Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

By Rostrum or Hospital GORDON RITCHIE R'ubber Sol , W hen the idea of a spec Pirelli tire in SBK for 2004 was first outlined to a disbelieving world at Laguna Seca Superbike weekend, everyone thought it was an elaborate bluff to shake some money, or at least a firm commitment, from longtime SBK team tire suppliers Dunlop and Michelin. It was, said some, a typically dramatic Flammini bombshell, dropped from a great height and with extreme stealth. But was it a self·destructive incendiary tossed from an out-of-touch Ivory Tower, or was it life-saving ballast, jettisoned by the savvy and brave crew of an airship struggling to clear the next mountain blocking SBK's risk-filled 16-year odyssey? If it was a provocation of sorts, it worked very well, especially after the bluff became reality. Pirelli will now indeed be spec tire suppliers in 2004. Dunlop is out; Michelin is out. Long-time SBK institution Dunlop - feeling bitterly betrayed it appears has now handed the case to the lawyers. Michelin, so dominant and almost omnipresent in MotoGP, also seems ready to flex some muscle to defend its right to compete in the "other" world championship. The Flamminis, in the shape of their wholly owned company FGSport, stated publicly that they had genuine fears that both Dunlop and Michelin would pull out in 2004 and thus had to take some drastic action simply to make sure that there would be volume tire suppliers on site next year. A laudable aim, even if cynics suggest that the money Pirelli is assumed to have paid for the right to "own" SBK's tire contract was the real motivating factor. Now that some dust has settled, it seems less and less likely that Dunlop, with possible race-winning teams like Alstare, GSE, NCR and PSG-1 among its users, would want to leave a world championship it had a realistic chance of making some good publicity from. Michelin has been winning SBK races, thanks to factory Ducati and Honda teams, for years, and like Dunlop, its SBK tires are now basically spinoffs from existing MotoGP programs. Michelin has already been working on a 2004 return to WSS racing, so they say, and Ducati was all set to run Michelin again. Add all that to the recent comments and actions of Dunlop and Michelin, and it would seem to negate the idea that they were about to lift the petticoats of their awnings and leave SBK jilted on the 2004 alter. Even the FGSport management said they were surprised at the strength of the reaction after the spec tire idea was thrown up. Few others were, and that mayor may not indicate an organization with too few or just plain unreliable sources inside its own paddock. Outsiders have commented that if Honda and so on really weren't coming back with direct factory teams, was it a good idea to throwaway the prestige of having Dunlop and Michelin waging war (in public at least) for the right to win your own series? And now that they have been kicked out, will they ever want to come back? Human beings run companies after all, and in racing circles, generally very passionate ones. Pirelli, with respect for the efforts of all involved, has had little measurable or subjective success taking on the big two in SBK (lots in WSS mind you), and cynics suggest that buying the exclusive rights is the only way the company will win with slicks. Through all the barrage of criticism, FGSport has stuck to its guns. As long as those guns are not pointed toward the feet of everyone in SBK, then it may prove to be a shrewd move. According to FGSport, the new one-tire system will be fairer for intrack competition, will draw in more teams to the grid for 2004, and will cost the smaller teams less, saving them money they can spend on being bigger teams in the near future. All sound points of logic, if you share the view FGSport has of its own product. Well, the vast majority of the current teams - all of whom desperately want to be in SBK, remember - have expressed extreme displeasure and (especially in WSS) doubts about whether or not they can compete at the same level, simply due to the loss of tire sponsorship funds. We haven't even mentioned yet that there will realistically be no quality wild card riders, the very backbone of SBK's past, current and future racing talent. Part of the reason there are big crowds at Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Laguna and normally high factory interest at Sugo, is to see how the plucky locals fare against the worldclass regulars. It seems impossible that any prospective SBK wild cards using Mich or Dunnies in their domestic series will be allowed to race at an ultimately nonchampionship event on Pirellis. What happens if, as expected, Dunlop and Michelin use the money they will not be spending on SBK anymore to embark on tire wars in these key markets? What happens if the SBK boys come to town and are two or more seconds off the normal track pace? Some say that this is irrelevant if the racing in SBK is close and exciting, and that is a valid point, albeit one that is