Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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who's made of armor plate and who's made of something less rigid. And more importantly, Ducati has to try and finish second in the manufacturers' championship, which is as important to them as the riders' version. In championship terms for riders though, "Lanzi Does Lausitz" was a sideshow. The real story is the amazing disappearing championship lead, as Corser slipped and Vermeulen fielded almost perfectly. The final round at Imola has seldom been as eagerly anticipated as it is this year. SUPERSPORT Yamaha scored its first win in World Supersport since Silverstone in 2004, thanks to Yamaha Motor Germany's Kevin Curtain. The icing on a two-part anniversary cake was piped on by Curtain's teammate Broc Parkes, who took an aggregate second in the twoparter, initially halted after 10 laps when the rains slowly appeared. In third place, Team Italia Megabike Honda's Fabien Foret beat Winston Ten Kate Honda's Katsuaki Fujiwara and his own teammate, Michel Fabrizio, for the final podium spot. Sebastien Charpentier fell in the opening leg, but having won the title last weekend at Assen, his crash only injured his pride, not his championship prospects. "I'm really pleased to get the win, and it's a great reward for all the team's hard work," Curtain said. "It's been a tough year, but we've never stopped trying. It was a bit touch and go whether we could go the distance on the front tire we chose today. We had our strategy, which was to build as big a lead as possible, and with the red flags coming out, we were able to take advantage of that a little." In the championship standings, the battle for second has heated up, with Curtain overtaking Fujiwara, 147 to 140, while the battle for a top-three finish is now firmly joined by Foret, on 126. Curtain took an early lead in the 23-lap Supersport race, pursued by Parkes and eventually Charpentier. Stephane Chambon's near collision into a Megabike Honda off the start did not stop him having a great first lap, getting up to fourth. Robbin Harms was proving his worth once more, hoisting a stand-up wheelie along the back straight before starting the race, then taking Fujiwara and Chambon within a single circuit of the start. The slow-starting Megabike squad of Foret and Fabrizio had Foret fifth on lap two, Fabrizio eighth. Fujiwara was getting beaten liP by most of his peers in the early laps, down in seventh and looking anything like a convincing championship runner-up. Foret, hacked off to be over four seconds down, went storming past Harms on lap four, just as the leading trio had entered the first complex of corners. Unbelievably, given his outstanding season to date, new World Champion Charpentier fell on the apex of the righthand corner that leads to the last loop before the back straight. Unable to restart, he had an ignominious end to what was looking like Yamaha's first race of the year. It actually looked that way after even only six laps, as Curtain and Parkes were over six seconds ahead, cutting laps in the I:42s, when all others were doing 43s. Harms and Foret were having a particular sort out on lap 10, with the privateer machine seeming at little disadvantage to the Megabike missile. He proved he had gas as well, riding around the outside of Foret on a long left corner, to everyone's amazement. Curtain was making a master-class of his lead, 2.3 seconds up on Curtain, I I seconds up on the nearest Honda of Harms, after only 10 laps. The red flags came out at that stage for a light smatter of rain, and that called for an aggregate result, meaning another 13-lap outing and a break for IS minutes to acclimatize the riders with the "wet" conditions. As is so often the case in these situations, it was all a bit messy, but as rider safety is paramount (we hope), the race was stopped. The second leg was declared wet and scheduled for 13 laps. It started the way race one finished, with Parkes and Curtain ahead, although it was Parkes who took the lead on the road. Harms was out to make an even bigger mark in the second section, but as the lap count grew, Fujiwara moved up toward him, with neither of the Yamaha Motor Germany machines getting any closer to putting real distance between them and their closely follOWing pursuers. Briefly... '. It's an ill wind, as one rider's agony was transformed into another's ecstasy at the impressive but impersonal Lausitz. Lorenzo Lanzi's first chance to ride factory equipment in his rookie SBK season may have only come due to the absence through injury of Xerox Ducati regular Regis laconi, but the precocious privateer snatched at his opportunity with both hands and a cool head, backing up his great form in regular qualifying with his first-ever Superpole win. The first true product of the SBK championship itself to come through the ranks to such an honor, Lanzi looked good not just from this meeting, but also his most recent outings have earned him the right to his ride, however short his gestation period in the top class. He has gone from Superstock runner-up in 2003, to Supersport struggler in 2004, from early season midorder runner in SBK for the NCR tearn, to the top of the grid-position heap at lausitz. He had a good test here a few months previously, but no one realistically expected him to be quite this good first time out on the 999F05. His Superpole time of I:39.019 was the fastest ofthe weekend, and a new track record in qualifying. Thanks to the