Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128622
World Superb ike C h a m p io n s h ip Rou n d 9 : L a gun a S e c a R a c e w a y (L eft) Aaron Slight (11 1) holds off KatsuakJ Fujiwara (g) in their race two battle. Slight was ninth with Fujiwara eighth . (Above) The top three from race two Haga, Corser and Bostrom - celebrate o n t he w inner's rostrum. mood for turn two o n l a p si x , w ith a Haga -esqu e p ass o n th e Japan ese r ider, diving up th e ins id e and hav- ing su ffi c ient turn ing ab il ity to ho ld th e t i ght l in e a n d thu s ho ld u p Haga . BRIEFL Y. •• The latest install ment of the Noriyuki Haga S aga unfolded at Lagu na S ec a, in th e usu al indefinite and never-end ing fas hio n. W ith his last appeal to the FIM rejected, Haga (or more accurately Haga and Yamaha) has now taken their lates t appeal to a higher body , the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for their judgment on his eventual pu nishment. Hi s o rigi nal ban o f 30 day s had already been shorte ned to three wee ks. but now Haga w ill be free to race fo r w hat may be many w eek s , and almost ce rta inly until after the all-important Suzuka 8-hour race at the end of Ju ly. Haga has still been deprived of his point s. on the off icial championship standings , from the Sout h Afr ican race. w here his abnormally high levels of ephedrine were detect ed. RefUSing to be drawn to any great degree about the next round of appeal. Haga did nonetheless make the followi ng point. " The case really doesn't affec t my conce ntration. I think about the issue betw een races. but w hen I' m at the tr ac k it's no t something I consider. I have on ly one thought from Friday to Sunday and that's to cros s the line first . " The doubling up of the World Superbike and AMA Champi onships into one weekend had a very positive effect on the spectator figure s for t he fir st tw o day s at Lag una. The Monterey Police D epart me nt eve n took the un us ual step of issuing a notice to everyone that because o f the rec ord numbers o f pre -rac e ticket sales - for any event in the 43-year history of Laguna Seca - there would be traHic restriction s and delays on the way in and out of th e circu it. Ano ther rider has found himself in trouble with the FlM recently. Y v es Briguet' s fuel sample, tested at the Hockenh eim race. was found to have a " total oxygen mass rate o f 3.1%, above the maximum level of 2.7%.· Briguet did not contest the test results. and has been punished with a total loss of points from Hookenheim and a 1000 Swiss Franc fine. A provis ional calendar of events for the 200 1 W o r l d Sup e r . bik e seas o n was discu ssed duri ng a to p teams mee ting at Laguna, w it h a ve ry similar line up to this season being the orde r of th e year. First up is South Africa on Marc h 11, with one wee k separating the A ustralian and Japanese rac es . In Europe th e next race wi ll be D oningt on. follow ed by M on za. Hoc ken hei m. M isano . Laguna Seca, Brands. Assen and Imola. Oschersleben and Pau (w hich would give W orld Superbike a much-des ired ro und in France) are also penciled in. W ell·founded rumors of a cancellati on of the 2000 season-ending Imola race we re doin g th e rounds at lmo la. A loc al governmen t 10 JULY 19, 2000' eye I e It b ecam e Bostrom ' s turn t o try and break the ch asing Japanese, as he set suc cessive fa st est lap s in his pursu it of his fi rst wi n of the season. Co r ser , o nc e more sl o w to make early progress, took Bayliss on lap eight, and was followed soon after by Ch ili , wh o look ed as if he could make th e move stick despite his sore shoulder. electio n tha t clashes with the race da te mea ns that th ere has been a reporte d difficulty in getting anyone to sign the final co ntract. Albacet e in Spain has been quo ted as a possible replacement. although it wo uld be less tha n popular wi th many tea ms and - going on past attendances - littl e inte rest from the local spec ta tors. Pier-Franc e sco C h ili had the novel ex perie nce of seein g so meone else drop his mach ine o n its side at Laguna . Havi ng handed over his stee d to a mechanic to push back to the pits, the hapless soul let the quarte r million dollar machine slip fro m his grasp half way to the canvas pit-box and it clattered to the tarmac in a crunch of Kevlar bodyw