Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Superbike Championship Final Round: Imola, Italy ronsm and war which can only slash non-essential budgets in the short term. and will have unknown consequences In the long term. BRIEFLY••• An astonishing pre-race bUR-Up between Pier-Francesco Chili and his Alstare Suzuki team was the main talking point before the final round of the championship .tself at lmola Italian newspaper Gazette dello Sport ran a story which claImed that Chili had said that he had received notification that he had been fired from hiS Alstare Suzuki team. by fax. sent from aA unnamed Suzuki executive In Japan. The Alstare team reacted angrily to the story. and issued a press release. which stated that. "Team Suzuki Alstare denies categoncally these declarations arid consider that Mr. PF Chili caused prejudice to the reputation and image of the team and its sponsors." The lengthy press release continued in much the same vein but confirmed that - at least until Chili's latest public outburst - there was an almost definite place for him in a oneman Suzuki team again next year, with a salary including sponsorship deals rumored to be around $700.000. The press release also denied that there would ever be any contact between the Suzuki factory and Chili. as Francis Batta alone is charged with salary negotiations and so on. Chili was known to be unhappy at being offered what is thought to be less than last year, and even the Alstare release made mention that the Italian was maybe expecting more from his soon-to-be erstwhile employer. The clincher that Chili was no longer a realistic prospect for any Suzuki Superbike ride came from the final statement. "Batta expresses his disappointment and deep regret in the face of PF Chili's untrue statements. especially after the effort and dedication made by Suzuki and Alstare to promote a 'nice and friendly character' image around PF Chili." Another World Superbike team bites the dust? Or just another rider? New regula lions - for the Grand Prix Serie. - sent minor shockwaves through the paddock at lmola. The new rules In GPs. stipulate that. as of next season. no new nders may enter the Moto GPl (premier class) unless they meet some pretty stnngent cntena. The most obvious one IS that only riders who have finIshed top three In the World Superblke Championship. no more than two years previously. can be allowed Into GP one as a Super-Ucense holder. Patently designed to get the top nders In World Superblke to defect to the GP world as soon as they get the chance. the new rules wene bad news for some who may be eyeing up the Moto GP world at some date in the future. even if even only bad luck stopped them from reaching the diZzy heights of the top three. There is, however. a ·get·out' clause. in that the GP Commission can allow riders who do not meet the requirements to join the GP circus if they feel they have the ability. Spain is to host an all-new Su...,-.port class next year. which features Supersport-tuned engines mated to prototype chassis. suspension and slick tires. in what is seen as a precursor to a GP 2 class to replace what is the surely-dead 250cc GP bikes when they finally fall on a sword of its own promoter's making. The Spanish experiment may explain why Michelin has opted to quit World Supersport racing. although simply poor results could be reason enough. With rumon about World Superblke racing In general flying around Imola faster than the bikes. the 2002 teams and riders will appear to line up in the following order - alphabetically speaking. Aprilia looks as though they will just run a one-man team. Maybe Troy Corser. although that seems Impossible after so much friction in the team thiS year: maybe Regis LaCOnl, although only two . Imola wins seem the likely result needed for him to stay. The most realistiC scenario? Noriyukl Haga. who IS known to be talk· ing to them already. Aprilia's plans depend on their GP four· stroke line up (one man. two man. Alex Barros and Haga. or even Corser - because of his Super Ucense qualification last season) which is due to be announced soon after the Imola race. Aprilia s Superblke prOject leader. Giuseppe Bemicchia. was on hand to comment that" everything is ready. the engine has been fully developed In its 2001 form arid we are waiting to start work for the next year. All we need is the decision to contInue. " The Imola weekend was expected to see the announcement that Ale••andro Antonello. long-serving factory Aprilla World Superbike test nder, would join Aussie nder Steve Martin In the DFX Ducall squad. running P,relli tires in the 2002 championship. Ducat" Signed. sealed. and delivered - Ben Bostrom. Troy Bayliss. Ruben Xaus. plus the GSE team on