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/128325
LOCONi OWNS MONZO efo r e Mo nz a, all wa s un kno w n . T here had been five w inners in six r aces. All had been D ucati s, b ut they had been everything from the f ull-factory 999F04s o f Toseland and Lacon i to the semi-998R road bike of Ch ili to the 999 RS customer bikes of McCoy and Haga. We didn't, however, despite his consistent speed In qualifying, have a man like Regis Laconi step ping into the breach to blast himself a path through the others not without his looking like he could crash anyt ime doing it, at least. " It's been a fantast ic weekend in Monza ," Laconi said. " W hich is a very important race for Ducati. I'm so happy for them and for me because I took the lead of the championship. Thanks to my team ; they did a gr eat job to make me go so fast today, so this w in is for them . Once again I didn't make such a good start , but the bike was perfect. In race two we chose the same tire as race one, and although I didn't brake as aggresslvely as I did in the first race, everything turned out fine." W hatever small but oddly shaped gremlins exist w ithin the Ducati 999, cer- B tainly compared to the bike it replaced last year anyway, t hey have been the undo ing of even Laconi too many times t his year. And w ith lim it ed numbe rs of types of cont rol Pirelli ti res available - by regulation - th e simple fix of making front tires to suit Laconi's or anyone else's style - is no longer available. In the run up to Monza we had heard litt le from the media and TV in Italy except how badly Pier- Francesco Chili would make the facto ry team pay for daring to cr iticize his " back to go forward" machinery cho ices - how much Frankie Boy would rub their noses in it , or how much someone like Chris Vermeulen might do th is weekend with a suitably fast Honda Fireblade . At Monza, admi tt edly a track w here some aspects of 999-runnin' -o nPirelli hand ling could remain untested, yet o thers like stability and high-gear traction would be crucial, a 999F04 factory bike in t he hands of Laconi w as an invincible wea po n. The new championship leader lapped con sistently fast - fully one second per lap 42 MAY 26, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS faster than his r ivals in race two, a remarkable feat in some important ways. Th e nature of his double race win, and the fact that his teammate JamesToseland also ripped up the Monza macadam to its composite elements after post ing a pair of second places, may have all been won in peculiar circumstances. With neither Laconi nor Toseland falling all weekend, and in spite of Toseland's interminable troubles in qualifying, the suddenly regained smiles on the faces of t he Ducati higher management we re as plain as the sailing Laconi did away from his pursuers. " [Gar ry] McCoy was riding hard in that second By GORDON RITCHIE P HOTOS BY GOLD & GOOSE