ork. The line up of teams for the S uzu k a 8 -hour race were firmedup at Laguna, With the most tantalizing prospect being co nfirmed at the Colin Edw ardsN alentino Rossi RC5 1 co mbo in Castrol Honda colors. Other Honda teams include Tohru Ukawa and Daijiro Katoh on a Dunlop-shod Cabin Honda RC5 1. Shinichi Itoh and Tadayuki O kada on a M ichelin-shod ver sion. plus Alex Barros and Makoto Tamada on a Duniop-rubbered RC45 . Noriyuki Haga and Th e c h asi ng ac tion at th e front , closi ng up as Bostr om 's run for clea r air fail ed to get the desired effect fo r anyone of the hun t ers , w as still a somewhat strung -out affair. With no pas sing moves and lots of tire co n servancy go ing o n , it looked as if we were in for an as -you -w ere party . Borja , his season once m or e on a d ownturn , crash ed o u t o n lap 10, lessen ing an y vague h op es he ma y hav e had of being re-sign ed b y the factory Du c at i sq uad fo r next seaso n. Corser , another ma n wh o failed to k eep h is Ducati ride, wa s ce rt ai nly earn ing h is Aprilia salary , ha ving shot T ex as Motor Speedway, fueling rumors of their inten t to return to the D aytona 200 in 200 1. According to team manager Davide Tardozzi: "This tes t is at the request of Michelin. it was not instigated by us. Michelin asked us and as a partner. I think we sho uld go to help the m. - Tardozzi claims that despite this so mewhat unus ual mov e . the re ;s no definit e plan to go rac e aga in at D ay t on a . an event the facto ry team has co mpe te d in befo re in recent yea rs, with no wi n to show for it. " It wo uld be nice to go back to Daytona. as still there is unfinished business there. but there is no plan to do it at the moment. " Tardozzi said. " It is a possibility . however. " C arl Fogarty·s latest medical exam in ation has revea led a stro ngly healed bone around his shoulder fractu re. which means that the reigning champion has already started a strenuous fitness campaign. Although Davide Tardozzi believed his retu rn wou ld be entirely up to him. "you can nev er say never, no t w ith Carl . A s far as next ye ar is co nc erned , we w ill talk to ride rs in Septe mber. but Carl will be first . Once he has decided what he wants to do , the rest will fall into place. " W ataru Yo shikawa w ill form one team , w ith Simo n Crafar lining up wi th an un-named Japanese ride r. A kira Yanagawa and Hitoyasu The Eckl K awa sak i squad has almost co mpletely turned their back on the British manufactured D unlops. at Laguna at least. Izutsu will form Kawasaki' s main spearhead in the all-impo rtan t after experiencing many probl ems wi th ou t -of-true tires . A kira race . Yenaqawa' s latest problems have been put down to an inability to get sufficient feedback from the fron t end to push as hard as his B e n B o s t r o m wa s playing the all-American card at Laguna, turning up a t t he ra c e s i n a 1960s C adi llac . co rnplete wi th six-foo t long t ail fin s . an d c h ro me grill the size of Kansas. His all-American theme c o n ti nu e d w it h th e adop t io n of two more sets of leathers to add t o his J o hnny C ash inspired blac k pair that appeared at Va lencia . S et num ber one was a cross betwee n a La s V eg as version o f Elvis Presley and Bost rom 's big her o. Evel Knievel. His alternative set saw the white background replaced by a blue one, much to the delight of the partisan crowd. norm al styl e dict at es. His Wh ite Pow er sus pens io n. which offers alm ost infin ite combi nations of adjus tment o n th e forks have been cited as th e main rea so n. The D ucati Infostrada team. With single rider Troy Bayliss. has been scheduled to per fo rm a te st at the ban ked ova l of t he nevvSi reinforcing the idea that there is suc h a thin g as too m uch choice . After experiment ing with 16 .5 in ch an d 17-inch tires on the rear of the ir Hondas and Ducatis, the top Michelin runners all o pted t o u se t he 16 .5 ve rsion s for t he rac e s . The new est 16 .5 fron ts have also been voted a gre at s u c c e ss. w i t h alm ost univer sal ado p tion for the tires. Interest ingly enough. the front Mich eli n s in GP an d W orl d S up e r bik e are al mos t ident ical, wi t h on ly t he L yle Lovett s a n g t he N at ional r e a r s b e i ng so m e w ha t A nthem prior t o the start of different. racing on Su n d ay .