Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

to fall prey to two more riders. "It has been a beautiful day, and the team has worked very well all weekend," Lanzi said. "What a pity for that stupid trouble yesterday during my Superpole lap. This morning in the warmup session, I recorded a beautiful 2:03.B lap time, with race tires. Had I been a couple of rows up the grid, I could have been on the podium. I have been the first of Ducati bikes in race two, I couldn't ask more than that." Laconi had dropped the following pack of five riders to make fourth his temporary fiefdom, with Toseland heading up an untidy mass of Lanzi, Vermeulen, Muggeridge and Chili, with Walker slowly being dropped off the back. Vermeulen was stung by some internal force and on lap 15 started to pass at every opportunity, dispatching Lanzi and Toseland, and chasing the disappearing wake of Lacon;'s Ducati; Laconi was on his own warpath to overhaul Abe. Chili, equally stung by almost cracking into a slowing Muggeridge on lap IS, slipped past Lanzi at turn one. He was to deal with Toseland, who did not give up easily, on the next lap as he tried to catch the upwardly mobile Vermeulen. Toseland was then passed by Lanzi and was in some obvious discomfort rubberwise. Vermeulen took Laconi, homing in on Abe as the backmarkers were encountered, and it got tense for a second or two. Vermeulen was to pass on the first turn of lap 19, taking third from Abe, who had by then shot his front tire to pieces. Pitt went out on lap 19, retiring out on track, his clutch gone, and he didn't have a good word to say about it after a similar problem at Misano. Chili had a real big bite at passing Abe in a lunging pass at the exit of the very last chicane, but by that time, Nitro Nori was long gone with the winner's medal and more praise for winning on what is basically the least factory, least extensively developed bike of the so-called factory teams. It was astounding to watch Haga and a Gordian knot of a puzzle as to how he can ride like this sometimes then be a shadow of himself the week after. Haga's win, by 3.233 seconds from Corser, with Vermeulen third, should not be underestimated, but it can be thought of as a sideshow that outshone the real event. Another two rungs on the ladder to the winners' square for Corser. Only snakes and a poor throw of the dice can seriously impinge on his lead, even with five rounds to go. The next round is Brands Hatch, August 7, where there will be more than the claimed Brno weekend crowd of 31,000 for sure. SUPERSPORT Domination was catching up. Just as Corser was racking up more levels of advantage over in the 1000cc class, Sebastien Charpentier was being positively encouraged by his realistic W5S competitors to just waltz off with the championship as well. He is in even better shape Briefly... Continued 'rom page 23 rideability. The chassis has also been worked on, with the CBRs' new rear links featuring uprated suspension internals to gain maxi- mum benefit of the new parts first tested at the recent Magny Cours tests. Reports came to light at Brno that suspension company Andreani, the WP people, will be bought by Ohlins, and that for the 2006 season, it was expected that the Ohlins staff would take over all Superbike duties in SBK, with the Andreani staff taking over the Supersport classes, along with the rest. Werner Daemen was a returnee WSS rider at Brno, after his German Supersport Championship sponsors, Honda, requested that he use the Brno race for testing new Showa suspension parts. Daemen, a former WSS regular, was happy to go, and called both Pirelli and riders rep Giulio Bardi to get clearance. He did not, however, tell the SBK organizers themselves, who were dumbfounded when he turned up and had to make a place for him on the grid - after he had already parked up in the paddock. Young British rider Leon Carnier has been offered a factory Moriwaki slot at the prestigious Suzuka Eight-Hour race, alongside Naoki Matsudo, on a Fireblade-based Moriwaki machine. Currently running in British Supersport, Camier, still only 18, was the youngestever British 12Scc champion and is one of a clutch of young British riders coming through from the revitalized British racing scene. The likelihood of there being no expansion of the motorcycles in the 2006 championship seems almost definite now, as Aprilia still has no bike in the pipeline and the MY Agusta jump in 2006, ideally with Ten Kate. Noriyuki Haga was on the edge of a small celebration at Brno, as he was