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/128624
Troy Corser's Apr ilia RSV M ille SP In doing so , Cor s er ha s also a chieved what many at th e s ta rt o f th e season wo u ld hav e t e rm ed t he im p o ss ible dre am : he 's a lso t urned Aprilia into the win ni nges t make in World Superb ik e - th e b rand th at , how ev er im proba bly, has also sco red m o re race vic to rie s so far th is ye ar than any oth e r. Eat yo u r he a rt o ut , Hond a . And , h e y Du c a ti , was t ha t really suc h a s mart move, to let Co rs er go? For after scoring what many we re rea dy to write off as a fortunate debut victo ry in c ha ngeable con d itions a t Phillip Is land in Ap ril, th e fa ct is that th e Aprilia V-twin is now perha ps th e cla ss of th e Superbi ke field. S ke pt ic s h av e ha d t o ea t th e ir wo rds after Cor se r's double at Misano , victory a t Vale ncia a nd anothe r win at Laguna S e c a , aft e r c ruisi ng throu gh from s ixth pla ce on th e first lap to overhaul first ra ce winner Noriyu ki Ha ga' s R7 Ya m a ha with wha t loo ke d like e m ba rra ss ing ease. He the n sele cted overd rive to p ull away a nd win b y eig ht s econds , after slowin g dow n to pull one of his trademark standu p wheelies over the finish line. T h e stuff of champion s ? Could be ... But Aprilia 's increa s ingly im p re s sive showing in four-s tro ke Supe rb ike racing is n 't an overn ight s e n satio n , rather the c ulm ina tio n of a three -year de velopment progra m that's ach iev ed succ ess a little ea rlier th an proje cted , t ha nks t o C o r s e r ' s in v ol v em ent. Th a t' s the assertion of Giuseppe Ber- B y ALAN C A T HCA RT P HOT OS B y K E L EDGE '17 0 say t hat t h e wo r k s A pr il ia U RS VI0 00 whi ch ha s ta ken Troy Cor ser to a close s ec ond place in this year's World Superbike series, just 17 po ints b ehind championship leade r Colin Edwa rds with e ig h t race s t o run , is th e rev e lati on of th e season , is h ard ly a n unde rs t a t em en t. Wh ile Edwa rd s ' Ho nda RC5 1 initial ly im p re s sed even mo re by winn ing in its debut season, fact is that th e new Japane s e V-tw in wa s he a vily tipped to s weep to s uccess after pre -s eason testing . Th e un con sid er ed Ap rilia, on the othe r hand , wa s billed ba ck at the start of the yea r a s a sort of conso la t ion ride for Cors e r , who wo n the World Superbik e crown for Duc a ti in 1995 but was a bruptly ejected fro m th e Ita lian fac tory 's te a m at the e nd of la st season - in a contro ve rsial step wh ich a ppea re d to have mor e to do with g lobal marketing th an race te am managemen t. But a nyo ne who ever do ubte d Ap rilia's a bility to take the step up in prod uct de velop me nt from buil d ing ring ding two -strokes that be at the best of J apan Inc. in winn ing Grand Prix world titles , to m ak ing fou r-str oke V-twins that can st reet-sweep the World Su per bike class, has had to revis e their opinions after a seri es of rides from the 28 year-old Australian that hav e seen him win five races so far this se a son, m ore than any other rider. 22 A UG UST 2 , 200 0 ยท cue I e n e 'UV s The Aprilla RSV M lJIe SP - the s u rpris e of the Wo rld Superl>ik e Championship. nicchia , th e man in c ha rge of Aprilia Rac ing 's Superbike pr oject s inc e th e ve ry beg inning , and thus th e a rch itect of th e RSV Mille's rise to su cc ess. His pos ition is often refle cted by t he mobile phone permanently g lue d to his e a r in pit la ne , as he swa ps infor ma ti on wit h hi s e ng inee rs b a c k at Ap r ilia ' s No a le fac tory n o r t h of Venice, as well as keep ing c om pany owner Iva no Begg io up