Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

W orld Su p e rb ike Champi ons h ip R ound 1 0 : Assen , H olland BRIEFLY••• Silvie Manicardi, the boss of Honda Europe . was in atte ndance at Assen. molding and melding the shape of Ho nda's Superbike and Supersport entry next season. W ith the Japanese home factories still seething at the FGSport bos ses for changing the technical rules and then following that up with a new spec-tire rule for good measure. the promo tion of the new Honda FireBlade/RC l 000c c race replica appears to be the entire responsibility of the HEM setup. It looks like there will be tw o Supe rbike teams. one for Ten Kate. and one for another team - possible the GSE outfit. if its relationship with Ducati is finally severed . In Supersport . there may be three teams instead of this year 's four, but this wiU pose less of a problem than expected after the departure of the BKM squad from the last three rounds. . . The BKM team simply ran out of money. one of the ir spo nsors failing 1 pay the required sums to allow them to cont inue. The team 0 has fielded w inners in the past. and now Ch ristop he Cogan and Broc Parkes find themselves out of a job - temporarily . BKM team manaqer Mi chael Bartholemy explained their plight: "The missing payment s of one of my spo nsors makes it impossible to cove r the ongoing costs . The respe ctive sponsor has not fulfilled our agreement. For us it is a hard decision . particularly with regard to the already-siqned two -year (2003 -2004) contract wi th our main spo nso r Dark Dog . who has always given us the accorded support . " The de mise of the BKM squad didn ' t prevent Broc Parkes fro m co ntinuing his pre sen ce tnt be padd ock. the Au ssie wa nde ring around the place with a " 1QO-percent sure." contract in his poc ket expect ed tobe with the Ten Kate team. Ch ris V ermeulen. having agreed to stay w here he is. will doub tless be promoted to World Superb ike. with the expec ted Supersport line-up being Karl Mu g" geridg e and Parkes. the Sup erb ike team running Vermeulen and an as-yet-unna me d other. Andrew Pitt has been men tioned as a possible Du cati Supersport runner. The promotions for the Magny, Cours event are well under way in W orld Superb ike. and as a gest ure of suppo rt and a small but effec tive marketing move at Assen. the majority of the teams were running stickers advertising the French eve nt on their race machines. Thanks to the continuing controversy and ge nerally unive rsal unpop- Sat urday mo rning sess ion, getting ca ught up w ith his mach ine · ularit y o f the Pirelli tire rule for 2004 onward. the plans o f many W orld Superbike and Supersport teams still appear to be up in the air. It see ms more likely wit h every day that passes tha t Shane Byrne's Monst e rmob Ducati team will be in World Superbike in 2004 . wi th a one -man Superbike and one-man S upersport team . Stuart Easton. who has delivered a British Supersport Championship twe aking his neck and knee. He qualified sixth in any cas e but feft unwell in the aftern oon . He missed Superp ole and was allowed to start from eighth on the grid . Wa lker only has a GS E contract for 2004 if he finishes in the top five " currently sixth . he was hoping for to the Paul Bird-owned team in the recent past. may be a third offi- cial D ucati rider. or another may be drafted into play inste ad. Werner Daemen foun d his way bac k to the pits afte r a crash in Friday qualifying but was bizarrely transported on th e back o f a Honda off -road mach ine . which inste ad of depo siting him at the rear of the pit lane. put him dow n outside the fron t of his pit garage. The Honda XL rider in quest ion simply rode down the pit lane and back out of it again in the middle of the timed Supersport ses sion . Rumors of the Yamaha Motor Germany Supersport team being prom oted to the Superb ike Championsh ip in 2004 were emanating at A ssen. although Yamaha Europe is thought to be less than sure of the type of suppo rt any pro spective A1-equipped team may receive. It see ms more likely that the re-signed Christian Kellner will be part nered by a yo ung ride r if th e budget is sma lle r. a bigge r name in Supersport if the budget is larger. The question of who will