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RACE WATCH
World Superbike ready to roll
Watching Carl Fogarty win World Superbike races is a common enough occurrence, but witnessing him top the time sheets at a pre-season test session was a first.
"I'm shocked, to be honest, to do these times and be ahead of all the rest this early,” Fogarty said of the Kyalami, South Africa, test. “This is the first time I’ve been on the bike in months. Ducati had me working on PR stuff for ages after the season, then I had a month’s holiday, drinking beer and going out nights, doing next-to-no training. Maybe I should give up training and drink more beer!”
The reigning World Superbike Champion’s time of 1:43.11 was well inside the official lap record, and was achieved on a lightly modified 1998 version of the ever-competitive Ducati 996, running back - to - the - future 42mm Ohlins forks.
Castrol Honda’s Aaron Slight was second quickest, riding a Honda RC45 with modified suspension and a new swingarm. Fogarty’s new teammate, Troy Corser, put in a best of 1:43.80well ahead of American Colin Edwards’ 1:44.27 on the other works Castrol Honda.
This year’s most eagerly awaited entry is the Yamaha YZF-R7. Allegedly fast in private testing, the bike had its public debut at Kyalami in the hands of 1998 WSB Rookie of the Year Noriyuki Haga and two-time World Supersport series runner-up Vittoriano Guareschi.
All things considered, Yamaha’s latest assets, both ferrous and fleshy, gave a decent showing. On the second day, Haga recorded a best of 1:45.42, having survived a near-crash. Inexpe rience with the new bike was one ex planation for Haga's comparatively slow pace, as was the team's constant experimentation with chassis setup.
Rookie Guareschi did go wholehog and crash on the final day of the three-day test, but escaped the nasty highside with a grazed arm and a determination to improve his lap times. The Italian impressed many by doing just that, finally recording a 1:45.45 to finish a bleached-whisker slower than Haga.
A complete revamp of Suzuki’s WSB effort has seen Francis Batta’s Alstare Corona Extra team take over as the official works entry, running the talented and experienced PierFrancesco Chili and ex-Grand Prix hothead Katsuaki Fujiwara on its
fuel-injected GSX-R750s. Chili called on every ounce of his vast rac ing experience to dip into the 1 :44s in his first test against the other factories.
"It's a big shock to get on a four-cylinder after the Ducati," he said. "I think the lap times are already good for the first test against all the other teams. I am only here to learn the bike, to understand it and the tires. At the moment, I am quite happy." Fujiwara was a per manent fixture at the lower end of the time sheets for most of the three days, but blitzed the final day to head both Yamahas and the April ia RSV Mule, ridden by Peter Goddard.
The Aprilia is a serious ef fort from an underdog facto ry with a recent history of humbling more outwardly powerful manufacturers in GPs. Clearly slower than the top bikes, the RSV has, ac cording to Goddard, a sweet chassis but a "not-so-bad" motor. As a result, Goddard's best was 1:46.14 on the final day. The Kiwi is confident that all the bike needs is development time.
"The most important thing to me is making it fully competitive for next year, which means demonstrating it can be competitive this year," he said. "I know this bike can be a Ducati-beater, and I will be disap pointed not to get it on the podium sometime this year."
So, who will win the title? The smart money is on one of the two works Ducati riders, as both they and their blood-red 996s have a reputation for performing well at any circuit in any conditions-characteristics not al ways shared by the Hondas and Suzukis. Plus, Fogarty and Corser are the only guys in the field who know what it takes to win the title, not just individual races.
The R7/Haga combination could win every race (if the bike proves to have a powerful-enough motor) or could just as easily fade over the course of a difficult season. With se rious efforts from six world-class manufacturers, one thing is certain: The 13-round World Superbike Cham pionship promises to be a closely fought and gloriously exciting affair.
Gordon Ritchie
Gobert, Oliver top AMA testing
The AMA roadracing series under went its second round of pre-season testing at Laguna Seca Raceway in January. Twenty-four-year-old Antho fly Gobert demonstrated the staying power of the "aging" Ducati 996 V Twin, while 37-year-old Rich Oliver demonstrated staying power of a different sort as he was the fastest of the 600cc Supersport riders on the new Yamaha YZF-R6.
Gobert appeared primed for his “clean-and-sober” comeback season, even if he doesn’t always dress the part. Fellow Australian Mat Mladin was second quickest on both days of testing on his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750, with Muzzy Kawasaki perennial Doug Chandler third.
Chandler’s new teammate Aaron Yates was fifth fastest at Laguna, and the last rider to break into the 1:27s. He was narrowly headed by Gobert’s Vance & Hines teammate Ben Bostrom. The defending AMA Superbike champ was still recovering from his high-speed get-off at Dunlop’s Daytona tire test, but managed quick laps in small bursts. Bostrom says his only goal is to be fit for the grueling 200-miler.
Ben’s brother Eric got his first taste of Laguna’s serpentine circuit on the Honda RC45 (Gobert likens Laguna to “a motocross course, but with > tar"), finishing 11th in the timed ses sions. Eric's teammate, Miguel Duhamel, was still on crutches, but managed a few laps. Duhamel was still recovering from last year’s horrific, season-ending crash at Loudon. The 1995 AMA Superbike champ has suffered multiple complications from the injuries, and underwent bonegraft surgery on his left femur in December. Duhamel is expected to race at Daytona.
