Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Superbike Championship Round 5: Monza, Italy break from the pursuing pack, with 131 points. His closest challenger is Haga on 103, only a single point clear of Ben Bostrom. Xaus lies sixth. For virtually everyone except Bayliss, Edwards - and maybe Hodgson and Haga - their championship aspirations already lie in tatters. eN SBK Superbike World ChlImpionship, Monu (1 :48.415); 4. Pier-Francesco Chili (1 :48.662); 5. Norlyukl Hega (1 :49.206); 6. James Tosel~nd (1:49.541); 7. Lucio Pedercini (1:49.800); 8. Eric Bostrom (1,50.091); 9. Steve Martin (1,50.035); 10. Ben Bostrom (1:50.091); 11. Marco Borciani (1,50.402); 12. Alessandro Antonello (1,50.577); 13. Gregorio Lavillt:! (1:50.945); 14. Juan Borja (1,50.958); 15. Chris Walker (1,51.002); 16. 8roe Parkes (1,50.737); 17. Ruben Xaus (1'50.994); 18. Mauro Sanchini (1:51.835); 19. Paolo Blora (1,51.926); 20. Serafino Forti (1,52.975); 21. Mark Heckles (1.52.993); 22. Ivan Clementi (1,53.481); 23. Cristian Caliumi (1:53.821); 24. Peter Goddard (I '54.128); 25. Betrand Stey (1 '54.350); 26. Thierry Mulot (1,54.906); 27. Alessandro Valia (1.55.295). RACE ONE, 1. Troy Bayliss (Due); 2. Neil Moo18,ltely Results: Me, 1211l, 2002 QUALIFYING: 1. Neil Hodgson (I '47.913); 2. Colin Edwards (1:48.413); 3. Troy Bayliss Hodgson (Duc); 3. Colin Edwards (Han); 4. PierFrancesco Chili (Duc); 5. James Toseland (Duc); 6. Ruben Xaus (Duc); 7. Gregorio LeviJla (Suz); B. Alessandro Antonello (Due); 9. Eric Bostrom (Kaw); BRIEFLY••• Ruben Xaue' weekend in Monza was still affected by his damaged hand, the result of a crash in Sugo. Despite declaring himself happy enough to be 17th in the opening day's changeable track conditions, the Catalan rider suffered the ignominy of missing out on a Superpole start because of the wet second session, 17th after regulation qualifying. His pre-race woes continued apace in warm-up, when he crashed chasing Hodgson on the exit of the Ascari chicane, suffering a massive highside (pictured). which saw him hang in the air for what seemed like seconds before crashing to earth. He walked away. but his machine was less fortunate, barrel rolling several times before ended its long journey in the Air Fence. Ivan Clementi was another who failed to finish warm-up, falling from his Bertocchi Kawasaki. but Noriyuki Haga was the biggest name out of the pre-race session, with a blown engine. 10. Steve Martin (Due); 11. Juan Borja (Due); 12 Mauro Sanehini (K8W); 13. A1ess8ndro Valia (Due) 14. Peter Goddard (Ben); IS. M8rk Heckles (Han) 16. Cristi8n Caliumi (Due); 17. Ivan Clementi (Kaw) 18. Thierry Mulot (Due). Time: 32 min. 51.693 sees. to take advantage of SBK's Open Paddock day on Thursday. The idea, first tried out successfully at Imola in 2002. is that on the eve of practice the paddock is declared open, and visitors can enter for free to see riders, teams and World Superbike racing in general. in full static effect. The hardy thousand or so souls who were in attendance took shelter where they could before meeting the riders in a series of autograph-signing sessions held in the SBK Paddock Show marquee. The day was ended with a charity auction of rider paraphernalia for the Italian Charity 'Emergency,' seeking to eqUip its children's hospital in Cambodia. With relatively few people able to make it in and a serious dent in the coffers of the auction, the SBK organizers re-arranged another auction after the Superpole press conference. The rest of the kindly donated articles went under the hammer, and a total of nearly $10.000 was raised over both days. Neil Hodgson's assertion that his machine felt just as fast as Troy Bayliss' at Monza was borne out by the speed trap, which gave Hodgson's 2001 factory bike the same speed as Bayliss' full 998F02 model. -I'd say, if anything, my bike maybe had the legs on his." stated Hodgson after the first day. Giovanni Bussei's Misano test for the Kawasaki Racing Team (on the Friday prior to the Monza weekend) went reasonably well according to the Italian contingent. but no news has been forthcoming about any chance he may have of being a Kawasaki rider for probably the rest of the season. Izutsu's injury, a broken radius at the distal end, is not expected to heal any time soon, making for a patchwork arrangement of rider cover for the former All-Japan Champion. Pier-Francesco Chili'e return to the active fray was in a disappointing fashion, the same fashion his previous Kyalami ended - with a crash. The Italian was not injured. pride was hurt. He made amends with his Superpole and tion qualifying results, on the front row for the races. started race at but his regula- The designs of Monza's chicanes, inspired by the needs of Fl racing, mean that cutting the apexes is not just achievabie but desirable, as it lops significant passages of time from the ultimate lap time. Wise to the prOblem, race direction issued a pre-race edict that any riders caught cutting the chicane. even inadvertently, would lose their laps. A huge amount were caught and