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World Superbike Championship Round 1 : Kyalami, South Africa (Above) Anthony Gobert (501) did surprisingly well on the new Blmota, beating - among others· the second factory Honda ridden by Simon Crafar (5). (Right) Haga sprays team manager Davide Brivio on the rostrum after the second race. Anthony Gobert had an eventful first day back in World Superbike. An atrociously slow first session was improved upon in the official Friday afternoon session, but the main impact made by his Bimota SB8R was halfway through official qualifying on Friday BRIEFLY••• when Bimota claimed an engine sensor unscrewed itself. which in A Thursday night pre-race press conference to launch the Kyalami event in front of the world's media was held up for a couple of reasons, the most telling being the late arrival under the spotlights of Anthony Gobert's MVR Bimota. Resplendent in silver and red, the machine, number 501, was missing any form of the much-rumored Levi's sponsorship. At a later Bimota press conference after Superpole, Team Boss Virginio Ferrari, avoided any mention of Levis (despite them being named as the mysterious missing party during a question from the floor), but gave a clue as to what he hopes will be happening soon. "The problem we have experienced is that we only really started this project at the end' of last year," Ferrari said. "That has not given us the time to get everything sorted out properly in terms of sponsorship and part· ners. I hope to have some news about a new partnership before the next race in Australia." One would assume that with the choice of numbers signifying no other potential link (and now his for the season, it is registered to Gobert) that new partner would indeed be Levi's. The unusual initiative of allowing the press and assembled visitors to attend the Kyalami pre-race rider's briefing held immediately after the press conference backfired somewhat when Pier-Francesco Chili took exception to the warning From FIM Jury President Jim Parker that any rider who turned up late for Superpole would be ~ned 1000 Swiss Francs. Chili's immediate response was to grab a microphone and demand of Parker whether he was .. here to act as a Policeman or to come here to work with us." Henceforth what had started out to be pOSSibly the most boring series of events in the entire history of World Superbike - listening to an FIM representative reading the rule book to a catatonic group of riders and press - turned into a fine piece of street theatre, with the FIM in their usual role of deaf lawgivers and the riders a disjointed bunch with their own personal agendas. Possibly the most entertaining point was when Chili claimed to have never paid his last fine from the FIM, "because I have no money. You make us do Superpole and don't pay any extra money so have no money to pay the fine." On a more serious note, the riders claimed to have had verbal agreement at the Valencia tests that the present 110% of pole time cut-off for qualification would be dropped to 107%, to prevent excessively slow riders lining up on the grid at certain races during the year. According to Parker's statement, the 110% limit was still in force, and sure enough come practice 110% it was. The recent flooding in many parts of Africa had meant that Kyalami had not enjoyed a single completely dry day during the last few months. True to predictions, a flash electrical storm accompanied the press conferences on Thursday night. although the rains managed to stay off for the whole of practice. 10 APRIL 12, 2000' II: U II: • ~ n e _ tum coated the rear tire in oil and caused Gobert to crash in a cloud of smoke at the final corner on the circuit. Clinics suggest that this small failure was actually more a mechanically mayhemic result of a broken motor. The Bimota' s oil slick brought down another two riders, Giovanni Bussei and Akira Yanagawa, and also caused Ben Bostrom to go off the circuit. Yanagawa got the worst of it, suffering a broken collarbone. Colin Edwards' fastest laps on the opening two days once more proved just how excellent a debut season the RC51 can expect to have. If there is one downside to the whole RC51 experience for the Castrol Honda team it is the fact that there is no previous setup information to go from at most circuits. "There's nothing we can bring with us," Edwards said. "The times I'm doing are good, but we've got a long way to go with the setup of the machine yet. The lines I take don't seem to be much different from those I used on the RC45, but there's just a lot more corner speed on this. " Carl Fogarty had his biographer, Neil Bramwell, in tow at Kyalami, putting the finishing touches to his official autobiography. In a shrewd marketing move, the book is to be on sale at the vastly attended Brands Hatch World Superbike race, and