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World Superbike Championship Round 4: Monza, Italy Laconl (55) _ a man on a mission In both races, riding the wheels off of his NCR Ducatli here he leads Toseland. (RIght) P1erlrancesco Chili _ a, factor In both races and stuck his Ducat! on the podium In race two wttII a third. they all yelled for at Monza. Frankie enjoyed one of his best days and was fully in with the crowd from the start of practice. To take two race fin· ishes at one meeting was a novelty for him this season, and at home he was lifted shoulder high to meet nis' loyal legions before creaking his 38-year-dld bones across the new bridge over Pit Lane to the podium ceremony. Chili's first· race fift!) was a strong showing from which to back up his race·two podium. "Yesterday I said that if I won the race, I would stop racing," Chili, said. "But I didn't, so I think I will have to continue racing for another six or seven years. This time I didn't take off my clothes, but I must save some· thing for the other two races in Italy. If I do well a,t Imola then maybe-I will give it all to the people!" The opening race top ten ended up with DFX Ducati's Marco Borciani in eighth, his teammate, Steve Martin ninth and Lucio Pedercini on another Ducati in tenth. In the second IS·lapper Steve Martin and Marco Borciani scored seventh and eighth place finishes, while SBK rookie and lightning starter Vittorio lannuzzo outpaced Ducati rider Lucio Pedercini during his first event on the Alstare Suzuki GSX· RIOOO. Third into the first corner in each race, lannuzzo certainly knows the tricks at Monza. In all the happiness and varying degrees of success around them, the Foggy crew had a miserable old time, with both riders black flagged in race two after their carbon exhausts went on fire in the Monza heat. A single point· scoring finish around the fastest circuit on the calendar, Troy Corser's J 3th place in race one was an unlucky couple of numbers indeed. Experiencing overheating troubles in the slipstream, this was the low point for the Brit·based/Malaysian empow· ered team and their high·tech three· cylinder motorcycle. The honey· moon, if there ever was one, seems over; only more hard developglent work remains. Luckily for the Foggy team, most 30 people glossed over their woes in public, there being lots of far more interesting race action to watch and get enthused about. Hodgson, 85 points ahead already though? Is it over, with eiglit rounds and 16 races to go? Last year, and even this ral=e itself, should make us wary of rash early· season predictions, but for tl}e',s~, tators at least, Hodgson's winn'ng by 0.044 'seconds every week 's much preferable to his winning every race any other way. Assuming Hodgson does disap' pear in the next few rounds and that is total dominance diminishes, the fig'ht for second place is definitely on even T).OW, with Lavilla threatening his fello,w Spaniard Xaus (whom many thought should not have been allowed to race for his own safety after his concussion). Lavilla closed in on Xaus with his new total of 111 points and Regis Laconi moved to fourth overall on 96. Laconi has already become much more than a threat, even on his relatively old motorbike, and Chili, the evergreen·white·and red Chili, is right in there in race scenarios, even if his three DNFs keep him down in sev· enth, behind Walker. , The perfect raceJor one half of the Ducati garage, pain and misery for the other, pure pleasure for the neu· trals. Oschersleben, scene of Xaus' first-ever SBK win, is next up, so expect at least him, to snatch a leaf off Hodgson's garland. all' WORLD SUPERSPORT The, race was a foregone conclusion, even more so than the Superbike legs, "" after Karl Muggeridge set the circuit's best lap in qualifying and was almost a second faster than the next· best Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR, that of Chris Vermeulen. Even if he only eked out small doses of this advantage lap by lap, and starting from pole position as he did, Muggeridge was alteady away and gone in probably even his own realistic mind. Muggeridge's stunning practice per. formances were not translated to an n • _ so MAY 28, 2003· c u e • • expect.ed race wlh after his clutch burned out on the start line. He dropped out of contention and made a sad figure ridir:lg back toward Pit Lane. "I burnt th'e clutch out on the start, and I knew that !t was ~oint1ess riding around, so I"reti red. 11'5 