Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

get even fitter, because I have to try something. I certainly don't want to end the season not being able to challenge the leaders." There are still 200 points up for grabs, but the way things are going, Bayliss won't have to travel to round 12 at Many-Cours via Reims to pick up some bubbly for his championship party; he will doubtless cel- ebrate his overall win sometime sooner. Say hello to title number two, as we all wave goodbye to Imola, as some rumors suggest? Or even earlier? The ninth of 12 World Superbike weekends will take place at the newly remodeled Circuit van Drenthe in Assen, September 1-3, and because of that, Bayliss' rivals will have a whole month to think about where they can realistically finish their 2006 campaigns. CN BRITISH WORLD SUPERBIKE BRANDS HATCH, ENGLAND RESULTS: AUGUST 6, 2006 (ROUND 8 OF 12) WORLD SUPERBIKE QUALIFYING: 1. Troy Bayliss (1:25.449); 2. Noriyuki Haga (1:25.857); 3. Karl Muggeridge (1:25.901); 4. James Toseland (1:25.933); 5. Troy Corser (1:26.000); 6. Andrew Pitt (1:26.291); 7. Regis Laconi (1:26.323); 8. Chris Walker (1:26.542); 9. Yukio Kagayama (1:26.560); 10. Tommy Hill (1:26.580); 11. Lorenzo Lanzi (1:26.794); 12. Fonsi Nieto (1:26.814); 13. Ruben Xaus (1:26.850); 14. Michael Fabrizio (1:27.047); 15. Sebastien Gimbert (1:27.102); 16. Pier-Francesco Chili (1:28.058); 17. Steve Martin (1:27.767); 18. Alex Barros (1:27.772); 19. Norick Abe (1:27.940); 20. Marco Borciani (1:28.020). WORLD SUPERBIKE RACE ONE: 1. Troy Bayliss (Duc); 2. James Toseland (Hon); 3. Noriyuki Haga (Yam); 4. Andrew Pitt (Yam); 5. Yukio Kagayama (Suz); 6. Troy Corser (Suz); 7. Chris Walker (Kaw); 8. Alex Barros (Hon); 9. Regis Laconi (Kaw); 10. Ruben Xaus (Duc); 11. Tommy Hill (Yam); 12. Lorenzo Lanzi (Duc); 13. Norick Abe (Yam); 14. Fonsi Nieto (Kaw); 15. Sebastien Gimbert (Yam); 16. Vittorio Iannuzzo (Suz); 17. Steve Martin (Foggy); 18. Roberto Rolfo (Duc); 19. Shinichi Nakatomi (Yam); 20. Josh Brookes (Kaw). Time: 36 min., 26.287 sec. Distance: 25 laps, 57.397 mph Average Speed: 94.240 mph Margin of Victory: 0.184 seconds WORLD SUPERBIKE RACE TWO: 1. Noriyuki Haga (Yam); 2. Troy Bayliss (Duc); 3. Andrew Pitt (Yam); 4. Regis Laconi (Kaw); 5. James Toseland (Hon); 6. Troy Corser (Suz); 7. Yukio Kagayama (Suz); 8. Chris Walker (Kaw); 9. Alex Barros (Hon); 10. Ruben Xaus (Duc); 11. Lorenzo Lanzi (Duc); 12. Michel Fabrizio (Hon); 3. Norick Abe (Yam); 14. Sebastien Gimbert (Yam); 15. Vittorio Iannuzzo (Suz); 16. Steve Martin (Foggy); 17. Shinichi Nakatomi (Yam); 18. Roberto Rolfo (Duc); 19. Fonsi Nieto (Kaw); 20. Ivan Clementi (Duc). Time: 36 min., 26.885 sec. Distance: 25 laps, 57.397 mph Average Speed: 94.486 mph Margin of Victory: 1.657 seconds WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 8 of 12 rounds): 1. Troy Bayliss (307/9 wins); 2. Noriyuki Haga (230/2 wins); 3. James Toseland (219/1 win); 4. Troy Corser (193/2 wins); 5. Alex Barros (166/1 win); 6. Andrew Pitt (157/1 win); 7. Yukio Kagayama (126); 8. Lorenzo Lanzi (96); 9. Chris Walker (96); 10. Michel Fabrizio (87); 11. Ruben Xaus (84); 12. Fonsi Nieto (83); 13. Norick Abe (77); 14. Regis Laconi (72); 15. Karl Muggeridge (66); 16. Roberto Rolfo (52); 17. Shinichi Nakatomi (29); 18. Fabien Foret (19); 19. Sebastian Gimbert (18): 20. Pier-Francesco Chili (16). UPCOMING ROUNDS Round 9 - Assen, Holland, September 3 Round 10 - Eurospeedway, Germany, September 10 C Y C L E N E W S • AUGUST 16, 2006 35 Starting from pole, maybe Broc Parkes would expect to win the World Supersport race, but after some of his struggles this year to even finish in the top five, he made his Brands win - his first of the year - look easy. The stunning Yamaha 1-2 at Brands leaves the World Supersport Championship in a state of complete parity between the main warring factions for the title itself, with Parkes now in true hailing distance of the lead as well. Kevin Curtain was second and Winston