Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Sup e r b ik e Cha mpions h ip Round 12: O sch e r s leben , Germa n y WORLD S OPERBI KE CHAMPIONSH IP POINT STANDINGS ( A fte r 12 of 13 ro unds) : 1. Colin Edwards (367/7 wins) 2. Noriyuki Haga (3 15/ 4) 3. Troy Corser {28S/S} 4 . Pier-Franc esco Chili (234 /1 ) 5. Ak ira Yanagawa (228) 6. Troy Bay liss (22312) 7. Ben Bostrom (169) 8. Aaron Slight (142) 9. Kats uak i Fuj iwara (14 0) 10. Gregorio La .... iIIa (116 ) 11. Juan Borja (1 t I ) 12. A ndy Mek lau (92) 13. Neil Hodgson (86 /2) 14 . A lessandro A ntone llo (72 ) 15. Robert OIm (67) . WORL D SOPERSPORT: 1. Stephane Chambo n (Suz) 2. Karl Mu ggeri dge ( Hon) 3 .. Fab ien Fo ret (Due) 4 . Ruben Xaus (Due) 5. Massim o Merega lli (Yam ) 6. Pierg iorg io Bontemp i ( Due) 7. Cristia no Mig lio rati (S uz) 8 . Stefa n Nebel (Yam) 9 . Werner Daem an (Yam) 10. Michele Malatesta (Suz) 11. J . E ll iso n ( Ho n) 12 . Ka rl Harr i s ( S uz) 13. Kyro Verstra eten (Ya m) 14 . Willia m Coa tes ( Ho n) 15 . Vittori o lannuzzo (Yam) 16. Wileo Zeelenberg (Yam) 17. Yves Briguet (Due) 18. Fran co Brugna ra (Yam) 19 . F a b io Capr iotti ( Yam ) 2 0 . Gareth Kenwa rd (SU2). lime: 43 min., 20.327. sec . Dista nce: 28 lap s. 63. 65 miles A verage Speed: 88 . 13 mph Margin of Victo ry: 11.970 sec. Faste st Lap : Jorg Teu chert 1:3 1. 947/89.0 1 mph , lap 7 Colin can't believe h e is finally Wo rld S u perbike C hampio n after six years contesting the series. Edwards stili needs t o g o t o Brands Ha tc h and beat Haga • in the u nlikely eve nt t ha t t h e appeals court in Sw itzerlan d overturns the previous decisi on and gives Upcom ing Rou nd Round 13 - Brands Hatch, England , October 15 BRIEFLY. •• The first eve r World Superbike race at Oschersleben drew the usual mixed bag of com ments fro m the part icipants. From Troy Bayliss ' cus tomary brief co mments of " It's a neat litt le track , but very physical. 28 lap races round here are go nna be hard work. " To the in-depth rid ing t ec hnique s di sco urse of Troy Corser. " There are some really strange corners here, spe cifica lly the triple. lA doubl e left , not a triple.l You enter it really fast. and have the bike on it s side for a long time . and then it tighten s up and goe s slowe r. All the com ers seem to be like that, which is the opp osit e of mo st other places. The trac k see ms about as wide as any other circuit. but because almo st all the co rners co me back on yo u it feels like it would be very easy to run off the circuit. The trac k is ve ry busy because you 're always changing direction or braking, so the races are gonna be toug h physically . The main probl em is going to be overtaking becau se th ere is only one place . maybe tw o places. to do it prope rly.World Superb ike boss P aolo Fla m m in i spoke for the first ti me about the 200 1 calendar at O schersleben, and the expected success of the first ·ever W orld S uperbike eve nt at the German circuit. "The circuit has told me that they have sold over 30 .000 prebooked tickets for this race . It does not seem possible now that Pau in France will be ready in time for the 2001 season, but otherwise the layout of the calendar is very similar to this year. It has to be submitt ed to the FIM for approval before we can go ahead wi th any kind of o fficia l wo rd on the dates and c irc uits involved ." Assen is very definit ely now back on the calendar after being missed out of last week 's list . and is earmarked fo r September 9 afte r much co nfusion about a clash of dates wi th the next Oschersieben rou nd. C a r l Foga rty' s c a re e r·decid ing test ses sion , originally scheduled fo r the end of Septembe r, has now been moved a littl e forward . Aft er atte nding the Intermot show in Mun ich , the rei9ning W orld Champion IS due for five day s vacat ion in Sardinia, which will be followed by a tw o-day test. at Mu gello (or less likely M isano) , on S eptember 18 -1 g. With no decision mad e yet o n whether or no t he wil l ret ire , the clu es are non ethele ss th ere, from his acc eptance of the seriousness of his injury to his somewhat uncharac teristic [oie de vivre . " 1 seem to be