scheduled to achieve the IDOth SBK race for Yamaha. Pirelli tested its 2oo-section tire with Ducati and the rest at Brno last month due to production reasons. In their stead there were fIVe front options (normally three), with one specifically designed to handle what is a very front-end-heavy circuit like Brno, with its frequent off-camber turns. Three possible rears will be made available: one new standard tire (used at Misano and in the Italian championship), one dual-<:ompound solution and one of the well-proven versions, all to help with basic bike setup for the teams who need to learn the track before making a choice of race tire. Most riders used the "new" singlecompound rear, while front usage was very much based on temperature, with one partiCularly conservative front (designed for the very high temps on track) all but unused by most. In the cloudless, hot conditions, there were concerns about front-tire wear and with so many off-camber. downhill corner entries, the front-end riders were particularly concerned with selecting the right option. James Toseland was running a shorn-haired look at Brno, after coming under the spell of a shapely hairdresser. Convinced by her remarks that highlights would suit him, he got his tips lightened when he went in for a regular haircut. After some merciless slagging from his team crew and others, he decided to remove the offending hair almost completely, shearing himself with a pair of beard clippers borrowed from the Clinica Mobile! "Samson" did not lose his strength, as he was fastest in the opening morning session and nearly won Superpole. concern seems unable yet to provide a com- petitive bike without spending more time and effort on engine and chassis. The MVs running in Germany are very modified street bikes, with largely Superstock-spec chassis and ancillary parts. The main problem appears to be that there is only one development engineer for the engines of both street and race machines, and many chassis parts would have to be made in titanium or magnesium to make the weight limit. Another perceived problem, that the highly oversquare engine (1.68: I bore-to-stroke ratio) would necessitate the use of the FIM-mandatory 14,ooO-rpm rev limiter (for any bike over I.S: I), may not be a problem after all or at least less of one than expected originally. Despite the engine's short stroke, according to German SBK pilot Jorg Teuchert, his machine peaks around 13,300 - but it is all about midrange. "My bike has more midrange than the Yamahas and others; theirs is all at the top end," Teuchert claimed. With Katsuaki Fujiwara out of the Brno race after a fall in qualifying for the Suzuka Eight-Hour race broke one of his lower vertebrae, he was replaced in the Winston Ten Kate Honda team by young British rider Craig Jones, the man who gave the Triumph Daytona 600 its first-ever British Championship race win. Jones, racing for the Northpoint Racing Honda team now, was a fast qualifying wildcard at Silverstone and is only 20 years old. He hopes to make a global In the run up to the Bmo race, some teams had already completed extensive tests of tires and machine. foremost among them Ducati Xerox, Yamaha Motor ltalia, PSG-I Kawasaki, Klaffi Honda, plus Supersport runners Yamaha Motor Germany, Team ltalia Megabike and K1affi Honda. Not surprisingly, Chris Walker made an impact in the first sessions, and the top two were James Toseland and Regis Laconi, on the factory Dukes. One contrast between Brno MotoGP style and Bmo SBK style was apparent on Friday. At the SBK round, in perfect weather conditions on the opening day, there were spectators dotted around and very little traffic approaching the circuit. The trails of pedestrians, trudging along the lanes toward the track for all three days of MotoGP action, were also significant by their absence. On Saturday it improved, and by Sunday, despite some threatening rain clouds, it stayed dry and the crowds appeared, if not flocked in. The Foggy Petronas team's future is still a fluid commOdity in the SBK paddock. If there was no Petronas Superbike in 2006 then, according to team sources, it would be financially punitive for the Petronas company to extract itself from its current obligation to the Foggy crew. But the team is ruling out nothing, including Petronas building a new bike for them to race, someone else racing, or joining MotoGP. The team has also denied that it has had any communication with the CYCLE NEWS • JULY 27, 2005 25

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