Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Superbike Championship Final Round: Imola. Italy By GORDON RITCHIE PHOTOS BY GOLD & GOOSE IMOLA, ITALY, SEPT. 30 t the end of a sometimes lackluster World Championship season, the fireworks were all impatient to be let off. And let off they were, both on and off the track. In fact, the last sign of collective dignity and respect appeared to be during a moment's silence for the victims of terrorism in the U.S.A. After that, the World Superbike world went into overdrive, agitated to a level that it has seldom reached in 2001. There may have been only 51,000 spectators there over the whole weekend, but as a racing spectacle, lmola was right up there with the best. The talk all weekend up to race day itself had been doom and gloom about the future of World Superbike in general, with many rumors of single-rider factory teams in 2002, no change in the technical regulations for the next year at least, and various other portents of a depressing future. On track and off track, new revelations and controversies appeared at every turn. During the height of the race action at Imola, the new World Superbike technical regulations, arrived at A by the FIM, the MSMA and Octagon Motorsports, (according to the header page), were circulated for the first time and were as wide reaching as they were instantly criticized by all. Not to mention completely out of left field. No one had guessed the changes would be that sweeping, and take in so many aspects of competitiveness. There will be no changes in technical regulations until 2004, when all machines will be allowed to be 1000cc. That much we knew to be almost definite. The engines will have air-flow restrictors fitted dependent on the type of engine, which was a completely new one, and is a form of power leveling more favored by the car world. Treaded tires will be mandatory, with all technical parameters subject to regulation (to be arrived at with the tire manufacturers, in theory, although there were dark mutterings from the rubber men about that). There will also be a strict 15 tires allocation for a dry race, more for wet races. Minimum weight limits are set to be 347.6 pounds for singles to triples, 369.6 pounds for fours, 391.6 pounds for sixes and above. At present, 356.4 pounds is the universal limit. All other rules remain unchanged. While this explosive mix was left to seep into the consciousness of all present at Imola, the track action itself was startling in its ferocity, with many big names failing to finish the brace of World Superbike races. In the opening event, a multi-rider battle in the early laps left Ruben Xaus, Troy Bayliss and Regis Laconi clear at the front on the penultimate lap. Xaus won, eventually unopposed, "When I made my start, I saw Ben Bostrom and Troy Bayliss in front of me so I was happy with the thought that I could perhaps get the podium position. Then I took the lead, and when Regis [Laconi] came past I thought, 'Okay, I will follow him and take a rest and save my tires.' I could see I was having some problems in parts of the track following him, but I felt relaxed. With all the changing of position, it is good to have experience of Supersport which is like that, although it is so much harder on a Superbike as they are so much more fast. "I saw on the TV what happened to Regis and Troy [Bayliss], which is a shame, especially for Troy who is my teammate and a really good guy, but that's racing. It's hard td pass in some places, but my move on Regis before Aqua Minerali was a good one. I want to dedicate my win to my friend Carl Fogarty who is at home with a broken leg, because I know he is unhappy!" The four-time champion Fogarty was to be joined on crocks' row soon enough... A highside crash, which spat Bayliss off his machine, had dramatic repercussions for Frenchman Laconi when Bayliss' machine hit Laconi's and an outwardly horrific crash ensued, with Laconi's disintegrating RSV rolling over him as both bike and rider tumbled to the ground. It looked bad at first, with Laconi's neck bent by his machine. But although the tough Frenchman was shaken, he was otherwise okay. New World Champion Bayliss was not so fortunate, breaking his right collarbone only one race after winning his title at Assen three weeks ago, and thus ruling himself out of race two. He blamed himself, and will give penance by missing out on some R&R for the next few weeks. Bayliss was gutted, and not just for himself. "Everything started off okay, but then something happened to the bike after six laps," he said. "It seemed like the exhaust because it was losing power and I was struggling on the straights and kept losing ground. However, I had good corner speed and the brakes were working really good so I thought I still had a chance of winning, but then it got a bit crazy in the last few laps, one thing led to another and I went down. I think I crashed on my own accord and Laconi couldn't avoid me. I feel really sorry for him because he was having a good race." Troy Corser and Colin Edwards were the ma in benefactors of the chaos ahead of them, taking second and third behind Xaus, respectively, with Ben Bostrom not able to maintain his early practice speed to finish only fourth. "I pushed so hard in the middle of race and fried my rear tire," said the Californian. "The last five laps I just added a second a lap to my lap time because I was unable to go anywhere. For the second race, we made a few alterations to the rear suspension, but it didn't change the lap times at all and we ended up with fourth again. It's not the way I aimed to end the season and I'm a bit disappointed because I wanted to go out with a win." Edwards, on the other hand, was delighted with his machine's speed. "I think I probably had the fastest bike out there today, but Ben Bostrom was fast in places and it was tough to get past him," Edwards said. "When I

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