Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128107
World Superbike Champion s h ip Round 6 : Oonington ParK had a bett e r tire choice for the first ra ce, then I lost rear -wheel traction in th e sec on d race. B~t I'm 1 I -potnts clos e r to t h e le a d of the c ham pi on sh ip - so all is no t lost." Ba ylis s , on a slick /intermed ia te pa iring , was a lowly 13th in ra ce on e , an d with Corse r in 11th on an inte rme di ate / in t erm ed ia t e choi c e, t h e ch a mp io n s h ip batt le wa s hard ly turned up side do wn. But with Corser back on the pod ium in race two , a nd on ly nint h him se lf, Ba yliss fou nd his lead c ut substa nt iall y to 17 po ints , from his start-of-day 28 . Tada yuki O kada , Edwa rds' team mate , inex p licabl y be at him in ra ce on e to fin ish fo ur t h , rai sing ma n y eyebrow s in th e o pp o si n g team camps. If the ch a mp io ns hip is now Troy Bayliss 121) had another lackluster weekend, but was at least able to walk away from Donington with his points lead stili Intact. Gregorio Lavilla 16), and Regis Laconl 1 5) both struggled in the two races. 5 The all-new Lausitz ring near Dresden in Germany has had to BRIEFLY••• have a new track homologation carried out after concems from the riders about one section of the original circuit. Being a modu- The SBK organiztio n took the unusual step of iss uing a pres s release that outlined their ba sic philosophy for the future of Superbike racing. in respon se to what they see as a tide of negative media stories about the fut ure prospect s for World Superbike as a race class in its ow n right. The official relea se . a semi -party political broadcast, nonetheless had some highlights and left the wo rld in no doubt as to how SBK International sees its future. The following verbatim extract s explain all. "International press report s have assumed there will be a merger betw een the Wo rld Superbike C hampionship and the Grand Prix Champ ionship . SBK intends to off icially announce their belief that the Superbike Worl d Championship is one of the most inte resting sports prod ucts that Motorsport has ever produced and, therefore , excludes the possibility of a merger with the Grand Prix. We are the first to appreciate the importa nce of the Grand Prix Championship having also contributed to its growth by organizing with great success over 20 GP events in Italy , Sa n Ma rino . th e Czech Republ ic and Yugoslavia in the 'SOs and early '90s . However, the exceptional development of the W orld Superbike Championship gives scope in the quest for supreme/ abso lute leadership in this fasc inating w orld of motors port and, therefor e, excludes the necessity to amalgamate orbe connected with the Grand Prix Championship, which also has a com pletely different profile to WSBK, destined from its birth as the Top Series for product ion bikes, and consequent ly in promoting the sales of t hese fantast ic gems wo rldwide . " The press release followed up t hat state ment with a transcript from an Italian new spaper, the Corriere dello Sp ort, whic h has new MSMA chief I va no Beggio stat ing that " Despit e our World success for speed , which has given us internatio nal fame, we continue to be referred to as the firm that made moto rcycles. Superbike, on the other hand, has proved that we have grow n. W hen we started to win with the RSV 1000 . our adversaries and t he public became aware that Apri lia also know s how to build high-power ed engines and motorbike s, This explains the reason why we are linked to this formu la and we will continue to be so to the best of our ability ." The most telling paragraph, however, was devo ted to the muchrumored introduction of the 10 0 0 cc S upe rbike class ru les, which is see n as one way of safeguarding the interest of manufacturer s in the Superbike series , " In this aspect. MSMA is considering modifications to the pe rformance balance be twee n the various e ngine's configurat ions a llowe d by the te chnical regulatio n (2/3/4 cylinder, etcl . The obj ec tive is to define the regulato ry modifications before the next FIM, which will take place October 2001 ," Paolo Rammini, President of SBK International. commente d afte r the pre ss relea se wa s made public, and ex plained that paragraph in more detail. " Superbike has always been a reflection of what the manufacturers sell. If that has changed, then we must take this into account. The main co ncern is to find a way to allow the large-capacity, multi-cylinder machines, which are now the top sellers, into the championship, without reducing the competitiveness of the prese nt 1OOOcc twins." 18 .JU ·NE 6 , 200 1 • cue • e n e'IIVs lar track . with many possible layouts , the original idea was to utilize part of the America n Indy-Car style oval circuit at the end of the start-finish straight. The news was made public at a Mo nza, but the full layout of the circuit was only given at Donington, wit h a team manage r's briefing taking place on Friday even ing. Accord- ing to those who have tested at Lausitzring recently, that particular banked corne r wa s way too dangerous to use . lain Macpher-son's succinct summation wa s. "It's ringed by concrete walls . You would be pulling high rev s in fifth gear, so if you crashed there you would just die," The circuit features a whole section of twisty corners in place of the banking, which will present a new challenge to the Superbike regulars who will be in atte ndance at Germany's latest state-of-the-art motorsports facility, Numerous teams have tested at the venue, with the Eckl Kawasaki. Wilbe rs Suspension Yamaha and Ten Kate Honda squads all having a try out in between the Mon za and Donington races. There