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RACE WATCH
Freddie surprises at the "other" Daytona tire test
Three-time World Champion Freddie Spencer and ex-Smokin' Joe's Honda pilot Mike Smith had their first test on the Fast by Ferracci Ducati 916 at Daytona in mid-December, a week after Dunlop's tire test. It was an especially good test for Spencer: Ferracci signed him to join Smith for the AMA Superbike season aboard an FBF 916. The signing was not a difficult choice for Ferracci, as Spencer was fastest during the exclusive Michelin test, faster even than ex-World Superbike Champion Doug Polen, who was riding his 1994 Castrol Honda RC45. Both the Ferracci team and the Castrol Honda team have swapped to Michelin from Dunlop for the `95 season. Out to demonstrate that he is capa ble of carrying the flag for the `94 U.S. Superbike championship-win ning Ferracci team after a disastrous 1993 GP season with Yamaha-France, 33-year-old Spencer put in a string of times in the 1:51 second bracket, his best being 1:51.54. Smith, meanwhile, turned a 1:52. He might have done better but his Ducati
expired early in the second day. Polen pointed out that the Castrol Honda squad brought only a tired hack with which to perform initial tire testing rather than set hot lap times. Polen still managed a best time of l :51.98.
The best time recorded at Dunlop’s recent three-day test was by World Superbike No. 2 and ex-champion Scott Russell at 1:50.6 on the Muzzy Kawasaki. (See “Burning Rubber,” Cycle World, March, 1995).
Spencer, who rode Hondas to the 50()cc World Championship in 1983 and both the 250 and 500cc titles in ’85, has a career total of 20 50()cc GP wins and seven on the 250 in his single 250 season. He accepts that this may be his last racing season, but he added, “There is the possibility that if it goes well, we could do a World Superbike season. Or we could just stay here.”
Smith also hopes that his chance with Ferracci might lead to greater things: “If we win this championship here, we’ll go and do the World Superbike next year, that’s what Eraldo says. We may do some World Superbike this year as well. That’s up to Ferracci,” said Smith.
Ferracci, who also signed former Muzzy’s Kawasaki rider Tiger Sohwa to his squad, has not raced the 916 before, but he knows the engines, since the ’94 winning powcrplants used by Troy Corser were largely the same as those raced by Carl Fogarty in the World Superbike Championship. “That was to our advantage,” explained Ferracci. “We knew all the chassis settings last year from the ’93 season with the 888. Now the 916 has had a year of development by the factory so we have the benefit of all their chassis work.”
Peterhansel takes the Dakar Rally
In its glory days it was known as Paris-Dakar. But these days, it's called Granada-Dakar. No matter: Same guy is winning. Frenchman Stephane Petcrhanscl, already a three-time winner, again stamped his ownership on this long-distance off-road rally.
The event was as different this year as its name suggests. Instead of a Paris start, followed by transport stages aimed at getting the racers out of civilization and into racing territory, the start was in Granada, the fabled city in Southern Spain. Spain is
of course a hotbed of motorcycle enthusiasm, and Granada is situated to allow a racing stage right out of the starting gate.
There were other differences, as well. First, there was very little sanddune-running this year. And second, much of the course, which ran south across the Strait of Gibraltar, into Mauritania, Guinea and Senegal to cover 6420 miles in 15 days, placed a premium on technical skills. This almost resulted in an upset, as these two factors favored the smaller, singlecylinder racebikes, which led for much of the event.
In the end, however, it was Peterhansel aboard his fearsome twincylinder Yamaha 850 XTZ, beating out the more nimble Singles with a combination of skill and horsepower.
He beat second-place man Jordi Arcarons, aboard a Cagiva, by a margin of 23 minutes, 16 seconds, while Edi Orioli, also on a Cagiva and winner of last year's event, placed third.
Maybe most interesting of all, howev er, is the fact that Honda's experimental EXP2 (see Cycle World. February, 1995) finished an astonishing fifth in the hands of Frenchman Jean Brucy.
World Superbikes finally return to U.S
West Coast racing fans mourning Laguna Seca’s loss of the U.S. Grand Prix have reason to rejoice. Track management announced in early January that it secured a round of the World Superbike Championship for the California track.
The event, scheduled for July 21, 22 and 23, will be the seventh of 12 World Superbike rounds. Laguna Seca General Manager Scott Atherton promises that this will be a very different event from prior world-class motorcycle roadrace events.
“We’ve received a lot of mail about what was good and what was bad about the GP races,” he said, “and the last couple of years we’ve gotten a lot of mail with repeated negative comments. They’re mostly complaining that you can’t get close to the riders and teams to absorb the whole experience. Well, that’s the European protocol of racing; if you’re not part of the team, they don’t want you in the paddock. But the American spectator is accustomed to different circumstances.”
To accommodate American fans, Atherton said, the Flammini Group, the primary organizer of World Superbike, has agreed that, “Persons who buy paddock passes will gain access to the areas where the riders and teams are, the way fans are accustomed to doing at other motorsports events. Also, our prices have been reduced.”
Atherton said Laguna Seca will offer a Superbike Superticket which will provide three-day entrance and paddock access to the AMA Superbike event April 28-30 as well as to the July World Superbike event. The price of the Superticket will be $100, he said.
Added Atherton, “I feel like we’ve hitched ourselves to a rising star. The spectator response is there, more so than with GP racing, and for the manufacturers, this series is achieving the results they want-which is to sell more motorcycles. We were disappointed to have the GP not return, but to have the opportunity to run World Superbike in its place, well, I can’t think of a better situation to be in.” □