replac e Jame s Hayd on is large ly down to who would want to rep lac e him . with the Petronas t hus far prone to me chanical and te chnical woe s and wi th a distinct lack of spe ed. An improvem ent in the race at A ssen may make the berth more attractiv e. B arry Venem an has been put in line for a ride in the van Zon Reg is Laconi was fuming at his lack o f luck in Superp ole. w ith A ssen rumor . M acpherson is hoping to stay in Sup ersport but may be forced into a move back to the Brit ish scene. A podium finisher the flying Frenchman twice preve nted from improving his be st time due to slower riders. A t A ssen this is a particular problem, as the fast line is usually only one line , and the track is still narrower than most. "The race is tomorrow , and we must stay calm, " said Laconi, after composing himself. "It wa s spoiled on a couple o f occ asions due to slow riders in the middle of the track that we re cruising to Alex M a rtinez (MI R Suzu kil wa s fined 1000 Sw iss Francs at Assen for not stopping for a black flag on the opening day. Sergio Fuertes crashed on day tw o . and his machine wa s set ablaze. Th e uncertaint y surro unding many aspe ct s of the ge nera l 200 4 championship continues , with Dunlop still seemi ngly intent on resorting to law to prevent the Pirelli/World Superbike spec-tire rules from being instigated. Pier~Francesco Chili we nt as far in the post Superpole press conference as stating that if things stay as they are on the tire fro nt. he wi ll definitely not be competing in 2004. N e il Hodgson is about 1 be paid an acco lade by the Isle of Man 0 Suzuki , among others, does not appear to have any official support for Japan from 2004 . but there is still the po ssibility that the Alstare Suzuki team may well run its own tune of bikes. Yamaha stil~ seems unlikely to field an official R1. but a mee ting was to be held at A ssen be tween Kawasa ki Europe and FG Sport . to see wh at cou ld be done with the new ZX -l O. k appears that whateve r the level o f fact ory suppo rt emanating from Japan or Italy. there wi ll be machines o f every type on the grid in 2004 . the only questi on mark being the outrig ht quality o f the new team s and riders who finally assemble fo r the first round. ,T r o y Corser e njoye d the benefi ts of a new Pe tronas cylinder head design at As sen and broke the Petro nas into the 2:03 barrie r. not too shabby at such a long and rapid circuit. The machine still flam e s out on oc cas io ns, but th e ign itio n map ping ha s been changed to allow the reve rse head engine to produce more power. The throttl e response of the triple is still said to be on the grabby side , a little too immediate in term s of power band . O ut of a job in W orld Superbik e with th e Petronas te am. James Haydon is looking at a retum to the Briti sh racing scene and has had offe rs from vario us parties. The lineup of the UK series see ms to be firming up with Steve Plater supposedly leaving Honda to join Yamaha on th e new Rl . Mi chael Rutter runn ing for Honda. and John Reynold s and maybe Yukio Kagayama on th e Hizla S uzuki team. The Rizla Suzuki team is not expec te d in World Superbike mainly due to the new tire equation. team. as a rep lac em e nt fo r lain M acp herson, according to one this year, M acpherson wa s on the second row at A ssen . a flawless end to the seaso n. the pit s afte r t heir fast lap. Twice I lost a couple of soft tires and a lot of the 12 laps allowed by the wet Supe rpole procedure. I know that I wouldn 't be able to contest for the pole position . but to grab the front row could be possible without tho se troubles. Today our se tup is not perf ect due the continuous changing be twe en we t and dry conditions. " After a pre-race layoff o f five weekends , some riders we re rusty. and some we re not. Gregorio Lavilla. who was at the head of the frant ic last-lap charge in the firs t timed qualifying sess ion on Friday. was only a shade shy of the fastest-ever W orld Sup erbike of A ssen. " Today was a good start. and I' m very happy to be the faste st ride r out th ere . Ev ery t hing wen t ve ry we ll today , and although I was on the limit on my fast lap. it wasn ' t anyth ing crazy . I had a good tire. and I made a good