Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

what MotoGP has been doing instead of concentrating on their own core values. The desire of the new SBK regime to make SBK accessible to'everyone is a laudable aim: the problem in reality is that without major manufacturers. the efforts of tire companies. and the absence of wild cards - plus the increased emphasis of manufacturers and suppliers on National championships - the SBK Superbike series may slip behind even the AMA series in terms of importance. Or just as damaging. only perceived importance. FGSport calls this idea rubbish. but the bad feeling toward SBK from a multitude of directions all at once was palpable at Laguna. with tire manufacturers and the MSMA leading the cries of derision. while others just wondered exactly where the vicious circle of uncertainty and controversy was all going to end. level· ing the playing field IS clearly the mission statement of SBK now. and a retum to the roots of the sport and the possible injection of some new blood and new teams that can now afford to go global racing are all highly desirable goals for a championship that even Its best friends have been saying is losing its way for years. The only problem is leveling off the championship's status to a high level. not the low one it had in the bad old days of the early ·90s. Once again the crystal ball looks half empty for World Super· bike, but things have a habit of clinging on and surviving all dra· mas in this production·derived series. It seems clear that the num· ber·one priority of the FGSport management is no longer to entice the big manufacturer·driven teams, but to fill the grids, have 10 riders capable and equipped to win any race, and let the racing itself do the promotion, A high·risk strategy of bluff and bravado or a final realization of financial reality in the four·stroke MotoGP era? Old Father Time will have the last say as always. Reaction to the news that there would likely be no returnee Japanese factory teams in 2004 varied from disappointment to calm acceptance in Laguna, Ducati appears to have accepted this with disappointment but the realization it has a two-year contract to honor. Francis Batta from the Alstare Suzuki team was not present at laguna, having jetted to Japan to discuss plans for 2004 with Suzuki. It appeared that there were two factions and a couple of abstainers in the MSMA meeting. Suzuki and Ducati were happy to continue in SBK; Honda and Kawasaki were not. due to the rule changes. Aprilia, who was maybe going to return to the fray in 2005, is now out (although its concems may well be more financial than anything else). Yamaha was reported to be not bothered either way. having no plans to compete with the R1. With none of the top brass at Laguna from the Japanese manu· facturers or Aprilia. it was left to Ducati Corse chief Claudio Domenicali to speak on Saturday, having arranged a meeting with Paolo Flammini (FGSport CEO) on Sunday. -We were very surprised by the tires news," Domenicali said. "We know more or les what the rules will be, and although we think that the previous rules would give a better balance between the three cylinder machines and the fours, we do not think the proposed rules are completely bad." Such was the impact of the FIM press release, including the wording of the control tires. and then the MSMA release that was released almost simultaneously (but unlinked in any way) that Domenicali had to change his travel plans right away and head for Laguna, not Donington. Mat Mladin. a veteran of many a mind game and verbal joust with the AMA brat pack, was very pointedly having a go at Neil Hodgson on the opening day, waiting to ride alongside him and then pass the Englishman hard, shOWing who was boss of the Laguna track. Mladin denied any gamesmanship in typically forthright style: "I wasn't messing with Neil. Why would I want to mess with Neil? I'm trying to get my stuff sorted out to race tomorrow afternoon, I was coming In the pits, and so I thought I' would latch on and see what was happening. See where we're at against the Ducatis. That Ducati is pretty quick." Mladin went on to dominate qualifying in SBK and Superpole just as he had done qualifying and Saturday's AMA race, Regis Lacon; gave a disarmingly honest and anatomical reason why he was fast from the start of qualifying at Laguna on Friday: "I like this track very much. but I think I am very fast here because you have to have big balls everywherel We still have some to do. but immediately we had a good feeling with the bike. Our tires are good, and we can do consistent lap times." He also had an hon· est but comic take on why there was a big disparity between some of the top speeds being posted on day one. "The top speed figures are good if you just don't get off the gas because the speed trap is in the wrong place... " Mat Mladin outlined the differences between his AMA and FIM Superbikes on Friday and explained why he had signed a deal to run the FIM. "The AMA rules are a lot different from the FIM ones," Mladin said. "The engines feel different. I am not skillful enough to pick up the difference in a couple of horsepower. But it will feel different. But the FlM bike was okay, the lap times was not too bad. Like I said, in that session it was the first time it had turned a wheel. We did the fast lap about the third lap into the session. We were just cruising around trying out some race stuff." Mladin quashed any possibility that he would be a second rider in any Suzuki World Superbike effort in 2004 but made his ultimate ambitions clear. "I would love to do GP," he said. "I have no ambitions to do Worid Superbike. From what I understand and what I read, they don't have much direction over there at the moment, and nobody knows what they're doing. I read a whole new bunch of stuff yesterday. I don't