Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Superbike Championship Round 2: Kyalami. South Africa BRIEFLY••• The damage to Robert Ulm's Ducati, which flipped so badly in practice. has not been as great as was feared. "We measured the chassis. forks and swingarm and they are all still in a line. Everything else. electrics. wheels. everything has had to be thrown away." said team boss Wolfgang Pemter. Aaron Slight's American Adventure is now over, with the New Zealand rider glad to see the back of it. it appears. "The team [Competition Accessories Ducatil I had was pretty new and they needed a bit of time to get things working perfectly." Slight said. " I found the AMA series itself pretty amateurish in some ways. They seem to worry a lot about making you hang around in a queue to sign on and do the paperwork and then they don't seem to worry that much about pecple running into the pace car. " Ben Bostrom had a qUite brilhant qualifying and Superpole at Kyalami. allowing him to put what he felt was a disappointing Kyalami winter test behind him. Top of the practice sheets in each official stage of qualifying. the Califomian rider was understandably delighted with his new setup. "I have hand-picked a team. Everyone who works with me on the team I like and can work well with." he said. "There is a great atmosphere and that helps me concentrate on racing. Also the Dunlops contribute to it. because they suit my riding style. which iets me spin the rear tire more exiting comers." His Superpole performance was a particular gem. starting with the pressure of being away last and holding his nerve to the last comer. to take one of the best-ever times at Kyalami - a 1:41.689. "The main thing though is that I'm having fun. and when iI's fun iI's fast." An article in a local newspaper, the Saturday Star. landed Colin Edwards in a world of trouble. Quoted during an interview with joumalist. Peta Krost. Edwards was alleged to have said that he would love to live in South Africa. but he would prefer it if "a few townships were nuked first." The headline for the story" Bike Champ's Racist Bomb" left nothing to the imagination of the reader. although. in later statements. Edwards was qUick and vehement in his deniai of having said anything wrong. A hastily arranged press conference. ostensibly to refute the story, was called for 12.30 p.m. on Saturday. and then cancelled after an official statement from Edwards. which read as follows: "Rrstly I sincerely apologize if anyone believes I would say something like that. This interview took place on Thursday at a lunch I was invited to by a sponsor. I have been very fond of Johannesburg for a number of years. and I would certainly consider living here. This was discussed in the interview with the Saturday Star. but I did Troy Corser was another Aprilia rider in the wars. suffering not say what was stated in the newspaper article." He continued. from sickness after a bout of food poisoning on the way to South "I don't understand why a reporter would want to take a quote Africa. "I'm pretty much over it now." said Corser pre-Superpole. out of context or misquote an interviewee. I fully realize that "but it wasn't ideal preparation. I'd like to thank my personal trainspeaking with the media is a part of the day-to-day life of any er fO( helping me get over it so fast." Back in the swing after a leading sportsman. and I'm sure I'm not the first to suffer like this. " small crash on Friday. Corser was disappointed not to take yet I am deeply disappointed with the whole affair. especially in a another Superpole win. "I could have had a better Superpole lap. country I love and thoroughly enjoy racing in." His alleged statebut I felt a bit of a vibration through the front brake. I was trying to ments had many immediate effects. with one of the main ones brake as late as possible and this puts the brakes under stress. " being a meeting between. and then a joint statement from the AM. SBK Intemational and circuit owners AA Racing. They collecBen Bostrom's L&M·sponsored Ducati team had a rude surtively accepted Edwards' plea that he was either misquoted or prise awaiting them in South Africa. as they were forced to cover taken out of context. "We are satisfied with the explanation given over their main sponsor's logos with plain white panels due to to us by Edwards." said the joint statement. "We are also satisanti-tobacco legislation which came into force in February. The fied that racism is not an issue in motor racing. in South Africa team had to hurriedly get all of their L&M branded equipment and and worldwide." The explanation was also forwarded to the South clothing - basically all of their public image - modified to stop African Minister for Sport. Webster Mfebe. who accepted themselves falling foul of the law. With Bostrom in such excellent Edwards' version of affairs. In a politically sensitive area like front-running form throughout practice. the loss of advertising South Africa, the whole story tumed into a national mini-saga. space and corporate reinforcement will be