lap. I'm happy for myse lf and also for my team . especially as it' s been a long time since the last race - it shows that I haven 't forgotten how to ride a bike! " Laville we nt third in S uperpole , a demonstration of his renewed prow e ss and the speed of the Suzuk i at this fast track . Dunlop rolled out a new line of tires at Assen , larger circumference than o f late and thus talle r in profile . The theme is to have a greater co ntact patch but to let the tire run coo ler - a good sign for race distance . W ,th Pier-Francesc o Chil i on pole on the new qualifying ver sion, things augured well for the race . A nother deli cious pr e-race rumor had Chili's PSG" 1 team in po sse ssion of Honda machines in 200 4 . as we ll as the Ten Kate squad . If true , it wo uld remain a one -man team, and as Chi li has demon strated on many occa sion s. he has all the speed and determinatio n of men half his age. Severe fog . wh ich go t wo rse before it got bett er. de layed the , morning track action at A ssen and cause d the Europe an S upe r- stoc k race to be held aft er the Sup ersport race. A reshuffle of the Lacon;'s NC R teammate D av id Garcia had a major crash at the running o rde r had no e ffect on the main clas se s, wi th the new exit of the final chicane on Saturday afternoon - the untime d ses sion just before Superpole. His helme t exte nsively damaged but his sens- order: S up er bi ke Rac e 1. Su pers po rt Rac e. S uperstock rac e. World Superb ike Race 2. Superside Race 2. and finally the bonus Europ ean Supersport race . The foggy conditions pre -race on Sunday morning affected more than just the track action. with a huge crash on the Zwolle mo torway leading to A ssen . eliciting reports of stamps . as the Isle of M an (his mos t recent place of residence) pro duces its own philately . es still intact. he stated that. " Ano ther crash. actually it' s been a bad season for them' I was riding quite we ll. despite some pain in my left arm . and I found myself on the asphalt. It has been a bad crash. and I've been lucky that my helmet worked well. even if it wa s damaged British motorcycle weekly MCN was putting its muscle and influ- in the cras h. M y arm wa s looking goo d for a 16-/ap race , and we ence behind Hodgson at Assen: with one of the pages of the A ssen found a good setup. I hope to feel bett er after a night' s sleep. " govern ment. He is, to be fea tured on comm e morative po stag e issue intended to be a Ncut out and wa ve " flag , read e rs w ere enco uraged to show to Hodg son to speed him to his title. The " flag" dep ict ed Hodgson' s Briti sh B ulldog logo on a Un ion Jack back ground, but it appea red few were in evidence on the first two days. W ith the majority of teams in W orld Sup erbik e talking about their respective future s in the series. one team may be on the way in no matter what the tires are· the Promospo.rt Y amaha team from Spa in ~ fea turing Raul Jara and another as-ye t-unnam ed rider . Ruben Xaus had a dodgy moment in the wet moming qualifying on Saturday when a knees puck fell from a rider in front and bounced along the track. across the bow s of Xaus' motoring 999. He avoided it adroitly and carried on as if noth ing had happened - another indication of his growing stat ure and on-track maturity? The latter charac- J ames Tosela nd sco red a podium at As sen in 2002 . but this year it has been harder wo rk in qualifying and Superpole. with the English rider only finishing seventh after Superpole. " W e had a good practice sess ion yesterda y. and the hard wo rk that I put in during the dry conditions should stand me in good stead if it' s a dry race. " he said. " I'm happy overall with the sett ing I'v e got. and I've also found a good race tire for these conditions. I was ninth fastest in this morning's wet practice . but after C hris' !Walkerl accident . I didn 't want to push things too hard. " Toseland' s statement of intent was clear: NM y main focus is to finish ahead of Ruben Xaus in each race and concentrate on achieving second place in the Superbik e World Championship for the team. I love the track and am really looking forward to mixing It out there tomorrow . There are loads of British fans here to chee r us on, and the atmo sphere is electnc - I can't wait.N up is a mystery in some cases , but it seems like Hodg son wilt be in MotoGP . Xaus will maybe stay in W orld Superbike afte r all. Regis Laconi will be .drafted into the works squad . and the Supersport berths are still open for discussion, James Tosela nd, now a race winner. is another hot property . but if the GSE team is given good support to run factory bikes of any color. he is expected to stay there. 