having not hing but holidays at the minute. It's greatl " was his description of how he is now taking to life wit hout racing . Another co mment almos t proves that he has resigned himself to being a non-racer for the first time since he was 17. " I hope some of the British boys get a chance to go W orld Superb ike racing next year . so that the massive British interest in Wo rld Superbike can continue . Bike racing is really big in this country now , but without someone to carry it all on the in teres t wi ll subs ide , like it did aft er [Barry ] Sheeney retired from GPs. - Haga hi s points back. The endle ssly tortu ous and twisty nature o f Oschersleben sawall the Michelin runners using 16.5-inch rear tir es all through the practic e sess ions. A brief flirtation with a 17-inch rear was not a succes s for Troy Bayliss , who immediately reverted to the smaller rim . Co rrado Cecchinelli. D ucati Cor se' s technical direct or , revealed more informatio n abou t the all-new 998cc Ducati engine w hich will power next ye ar' s Du cati Superbike s. " The engi ne cases will be in tw o part s now . not three. with the sump inteqrated into the crankcase halves. The engine will be 100mm x 63 .5 bore and stro ke to give 998cc . The cam shaft bearing s are no longer o f a roller ball, but plain jo urnals running on aluminum. The barrels are one piece, clo sed deck. The design o f the head is dif· ferent . but the includ ed angle and so on is exactly the same . - Wataru Yo shikawa . the reigning AII·Japan Superbike Champion, was give n a ride at O schersleb en . altho ugh th e man wh o fought so we ll to get a podium finish at Sug o earlie r in the year was simply blow n away by the spee d of the European riders at their own circuit . eve n if it was a new one to the calendar. He impressed little on his semi 8-Hour spec fact ory machine, crashing twice in qualifying and failing to make the Superpole cut. A horrif ic accident in the first sidecar qualifying sess ion on Saturday saw. the number 9 outfit of Ian Guy Guy and Andy Peach dem olish number 16 marshals po st after flipping over the crash barrier. The incident oc curred when the handlebar of the machine snapped off causing the out of co ntrol outfi t to hurtle into the tire wall , flipping ove r into the marshals' post. Two marshals and two paramed ics were struck by the machine . wi th all four hospitalized . tw o with seriou s and two with "h eavy " injuries. At the end of race we ekend, two o f them we re still reported to be in intensive care. The late st round of anti cipa te d S u perb ike si g n in gs, a mere we ek after the co ntrac t feed ing fr enzy at A s sen , now see s Tadayuki Okada the numbe r one favorite for the second saddle in the Castrol Honda squad. A major meeting in Rome, at the headquart ers of th e new Honda racing bo sse s scale on the day o f opening practic e for Oschersleb en, HEM , who have taken ove r co ntrol o f Hond a racin g on a gl obal deliv er ed no fi rm news according to Castro! Honda team manager, Ne il Tuxworth . "There was a meeting , but we're still no furth er forw ard in term s of making decisions abo ut next year. W e haven't eve n talk ed about next year with Colin or Aar on yet. but we expect a deci sion about all Honda' s racing plans on Tuesday of this week. If it is decided to run a Supersport effort once more in 2001 , I wou ld be happy to run the team. and I would be happy to carry on with the rider lineup we have at the moment - [Chri sl Verm eulen and [PereJ Riba, if they want to stay . I don 't think the creation of the Ten Kate/Dee Cee team will have any effec t on that eith er way . " Aaron S light, much rumored to be moving out of the Honda Fogarty' s old racing friend .James Whi tham has also noticed a change in Fogarty as well . " I've been asking him if wa s going to retire. but he just said that he would be testing the bike. and he hasn' t decided yet , but for me he has got something clear in his head that has been bothering him for a while. I we nt out for dinner with him rece ntly and he was a changed man. It' s like he's a normal bloke for the first time in 15 year s. " Even Fogarty 's old friend