punished. with many riders lOSing their best laps as a direct result. The first chicane at Monza. the Prima Variante, had been resurfaced. and according to the riders, who had great experience of it in both wet and dry conditions by the end of final qualifying, it was a big improvement on the old version - although still hateful in its ability to destroy rhythm. Grippier and smoother was the general consensus. Chris Vermeulen even stated that he could get his knee down in the wet on the left and right Ricks. even if the track was somewhat slic.k and slow to dry. "The track is really greasy: I think a lot of the water is coming from the trees. The new surface coming in to the chicane is really grippy and I had new knee sliders on this morning and I'm getting them both down through the first chicane. " Biblical rains fell on the Milan area of Italy on the Wednesday before the race, and continued with enhanced levels of misery for the next day. The net result was traffic chaos all over the Monza region, a reduction in the possible numbers of those who wished 22 MAY 22, 2002' cue I e n __ s 13 rounds): 1. Troy Bayliss (224/8 wins); 2. Colin Edwards (186/1); 3. Neil Hodgson (131); 4. Noriyuki Haga (103); 5. Ben Bostrom (102); 6. Ruben Xaus Fastest lap: Troy Bayliss, lap 14, 1:47.434. RACE TWO: 1. Troy B8yliss (Due); 2. Colin Edwards (Han); 3. Noriyukl H8ga (Apr); 4. Neil Hodgson (Due); 5. Gregorio Lavilla (Suz); 6. Lucio Pedereini (Due); 7. Eric Bostrom (Kaw); 8. Broe Parkes (Due); 9. Ben Bostrom (Due); 10. Chris WlIlker (KlIw); 11. Steve Martin (Due); 12. Stefano Forti (Due): 13. Mauro Sanehini (Kaw); 14. Ivan Clementi (Kaw); 15. Alessandro Valia (Due); 16. Paolo Blora (Due); 17. Peter Goddard (Ben); 18. Eric Bostrom's presence at Monza is expected to be repeated at Silverstone, and maybe beyond if he performs well enough. The Califomian's PR people were promoting the rider by means of sub-credit-card-sized CD-ROMs. which were so trick that many journalists with slot-loading CDs on their computers could not get their machines to read them. Troy Baylise and Ruben Xaus were in subtly new livery at Monza, after a takeover of their main sponsor Infostrada by Wind, another big, Italian Telecoms company. Wishing to keep the Infostrada logo in a prominent position, but have their own corporate identity accentuated somehow, the blue color of the Wind logos appeared as fairing and tail flashes, and as the background color for the Infostrada logos. The deal was completed a coupie of weeks before the Monza race. and the timing was ideal for both companies to get a bit of additional publicity at their first home race of the season. WORLD C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 5 of Time: 32 min. 34.429 sees. Dist8nce: 64.64 miles Average speed: 119.08 mph Margin of victory: .259 sec. Mark Heckles (Hon). Pier-Francesco Chili came overall nationalistic at Monza. appearing at various times with either a tricolore paintjob on his helmet or his leathers. The two little Italys were unified once more in the former Royal Parco come Superpole. when Chili donned both helmet and leathers for the first time. to rapturous applause from the two-wheel Tifosl. World Motorcycle racing medic Claudio Costa. who has just published a typically grandiose book about his time in bike racing. has now 'dedicated' it to Ducatl. In a ceremony held in the Ducati hospitality unit. Costa publicly dedicated his book to the Borgo Panigale concern, the winners of the first Imola 200 race, which his father Checco organized in 1972. To add to the desmo Ravor of Costa's dedication, Bruno Spaggiari, who finished second in the race was in attendance. along with Paul Smart's winning Ducatl. Aprilia has finally capitalized on the successes of the RSV Mille and the popularity of Noriyuki Haga by bringing out a replica machine with a race kit. and wearing the same decals and graphics as Haga's machine. The spec includes a titanium two-into-two full race exhaust. re-chlpped EPROM and a 16-tooth front sprocket. Delivered in street-legal form, the kit parts included with the machine make it non-road-Iegal. The kit also delivers 6.6 pounds less all-up weight, three horsepower more at the top end, a 10 hp increase in the midrange at 6000rpm, and a flatter power curve. The cost is $24,500, with free delivery anywhere in Europe. On sale from May 10, for all would be Haga-istl. Still some way short of Ducati's track-ready Testastretta racers, however. Noriyuki Haga's warm-up plans, to test race tires. were destroyed when his engine broke, billowing oil smoke on his run into the Ascarl Chicane. Inexplicably, the Japanese rider continued for an inappropriate amount of time before coming off-track. The Benelli team returned at Monza, with a more reliable. if little quicker Tornado racer in tow. Peter Goddard was back in the saddle and although 24th in the dry qualifying. his eighth place in the wet session was reason for cheer. "We went really well in the wet and it felt good to be up in the top 10." said Goddard. "The problem is, we