factory bikes as well. The past venue for one of the biggest International meetings in the world. the 200 Miler, Imola hes special significance for Ducati. being the circuit on which Englishman Paul Smart On photo) and local ace Bruno Spaggiari finished one-two in the 1972 event, on the then all·new Ducati 750cc desmo-engined machine. Although Spaggiari probably should have won that race. it was the Enghshman who scored the first major win for the Fabio Taglioni-designed 'modem' desmo machine. In honor of the 29th anniversary of their momentous win. Ducatl painted Troy Bayliss' machine the same metalUc silver arid blue style as Smart and Spagglari for the duration of the Imola weekend The strange sight of the new World Champion cIrculating on a bike which only shared stickers with his teammate Ruben Xaus' machine was appreciated by the fans at Imola on the first couple of days, and was just one part of many Ducati celebrity PR stunts as the 10-time World Superbike Champions were obviously In a party mood. Their celebrations also included a special Ducati village located behind the Vanante Alta. showing vintage arid contemporary Ducati videos, plus autograph signings from the top Ducatl riders. !(a.aukir H.toyasu Izutsu Is a definite in the Kawasaki Superbike team. which may only have one more season of life left in It. Harald Eckl's contract runs out at the end of 2002. arid It appears that he may be the man chosen to run the Kawasaki four-stroke GP effort. Eckl's pre-race statements at lmola also iridicate that there should be two bikes out there. and maybe three again. with maybe Enc Bostrom racing on the third machine in an altematlng pattern With Yanagawa. Yanagawa himself IS definitely out and GregOriO Lavilla only has a 10-percent chance of riding next season. At the top of Kawasaki's shopping list IS Chns Walker. who IS out of contract and a man Eckl describes as a "strong nder and also has a lot of feel when the bike starts squirming arourid." Eckl also stated that "Kawasaki have told me they will not race the Suzuka a-Hour next year." This momentous step for any Japanese factory demonstrates clearly the commitment each one must be making to afford to design and build four-stroke GP bikes. with a goodly amount of the Big-Fours' budgets going on their annual civil war in the midsummer heat. and with only one chance of winning. _n Aprilia riders Troy Corser and Regis Laconi became film for the day at Imola - or at least their stand-ins did. The Incongruous sight of a number 3 and a number 55 Apnlia Circulating the track. with Similarly identical Corser and Laconi nders on. was frequently observed riding round the Imola circuit at every possible lull in the on-track action. Their doubles were adept at the trademarked Corser stand-up wheelie. and were frequently seen following a specially converted racing Kart. with a cameraman facing backward, for that genuine on-bike feel as a mobile mounting system large and relatively unwieldy cinema· style cameras. The new movie features the talents of British actor Paul Nicholls. who plays the part of the young British racer out to make himself World Champion. but has to beat his best friend to land the dream Job. Stephen Warbeck, who won as Oscar for Billy Elliot. will pen the movie's soundtraCk_ Suzuki: See separate Pier-Francesco Chili and Francis Batta story, but Suzuki may not enter a factory team in World Superbike next season, which has as much if not more to do with the lack of change in the 2002 Superbike regulations as anything else. Yamaha, No participation planned. The other main factor which has to be engineered into all the factory equallons is the general downturn In the world economy. and the heightened fears of ter- cue I e n e The many chlca_ at Imola brought about a problem peculiar to the new World Superbike venue, as the organizers tried to find a way to stop the riders cutting the chicanes. The F-l inspired chi· canes offer the riders the tempting opportunity to cut across on the apexes, meanin9 that some lap·times set in first qualifying were not comparable with other ones. Much time was to be made by jumping the first set and then the second sel. especially at the Variante Alta. Race direction took the unusual step on Fnday evening of Issuing a directive that banned anyone from exceeding strictly demarked limits on the trackside. The puntshment for cutling in practice would be the loss of any lap tIme achieved while cutting comers. and in race conditions a stop-and-go penalty was to be the sancllon. Reports from the marshals' posts around the track were the deciding factor In whether or not any rider had dehberately cut across the track. but remarkably few riders were hit with the penalty. despite