and team manag er , D avid e Tardozzi, see ms to be lo sing his patience. " Everythi ng is waiti ng for Carl. In principle w e w ill be testing wi th Ca rl soon after this race, but I want to see him at the launch of the new engine on Tuesday so that we can talk about next year. If he wants to come back then we will test. but I have not spoken to him for about a month and I must know how his mind is. If he is not ready to go back racing in his mind, then we will not test. There is no point. I do not want to waste time if there is no chance he will return. We will not got to M isano just to eat some fish and have a good time. A sked about the 2000 line up, and a recent meet ing wi th G SE racing team ow ner, Darrell Healey, Tardozzl claimed that the situation wa s still unclear, but had definite ideas abo ut what he wanted to happen with Ruben Xaus in 2001 . " For sure I want Darrell to stay with us [Ducatil for next year . He has yet to hav e a dec ision fr om IN S abo ut fina nce for the team . N ot hing is decided yet. " If Healey 's team doe s come to W orld Superbike, the question of a second rider needs answering. with Xaus being pushed by th e factory to join Neil Hod gson . " I per sonall y want to see Ruben in Superbike next seaso n. but this is my personal opi nion, not a policy position from Duc ati. " Tardozzi said. Haeley himself was tight lipped , claiming to be at O scher sleben fo r a "cruise around " through a canny smile. 10 SEPTEMBER 20. 2 0 0 0 ' C U n e team fo r 2001 , had his say at O sche rsleben . When asked if he was out of Honda he replied. - I don 't know . I haven't spoken to anyone from Honda really yet . so I' m no t sure wh at their plans are. " When asked whether he wanted to stay anyway . he replied : " I' m not sure. The bike hasn't been quite the way it was expecte d to be this year. I still think that twin s have an advantage over the fou rs, but for my riding sty le the bike doe sn't want to let me go fast into the corn ers so I can' t ride it the way I need to." Plee- Francesco Chili , who looke d to have been down and out of the Oscher sleben eve nt afte r a bad fall at As sen, was back in the thick of the action in Germany, although he was co mplaining of a sore chest on the first pract ice day . " My breastbone took a beating in the crashing and it is very sore, espec ially going over bumps. It' s getting a little better now , so we will see how it goe s on race day. " With Stepha ne Chamb on almo st certa in to be his teammate for 200 1, Chili seemed pleased enough wit h that decision. " Stephane is a good guy and a fast rider so I think he will do very we ll. I have no prob lems having him on the ot her bike. " An INC A classic race was held at O scher slebe n. with many old bike s bursti ng eardrum s and twe aking nostalgia gland s for those of a certain age. The most talked about machine was indispu tably Gianfranco Bonera' s three-cy linder MV . wh ich boomed and blat 'ted its way to th e top of the leader bo ard aft er p rac t ic e. The sound s of ye sterye ar brought home the great passio n the former east Germans have for bike racing. which now boasts three permanent race circuits in the area of the old GD R - O schersleben , Sachsenring (near Dr e sden) and the Lausitzring (a little furt her from D resden). Bonera crashed in Sunday 's race making a few an expensive mod ifications to the beautiful MV. 1N s C hris Walker was a paddock visitor at Oschersleben. atte mpting to get himself inside one of the W orld S uperb ike pit garage s for good next season, but wa s finding it hard wo rk . " I really want to be in W orl d Supe rbike next season, - said Wa lker, w ho has been rep uted to have a contra ct w it h Su zuki in the U .K. that state s that if he wi ns the British Ch ampionship he will be given a World Superbike bert h. Walker is presently one point behind Neil Hodgson in the British S uperbike Series, with John Reynolds an increasing ly distant th ird . With the fact ory rid es filling up fast , Walker wa s seen speaking with the Gerin Red Bull D ucati team in Ge rmany , and it is known that the well -equ ipped Au stri an team has amb itions to move