continuing high pace of 2004 World Champion James Toseland, each of the Xerox Ducatis earned front row starts, after Toseland posted fourth fastest time, his personal best of the weekend at I:4O.0S3. Troy Corser looked to be on course for yet another pole position place, but a slow middle sector and a small problem downshifting on two occasions stopped him from capitalizing on his good early pace, and he had to settle for second on the grid. Assen double race winner Chris Vermeulen earned himself a useful start from the front row with his third-fastest Superpole time, and he was relieved to have a good chance of being one of the leading riders into the tortuous first section of the circuit, where overtaking is almost impossible and rider-to-rider contact probable. The return to the lausitzring - or as we are constantly corrected, EuroSpeeeclway Lausitz - was not a popular prospect with those who had been here before. The magnificent facility is simply too big for the crowd to see the racing at close quarters, the track is slow, bumpy and not designed for motorcycle racing, while the empty grandstands could accommodate the biggest-ever crowd in SBK history and still look empty. An echoing shrine to excess, it also allows few chances for photographers to get trackside and is entirely atmosphere-free, especially in qualifying, with the spectators dotted here and there. Nonetheless, the first two days of track action were sweated out in tempera- tures hitting B6 degrees, and a far more professional and welcoming track staff than the previous two visits made life a sun-kissed pleasure. The unrivalled working facilities and XXXL paddock are welcomed by all, and thus lausitz 2005 was a very different place to the same venue used in 200 I and 2002. The feel good factor - a fickle beast at the best of times - was largely present In Germany in abundance, despite the loss of the more SBK-sized Oschersleben from the calendar to make way for lausitz. Over the course of the weekend it transpired that the line up of the probably re-entry of the Yamaha Motor France team would look the same as this year - with Sebastien Gimbert and Norick Abe - but there is a possible news sponsor in the wings, although team boss Mar- . tial Garcia would not be drawn on its point of origin, much less name. "I expect to hear from a sponsor in a few days but probably our line up will be exactly the same. I expect the same support from Yamaha France and Yamaha Japan for 2006," Garcia said. A top team meeting at lausitz on Saturday had a number of topics under discussion. One was to increase the teams' allocation of nominated test tracks during the season from two to three, which seemed to have universal appeal. Another, proposed by Ducati it seems, but a popular move, is to allow more front tires per meeting. either in number of avail~e choices or in numbers allocated over a weekend. This would considerably increase the numbers of tires needed, so there was an apparent counter proposal to reduce the numbers of qualifying tires. It seems a compromise may be reached whereby there is one more front made available and no change in qualifiers. An increase in the number of test teams was rejected but an increase in the number of official PirellVSBK tests will probably bear fruit. There will probably be two winter tests, one in November at Valencia and one in December in Qatar. A further three tests, for all test teams, will be made throughout the year. More exact details of the 2006 testing proposals came to light at Lausitz on Sunday. The two winter tests, proposed at Valencia and Qatar, will be up to the teams to decide if they want due to the expense of Qatar. There will also be two midseason, all-welcome tests at Valencia and Misano, plus another two for each manufacturer's designated test teams, at Brno and lausitz. There is also probably going to be a reduction in qualifiers, so that each rider only uses them in Superpole, so they can concentrate on race setup in eYery other sesskln. This should allow the extra front choice that most agree they want. Lorenzo Lanzi's remarkable pole position sent his pit crew, most notably Ducati Corse Superbike boss Paolo Ciabatti into sheer delirium, but it was by no means an isolated island of success. Lanzi may have had the luxury of a lausitz test in July, with his factoryengine 999RS in the SC Ducati team, but Lanzi has impressed lately in any case, and no more so than when he took his first steps on a full-factory bike on Friday. Called into the team officially on Wednesday, Lanzi had four more-than-solid practice and qualifying sessions before acing them all with his Superpole win. First free practice. third. First qualifying, fourth. Final qualifying, second. Second free practice (on Saturday afternoon, just before Superpole), third. Not a bad debut at this stage of the season, when all the regulars have long since got their eyes in. Some "eccentric" marshalling was witnessed on occasion at lausitz, as sporadically seems to be the case at German circuits - especially at this one, where the walls and barriers appear to hinder access at some corners. At turn fove in the opening Supersport session, Tera Solberg's machine crashed, and a watching photographer was amazed to see the rider and bike left lying traekside. as the medicos and marshals let time pass. The bashed-about Solberg was lifted up, and walked off the track... with the circuit attendants carrying the stretcher between then, Continued on page 32 CYCLE NEWS • SEPTEMBER 21, 2005 31