severai of them obvIously getting airborne - caught on the TV cameras. Belgarda Yamaha made the news official at Imola that both Honda. Colin Edwards has signed already. but there is a slim chance that there will only be a one-rider team next year. Team spokesmen deny thiS. but with budget cutbacks and few available riders able to realistically be any better than Edwards. maybe Honda will also opt to cut costs and run a Single bike. Double Sugo World Superbike race winner Makoto Tamada is another poSSible team rider. OCTOBER 10, 2001 • As part of World Superbike's successful attempts to generate some enra i_ _ in the inaugural World Superblke race at Imola. the paddock was opened to the general public for free the day before official practice started. The initiative was voted a huge success because 5000 spectators, more than were expected. turned up to meet the stars and see the behind-the-scenes operation of the World Superbike paddock. It was such a lilt that plans are already in place to repeat the idea next year. as Imola Is down to be the final race on the calendar once more. The proposed race in France in October is still no closer to happening than when the 2002 calendar was first announced. Ridan for "-Ith, motorcycling's very own charitable organization (which helps medical personnel gain access to the poorest regions of the world uSing motorcycles). declared at Imola that the combined totals raised at the Brands Hatch and Donlngton World Superbike rounds was $26.266. A Riders for Health press release quoted that the money raised would be used for an aid .program which the charity intends to initiate in the remote and Impoverished Binga region of Zimbabwe. Benellir Although Peter Goddard is reportedly signed up for next year. it is understood that key personnel may be on their way out of the team and that there is a poSSibility the machine WIll not race at all. This rumor flies in the face of Benelli's previous statements and may be another knee-jerk rumor to the lack of rule changes for the 2002 season. 26 The sidecar riden. not to be outdone by MotoGP's twin seat Yamaha, once more dragged several volunteers kicking and screaming Into the none-too-capacious passenger platform of a fire-breathing Sidecar. Gamely offering hiS services thiS time around was SBK Race Director Roberto Nosetto. Somewhat advanced in years but young of heart. Nosetto said afterward. "I do not have so much grip in my hands and I was scared before I went out that I might lose my hand hold on the bike, but it was a great expenence. very exciting. " _ s Paolo Casoli and James Whitham were to be retained. along with all the backroom and race support staff. In the other official Yamaha camp, the Wilbers Suspension (Yamaha Deutschland team) have still made no final decision on who will replace Udo Mark as the new team boss. Meanwhile, Suzuki is expected to announce soon that Stephane Chambon will indeed return as a Supersport rider in 2002, alongside Katsuaki Fujiwara - and not Imola poleposition man Karl Muggeridge. Chris Vermeulen has SIgned to ride for the Werner Daemen team in 2002. alongside the diminutive Belgian rider who lends hiS moniker to the team itself. The Deemen team will be run under the umbrella of the ever expanding Ten Kate racing effort, which may be even more the official Honda Supersport team in 2002. if the planned two-man Castrol Honda-run World Supersport team does not come to fruItion. One method of makin9 this poSSibility a probabIlity IS .f the current Castrol Honda Bntaln squad. run out of the same workshops as the World team, defects to global racing The Bntlsh team Is furious because the Bntlsh ChampionshIp IS being downgraded to a National Championship - although the technical rules will no longer move away from those in World Supersport. as was onglnally planned. World SIdecar Champion Klaus Klaffenbock had to cede the Imola race win to his old rival Steve Webster, after 21 processional laps of the Italian cirCUIt. Webster. equahng Klaffenbock's score of four race wins this season. was in sparkling form as a rider. having initially muffed the start and found himself way down the order. In 13th place at the first split on lap one. Webster was seventh at the end of the first lap. and lost no time catching Klaffenbock. who was in the lead from almost the beginning. After the shortest of scuffles. Webster started pushing his advantage home and finished the race over nine seconds clear of the Austrian rider. In an ultimately processional race, Jorg Steinhausen took third place 10 seconds down on Klaffenbock. The final championship positions are Klaffenbock (160). Webster (120). Abbott (11) and Steinhausen (91).

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