22 SEPTEMBER 1 7 . 2003 e ye e n e GSE Racing . plain ly hacked o ff w it h th e l o -ing and fro -ing in W orld Sup erbike. made a public declaratio n that its plans are as yet unfinished. but to wat ch this space. Team principal Darrell Healey said in the re le a se : "D ue to circums ta nces beyond our control. GSE Racing is uncle ar ab out cert ain key aspect s o f th e 2004 S uperbike W orld Champion ship . In ad dit io n. due to th e un ce rt ain ty s urro u ndin g the techn ical rule s, w e are not in a pos ition to co nfirm ma nufac ture r support nex t season. The s e circ um st ances are un acc e pt able to G S E Rac ing 's ex isting part ners, most notably HM Pla nt and Hitachi Con struction M achinery stakeholders and staff . Therefo re. after consult ing w ith all relevant parties. we have de cid ed to mak e our po sition clear. It is t he very lea st that we can do and come s out : o f re s pec t for our rid er s and the o t her loyal memb er s o f t he: . The British presence at A ssen was ex pe cted to be large on te am who have shared in o ur past and current success . This is a. se riou s situa tion which we fe el other team s may also have to : face in the imme diate fut ure . At present, G S E Racing are unable race day. although the weather put the kibosh on things on day two. Noneth eless an extra 11 ferries were traveling from the U K to Hoi" son, w hich ma chines it will be us ing and w ho the sponsors, rid- t ter istics are present in the late -season Xaus in spades , maki ng Ducati's plans for 2004 all the more complicated . Before M isano. Xaus wa s acknowledged to be on his way out. but the fear D ucati has now is that if it lets Xaus go. he will be picked up by someone who will use the Spaniard' s skills against it. in W orld Superbi ke or even MotoGP . He may well end up in the USA. as Ducati Corse is fully intent on stre ngthening its results in the AMA Superbike Series in 2004 . Ducat i. it appears . w ill run another team in M otoGP for 2004 . con tinue with a works team in W orld Superbike and will field two and maybe thr ee full factory Supersport machines. The rider line- one death and several serious injuries. land on this weekend , such was the demand to see Hodgson ta ke the champio nship at the " third " Briti sh W orld Superbike round . The level of expecta tion that Hodgson . who has just becom e a proud father to litt le Holly and recently the ow ner of a new dream hou se a few yards from his old apartment on the Isle of Man. wou ld lift the titl e at Assen was fueled by the fact that he entered the meeting 140 point s ahead of Ruben Xaus with only a maxi mum po ssible sco re for Xaus and virtual nonfintshes in the rem aining six races abou t to deprive H09 gson of his title. Several riders wer e in injurious conditions at Assen, and one some- what unexpected examp le was Chris W alker. He fell in the wet VII so to co nfi rm w hich cham pionship it will be com peti ng in nex t sea - . ers and other pe rso nnel will be. We are being open and fair With, everyone c onc ern ed so th at they can explo re o the r op po rt uni- ] t ie s w it hin th e spo rt. How ever . th at is no t to say that GSE R ac"~ ing has any w is h to with draw from the sport. On t he co nt rary .. we wi ll be co nti nuing to inve stiga te o ther oppo rtunities ov er the coming w eek s. In addition. I know t hat th e repu tat io n o f GSE Raci ng in it s p ur suit of exce llence and W orld C hampio nship success has not gon e unn oti ced . and there may be ot he r po ssib ilities for us to explo re after this state men t has gon e publ ic . " A team on their way to so me w he re else , or a te am atte mpting to pus h th e va rio us partie s curren tly in disa gre em ent to make so me inroads in the nea r futu re?

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