their W orld Superbike campa ign up a gear. Peter Goddard's return to the paddock fuelled rumors that the veteran Au ssie would be back in the Eckl team for 2001 , with even a thr ee -bike tea m seen by some cry stal -ball gazer s. Hubbished by mo st. Goddard wa s nonetheless confident of ge tt ing some sort of W orld Sup erbike ride in 2000. Gregorio Lavilla had a peculiar experience at Oscher sleb en when a fan tri ed to steal a set of his leathers for a souvenir fro m outsi de his motorhome. Spott ing that they we re missing Lavilla we nt on the hunt to find them and witnessed a very drunk specta tor attempting to pull them onto his legs at the edge of the paddoc k. To get his leathers back from the man. who at first claimed they were his, Lavilla had to help the hapless croo k ge t his overlarge leg back out of his own leathers. Be n Bos trom fo und him self at yet another new ci rc uit t his weeken d. and he struggled badly to get to grips with it. "I' m only using fou r gears aro und here, and it took a w hile to get the bes t gearbox sorted , so I couldn' t get the best use out of my qualifiers: he said. " I only ju st missed out on Superpole beca use I cou ldn 't get a clean lap, but to start from the fift h row will be a serious handicap at this track . " New s that Ducati and Kawasaki had jo ined the new organization that rep laces the GPMA. t he Grand Prix Manufacturers A ssociation . co nfirms that there is a new power to be reckoned with in wor ld raci ng , and for the fir st t ime spa nning th e gr ea t divide between the GP and W or ld S uperbik e padd ock s. With a se lfdeclared aim o f being part of the deci sion making hierarchy for both G P and World S upe rbike Championship s - seen th e first ste ps to the amalgamat ion: or at leas t a proper demarcat ion - of GP and Wo rld Sup erb ike racing. Motopark Oschersleben announced on Sunday morn ing that it would be running a W orld Superbik e race for the next three years , with the 2001 race set for September 2, whi ch means that the A ssen race originally scheduled for that day now take s place on September 9, the same day the Estoril GP is planned for. A slight flaw in the plan is that the D ut ch co ntingent at Osch ersieben wa s adamant that A ssen will go ahead on Septe mber 2. Clarification wa s unofficially forthcoming that the A ssen date w ill change to the seco nd wee kend . There wa s also talk at OschersIeben of the Donington and M onza weekend s swapping ove r. W ith litt le In the way of contract offers co ming the way of Colin Edwards . fro m his ow n te am at least, his neg o tiati o ns wit h D ucati are rumore d to be in a fairly adva nce d staqe, w ith the cha mpio n-elec t an ob v iou s ly ho t property . Part of th e major attrac tion for Edwards is the fact that with Ducat i, there will be no Suzuka 8·hour pract ice schedule to wre ck his season like it did this year. There is expected to be a serious clash between the 8· Hour date at the end of July and both th e prop o sed G P and W orld Superbike calendars, which may threa ten the involvement of all the present cro p of stars who are expected to tum up for the most import ant single race to the Japan ese factorie s. Klaus KlaHenbock. with his memories of clashing with J org Steinhausen fre sh in his week -old memory. wa s re spo nsible for lighting the blue touch paper in the Si decar race. W ith the usual three class outfits doing battl e at the fron t for most of the race, Klaffe nbock decided to make a break to avoid any problems that wo uld rob him of a desperately needed win . Thus with 10 laps to go he utilized the extra grip available from his relatively so ft tires to hit the front , dragging St eve Webster with him but leaving the ' in-trouble Steinhausen in his wake: A stic king thro tt le wa s enough , to see Stei nhausen out of the running, having to change gear with hand on occasion. Only .2 of a seco nd separate d KlaFfy and W eb- st er at the flag , wit h Stei nhausen six seco nds adrift. " I didn't want to be the meat in the sandw ich so I decided to get to the front and stay there, " Klaffenbock said.

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