Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Vermeulen has already reached the SBK rostrum and is sure to go higher, underlines that the rider pot is now better than halffull again, and rising fast. A key element in World Superbike's revival is the reduced cost of racing one of the new -gene ration Japanese fours, which prom ises to allow team s with less budget to be equallycompet itive with thos e that have more. This egalitarian approach wo rthy of Karl Marx is demonstated by the Ten Kate Honda Fireblade. The bike now produces over 200 bhp at the back wheel, good enough to make it the fastest-ever bike in World Superbike racing by pulling over 200 mph down the Monza front straight, yet it has a far longer com ponent life, and therefore red uced maintenance costs, than the already costlier rival Ducati twins. "Wit h th ese ne w ru les, the bike is very ch eap, abo ut Euro 50 ,000 to 60 ,000 ($6 1,6 11 to $73 ,933 ) full race, and we can do a nice job with it for customer teams," says Gerrit ten Kate . "We already make 2000km (1200 miles) between rebuilds, which is about four or five races, though if we have to tune it higher to stay competitive, we might have to drop that to 1500km (just over 900 miles), but not less." Compare this with the 750km (litt le more than 450 miles) maximum mileage for even a customer Ducat i 999 engine - let alone the factory bikes, which may have an even shorte r serv ice life - after wh ich pretty much all the internals have to be repla ced . Even then, there's no guarantee of reliability: DFX Sterilgarda's Steve Martin and Renegade Racing's Noriyuki Haga have each blown several low-mileage Ducati motors this season, including when in the lead and set to win, and Frankie Chili suffered two engine failures in 20 minutes In the first race at Monza on his PSG-I bikes - one on the warm-up lap aboard his long-stroke 998, the other on his newer 999 he swapped to in Pit Lane. "It should not be possible to break two engines in one race ," said a livid Frankie, who pays for all his parts at dealer cos t, hence the total absence of a Ducati sticker on his bike. "It feels like we are sponsors of Ducati, not the other way round, and this is not correct ." The other key element in this leveling process has been the most controversial of the Flamminis' rule changes for this year, the much -criticized introduction of Pirelli control tires. "As motorcycle manufacturers, we have to take a resolute stand against techn ical rules that are likelyto be detrimental to the interests of ordinary motorbike customers, and also against the idea of res tricting tires to a single make, so that a tire manufacturer can become World Champion just by buying the title," declared the MSMA:s November 15 press release announcing its boycon of SBK2004. It's hard to decipher why the refusal of the FIM (which created the new World Superbi ke rules, not Flammini) to ado pt the MSMA:s universally derided restrictors on costly full -race Superbi ke machines should be considered detrimental to peo ple who go into their dealerships to buy street versions of the bikes being raced - but for sure the MSMA is going to need second thoughts o n the tire rule. The re 's certainly a case to make against the way in which the control tire deal was handed to Pirelli on a planer, rather than being put up for competitive bidding, but at the point that Bern ie Ecclest one and Max Mosley reckon that control tires are the way ahead for Formula I car Not the usual suspects: Part of SBK 2004's appeal has been its showcase of new, young talent, such as Chris Vermeulen (above) and Lean Haslam (Ieftl. racing (and they do , with a one-make FI tire rule planned for 2006), the MSMA:s position looks very weak. Indeed, none other than MotoGP team owner Kenny Roberts agrees . "When Superbikes went to control tires, everybody thought they were crazy but I reserved judgement," says KR. "Still, off the capacity a little from 990cc to 900cc doesn't make any sense to me . If you want to slow them down, the easiest way is to control the tires." Indeed so . The leveling factor brought about via the control Pirellis may have made World Superbike a closer spectacle, but it's also slowed the racing down, with qualifying times and race speed s this season an average of a second a lap slower than last year 's Hodgso n/Xaus worlks Ducati duopoly. However, that's only at the front of the field, where the trick Michelins, wh ich the worlks Fila Ducati team alone had access to , give a false picture . "We had a Michelin contract last season , but the tires they gave us were two seconds a lap slowe r than what Hodgson and Xaus had ," says Foggy Petronas lead rider Troy Corser. "Co ntrol tires have eliminated that kind of crap, where in fact it was the opposite of what the MSMA says, and the factory teams bought success via the ir tire deals. Now it's the same for everybody, and at Osc hersleben this year, for example , I was lapping I 1/2 seconds faster on the control Pirellis than in similar conditions a year ago on the Michelins. And it's the same for everyone else not on a ment in laboratories and track testing, the benefits of which are now open to all con testants, rath er than a few favored teams at the front of the grid. "Compared to the Dunlops I raced with last season, the Pirellis don't have as much initial grip," says worlks Ducati rider James Toseland. "But they stay pretty consistent all through the race and don't go off as badly as what I used before , so at least you know where you are with them. But we have a problem finding the right front tire for our bike - both me and Regis crashed in the first race at Silverstone because of that , so maybe development could be stepped up." Anyone w ho saw Toseland smo king his rear Pirelli on TV in the first race at Phillip Island, taking the last high-speed tum all race long in one long beautifully controlled powerslide, will attest to the controllability factor of the "Slipire llis," whose lap times for volume-production slicks of necessity made on a production line rather than by hand , as was the case for the trick Michelin and Dunlop tires used last year - or indeed Pirelli's own 2003 development covers are quite acceptable. It's the same too in the World Supersport category, which also went control -tire this year - though here In fact "'he o,her key elemen' 'n ,h's leveling proc ss has "een 'he mos' controversial 01 'he "amminis' rule changes lor 'his year, 'he much-cri"clzed in'roduction 01 P're'" control 'ires." I really thought they would have more probl ems than they have - and it would be better for us and a lot of ot her teams if there was a one-tire rule in MotoGP, too. I wou ld instigate that instantly for next year. At t he moment, if you don 't have Michelin tires , you don 't have a chance of winning and even some of the Michelin teams have to pay for the ir tires , where others get them free and maybe get better treatment. "Everyo ne is saying we should slow the MotoGP bikes down , and for sure the best way to do that is to control the grip. Backing works Ducat i - this is a much fairer system that 's closed everyone up, and made the racing more exciting. Plus now it' s down to how good a rider you are and how good the bike is - not what kind of a tire deal you 've got ." Pirelli's ability to deliver on its promises th is season has been pretty impressive, with the huge com mitment of the Italian tire manufacturer demonstrated in bringing fifteen trucks, an army of technicians , and over 3000 tires to every European round, backed up by constant develop- www.cydenews.com Pirelli was already reigning world champi on from before. "Pirelli don't have many lessons to learn from anyo ne in the Supers port class," says Yamaha's Jurgen van den Goorbergh, who led the 2004 series throughout the first flve races . "These are very good tires w hich set the standard for others to aim at - and everyone gets the same , which makes it up to the rider and the team to make the difference. That's what racing should be ." There are stillvoices in the paddock lifted against the control tire rule, though. CYCLE NEWS • JULY 14,2004 29

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