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/128241
Paolo and Maurizio Flamini less discussion about these 1000cc rules , in May, 2003, six months ago , we found the following situation : One, there was no prom ised manufacturers ' participation, except for Ducati and a single Suzuki, and of course Petronas , who is not a member of the MSMA. So four out of the six MSMA members were not present on the grid - and contrary to their spe cific promise back in September, 200 I , that they would be there officially , there was no formal commitment as such , and thus no certainty that this would be rectified in 2004 . Next, all the National federations simply refused to apply the air restrictor rules proposed by the MSMA, because it appeared these restrictors would make the bikes very expen sive - and thu s unaffordable to the p rivateers - so we had of nec essity to recogn ize that the air restrict or pr oj ect could not satisfy any of the criteria that the FIM had sta ted we m ust aim to m eet wh en it set us on th e path to esta blis hing the Superbik e rev olu tio n in Sept ember , 20 01. In turn, t his m eant th at we, in co nj unc tio n with the FlM , had no choice but to create a different set of rul es, wh ich are in deed capable of bein g app lied worldwid e , with o n ly minor a ltera tions refl ec t in g p articu lar c irc umstances in d ifferent co untries. In addition, these rules must be a red uced -c ost exercise for m anufacturers as well as teams and fu rth ermo re must guarantee a fai r level of competition among different kinds of bike - and that is what we believe the FIM Superb ike C omm ission has achieved through the new rules formulated via its technical di rector, Steve Whitelock . We're not saying that the restrictor rules couldn't have produced fair competition, but it was too complicated a way of achieving this and was anyway rejected by the National federations - many of which have the local rep resent atives of the MSMA manufacturers on their rules co m m ittees! As soo n as we decla red t he scrapping of the restr ict or s, and th e outline of the new ap proach we we re co m mitted to taking , we had immediate sup- port from the AMA as well as the organizers of the British, German, Italian and other National Supe rbike Championships, and indeed our 2004 rules are indeed closely similar to the irs. So we believe that, first of all , we have done a very big favor to the manufacturers, because they need only develop one rac ing specification for the Superbike class , rather than fou r or five to meet th e d ifferent requ irements of each country's set of Superbike rules , and with only minor adaptations , they can ra ce this machine everywhere, either themselves as a factory team or through their im po rt ers or by selling it to privateers . This will allow them to extend their racing client bases dramatically and to recoup the development costs more quickly, then move into profit - which after all is what they are in business to do! However, fac ed wi th th is scenario , the position of th e MSM A ha s bee n very cr it ical , an d t hey have ad opt ed a ve ry nega tive attit ude co ncerning th e future of World Super bi k e. T o be hon est , o ne ca n und er st an d t heir e m barrass me n t , b e cau se th e restr ictor ide a th at w as universa ll y rejecte d was their id ea - but o ur app roach has always been to do pos i tive thin g s for World Superbike , work ing together with the p artic ipating teams and m anu facturers to do so. We therefore co nfirm through this interview that our door is full y open to the MSMA to re-establish a constructive working relationship , in addition to those we have with each individual member company , and we beli ev e that th ere is m ore than one manufacturer other than Ducati wh ich , at a corporate level, understands and suppo rt s what we are trying to achieve. And in addition to Petronas , which has backed ou r ideas from the start, we have had strong specific sup port from more than .one other manufacturer not yet ' involved in World Superbike, which is committed to entering the series now, under the new rules, when previo usly they wou ld not have do ne so. So we a re co nvi nced that, toge the r with the F lM Super b ik e Co m mission , we h a v e done t he r i g h t thi ng. PAOLO FLAMMINI 14 N OV EMB ER 1 9 ,2003' c ue I e T he ju s tifi c ation fo r that c on viction w ill be borne out by whe t her or not the f our Japanese m anufact urer s and A p ril ia , w hose p re si dent, M r, Ivano Beggio , i s af t er all the ch airm an of t he MSMA, do in f act return to Wo rld S uperb ike racing with f acto ry -supporte d teams, Wha t are t he ch ances of that happening? Firstly let us say that we hope very much that Aprilia w ill come back to World Superbike, because it had such fantastic results when it raced with us , especially in 2000 and 2001 , and this for sure increased its prestig e and convinced customers to buy Aprilia, much more successfully than its involvement in MotoGP racing is do ing now. Bu t regard ing the J apan ese m anufacturer s, of co urse we can't speak fo r them, but our personal impressions about that are o ptim istic, becau se th ree o ut of the four of them , as well as Apri lia , hav e pr esent ed a new 1000c c Su p erb ik e road m od el , as Suzuk i already did just o ne yea r ago. Th e way to pr omot e th ese is th roug h rac ing, whether with a fu ll fa ctory team or a top- level sate lli te sq uad, and th is ma k es us op t im istic th at a so lutio n c an be f ound to th e curren t stan doff. Given that th is whole ru les scenario has been conducted under the aeg is of the FIM , wouldn't it ha ve been more appropriate, and also preven ted t he current impas se between FG Sport an d th e MSMA, if the FIM ha d ta k en the lead in establishing t he ne w Superbik e rule s, rather than leavi ng y ou t o be the fall guys bla med by the manufa ct ure rs ' ca rtel f or kicking mud in their fac es by sc rapping t he restric tor ru le they dreamt up? The decisions governing the technical rules have always been taken under FIM auspices, because it is the ultimate sporting authority - Steve Whitelock , who formulated the rules , wo rks for them , not for FGSp o rt. B ut it's true that we are seen as the o nes to be blamed fo r m ak ing decision s tha t run co un ter to the MSMA's in te ntions, w hich is w hy we repeat tha t the doo r is open for them to recom - MAURIZIO FLAMMIN I n e Val S