Oliver, sixth fastest on the old Yamaha YZF750 Superbike, topped the 600cc Supersports. Teammate Tommy Flayden recorded the secondquickest time, while Jamie Hacking was absent due to an elbow injury suffered while snowboarding (he is also expected for Daytona). Considering Daytona’s legendary knack for destroying new designs, it’s perhaps fortunate that the Yamaha YZF-R7 won’t make its Superbike debut at Daytona, although Oliver and Hacking will have their new machines shortly thereafter.
Suzuki may win some races by sheer number. No less than eight factory-supported GSX-R750s will hit the grid on AMA weekends: Mat Mladin, Steve Crevier, Jason Pridmore and Steve Rapp will pilot the Yoshimura-prepped Superbikes, while Team Chaparral’s Damon Buckmaster and Rich Alexander, and Team Cycle Gear’s Jake Zemke and Roger Lee Hayden will contest 750cc Super> sport. (Roger Lee, the youngest of the racing Haydens, will be 16 years old in May, making him eligible for AMA competition.) The Yoshimura squad will no longer campaign the TL1000R, and has switched to fuel injection on its Superbikes. According to Mladin, the system is already working more smoothly than last year’s carbureted bikes.
New Harley-Davidson VR1000 recruit Scott Russell was uncharacteristically quiet at Laguna, and turned an identical lap time to his teammate Pascal Picotte (okay, you’ve got to figure that’s as fast as the bike would go). Their times were approximately 1 second off those of the leaders. With Daytona looming, Russell may have finally found a bike he can’t win on.
Paul Seredynski
Kiwis in Grand Prix
If you had never built a motorcycle before, would you start with a 500cc Grand Prix bike? Pre-season testing for this year’s FIM 500cc World Championship saw the arrival of an all-new marque: BSL.
Short for Buckley Systems Ltd., the upstart Auckland, New Zealandbased team was founded by Bill Buckley. The Kiwi’s company is the world’s premier manufacturer of ionimplanter magnets. These magnets (if you hadn’t already guessed) are used by more than 90 percent of the world’s computer-chip manufacturers. Blessed with a decent balance sheet, a wealth of engineering talent and a slew of CNC machinery, BSL has created-from scratch-a 500cc GP bike.
The BSL Triple first turned a wheel (literally) recently in Australia. “The first time anyone changed gear on it was at Phillip Island,” Buckley admitted. “We worked right up to the wire to get it done. It sounds sweet, and it doesn’t vibrate.”
The bike’s design is conventional, with a twin-spar aluminum frame and a two-up/one-down, balance-shaftequipped three-cylinder two-stroke engine. Even though it shatters no molds, the BSL has had typical newbike teething problems.
“We haven’t got the right pistons in there, and we can’t stop the bloody thing seizing,” Buckley said. “But there’s a lot of support at the track.”
Such problems might have prevented BSL from being accepted by the FIM as a new team. After all, not just anyone can roll up to the 24-spot GP grid. New teams must prove that they have the machinery, the rider and the backing to compete. At presstime, still unable to turn consistent laps due to the aforementioned piston problems, BSL appears to be in the show, but start money is still an issue.
“The bottom line is that we have a place in the championship,” said BSL’s Dave Stewart. “IRTA (the owners group) and the selection committee were really impressed with the bike. They understand the problems we are having, and they’ve gone to bat for us.”
According to Stewart, if needed, IRTA will create a 25th grid position for the BSL (with former Australian Superbike champ Mark Willis at the controls), but without the critical start > money. Further complicating things, a French team also in line for the final spot has filed suit against the FIM in case it's bumped by BSL. All this may be moot, however, as tuner Erv Kanemoto has yet to find sponsorship for fellow American John Kocinski. If Kanemoto fails to field a bike, BSL should be in with full FIM support.
“It will be a frustrating and difficult year for us, much as it was for the Modenas in its first year,” Stewart said. “But we’re in it for the long term. GP racing is becoming more exciting, and another manufacturer only helps that.”
As for the rest of the paddock, fivetime series champ Mick Doohan was quickest on his Honda NSR500 at the Australian test, with Yamaha-mounted Max Biaggi a tick slower. But it was former Modenas rider Kenny Roberts Jr., now riding Suzuki’s quickly improving RGV500, who may be looking at a most-improved award. At Phillip Island, the American was fifth fastest, but at the following week’s test at the new circuit > at Sepang, Malaysia, Roberts outrode the factory Yamahas of Biaggi and Norifumi Abe.
"I've been feeling good about the bike and the progress we’re making,” Roberts said. “It’s nice to have that feeling confirmed by the stopwatches. It’s good to know that the bike is up to it, when we still have some more things we can improve. I believe we could have found another half-second with a different suspension-and-chassis combination, and there’s more to come.
“At the moment, I believe the bike is about 80 percent of what we need to beat Mick,” Roberts added. “We’ve > asked Suzuki for more power and ac celeration, and we're moving ahead all the time on the chassis."
Doohan didn’t participate in the Sepang test, and has since added another title to his already lengthy resume: team owner. Co-owner, anyway, of a new Shell-backed 250cc GP team. Doohan made the announcement alongside fellow countyman Jeff Hardwick, who will run the team. The two-rider squad, composed of 17year-old Aussie Anthony West and Japan’s Tohru Ukawa, will campaign factory Hondas.
“It won’t change what I’m doing,” confirmed Doohan. “This team should take care of itself. It’s got a separate identity to my racing career. I hope it will develop into one of the most professional teams in the paddock.”
Doohan added that the creation of the team is not a sign of retirement. “Not at this point,” he said. “I’m not going to stop just because I’ve won a championship or two.”
Paul Seredynski
