number two sportbike market, and
The author takes a spin on the 2000
World Superbike Suzuki GSX-R750
that was normally ridden by PierFrancesco Chili.
improved new model which is lighter,
faster, sleeker and sexier-looking
than the one Mat Mladin took to rus
second successive American title,
makes his, and Chili's achievements
all the more creditable. It also bodes
well for Suzuki teams for the 2001
season.
With insufficient R&D time available after the debut of the new bike to
get it ready for 2000 season of
Superbike racing, it was left to those
racing it in box-stock competition like
750 Supersport in the USA (where
the new Gixxer blitzed its rivals) and
the European Superstock series run
alongside World Superbike, to give a
hint of what's to come. The fact that
the Corona Suzuki Superstock entry,
which German female rider Katja
Poensgen rode to sixth in the final
points table, was consistently faster
through the speed traps than its one-
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FEBRUARY 21.2001
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