Ten Kate Honda's Kenan Sofuoglu third, but Parkes is now only 12 points off the championship lead - which is now shared (on 131 points) by Sebastien Charpentier and Curtain. Charpentier, still recovering from his pelvic and collarbone injuries, was sixth in the race itself, behind fourth-placed Robbin Harms and top wild-card man Cal Crutchlow. The much-vaunted Aprilia four-cylinder Superbike is a rapidly forming reality, but it looks likely to miss the 2007 World Super- bike season, even as a wild-card machine - unless the required number of machines are made before the December 2006 cutoff. The Aprilia could still take to the tracks in 2007, however, but only in Italian Superbike races, in a non-points-scoring prototype class of its own - as has happened in the past history of Superbike racing in Italy. Garry McCoy was in the Brands Hatch pad- dock, cruising around and, by his own admission, looking into getting a ride in World Superbike in 2007. "I was looking at getting a ride here this year as well," said McCoy, "but it just didn't work out." Karl Muggeridge attributed his recent dip in form to dealing with his recent serious back injury, and the longer-than-expected recovery time. His speed was fully evident at Brands, especially from a two-time Brands Supersport race winner, who outqualified his teammate. Fabien Foret and Alstare Engineering's parting of the ways, announced before the Brands race, was a surprise to many who had seen Foret steadily improve as he made the switch from World Supersport to World Superbike. His ride was taken by Max Neukirchner, but not at Brands Hatch. While the rest of the official Alstare team was on its way to Brands, Neukirchner was out at the Lausitzring, despite the fact that he was still recovering from a broken collar- bone. His times were nothing to write home about, but he is a talent and has a nationality that World Superbike promoters would like to keep in the series. Foret has found the transition to Super- bike a challenge, especially in traffic. When on his own on the track, he feels he can ride the bike like a Superbike, but in traffic he reverts to Supersport mode - pushing the bike in too fast and not using all the power on the way out. The exit of Neukirchner from the Pedercini team was partly blamed on what team boss Lucio Pedercini states was intransigence on behalf of Neukirchner's crew chief, Peter Rubatto. "We would suggest settings for Max to run, but his engineer would not want to follow them. Then they would complain that the bike was slower than mine after he rode my machine - with my settings - but they did not want to follow what we did and wondered why he was slow. He qualified one time for Superpole - when using the settings for my machine." The Foggy Petronas team remained tight- lipped about any links to sponsors or manu- facturers for their future participation in rac- ing, but a team source at least clarified the likelihood of where they will be in 2007 - and World Superbike seems the most likely. Garnering a MotoGP budget is looking like an almost impossible task (even for existing and established MotoGP teams, it appears), and the money required to run a top-flight British Superbike squad (with two full HRC factory Hondas, two 999F06 Ducatis and two trick Rizla Suzukis in the mix) would not be far below that needed to run a World Superbike squad - but without the global exposure for a big-name sponsor they would need to get the bulk of the money covered. The Ducati link to Carl Fogarty - which could be the supported number-two Ducati squad, only one step down from the factory team - is still very much alive, it appears. Rumors linking Fogarty to Yamaha machin- ery, if he has to run a private squad after all, nevertheless made the rounds at Brands. The saga of Italian racing circuits continues. Just as Misano had confirmed MotoGP to be run on its flat strip of tarmac next to the A14 Autostrada, and the Misano World Superbike meeting