impossible to predict. But SBK is supposed to be a full-on World Championship, with a smattering of well-paid superstars people actively want to come and watch, plus other teams of ambition trying to become winners. In trying to even things out, we could be at risk of alienating the best teams and inducting a grid full of plucky also-rans in their stead. This point has to be stressed. World Championship racing, of any kind, is all about status and prestige and relative importance. That's what attracts sponsors, big-name riders and proper money. Who wants to come see relatively unknown foreign blokes, with low-input foreign sponsors, all lapping slower than your own domestic guys - live or on TV? God knows SBK racing has had to fight hard for its current level of prestige and will have to fight especially hard to keep a bountiful level of teams, riders and overall profile. After all, the Japanese and Italian importers can still sell their products through national-level Superbike racing, if they consider SBK not to be as prestigious a series as it once was. With universality of Superbike technical rules now, they can do that more easily than in the recent past - now that would be a horrid irony, if the new rules hurt the very championship they were supposed to help advance. For whatever personal reasons, a lot more racing industry people now have an embittered interest in seeing FGSport fall flat, and that is hardly the kind of fertile soil in which to plant a new and better future for SBK racing. Ignoring the usual biased predictions of the imminent death of World Superbike racing, SBK racing does nonetheless face the prospect of dropping in status to about that of the big national championships; there is no escaping this as at least a possibility. The spec tire rule may prove to be the biggest gamble World Supers has ever made - or has been forced to make - depending on your point of view. It could be a huge success, or it could be the other thing. So the challenge for FGSport is clear and crucial: Level out the playing field by all means, but make sure the new plateau is still positioned at a very high altitude. eN Hagerstown Half Mile Holland World Motocross Houston FUSA Dirt Track 30 YEARS AGO... AUGUST 21, 1973 A distinctively designed Sachs/BMW/ __ Wankel street bike was _. featured on the cover of Issue 4/32. The bike featured a Wankel rotary engine in a BMW frame. It was very, very unfinished... Willi Bauer (Mai) won both motos at the Belgian 500cc MXGP, with Roger DeCoster (Suz) finishing second overall... More than 560 riders showed up to compete at the 1973 Minicycle National Champ. ionships, held in Orange, California, at Saddleback... Marty Smith (Mnk) topped the 125cc Pro class at Carlsbad, while Gaylon Mosier (Mai) won the 250cc Pro event, and Jim West (Hus) won the 500cc Pro event. .. Mitch Mayes (Hus) won the overall at the European Hare Scrambles at Soggy Dry Lake, California ... Hakan Anderson (Yam) won the Finnish 250cc MX GP over Heikki Mikkola (Hus) and Adolf Wei! (Mai). Jim Pomeroy (Bul) was in a position for a podium spot overall when he fell late in the second moto. He ended up 3-10 for sixth. 20 YEARS AGO••. AUGUST 24, 1983 Billy Whitley (Kaw) led Mike Healey (Hon) and Mark Melton (Hon) around a Ponca City turn in the 83cc Modified Expert (12+) event on the cover of Issue 4/32. Healey won. Other winners included Da- mon Bradshaw (1 05cc 9-11, Jr. Cycle Mod. 9-11). Mike Pascarella (83cc Mod. 9-11). Dennis Stephenson (83cc Mod. Int. 12+), and Keith Bowen (125cc Stock Pro, 250cc Pro) ... Broc Glover (Yam) swept the 500cc class at the Washougal MX National, while Mark Barnett (Suz) did the same in the 125cc National. Rick Johnson (Yam) went 2-1 to win the 250cc overall that same day... Marlboro Yamaha's Kenny Roberts cut Freddie Spencer's 500cc World Championship lead down to just two points with a win at the British GP, round 10 of the series. Americans actually swept the top four sppts, the order being Roberts, Spencer, Randy Mamola and Eddie Lawson. 10 YEARS AGO.•. AUGUST 18, 1993 A couple of Husq.tls" CP R_d nau:: varna riders splashed through a Costa Rica stream in the middle of ung.e cn';~ .n the jungle on the cover :osta~Rica of Issue 4/32. The shot . . ~lc'to .. ..u ..... was taken during a Moto Aventura Motor... , .... ',=: ::. cycle Tour... Dale . l a . \ ..::= .----~= Quarterley (Kaw) won ...... the AMA Superbike event at Mid-Ohio, while Doug Polen (Duc) clinched the title with his fourth-place finish ... Chris Carr (H-D) won the Peoria IT for the umpteenth time. Mike Hale (Rot) and Ronnie Jones (Rot) rounded out the podium, and Ben Bostrom (Rot) finished sixth ... Mike laRocco (Kaw) made his 500cc National debut a successful one, winning both motos at Washougal with ease. Jeff Stanton (Hon), Steve Lamson (Hon) and defending champ Mike Kiedrowski (Kaw) rounded out the top four. Jeff Emig (Yam) won both 125cc motos, with Ezra Lusk (Suz), Jeremy McGrath (Hon), Doug Henry (Han) and Brian Swink (Suz) following him home. ~ t,: G~._f'T,. __ ;.-:, lh· -

• Cover