disappointing for L&M. with rumors of Edwards and everyone involved with him going to face the local courts of racial equality to answer the newspaper Another team affected by the anti-tobacco regulations is the Aprilarticle's allegations. until Mfebe's declaration negated that pOSSiia factory squad. who also had to cover their MS sponsorship bility. Edwards. speaking later at the regular Honda press conferlogos. tuming the MS symbol on the leathers of their riders into ence. made it plain that he felt he had been "stitched up: but RS. in a jocular slant on their RSV's initials. that also he should maybe be more diplomatic and careful when speaking to the media in the future. Aaron Slight has recently signed a deal with Peugeot to race five of the last six British Touring Car Championship'events. but Speaking one-on-one just after Superpole. Edwards said: "My he has also been a recent visitor to the Mondial headquarters in first reaction was. 'Why should I even defend myself against Italy. The fledgling World Superbike team wants him to ride its that?' I'm from Texas. and I have a lot of black friends. That new Piega machine in the last three races of the season. and are doesn't necessarily stop you being racist. but I am not in any way also keen to have him ride a full 2002 season on the fully develracist. What I said was nothing near what was in the paper." The oped version. "I've been to visit with them. and they want me to very fact that Edwards is from a Southern American state race the bike at the end of the year." said Slight from his home in sealed his guilt in many casual observer's eyes. by geography if New Zealand. "but I want to have a bit of a test on the bike first not quotation. which made thll fire fighting by all the interested before I think about racing it. I can ride bikes if there are no clashparties a more difficult task. Edwards even found that he was getes with the car meetings.' Mondial is also reportedly keen to ting an opposite reaction to what most pecple would expect in the have Slight race the machine in its full debut season in 2002. situation he found himself in. "One of the most weird things is although the fact that Peugect has signed Slight for a full season that. since the newspaper article was printed this moming. I have next year may preclude this possibility. The Piega (which is Italian had a lot of pecple say that it was right. they are glad that at last for lean. as in lean over) has already had a visible sign of approval somebody has said it - even though I didn't say itl The other thing form the suppliers of its VTR 1000 engine. Honda Europe. with pecple should realize is that 80 percent of the people in thiS counhigh-ranking Honda figures being photographed with their hands try are black so. even if I was racist. which I am not. I'm not stupid resting proprietarily on the flanks of the new silver-and-blue enough to say anything like that." His exoneration by those on machine at the Valencia race. control appears however to end the matter. officially at least. allowing everyone to concentrate on the racing. rather than The lack of a TV crew (held up by an accident on the freeway on thoughts of racism. Thursday) made for one of the most bizarre pre-race press conferences in World Superbike history. Many of the questions were Suffering from a snapped knee ligament after being struck by a asked by one of the riders. and guest interviewer. reigning World crashing machine at the opening race of the year in ValenCia. as Champion Colin Edwards. His casual questioning style and the he walked back to the pits. Regis Laconi adopted a high-tech lack of cameras conspired to reduce most of the room to tears of knee brace at Kyalami to allow him to race. With one completely laughter and incredulity at the weirdness of the situation. Ruben snapped ligament outside his left knee and another partially tom Xaus. asked by Edwards how his broken shoulder was mending. cruciate ligament in the center. the motocross-derived device made an unmistakeable knuckle-shuffling gesture while he helps to spread the load across his knee joint and prevent more answered 'pretty good. but I have been doing a lot of jerking exercises to speed up the healing process. " severe damage due to twisting or bending forces. Although hampered by his bad joint. Laconi was full of fighting talk. "It was a On a more serious and relevant note. Troy Corser. who ordinarily pity I was not able to repeat my fast time from the final qualifying shares the militant rider power crown with Pier-Francesco session in Superpole. so the race will be a bit of an uphill struggle Chili, tempered his comments about the track's bumpiness and for me. But thaI's the challenge and I'm ready to ride to the limit." close proximity to the tire walls with the following praise for the In the races. Laconi was subdued. fighting with the lower order genuinely helpful Kyalami circuit organizers "I know there have works men. 10 APRIL 11, 2001 • cue I • n __ s been improvements in run-off since we were last here. and I would like to say that we