Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Hayden's Scare N icky Hayden was lucky to escape serious injury while testing in Jerez , Spain, on Thanksgiving Day after he suffered a massive 100-mph crash on day two of the three-day test when the right handlebar on his factory Repsol Ho nda RCV211 V snapped o ff. The former AHA Superbike Champion had just exited the fas t left-hander approaching Curva Angel Nieto w he n he was sent hurtling down the road. HRC re fused to comment on the cau se of Hayden's spectacular crash, with pre ss state ments saying that the cause was at present unknow n and engineers w ere investigating w hat had gone w rong. But the 23-year-o ld from Kent ucky said, "T he right clip-o n broke off. I'd just come through the left -bander and had moved to set myse lf up for the first right in the stadium section. You backshift there fro m th ird to second, but I was still in third and had just gone for th e brakes w he n the clip on broke off. "It was pretty scary bec ause in that situation you know yo u are definite ly going to hit the roa d pretty hard , I've had better Thanksgiving Days in my life." Luckily for Hayden , he walked away unscathed from the incident and d idn't aggravate the serious muscle damage in his left knee that hampered him badly in the final third of the season . Hayden was only using one bike in Jerez and it was badly damaged, ruling him out for most of the second afternoon as his mechan ics tried to fix his machine . The crash clearly kno cked him ou t 01his rhythm, as his best time set on the first day - a 1.41.37 - proved to be his best of the thre e -day session . Although he com pleted a massive 97 laps on the final day, he was only able to get Within .2 of a second of his o pening-day ben chmark. On the final day, Hayden tested a new swingarm that had bee n used by test and developmen t ride r Tohru Ukawa, w ho had been flow n in from Japan to replace the injured Max Biaggl. "We tested some new chassis stuff and also some electron ics as well to try and he lp with chatt e r go ing into the co m e rs," Hayden said. "The second-day crash tho ugh really messed th ings up, and on the last day, I co uldn't do the time I wanted to, thoug h we worked through a lot of stuff including a wh o le bunch of new tires for Michelin: ' Matthew Birt Shane Byrne te st ed the Aprilia at the recent Jerez test, but it co uld be the b ike's fina l outing. The bike came out of it worse than Hayden, who was lucky to not suffer injury. Van den Bosch, Aprilia [!] Crowned at Spanish Supermoto There was no real suspense in the S I class at the final round of the FIM World Supermoto Championship Series in Hnestrat , Spain. on November 27, but the S2 class Super Final was a thriller with championship implications. KTM's Th ierry van den Bosch bec ame the sport's first two -time World Champion by cruising to his seventh victory in nine rounds, regaining Aprilia To Toss In the MotoGP Towel Acco rd ing to the CEO of Piaggi Spa, Aprilia like ly won't field a Moto GP tea m in 200S and not economic , not competit ive and absolute- the re's a chance the company may instead ly without pos itive effect in the commercial activity. Contrary, we will study the po ssibili- return to World Superbike racing, ty to re-enter very soon in the W orld In an interview conducted on Novemb er 26 , Roc co Sabelli, the CEO of Piaggio spa, ta lked openly abou t Aprilia's racing plans. "T he racing sched ule of Derbi and Gilera w ill no t change, and abo ut [in reg ard to] Ap rilia, we haven't any doubt to maintain our involvement in 125 and 250cc GP classes," Sabelli said. "Regarding Moto Gp, we th ink that Aprilia's pre se nce on th e challenge was 4 Superbike." The ApriliaRSCube never produ ced resu lts, with the team never com ing close to victory or a podium finish in its 48 Grand Prix starts. "To stay in Moto GP co uld co st a lot of money and damage for our firm ," Sabellisaid. At the end of next we ek , Sabe lli will visit the Aprilia headq uart ers in Noa le, Italy. Paolo Gozz i DECEMBER 8, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS the title that he earned in 2002 but vacated the following season in favo r of a World Supersport ride . "It' s always difficult to compare two titles, and my first one two years ago will always stay in my memory as it was a new championship," Van den Bosch said. "But this one is also really nice for me, especially after a difficult season in Supersport. I learned a lot there, and even if some people thought that it wou ld be difficult for me to get another SupermotOtitle , I'm glad to get it. I'Cl like to thank all my team, our sponsors such as Michelin or Red Bull, and my personal sponsors. They trusted me , and I'm happy to give them something back; I want to oedicafe this title to Me. Set1tat Who died this year. He -Ifl$ the 40th Anniversary first manager who offered me a ride in Superrnoto." Unlike SI, the battle for the S2 Championsh ip was a wildly unpredictable aflair all season. and it came down to the last lap in the Super Final. In an unexpected tum of events, Aprilia's Jerome Giraudo, who came into Spain second in the series stand- ings, clinched his first title and oflered a nice present to Aprilia, whose SXV4.S V-twin engine proved itself by winning a World title in its first full year of competition. "It's unbelievable," Giraudo said, "even if I knew that I had a little chance when I came here. I think that Max [series leader Max Verderosa] put too much pressure on himself, and he made a mistake at the first [moto] start . But we also hao our problems this season, and I want to dedicate this title to the team. I don 't know how many hOurs tile mec~anics spe nt on the bi/lt> 1 ;11' year, but we wo /"ked so hard to reach this title. It's a great moment. I was lust f(:l!:usejl on my race in tl\e SUR'\r f,inaf and wanted the Win witliout thinking a6d Ut the t.t1e."

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