Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Championship Road Race Series Round B: British Grand Prix BRIEFLY••• The powerful Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers Association (MSMAJ has rung the death knell for the World Superbike Championship as we know it in a sweeping statement officially withdrawing factory support (with the possible exception of Ducat;) from the beleaguered series. The radical reaction to yet another proposed change in technical regulations, including an unexpected switch away from the expected intake restrictors, was worded with regret but without equivocation. The association comprises Honda. Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha, plus Aprilia and Ducati. "The six manufacturers.. of the MSMA are extremely disappointed and discouraged" that the Flammini Group and the FIM want to change the World Superbike regulations for 2004, said the statement. "We feel that this sudden change does not conform with the quality and status of a World Championship and does not meet basic requirements for technical rules. such as enabling large numbers of teams and companies to compete under fairer conditions." read the written statement. As a result. the MSMA was to withdraw support from the series. Furthermore it pulled out of the SBK Commission after declining to attend the crucial SBK Commission meeting where rule changes were discussed. "Of course, we rejected attendance to the meeting that discusses such an unreasonable proposal." read the statement. The proposed rule changes include the use of control tires, from Pirelli, and abandons the inlet restrictors, introduced on trial this year for 1000ee multicylinder machines. Previously they ran unrestricted, but to a 750cc limit against 1000cc twins. So far only Suzuki has fielded a machine with restrictors. with promising results. The MSMA. however, pointed out that the manufacturers had worked together for two years to formulate this rule, with the aim of making the competition fairer without increasing costs and to avoid the need to make costly high-performanc.e road bikes from which to derive racing Superbikes. It had come up with the restrictor rule, only to have it. and all the associated development work, summarily thrown out of the window. "It is sad, but it has to be said this is not the first time... In 2000, the kitpart rules for Superbike were suddenly changed only half a year before implementation. On that occasion, too, each of the companies... had already incurred the costs of development, manufacturing and ordering components. The companies suffered a great deal of damage on that occasion, but had come to believe promises that the same thing would never happen again. Despite that, the same situation has recurred after less than three years," the statement read. In addition to the new costs, "the basic incentive for competing is substantially reduced. As a consequence, the large majority of the MSMA member companies who were considering entering SBO have... decided not to enter SBK at all." This suggests that Ducati may stay fait,hful, but it is known that Honda will not return and that Aprilia has cancelled its planned 2004 comeback. Yamaha and Kawasaki had already pulled out and will not now retum, while Suzuki's involvement is likely to become even more peripheral to the factory, if it is there at all. On first sight. this would seem to be a major body blow to a series already reeling under the loss of top riders and factory teams to MotoGP. It consigns Superbike to privateer or dealer-team levels and might even throw the Worid Championship status into doubt. In fact, It is really a confirmation of what was already happening, and there is at least a hint that the manufacturers were only waiting for the right excuse to formalize it. At the same time, it brings World Superbike back to its original level. and the series may well prosper without factory bikes - although not to the GP-rivaling levels of its heyday. Factory Suzuki rider Yukio Kagayama ran a second GP - the fourth of nine consecutive weekends of top-level racing - at Donington, after Kenny Roberts Jr. was ruled out of the race by his slow recovery from injuries sustained at the Italian GP at the beginning of June. Roberts collided with teammate Hopkins and fell heavily on his right shoulder. Normally, according to Dr. Costa, the collarbone would have broken. Instead it stayed intact. inflicting injuries to the joints at each end. The injury to the inner end, at the breastbone, had healed, according to a report from famed racing surgeon Arthur Ting, but there was still significant swelling at the shoulder attachment, and Roberts' movement was still hampered by pain. Since he has no championship position to protect. he and the team elected to delay his return until the German GP in two weeks' time, where he should be close to full fitness. Team manager Taylor said: "We're at a crucial stage of development. and the most important thing to have the riders and the motorcycles in the best possible condition, otherwise no improvement will be possible." Suzuki's all-new GSV-R machine has so far proved unpredictable and difficult, with no great reserve of horsepower to mask its deficiencies. Two-strokes