have been going in the wrong direction for our dry setup. Now. we've worked out where we've been going wrong, Distance: 64.64 miles Average speed: 118.04 mph Margin of victory: 2.226 sec. Fastest lap: Troy BlIyliss, lap 13, 1:48.570 (96); 7. James Toseland (68); 8. (Tie) Gregorio Lavilla/Chris Walker (58); 10. Hltoyasu Izutsu (47); 11. Makoto Tamada (45); 12. Juan Borja (44); 13. Lucio Pedereini (27); 14. (Tie) Eric Bostrom/Steve Martin (21). Upcoming Rounds: Round 6: Silverstone, Great Britain, May 26 Round 7: Lausitz, Germany, June 9 and if we have a dry free practice in the morning, we'lI be able to try out our latest dry settings. - Team owner Andrea Merloni was possibly the only Italian in Monza praying for rain come race day and admitted that there is still work to do on the machine to make it competitive. "This is essentially our first race of the season and we've got a lot of work still to do. We seem to have found the problems with our dry setup: we'll have a chance to test our direction if it is dry during Sunday morning's free practice. Our engine is better than our grid position. We want to get 100 percent out of our bike. but it's going to take lots more work and commitment. " Darrell Healey, owner of the HM Plant Ducati team. had his feet firmly on the ground after qualifying and Superpole, despite the huge expectations that Hodgson' s qualifying performances brought to all onlookers. "Today is another day. Nell can match the times through the first two splits and we seem to have an advantage through the Parabolica, where he can pick up 0.3-0.4 seconds. I just hope we have a better result than we did here last year Mondial had a new version of its Piega twin, powered by a Honda SP-2 engine. on display at Monza, although a racing version has yet to be properly unveiled. More contemporary in terms of styling, road tests of the machine were carried out just prior to the Monza race. In general. the top speed of the machines in qualifying were down on last year, although lap times were better. Part of this was blamed on the placement of the speed trap. and part on the fact that the resurfaced chicane was very grippy, even in the wet. Neil Hodgson, who had said after morning warm-up that his machine was a match in speed for the factory Testastretta of Troy Bayliss, took the fastest lap of the opening day of qualifying - with a new track record to boot. His iap time of 1:48.282 was by far the best of the day and beat Pier-Francesco Chili's previous qualifying record of 1:48.584 by a handsome margin. In a curious twist of fate, the top speeds set by the factory machines was no higher than in previous years and in many cases was somewhat less. With the track wet in the second qualifying sessions. the results were taken from the first session. An unusually pugilistic and close Sidecar race saw World Champion Klaus KlaHenbock take his first win of the year, whipping the race away from Steve Webster by just 0.1 of a second after a fierce14-lap battle. A slow start from pole man Webster saw him drop down the field on the opening lap as Suzuki rider Schlosser set a blistering pace from the start. Webster soon made progress to get onto the back of the leaders, followed by Klaffenbock in third and Steinhausen fourth. The extra horsepower of Schlosser and Webster's Suzukis was apparent over Klaffenbock's Yamaha, but the number-one machine clearly had the advantage on the brakes. due to its lighter weight. A brilliant outbraking move into the Parabolica by Webster saw him briefiy take the lead only to be out-dragged by Schlosser down the long start/finish straight. The follOWing lap was an exact replay, only Klaffenbock outbraked Webster into the chicane to take second. The pass of the race went to Klaffenbock, with a stunning outbraking maneuver around the outside of both Webster and Schlosser into the first chicane on lap seven. A new sidecar age dawned at Monza, although some had it down as an ice age, with the Sidecars being frozen out of the Sunday race-day schedule to finish the qualifying sessions on Saturday with their race from now on. Thus there is no Sidecar Superpole anymore, a decision that many parts of the Sidecar paddock see as being foisted on them - and many claim that no consultatiOn took place before the schedule was changed. The original idea was for the Sidecars to be given full race coverage on Eurosport, between the two Superbike races on Sunday afternoon, one day after the race. It appears that. in the present climate of Sidecar racing, a lot of sponsors are pulled in by the attraction of going to races7 and getting the chance to be part of the full World Superbike circus. Therefore, that enticement to new sponsors has been removed, and the chances of keeping those sponsors who disapprove of the Saturday race have been reduced. The lure of TV slots will possibly repair those cracks in the Sidecar sponsorship dykes, but in terms of this season, many Sidecar teams feel they have been marginalized once again.

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