more than a decade, so we took Lavilla's old
bike out of the Alstare cellars and let him
ride it at the Pirelli test days at Valencia in
November," recalls Batta. "The fact he was
consistently fastest on such an old bike was
very encouraging - but then I was informed
that production of the new K5 would begin
only in December, and we wouldn't get our
bikes until the end of January, just a month
before Qatar."
Presumably, this explains why no other
teams ran the new Suzuki in SBK 2005.
"This was a catastrophe," Batta says,
"but after some negotiation, I agreed to pay
to send 21 of my staff to Japan a week
before Christmas to assemble two hybrid
bikes, which were a blend of 2005 and older
parts, which we then took to Phillip Island
for four days to start development testing.
Then we returned to Japan on January 4 to
complete the four new K5 Superbikes and
assemble the spare-parts stock, as well as
for an in-depth tutorial on the Mitsubishi
electronic system. It was very satisfying how
we became completely immersed in
Suzuki's Superbike program, to the extent
they have completely treated us as an
extension of their race department. Then
we retumed to Phillip Island for more testing - for six days in all, because Troy had cor-
rectly insisted that if we could get the K5
running well there, it'd be good everywhere
else. So we went to Qatar with competitive
bikes, and laid the basis for a successful season, which was a fine reward for a winter of
hard work, thanks also to Suzuki's fine
cooperation. We could not have asked for
anything better."
The Corona Suzuki team's 2005 title
success is the product of a well-planned,
well-executed strategy underwritten by an
intelligent, generous sponsor, which allowed
two top riders to make their mark on a
motorcycle that's proved to be the class of
the field. Riding 2005's supreme Superbike
at Magny-Cours revealed a machine that,
from the moment you sit on it, delivers a
strong sense of refinement and controllability evidently obtained via patient development and great attention to detail by the
Alstare Corona team.
As you settle into the cockpit, you'll note
Troy's trademark thumb-brake on the left
beneath the clutch lever, plus the usual
Alstare Corona MoTeC digital dash in front
of you, surmounted by a huge red junior
"searchlight" that flashes in your face at
around 13,500 rpm to tell you to hit another gear before the 14,350-rpm rev-limiter
cuts in on the race-pattern 'box's sweet-
