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/128111
Corona Extra Suzuki's Pier-Francesco Chi'i process of smiling or getting angered. No flailing limbs for Frankie - unless you are Carl Fogarty, of course. In a career with no shortage of on-track glory to walk hand-In-hand with the pain all bike racers know By GORDON RITCHIE PHOTOS BY GOLD £, GOOSE f anyone rider still operating in World Superbike racing epitomises the endurance of the competitive spirit, and exudes star quality from every overworked pore, it is the granddaddy of the paddock, Pier-Francesco Chili. Approaching 37 years old, "Frankie," as he is universally known, is still one of the riders everyone puts in their top five predictions for the championship battle each season - despite the fact that he is yet to win his first world title. At least, not in any conventional silverware sense. But for conviviality, frequent controversy, dramatic crashes and sheer fan-friendliness, none can touch the Latin charm of Frankie the matinee idol. Described by one of his rivals as a racer who exists purely on emotion, Frankie is an impossibly stereotypical Latin in some respects, bouncing back and forth from the extremes of the emotional spectrum in the course of anyone day. Yet he still manages to look calm and physically undemonstrative all the while, with an almost lugubrious expression on his chiselled features when not actually in the I n _ VIr better than most sportsmen, Frankie is best remembered by many as the guy who started scrapping with Carl Fogarty in the winner's circle at Assen in Holland in 1998. Frankie blamed Fogarty for losing him a race win or, at the very least, a podium fmish, by forcing him to crash, and thus depriving him of any last chance of the championship itself. Effectively, as Chili realized, it was an end to his factory Ducati contract for the next year. To demonstrate the other side of Chili's nature, a more edifying sight burned into the memory is of his first win on the Suzuki Superbike, which re-kindled his World Superbike career - a win that came at home in the cathedral of Italian racing: Monza. Throwing every single strand of his riding apparel (except the modesty-maintaining designer underpants, of course) into the massed ranks of baying tifosi after his race win, there was hardly a dry eye in the house for one of Superbike racing's genuine icons. S Having had a long and occasionally successful GP career, as a factory pilot for Honda, Cagiva, Yamaha and Aprilia, Chili entered World Superbike as a big name in 1995 - and in no time at all went from mere star to one of the most popular riders in the world. For the English-speaking countries at least, part of Chili's appeal is his ability to communicate ideas very well, utilizing a decent level of English vocabulary, even if his strong accent and 'allo, 'allo-esque liberties with syntax and grammar would have a scholar of the language on the point of cardiac arrest. After a race win "I very 'appy," is a frequent and charming Chili-ism. It's English, I suppose, but probably the jazz version. Speaking from the heart, which on Chili is very easily located next to the sponsors' logos on his sleeve, is one of the many reasons why his fan base is so huge, but it is a mystery to the man himself at least as to why he has fans from Bradford to Brisbane. "It is also my question," Chili says. "The only reason I can say is that they like my style, my system to go racing. Always I try to do more than it seems possible I can, and maybe they like this.