made a ring-a-ding retum to the MotoGP class at Donington Park. Right at the back of the field. The 500cc V-four Roc Yamahas also marked the first race of the season for the WCM team, after serial disqualification of their home-brewed Rl Yamaha-based MotoGP four-stroke. The appearance may have been essential to save the team's franchise. Doma had let the matter ride while WCM awaited the final verdict on the legality of their four-stroke. When it was ruled out once and for all by the independent CAS, they told the team they would have to race in Britain or at the very latest in Germany in two weeks. The bikes came from wherever the team could find them. With all the factory YZRs crushed or tumed into museum pieces, they had to take what they could find. Two bikes came from the defunct Sabre Sports team, another from team manager Peter Clifford's home in New Zealand, and a fourth from team patron Bob Maclean's private collection in the USA - arriving on the moming that practice began. Clifford's bike was campaigned from 1994 to 1997 by a succession of WCM riders: Niall Mackenzie, Neil Hodgson, James Hayden and Kirk McCarthy: Maclean's machine finished third in the British GP in 1993. Clifford hoped they would not have to finish the year on the obsolete two-strokes. "We are pushing very hard to get our four-stroke crankcases and cylinder heads ready for the Portuguese GP (on September 7l before the fiy-away rounds," he said. Rider David de Gea had a heavy highside crash on his out lap of Saturday morning free training, damaging the machine enough to trigger serious cannibalization and spoiling his weekend. Chris Burns also slipped off in the same session but got back to qualify last. in spite of the fastest-ever lap of the track by a Roc Yamaha. Renowned racing engineer Antonio Cobas, former manufacturer and long-term technical guru with the Pons Honda team, was hospitalized in the week before the British GP after suffering headaches over previous weeks. He is undergoing tests to determine if this is stress-related or for another reason. The British GP has something of a tradition as the place to launch new books - and this year's was a first biography of double Superbike Champion and now MotoGP hopeful Colin Edwards. Written by World Superbike reporter and T.W.O. magaZine editor Bertie Simmonds, Colin Edwards, The Texas Tornado covers the affable American rider's career from childhood dirt-tracking exploits to his emergence from the AMA series as a world-beating star. Fully illustrated and 144 pages long, Texas Tornado is published by Haynes, the latest in its series of hardcover biographies. 30 JULY 23,2003' cue • e n e _ s Michelin hosted a huge party on Saturday night at Donington to celebrate its 300th GP win, achieved by Sete Gibernau at Assen two weeks before. The French tire company came into bike racing in 1973, taking its first title in 1974, with Kent Andersson in the 125cc class. Two years later, Barry Sheene achieved the first of the brand's wins in the top class. Jack Findlay, the first top-class race winner on Michelins, got a laugh when asked on stage what he thought about his pioneering win. "I didn't think about it much... but then we didn't think much in those days." Randy Mamola, Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi also took to the stage to pay tribute to the pioneers of slicks and radial motorcycle tires. Racing legend John Surtees - the only man to win World Championships on two and four wheels was inducted into the MotoGP Hall of Fame at Donington Park. And the 68-year-old superstar had words of advice for Valentino Rossi. "If he wants to switch to car racing, he should do so soon," said Surtees. Surtees won 38 GPs and seven 350cc and 500cc World Championships between 1956 and 1960. He switched to cars while still at the peak of his form, mainly because he was bored with only being able tQ race in two classes, but his employers MV Agusta refused permission to race 250s as well. "Everybody has a personal built-in rev counter, and you have to make the change while you are still accelerating up your power curve." Other motorcyclists who had made the switch, like Mike Hailwood and Johnny Cecotto, had left it too late to scale the heights. "When I moved to cars, I was qUick immediately," he said. "Not safe, but quick. If Valentino wants to try new pastures, he must decide soon," said Surtees, who went on to become Fl World Champion in a Ferrari. Will Valentino Rossi switch to Ducati next year? The dominant figure in racing wouldn't deny it, in a series of interviews before the British GP. And he would even be prepared to abandon his antitobacco stance, if necessary. But since the 125, 250, 500cc and MotoGP champion is currently in negotiation with HRC concerning the renewal of his contract, nobody was sure if he really meant it or if he was just trying to spice up Honda's offer, which has so far fallen short of the 8 million Euro (S9 million) he is said to be demanding. "I would love to try to win the title on an Italian motorcycle," said Rossi. Asked if the Marlboro sponsorship of the team would not be a barrier, after his earlier refusal to ride with tobacco backing, he said; "I prefer not to ride for cigarettes, but if it is a