really want to go over there and deal with that. My wife and I are happy living over here. and like I've said before. I don't see World Superbike as a step up, maybe a step across, sideways. Mate, you've got to be happy doing what you're doing. I would love to go to GPs, but at this particular time it's not going to happen. I've made my career over here in the States. Obviously. I've been with Suzuki a long time. and if they need me over there, they know my phone number. Obviously, at the moment they are happy with what they are doing, with the way things are going. Maybe I could test the bike and help them with that. " Another spin was put on the tires in World Superbike story by an insider to the affair who confirmed that Pirelli was supposed to be selling its tire operations Cincluding Metzler) anyway. with the possible buyers either Michelin or Bridgestone. An announce· ment is expected soon. so maybe any deal cut with SBK by Pirelli (if it is true) will be honored by the purchasing company, not the current owners of Pirelli. The locals marshals at Laguna Seca are known to be big on enthusiasm and short on experience of motorcycle racing. Proof came when blue flags were brought out whenever two riders came around together. Several examples were evident on day one, the one caught on trackside TV best being Steve Martin. who was flagged when he thought someone like Neil Hodgson or Ruben Xaus was on his tail. slowing and looking back to check which side his threat came on. Imagine his surprise when the impending whirlwind from behind was nothing other than a Bertocchi Kawasaki, lapping at roughly the same speed. Gesticulating to marshals at the next post. Martin was not alone in his frustration. Fabien Foret is due to test a ZX,,6RR in Autopolis, Japan, after the Brands Hatch race, with the machine fitted with the first effort at a 2004 engine. Troy Corser suffered on the first day at laguna, haVing an intestinal upset that sent him off to the 100 on frequent occasions. Mild food poisoning was the root cause. and the doctors had to shoot the Foggy Petronas rider full of 1.5 liters of fluid to rehydrate him before he qualified. James Haydon was suffering a lack of confidence in his machine on day one, with the young Brit struggling to set anything like a lap time, and his teammate up into Superpole territory. His injured neck was not helping the cause, but Haydon was in the doldrums on the opening day. The shiny new pit garages at Laguna went down well with the World Superbike nomads, who are more used to using tents in the USA Air conditioned. with toilets, hospitality units above the garages. and a shiny new feel. the new addition to the Laguna skyiine cut a fine functional figure. Such was the thickness of the infamous Laguna Seca marine layer - a bank of fog that comes in off the sea in the morning, but that generally withdraws as the sun gets up - that the first qualify· ing session for Superbike was delayed for a short period. A big crash delayed the final untimed qualifying session at Laguna. making Superpole kick off a little later than its scheduled 4 p,m. com· mencement. Pirelli Racing manager Giorgio Barbier discussed some key aspects of Pirelli's rumored takeover of the spec tire slot in World Superbike but first denied earlier reports that Pirelli"s tire division was for sale. "We can say anytime that someone is interested to buy us, but we are not for sale," he said, Barbier refused to dis· cuss the fact that Pirelli is the tire company that SBK has made a deal with for the 2004 series. "Definitely, we cannot discuss this," said Barbier, "but I know why there is a problem that the promoter has recognized. At present Michelin has a product which is superior to all the others but makes it available to only a few teams, Dunlop has the service to make tires available to most people. It is not the fault of Michelin: it is not their responsibility that the promoter thinks the tire situation is killing the championship," Asked if Pirelli could physically make and supply the reqUired number of tires each weekend and for all classes, Barbl· er replied. "That is a matter for discussion. The level of sophisti· cation in this championship is very high, suspension and so on, and each rider wants a choice of tires to suit him. Rain conditions present the biggest problems because there are so many differ· ent track conditions from fully wet to just damp. That will be the biggest item for diSCUSSion. I have no fears about tires chunking or losing tread no matter what the conditions are, because differ· ent grades of tires can be brought to different tracks." On the subject of whether the tires would be !readed or not. Barbier's comments were that "all slicks look the same, so for commercial reasons we would like our tires to look like the tires we sell on the road. But that Is a commercial consideration. " Paolo Flammini commented on the lack of exact information about how many manufacturers will return to World Superbike in 2004, even though logically the press release issued by the MSMA indicates that it will most likely be none. "You can see that there is no precise information there," said Flammini. "As far as we can understand for sure, there are manufacturers who are already competing, so they will compete. Other manufacturers we hope will have official teams. There is a very positive expectation from many te~ms to participate at a good level in 2004. This means teams who are currently involved in Superbike or Supersport Championships and also high-level, national teams, who thanks to these new rules are planning to make a step forward and be Worid Superbike teams." Flamminl continued. "One thing to remember is that if we have a team which has a $2 million dollar budget in 2003, if we make it less expensive to race in 2004, they will be able to spend much more on the quality