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/128222
Another Look At World Superbike A persona' view of tile current state of World Superbike by Dennis Noyes By DENNIS NOYES PHOTOS BY GOLD [, GOOSE A fter working almost exclusively ill as a Grand Prix journalist from the mid-'70s (I was there before Baker and before Roberts) until the end of last season, the vagaries of Spanish journalism determined that I be reassigned by my magazine, Barcelona's Solo Moto, to the parallel universe of World Superbike to take over this year for a colleague with health problems. And this happened just as MotoGP was booming and three of World Superbike's brightest stars, Colin Edwards, Troy Bayliss and Noriyuki Haga, were moving over to "the show." It seemed like the wrong time to be changing championships. The swap, however, has been stimulating and refreshing, and the racing this year is as good as any I have seen anywhere in the last 25 years, even if most of the bikes are Ducati twins. I didn't expect it to be so good. In fact, myoid friends in the GP paddock have been transparently condescending when they ask me about "life in the wilderness." 34 JULY 9, 2003' cue I ... In Europe those who would denigrate World Superbike refer to it as "the second division," borrowing the term from professional soccer. The American equivalent would be "minor league." One day I heard David Garcia, the European ex-250cc Champion and former test rider for Kenny Roberts' Proton team in MotoGP, now riding for the venerable NCR Ducati team, telling a gaggle of wide-eyed young Superstock rookies about what it's like in MotoGP. It was the classic scene of so many baseball movies when the guy who has been up to the majors for an end-of-the-season cup of coffee tells the minor league clubhouse kids about the size of the locker rooms and the first-class luxury seats on the private jets in the majors. "And you can even use a qualifying tire in the warm-up if you want," I heard David say. You should have seen their faces! MotoGP is "the show." Veteran Pier-Francesco Chili could certainly play the role of the veteran minor league catcher in Bull Durham, n eVIl's hitting his last dingers in the boonies, the old dream stiJI inextinguishable in his blue eyes as he strides up to the plate or, more accurately, as he pulls down his visor to go out once again from under the red SBK arch in search of the Superpole and, I guess, the grail. But that's not really right either. World Superbike riders perform on some of the same circuits as GP riders and, at Brands Hatch, in front of more than 100,000 fans. So m'Uch for the series being "minor league." Superbike riders even get to race in the USA. And the paddock is full of characters varying from the, until recently, untouchable Neil Hodgson, as smooth and precise a rider as you'll ever see, and big Ruben Xaus, much maligned by the Philistines of the motorsports press just because he's crashed 27 times in the last season and a half. (He has often been referred to as a diamond in the rough, but after his brilliant weekend in Misano, he just may have polished away those last rough edges, perhaps by crashing so often). , Neil Hodgson rides his way around problems with the twitchy but very fast works Fila Ducat! 1199F03 while teammate Ruben )(aus tries to muscle his way right through them, but both ' are Laguna Seea experts. Hodgson I was third last year In the second race, and )(aus chased Troy Bayliss home ' and beat Colin Edwards back to third In the first race. He arrives strong after his big double in Miano. It's been Ducati against Ducati for most of the season with James Toseland, a concert pianist by the way, breaking Hodgson's winning streak at nine races in Oschersleben, Germany, and now Xaus stopping the new streak at just two. If you love motorcycle racing then you understand and respect that the fighting spirit and sheer love of racing motorcycles that drive smooth Neil and big Ruben. Hodgson is really a bit of a throwback, eloquent, thoughtful, polite and disarmingly candid, as when he said after gunning down Gregorio Lavilla on the straight at Monza, "The superiority of the Ducati in straight-line speed is actuall}! somewhat embarrassing." Xaus is all heart, absolutely fear-