a big disappointment when I' knew:'!' could have won," Muggeridg,e said. It was left to the bridesmaid from qualifying, the bridesmaid from last year's Monza Supersport race, to pick up the bouquet and ride like his very honor depended on it. Vermeulen therefore gave the Ten Kate Honda team a race win anyway, leading from the start and setting a new lap record of 1:52.635, almost, 15 seconds faster than the prev,ious best of Foret on last year's Ten Kate Honda. Also on Pirellis. Is there a Monza pattern developing here? "My :start was pretty good, and I 1\ was expecting Karl to come past, but I didn't s,ee anyone," Vermeulen said. "I read my pit board after about four laps, and I had plus six, so I turned around and there was no one there. I wondered what had happened and if the wb,ole field had been wiped out or something. The team have worked really well ~his weekend with my injury, and' Pirelli gave us the perfect tire for th race. The len Kate Honda is always fast-, and it,was really qui ~ \!llw@ §D~@ [jJGDu !XJ@@)rll~0=-.....::@=-=-[jf]-=--- _ The sky was gray, the track was gray, and prelly soon the mOQd would be gray. The SlIperpole competition got under way in the usual fashion. After 11 dders had completed their fast laps, the emerging r.ain was considered to be strong enough to war· rant halting Superpole on safety grounds, bringing the "Wet"rules into' force. Long faces all around and a late end to the day, but no one can control the weather - even if the rain eventually came to nothing. In this circumstance, each rider is given 12 laps to set his eventual qualifying time, making for an early cavalry charge from many of the competitors, clearly intent on setting a fast lap before wet track conditions took hold. The expected rains appeared with little force, the track stayed dry, and Neil Hodgson used only eight of his 12 allowed laps to find the best pace ever set at Monza, a time of 1:46,981, squeezed in just before the end of the "Wet" session. Second place was the reward for Pierfrancesco Chill and his PSG-1 Ducatl 998RS, after a cool and measured approach to his task. He finished his fastest lap only 0.115 sec· onds behind Hodgson, with third· placed James Toseland just over half a second down on Hodgson, his former teammate In the HM plant squad. NCR Ducati's Regis Laconi rode ten laps total and finished his practice sessions with a front row start in fourth for the 18-lap Superblke races on Sunday the 18th. Alstare Suzuki's Gregorio Lavill.a took the first four-cylinder 1000cc machine onto the grid, earning a flfth·fastest time, ahead of local rider and SBK regular Lucio Pedercini 0'1 a Ducati 998, Englishman Chris Walker and his HM Plant Ducati, and impressive SBK rookIe Villorio lannuzzo on the Alstare Suzuki GSX·R1000. Marco Borciani and Alessandro Gramlgnl made up the top ten, with Troy Corser just outside in lIth with a best lap of 1:50.244 on his Foggy Petronas FP-l, selling the lowest top speed of all Supewole contenders - 175 mph compared to Hodgson's 191 mph - or even lannuzzo's restricted Suzuki on 180 mph. I am 'very happy to be on the second row of the grid in my first World Superblke race," lannuzzo said, "Considering how little time I have been able to spend on the bike . I think I have done very well today. Riding a Superbike is so different because you can make so many, many changes to the machine. I am enjoying the experience, though." This performance put the lid on a dismal display for his team at a circuit they knew they would strug· gle at. James Haydon had a miserable time, quali· fying 20th and haVing his bike fail to retum him to the pits more than once - once due to mechanical problems, others through crashes. Only 14 riders set a time in wet Superpole, with Paolo Blora out due to a wrist injury suffered in ear· lIer crash and Ducati Fila's Ruben Xaus was also unable to start after he struck a fallen machine duro ing the second regulation tim.ed qualifying session. Xaus was credited with 12th on the grid, thanks to a regulation, which states that any rider cannot quali· fy lower than the row behind that which he qualified on due to his performance in the earlier sessions, An MRI scan showed no damage to Xaus a.fter his concussion, and he was declared fit, but under review, before the end of the da.y. "For some time I couldn't remember much about the incident, but I've had a rest, and I feel okay now, and I'U be on the grid tomorrow for the race," Xaus said.