is scheduled t o be an extra day of testing at the Lausitzring . on t he Wed nesday before the race, for tho se team s who wi sh to get some track time in before the race weekend begins in earnest. The Ghelfi Art Honda squad fielded their fourt h rider in six meetings t his sea son , when Aussie rider Nigel Arnold rode the VTR 1000 Honda in the first prac tice at Do nington Park . The tea m has previously run Javier Rodriguez. Wa rwick N owland and Shuja Arai on their privateer machine. Arnold qualified in t he last position. Niall M ackenzie has beco me the latest in a long line of people who have finally succ umbed to the lure of three-wheeled living, accept ing an offe r to be Steve Web ster's passenger on a couple of laps of Donington Park, on a near 200 hp outfit. Wi th Mackenzie strangely missing when the lap was due, Michaela Fogarty and British TV personality Nick Knowles accepted an offer from the liveonscreen sidecar crew s, Steve Webster and lain Guy . to go for a run aro und Donington in a fu ll-o n sidecar. M ichae la was thrilled by the experience, apparently, and has said she hopes to repeat the experience at Brands Hatch. Colin Edwards, Troy Cor ser, Tady Okada and Karl Mug geridge were among a clutch of factory riders who competed in the Riders For Health Charity Golf day at the prestigious Breadsall Priory Country Club in Derbyshire, The competition raised wort hwhile funds for the charity (w hich uses motorcycles to help health care works to reach remote parts of Africa). after a competition between nine teams. The winners proved to be the Virgin Mobile Yamaha team. led by former GP and W orld Superbike star Rob M cElnea . The Worid Sup erbike sta rs shared the faci lities at Breadsall Priory with the English National soccer squad , who were staying there as part of t heir pre -matc h build-up for their game against Mexico at Pride Park, Derby. The presence of the England team gave the who le golf event a PR boost. due to there being a higher number of non-specialist media in atte ndance than normal. The undisputed star of the Donington qualifying show was S teve Hislop, who took the fastest time s in both timed sessions and wo n Superpole by a convincing margin. Hislop. 38 years old, was not only back on W orld Superbike duty . but back in the series which almost ended his career last season. when he had a horrific crash at the first corner of the Brands Hatch race and suffered a bro ken neck. Originally misdiagnosed at the time. Hislop att empted to ride after the race but was out for the rest of the 2000 season, and it appeared to many that he wou ld never ride again eve n to His lop himse lf at one stage . But given ano ther sea son by the privateer Monstermob Ducati team, Hislop lies seco nd in the British Champions hip, and was bullish even before the race week end. - Brit ish wi ld card s wo n at both UK even t s last year on Ducatis and I'm hoping I can be up there challenging after last year' s WS B disaste rs: said Hislop, a former World Endurance Champion and t l -tlmes race winner , Even afte r the Superpole event. Hislop was intent on forewarning his rivals that the best was apparently yet to come . "We have had a lot of problem s with the bike in qualifying. and the team worked right into the night to fix the problem s. They gave me a much bette r handling package n so winning Superpole wa s necessary. if only for them . I am so happy to have done this, it' s a brilliant feeling and it show s that there is life in the old dog yet i" C ar l Fo ga rty agreed with Hislop's summation. saying at the official post -Superpo le press conference . that "Steve gives great hope to all balding men approac hing forty ... In fac t I might just come out of retirement as a w ild card rider for a couple of races when I'm his age !" The final twi st in the Hislop qualifying saga was the fact that he was competing on the very machine that Neil Hodgson too k to World Superbike wins last year. which his team owner Paul Bird bought from the GS E team . Neil Hodgson was somewhat taken aback by the flying Hislop, but w as not t oo disa ppointe d to f inish seco nd on the grid. " I wo uld have liked to be on pole for my home event. but it' s too easy to make a mistake at Donington and I'm happy to be start ing fro m second on the grid. My only regret is letting Hislop ride my bike from last year. We should have put it in a museum !" Be n Bostrom had a gritty few days at Donington Park, attack ing as hard as he knew in Superpole whil e suffering great pain from his part ially disloc ated sho ulder, a relic of his big Monza crash two week s bef ore. " I really wanted to be on the front row for this race after qualifying had gone so badly for me, so I rode really aggressively . Although my injured shoulder feels a lot better than it did yesterday, two 25-lap races are going to be tough. " Colin Edwa rd s looked to be suffe ring from another case of the mysteriously uncompetitive Honda at Donington. " I dunno what it is but we have had to wo rk really hard to get goo d times this wee kend. The trac k surface feels very diffe rent fro m normal and it has definitely de te rio rated si nce last year, M ore bumps and maybe a litt le more slippery , We have a good se tup and race pack age right now - but maybe not as go od as Hod g son." Edwards was coy w hen the ques tion of whether or not he was running an older specification. less-pow erful engine came up. "I don't know exactly what Honda wants me to te ll you, but I know the bike is easier to ride and more reliable." Edwards even tried out a 17-inch rear tire for the first time in recent memory in his attemp t to go faste r in Saturday' s final qualifying, but his times we re poor.