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/128312
The Dauphin Dominates ast year the World Superbike Championship w as decided early. With the benefit of hindsight , of course . It was easy to see that the generally bet - L ter and sometimes definitely bett er early performances put in by Neil Hodg son over his teammate Ruben Xa us (o r anyon e else ) me ant that he was ma king a be tter fist around th e tools at hand than his peer gr oup. T hat w as destined to co ntinue almost throughout the ent ire year, despite a mid season rally by the eventually impre ssive Spaniard. Few think that this year Regis Laconi w ill repeat Hodgson's t rick, and James Toseland has been a better racer than a qualifier th rough his career, and the big-name rivals like Noriyuki Haga and Garry McCoy are only just getting to grips with their bikes and tires, and Toseland did his best testing time on race rubber, and, and, and... So we'll have to wait and see what happens. No matter what. it should be a closer year, est and each day cut half a second from his previous best time, with a I:3S.39 3 his paciest pass over the start line. "It could have been better but for the crash, but it's nice to be back in a factory team," Laconi said. "Racing a Ducati for the factory is definitel y the way to go Superbike racing. I was fastest in both qualifying and race setup, and my lap times during the long run were consistent right until t he end. We will see what happens at the first round, but I really can't wait for the season to start ." Over a perfect three days of sunshine and dry tarmac, the enti re World Superbike field was nonetheless pretty well shy of the previ ous best Valencia lap, I:34. 6 33, fro m Hodgson in 2003 . Laconi did 156 almost faultless laps in some style and was only threatened in the final analysis of the final day by one other rider and not - as many would suspect - his teammate. Laconi, the former Grand Prix and World the still-developing Pirelli slicks, Hodgson's race lap record of I :35.00 7 is sort of in the same zip code as the top pr ivateers. Laconi's teammate Toseland was third fastest after a whopping 190 laps over six sessions in three days. He beat his own previous best from the middle day to make a final mark of 1:36.162 in the Spanish dust, although significantly shy of Laconi. Toseland is struggling to find the correct feel from his tires w hen the tra ck temperature gets up a bit but at present is nonetheless a fermi- dab le racer, and the sight of Laconi in front of him will be something he will find irresistible come the real racing. The main talking point of the first day was the immediate speed shown by Leon Haslam "Racing a Ducati for the factory is definitely the 0" way to go Superbike racing. I -Regis Laconi race-by-race. than last year's. The alpha of the season is about to start in Valencia. Spain, on Sunday, February 29, but the Omega of the off-season trail belonged to the French Prince or Fila Heir, Regis Laconi - at least in the final showdown Superbike race winner, was the first rider into the I,3S bracket as he whipped his qualifying tires along on the final morning, and DFX Ducati's Steve Martin set a I:3S.S74 to join him in the sub-36 region , finishing sec ond overall. Martin's Ducati may be less of a factory missile when compared to Laconi's test session at Valencia . From first to last Laconi was the quick- Raga Takes Italian Indoor Gas-Gas ' Adam Raga co ntinued his ramp age t hro ugh th e World Indoor Trial Ch ampionship with a Victory in the Pesaro Trial, held in Pesa ro , Italy, on February 14. Raga scored 14 points to edge Honda's Takahisa Fujinami and Montesa's Dougie Lampkin, the teammates finishing wit h an ide ntical I S points. Raga continues to lead the World Championship, his 64 points 14 better than Lampkin's SOpoints, though the mukitime World Champion says he's not throwing in the towel . "I almost had the triumph in hand , and I lost it through an une xpected failure in t he works machine, but it appears that even on Regis Laconi was the fastest of the fast in the final World Superbike test at Va lencia in Spain. The series gets started on February 29. and his Renegade Ducati 999RS, the pairing going faster in the second session than the first to finish with a I:36.748 lap and temporary second place ranking overall. He was to finish his three days with a broken finger, a best lap of 1:36.201 and a placing of fourth quickest. Of equal importance, he was another who got faster each outing, broken Mammoth Motocross · One Last Time? The 37th annual Ford Mammoth Motocross in Mammoth, California, will return for a blowout finaleJune 17-27, accord ingto event promoters. Every summer for the past 37 years, racers have flocked to Mammoth Mountain for this classic event, what event promoters call the "oldest continuously running motocross in the USA." "We are excited to be hosting the Mammoth Motocross again th is year and than k the U.S. Forest Service for the ir efforts in making this final event poss ible," said race director Mike Colbert. "It's a great opportunity for us to celebrate the history of the races and have closure on this event for all the racers, fans and event organizers." Mammoth has been recognized as one of the top-five amateur national events in the motorcycle industry and the biggestnames in , motocross have competed in the event , including World Champions Grant Langston and Jeremy McGrath. Over SOoo riders are expected to participate in the final event in Mammoth this June according to promoters. , In 1968, Don Rake and some friends decided to put on a motocross race in Mammoth Lakes and built a world-class track 8000 feet up in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Dave McCoy came along and offered the back ing of his Mammoth Mountain Ski Area , and t he rest is histo ry. For more information on the Motocross, call 760/934-0605. second-last zone and through overturn ing tw o bars in the high jum p," Lampkin said in a team rele ase . ''And then I failed again in t he Copy Cats "I won't give up." The NC R Ducati machines t hat will be raced by Garry McCoy were - Dougie Lampkin tie-break w ith Fujinarni. All in all, instead of w inning, I came third. Th is res ult obv iously doesn't please me at all. Raga's advantage as leader has continued to grow, but there are still lots of points at sta ke , and nothing is decisive yet. I w on' t give up." Fujinami is third in the series standings w it h 46 po int s, well Cab estany' s H po ints . clear of Albert sporting massive Xerox spo nsorship logos at the World Superbike testing finale in Valencia, Spain, t he Fila official squa d. McCoy may have been strugglingsomewhat on his new bike, and the team - like many ot hers - may be far fro m ~ ready as yet , but the o appearance of a new g multinational 5 announcing a "significant" level of sponsor- Cl coming from in ship for what may well 12 FEBRUARY 25, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS the London office) is a boost for everyone in the recently con- f2 if traded series. be the next-mostfavored D ucati team in the championship com- .. pany in Wo rld o Superbike (the money is reportedly o aft e~r..!!!!~~~:!!!!!!!!!,!!!!!!! ~ 40th Anniversary Gordon Rit chie left index finger or not. DFX Ducati 's Marco Borciani showed a vast improvement in the very final session, stripping 1.2 seconds from his Thursday time to make a lap of I :36.30 3 and drop former champ Troy Corser and his Foggy Petronas FP-I down a peg. Ending his weekend sixth fastest, Corser Delepine Takes Vienna Supermoto Be lgi an Gera l d Delepine and his new Husqva rna SM 450R won the Vie nna Supe rmoto final on Saturday , February 14, and finished second the following day behind his new mate teamand W 0 ri d Cha mp ion Eddy Seel. Se e I loo ked like he co uld have put together the perfect wee ken d , but a problem with his re ar brake caused him to pull out w hile runni ng secon d to Delepine o n Saturday. Instead, se cond place we nt to Kf M's Jurgen Kunze l, w it h his teammate Boris Ch ambon finishing third . On Sunday, Seel to pped Delep ine and KfM 's Kurt Nicoll.