choice of that or going on holiday, I prefer to race." If he does make the move, it would have to be to a second team, other things remaining equal. Both Troy Bayliss and loris Capirossi are contracted to the official Marlboro factory team next year, but Ducati is known to want another team. Possible candidates would be current franchise holders WCM or d'Antin. The annual Day of Champions, believed to be the largest outdoor fund-raiser in Britain, netted a new record S189,OOO on the day before the British GP, with a 25-percent increase in attendance at an informal event where race fans get the chance to meet their heroes and tour the paddock. The auction of racing memorabilia alone raised 569,000; while Carlos Checa not only sold the shirt off his back, but persuaded TV presenter Suzi Perry, hosting the auction, to do the same. The money raised goes to prOViding mobile health care in impoverished African countries via the Riders for Health program, which exploits motorcycle mObility in remote and rugged areas. Organizer Andrea Coleman said: "No other sport has a day like this, and none has given birth to an intemational charity of the status of Riders for Health. Once again. the racing community has shown what a warm, generous and responsive sport this is." Charity was not the only beneficiary of the Day of Champions, as a light-fingered opportunist turned it also into a Day of Thieves. The low-lifer struck the HRC truck, getting away with 7000 ($7900) Euro in cash in a briefcase containing the truck driver Pops' passport, as well as that of Rossi team man Dougie Sharp. The money was one thing: the documents another - HRC is scheduled to join tests at Brno days after Donington. The thief did have a conscience, however. An appeal was broadcast. and the briefcase returned to the Michelin function on Saturday evening. The passports were inside, but the money was gone. Max Biaggi's spirits were boosted by acquisition of a new chassis at Donington Park. Changes from the production chassis to the 2002 factory chassis are not significant: but getting something special from the factory at last may have been the lift he needed to slot onto pole position for the first time this year, after the fastest-ever lap of Donington by a motorcycle. Kawasaki will have a new chassis and a new-spec engine for the major Smo tests next week· the results of tests after Catalunya and first major fruits since the arrival of technical chief Hamish Jamieson. Drafted in to help tum the green bikes from also-rans, Jamieson's mantra is to bring more logic and system to development of the machine. "My first impression in South Africa was that there wasn't one single problem area. It didn't obviously handle badly: the engine wasn't obviously slow. To me it just seemed slow overall. in tuming and in acceleration. We're working in all areas," he said. The engine change was mainly a lighter crankshaft. "With the current bike it's difficult to change direction with the throttle open. A lot of that is from the crankshaft inertia, both in torque reaction on initial opening, and gyroscopic effect." said Jamieson. He promised a big improvement for the current machine this season, "maybe one or 1.5 seconds a lap," he said. "But to be truly competitive, we need a pretty big change," he said. The lack of success so far was. he thought, "because Kawasaki and Dunlop have tried to do too much, with not much result in the end. I want to change the approach, maybe to test fewer things, but get a clear result," he said ... I think there is a lot of potential in the machine as it stands, but I don't think it will be possible to make a big improvement this season." Kawasaki's riders Garry McCoy and Andrew Pitt are having their patience tried by the poor performance of the machine - and in former GP winner McCoy's case, the year so far has been something of a nightmare. "It's hard to cope with being lapped, but I have to grin and bear it." McCoy said. "I hope there is some light at the end of the tunnel. But I can't see it yet." he grinned wryly. Top of his wish list was something major in the chassis - "just to get some ideas. At the moment we are changing by a millimeter here or there, and everything is basically the same," he said. "It all looks pretty bad right now, but I'm sure Kawasaki want to win just as badly as we do," he said. Teammate Pitt confirmed that the chassis was his main focus. .. I know all these bikes have a lot of power, but ours wheelies way too quickly, as soon as you get on the power. You can't open the throttle as early as the others, and you can't open it fully because the front wheel won't stay on the ground." Neither rider took the soft option of making Dunlop tires the scapegoat. "Tires aren't really an issue this weekend - it's wheelstands," said Pitt. "When we put a soft tire on that has plenty of grip, we still have the same problems. " British ex-GP racer Jay Vincent only knew on the morning before practice that he would have a wild card ride at his home race. It meant a rush for the local man and his Padgetts team - he had to get a medical. while they had to get an Aprilia out of mothballs. He went on to qualify an impressive 11 tho

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