of the team. That is one of the main reasons to go for the new rules. We have to face the reality that the world in this moment is under very big financial pressure. So we have to help people to participate by avoiding unnecessary costs. ' Palm Springs is planning to host a World Superbike race. Pelm Springs International Raceway has obtained a 65-year lease of Indian land, owned by the Agua Caliente band of the Cauilla tribe, land that has been approved for building a motor· sport complex, containing a GP FIM/FlA standard facility. Funding is not yet in place. and company president David Christian and associates met with Paolo Flammini to discuss a possible future event that under no circumstances would take place before 2005. A delicious rumor circulating at Laguna Seca had Neil Hodg· son and Andreas Hoffman on a second string Ducati team with BBC and RTl sponsorship in MotoGP next year, most likely in the D'Antin Team. Answering the question of whether having manufacturer teams in World Superbike per se is still a goal of the championship, Paolo Flammin; commented, "We aiways welcome the manufacturers. and we always believe that to have the manufacturers participat· ing gives great value to the championship. so that is a definite. If we can have seven manufacturers on the grid, we would be the happiest people in the world. But we cannot think only about that: we must think about all the private teams who can make a very good show and who will be on the grid in any case. Even if you have six manufacturer teams, this would mean a maximum of 12 bikes. You need 25 or 30 good bikes for a proper grid." Dave Watkins, on-site boss of Dunlop's tire operations, stated that the spec-tire rules came as a complete surprise to him, and he was obViously less than pleased to hear the news. "We read about it in the same press release that everyone else got." he said. "It's very disappointing. We would not be interested in being a one-make supplier in Superbike even if we were asked. We are here for competition against other tire manufacturers. " Davide Tardozzl was almost in shock when the MSMA and tire rules came in on Thursday at Laguna, stating that "We have a contract to race with Fila next year, and all the plans are in place, but this changes everything we expected. Mr. Domenicali will be here on Saturday, and then we should know some more." Ducati Corse boss Claudio Domenicali spoke about why he felt it necessary to come to Laguna and what the impact of the new rules and one make tires may be. "I am partly here to discuss the new rules. but also partly to discuss about the AMA rules," Domenicali said. "It seems that the main intention is to reach a unique platform between the World Championship and AMA Still it is all under discussion. not finalized yet. But it is possible." He continued on the theme of the new technical rules, one-make tire proposal and the refusal of most Japanese facto· ries to compete in 2003. "If everything ends up the way it seems to go then It Is a change for us, but it is not a change that will change our plan," he said. "The tires are a bit more delicate. so still there needs to be more talking about this . If it is the best move for the championship at this time. We had just a general discussion about this, from time to time. Flammini has talked about the possibility of there being a unique tire supplier in the championship." Asked if there was no longer a working relation· ship between FGSport and the MSMA, Domenicali stated, "That is correct. Not for Superbike or Supersport. It is not that Super· bike is not important enough anymore - we want it a lot. All together we proposed the regulation, but we were not able to have the organizers accept the regulation." When asked about the future of Neil Hodgson and Ruben Xaus and whether or not Ducati would need such a strong rider in World Superbike any· more, Domenicali stated: "I think it is too early to say. Neil is on a two-year contract with us, and I think it will depend very much with how things progress in the next few weeks and months. I think it is too early to say what is the structure of the champi· onship for next year. ' Murray Treece, finance director of the Foggy Petronas team bucked the trend of doom and gloom about next year. "II's too early to tell what will happen next year, and if the new rules and tire regulations mean that more teams can be competitive, then that's a good thing," Treece said. "It shows that the promoters are trying to level things out for all the teams. Obviously it is bet· ter for all of us if there are more teams in the championship. Despite the MSMA press release, I don't think that the situation in regard to teams is set yet. and there are still a lot of questions. " Darrel Healey. team boss of the GSE Racing/HM Plant Ducat! team. was another World Superbike insider unconvinced that the end of the world was nigh and was seeking a meeting with the Flamminis to work out exactly what is going to happen. "Until we see all the rules for next year and the tire situation is resolved. it is impossible for us to say what we or anyone else will do next year," Healey said. "We really don't know for sure what the technical regulations are going to be, but our ambitions are the same· to get full factory machinery and win the World Championship. We believe that at Brands Hatch, all will be explained. " Colin Wright, the team boss of the GSE team, stated about the rules and tire implications that "We have to see the rules and the package for next year before we can make any decisions. We have to see how much money we have and if we can be competi" tive with the budget we have. We have to see the rules of the game, all the rules of the game, before we decide whether we can come and play. " cue I ... n ... _ S • JULY 23.2003 13

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