appreciate that.' Four areas have been Improved by the work that has gone on since the winter tests in 2000: Wesbank. the Ford Esses. Telkom curve and the Yokohama kink. Although even the circuit itself recognizes that there is more to do at the bottom of the wickedly fast Caltex mineshaft and the quick Goodyear Sweep. Pier-Francesco Chili has launched a new website for his many fans around the globe. and you can log on to Chili's homepage at: www.frankiechili.com. Neil Hodgson. now a resident of the Isle of Man. has had his normal training regime interrupted by the foot-and-mouth epidemic that has swept the entire UK. Usually spending much of ~is deliberately quiet home time in the Manx hills on either his mountain bike or motocross bike. a ban on encroaching near farmland has reduced his ability to train in his normal way. Hodgson's GSE Racing team is about to have a taste of one of the negative aspects of moving into the big leagues. With three races in four weeks looming. the rookies of the World Superbike paddock will not see dear old Blighty for a whole month. When they leave the UK for the Phillip Island race. they travel to Sugo for the next round one week later. but with only two weeks between that Japanese race and the Monza round, the team has no time to retum to the UK. Hence they will be overhauling their machinery at Monza. before finally retuming to the UK a month after they leave. Honda. still looking for improvements in what (according to paddock rumor may be their last complete year of absolutely full-on factory participation. at least in terms of the Japanese influence at leasll had a new sWingarm to try out at Kyalami and it prompted some unusual. if not weird. behavior from their number-one rider. Colin Edwards. Selecting only one set of tires with which to complete each one-hour practice on Friday. Edwards was testing more than just tire longevity. "You get a lot more feel from the bike when you use tires which are part WOf'n. plus you are testing the whole chassis in real race cond~ions. I think. however. we will opt to use the old swingarm - it just gives us more feel and has better lap times." Honda was also supposedly trying out new cranks in the VTR. having realized that the ones used in Valencia broke two engines. The stellar practice by Ben Bostrom contrasted sharply with the struggle and toil put in by Ruben Xaus and especially Troy Bayliss. on the Michelin-shod Ducatis. One other rider reported that. when following the Infostrada Ducatis. it appeared that their tires were almost rubbing on the sWingarm. a sure sign that the wheelbase had been shortened. to try and get the often recalcitrant Ducatis to change direction more quickly. A wondrous old on-bike camera angle was re-introduced at Kyalami with Gregorio Lavilla haVing a small lens pointing up from the bike's fairing toward his crash helmet. plus one pointing through his fairing up the track. Widely acclaimed by many. the on-bike cameras were obviously voted a big success. and will hopefully see out the whole season. The Kyalami race was once more reckoned to be about the best on the calendar in terms of enthusiasm of the organizers and hospitality shown to all visiting World Superbike personnel from the riders. to media. to organizers and beyond. Many put this down to the 'Other Side of the World Syndrome,' which also sees the Phillip island race well up there in terms of the warmth and sincerity of the welcome. This theory maintains that the further away from racing's European base the track. the less frequently it is visited (because of simple logistics and cost). and thus the enthusiastic staff are always more glad to see the travelling show come play their venue. Certainly there was none of the jadedness of certain European events on show at Kyalami. and none expected at Phillip Island. Troy Corser became one of the record small numbers of crashers on the opening day at Kyalami. losing the front as he pushed too hard on brand new qualifiers at the entrance to Wesbank. the long hairpin at the top of Kyalami's step hill. Tipping off at reasonable speed. Corser was unharmed and. thankfully for him. did not repeat the highside he suffered on the exit of Wesbank in preseason testing. The crash total up to the end of Saturday was a measly and merciful four (Corser and Xaus on the opening day. Okada and Ulm on the second) - a big surprise at a technical. bumpy and often front-end dependent circuit like Kyalami. Hitoyasu Izutsu. down to race in seven World Superbike events in 2001. skipped his first race of the year. and made the Kawasaki team a two-man effort in South Africa. The Benelli. still hiding behind a cloak of invisibility. is still thought to be on schedule to be introduced at Monza. Troy Bayliss, who celebrated his 32nd birthday on Friday. March 30. got a nice surprise from his team at Kyalami. when they held an impromptu party for him after practice. Much jollity iater and the Aussie was seen on the receiVing end of the cake. when his face was pushed into it.

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