to speed o n th e team 's lat est s uccess. "We started developing th e bike in pr ivate t est ing ba ck in 19 98 ," he sa id . "An d o u r firs t ye a r in World Supe rb ike last season wa s a n exte ns ion of that develo pment cycle , as we estab lished se t t ings an d g a t h e re d d ata for each circ uit , whi le also im p rovi n g th e p erforman c e o f th e bike . That 's why we used the e stablished De Cecco priv at e team for our debut season in th e class , with just 'a sin gle ride r. Pete r Goddard is a ve ry ex perienced and ca pa ble competit or , who did a good jo b for us in fu rthering de velo pment, witho ut c hallengi ng fo r t he t o p p osit ions . Fo r that we need ed a to p rider, c a pa b le of winning ra ces - and it was our great good fo rtu ne th at Troy C ors er b e ca me available . He ' s s u p p lie d the fi n a l ing re die nt to suppl ement our team 's effo rts , a nd it's th anks to h im that the Mille has be c ome a s e rio us c ontes tant th is season." To mark their first year as full-on contenders for Superbike success, Ap rilia restruc tured th eir operation for Y2K, estab lishing a two -rider fac to ry race tea m qui te s e pa rate from th e ir works 250/50 0 c c GP effo rt , based not in Noal e , but ne xt to th e compa ny's new engine manufa cturing plant so me 125 m iles further sout h in San Marino , a st on e 's throw from th eir MV Agus ta rival s ' CRC o pera tio n headed by Mass imo Tambu rini. Riding a lo ngsid e Co rser on the te am is Aprilia test rider Alessando Anton ello , dubbed the "Marcell in o Luc ch i of Superbike ra cing" for his c ruci al role in proving the worth of ea c h successive ev o lution of the RSV Mille racebike, before pa ss ing it over to his team lea der to try to win races with . Anto nello is no slo uc h , as p roved by his pair of sixth places at separate tracks in th e World Superbike seri es th is year. Under th e su pervis io n o f e xp erienced team ma na ge r Fa brizio Guid otti, the seven -m an team of ex- GP ra ce mechan ic s tog eth er w ith the fou r e nginee rs and the Ohlins suspension te chni c ian p e rm an entl y assi gned to the new ly -formed operation, have worked s lickly to gethe r from the ver y start, giving Cor ser the backup support e ve ry rider d re ams of. "Th ey 're s o profess ion al in all they do ," Cors er says. "Com pa re d to certa in o t h e r t e am s in the Superbike paddock, they work in a much more ca lm a n d ordered way . Maybe it ' s be c au s e th e y a ll came fro m Grand Prix rac in g , b ut t h e re ' s nev er an y last- mi n ute fla p to ge t o u t o n t he track - th e b ike s are a lways s itt ing the re read y to go when I get to the box , an d ev e ryth ing s e em s s o we ll plann ed a nd fo cus ed . But t hey s til l ha ve th e Latin passion for racing a nd th irst for suc c e ss , a nd the y' re re a lly s uppo rt ive of m y e ffo rts, an d Alessandro's , to o. It's a great c om b ination, the best of both worlds." Like the s ingleto n b ike ra c e d in 199 9 b y Go dd ard o n w h a t was fra nk ly a prototype bas is , th e Cors er Ap rilia is ba s ed on th e lim ite d-ru n RSV Mille SP , of whic h a s ing le bat ch of jus t 150 exa m p les - the m inimum q ua ntity ne e d ed to homo logate the model for Wo rld Supe rb ike ra c ing we re manu fa c tur ed las t summ e r, None ha ve be en built sin ce . Co m p ar ed to th e volum e -pr odu cti on RSVI000 , th e Mill e SP is in m an y ways a n all -new m otorcycle, th a n ks mainly to a short-strok e version of the 50-degree V-twin RSV engine pro du c ed in conj u nc tio n with April ia's Rotax eng ine supplie rs , which will onl y be us ed on this model - you