VOL. 51 ISSUE 27 JULY 8, 2014 P33
BIMOTA ON THE CLOCK
W
e checked in with Dorna
World Superbike Race
Sporting Director Gregorio Lavil-
la at the Portuguese round of the
series on the weekend to get the
low down on all things Bimota in
their return to the series.
When is the next check of
homologation for Bimota?
"It is four months from the first
race they took part in which was
the 13th of April at Aragon, so the
next check will be before the Jer-
ez race. If they do not have the
required number of bikes, they
will not be able to race. They will
not race, not be on track."
What do they have to show
exactly, complete bikes?
"No, because most of them
have been sold but there is doc-
umentation when you sell a bike.
Then we check all the materials
that we see there, plus orders. I
am not the one who does that. I
just follow the procedures, but to
know the requirements that they
must fulfil. We are not worried
about the procedures."
Will we have the same num-
ber of manufacturers
here next year as this
year?
"You have to ask them
because we are not here
to talk about what oth-
ers are going to do, but
we wish that all of them
stay and even more are
coming. We will try to do
things so that everyone
can be here and have
success."
How close do you
think that the new spec
Superbikes in 2015 will
be to the Superstock
class?
"You can go to a manu-
facturer today and say
'Okay, you have this 25
horsepower more [than Evo],
when do you use it?' The ride-
by-wire system is just trying to
kill the power most of the time.
Obviously, if we were racing at
tracks like Monza you can see
a much bigger difference. But
still now with the power delivery
management this will still be a
big difference. Even if the Super-
stock bikes had the same power,
the Superbikes have a different
swingarm, sick tires, and the
better riders are in the Superbike
class so we do not think the gap
between Superbike and Super-
stock will be much closer."
Gordon Ritchie
Gregorio Lavilla
says Bimota's
homologation
date is fast
approaching.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
VIDEO OF THE WEEK:
HONDA FROM HEAVEN
S
ometimes you're just in the wrong place at the
wrong time as Jeff Grace found out during
practice for the 2014 Pikes Peak Hillclimb in Colo-
rado. Grace was negotiating a portion of the race-
course when someone else's Honda – that had
already ditched its rider – met him almost head-on.