looked a bit shaky, it looks like there will be three World Super- bike races in Italy again in 2007 - but Imola is the one that seems under real threat of non- participation. Needing to find 10 million Euro of private money, to match the govern- ment's 10 million bail-out for operating costs for the next seasons, Imola has struggled to find the budget required. If this proves to be the terminal case, then the recently revamped Vallelunga circuit, just north of Rome, is the track most likely to be on the cards - as mentioned in previous news sto- ries. The Vallelunga race looks more of a certainty every day, and would simply replace Imola in its traditional September date, with Monza in springtime and Misano in June. The prospect of Max Biaggi being an Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki team rider in 2007 took a step closer with the admission from the team that Biaggi is still a target for them. World Superbike is still pushing hard behind the scenes to have Biaggi in the championship, which would facilitate Italian TV and overall sponsorship deals of a kind unimaginable at present. It has been pre- sumed in the past that Yukio Kagayama would be the rider to go, but as Kagayama is the Suzuki factory's very own "placeman," there's the possibility that if Biaggi proves to be much more than the World Superbike phantom he proved to be this year, then it could possibly be Troy Corser who may be moved rather than Kagayama. The Japanese rider's double win at Brno has simply com- plicated matters all the more, especially for a team with what appears to be a direct hot- line to the factory, and the parts to prove it. Corser has spoken recently about his 2007 plans, and he fully expects to sign a new contract with Alstare soon. The wild card in all this is Max Neukirchn- er, who is now on the Alstare Engineering bike, as part of the program for Alstare to become a mini-Yoshimura, Ten Kate or Moriwaki, making race-kit parts for World Superbike and national racers who want to compete with Suzukis, as an expansion of Alstare's long-term business interests. With Biaggi and Kagayama on the official bikes, and the other Max on the Alstare Engineer- ing machine, would this appeal to the vast German market? It seems at least possible, however incongruous the idea of Alstare shedding a talent like Corser may at first appear. A rumor that all the PSG-1 Kawasaki mechanics had been given notice to quit at the end of the season, after recent dishar- mony in the overcrowded PSG-1 pit garage, made the rounds at Brands. It is, however, known that many were threatened with more immediate dire retribution if they did not find a way to get along with each other, rather than all of them being told they were out at the end of the year. According to team insiders, it has worked as planned, and the mood in the team is now one of harmo- ny and accord, whatever the individual rider loyalties are within the group. Despite being very close to the PSG-1 points pile, indica- tions from Italy point to Chris Walker being the man to lose out if PSG-1 does drop to a more manageable two-rider format in 2007. Fonsi Nieto brings money to the deal (as well as his increasing Superbike speed), and Regis Laconi is a proven multiple-time win- ner, who is seen by some key personnel as more of a prospect for ultimate glory than battler Walker. James Toseland, desperate to impress in front of a voluble home crowd, endured a bad start to his race weekend, as a sticky brake caliper contributed to his dropping out of the top 10 on day one. With normal stopping service resumed, he proved front- row fast, and qualified fourth after Super- pole. The sight of Kurtis Roberts (sporting a set of black-and-red leathers, with a MotoGP logo on the thigh) standing outside of Race Control while the first untimed Superbike session was taking place did not bode well Briefly... Continued on page 36

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