only then will go on sale in stores. "There have been books about me in the past but this book is my own," Fogarty said. "It's been a lot of work over the winter, with about four months worth of tapes we've recorded ... Rammini's money is anything but impossible to get at - unless there is (whisper ill collusion on the part of the riders. Simon Crafar's short honeymoon on the RC51 lasted until the final official qualifying period when he missed out on a Superpole qualifying position and crashed without injury. "I have absolutely no confidence in the front at the moment, which is very disappointing for me as I got on so well with the bike at Valencia," Crafar said. "I just got my head down to get a really good time and just ended up losing the front. ' Ben Bostrom's crash in official qualifying on Saturday dented not only his confidence a little, but his painted-up helmet. forcing the young American to use a plain old silver job in the late sessions and Superpole to keep his last painted one for the races. Anthony Gobert was in fine form at Kyalami, with the likeable Aussie shooting from the lip as usual. "I let myself go and get fat in America because it was so easy to win heaps of races even when I was unfit," he said. ''I'm glad that Virginio [Ferrari] has given me this last chance in World Superbike. I've wasted my talent over the last couple of years and I know I'm more talented than any of the other riders in World Superbike. It's up to me to repay his faith in me." Troy Corser was running the twin exhaust version of his Aprilia RSV Mille and explained why. "Antonello tried the twin pipes and reckoned there was little difference, but I just like the feel of the engine with them fitted," Corser said, "I think it breathes easier and is much smoother on the throttle." Giuseppe Bemicchia, the Aprilia project leader, confirmed that the twin pipes are at the moment outlawed by the new 2001 regulations, but is hoping that that particular regulation will be repealed, as are many. Juan Borja had a testing time on the opening day at Kyalami, crashing twice on his Ducati. His team, originally running Dunlops. An unintentional light-hearted moment tickled the paddock's has switched to Michelins. Depending on who you believe, this was either at the insistence of Ducati, or at the request of the team itself. A Michelin spokesman confirmed that at present, Infostrada team had Carl Fogarty stating that. "The pain in my Bo~a will run customer tires. but if his results warrant it. he will collective fancy when an official press release from the Ducati shoulder is intense. but I am someone who never complains." be given access to the better compounds. His swap has also seen Honda's irregular numbering system on the front of their new his NCR teammate, Lance Isaacs, move to Michelins, although Isaacs has to pay for his nubber. It was confirmed at Kyalami that Bo~a has indeed received one of Troy Corser's 1999 machines for the season, with the other one being Andy Meklau's old privateer bike. RC51 s, with each rider's number repeated either side of the gaping airbox intake, is not. as some have disputed, illegal. but actually at the behest of the FIM technical rep Steve Whitelock. The FIM regulations state that the number must be at the front and center of the machine, but with that being a physical impossibility on the RC51, another solution was needed. So to stop any confusion, Colin Edwards is not number 22, Crafar is not number 55 and privateer Jonnie Ekerold is definitely not number 6,969. As an incentive for the leading riders in World Superbike, a reward system was instigated at Kyalami. The series organiz· ers have put up a total of $1.8 million for anyone who can break some long·standing WSB records - although cyniCS suggest that the money will be safe. so outlandish are the requirements to win it. To anyone who can take more than 13 wins in the year and a championship with it, goes $1 million: to the rider who wins six~ consecutive races on three-consecutive race weekends . half a million: to the rider who takes six consecutive Superpoles there goes $300,000. All bets on the probability of one rider having the all-round abilities to do any of those in the modem era should be addressed to your local bookie for analysis, but few believe that s The Austrian pairing of Klaus Klaffenbock and Adolf Hanni won the first Sidecar confrontation of the season from reigning Champion Steve Webster and new passenger Paul Woodhead. For once it was Webster's turn to be on the end of a near five· second margin of defeat. as Klaffenbock reigned supreme. The German pairing of Jorg Steinhausen and Christian Parzer took the final podium, with Dutchman Benny Janssen only 1.5 seconds down on them at the flag. The other Dutch pairings, the van Gils and the Steenbergers, both retired, on lap 20 and 14 respectively.