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RACE WATCH
Fours score at Monza
Just as Ducati’s sudden MotoGP success refreshes that series, so the new presence of the Suzuki GSX-R1000 restores some lost vitality to World Superbike.
Over recent seasons, teams running 750cc Fours have complained of a performance shortfall versus the 1000cc Twins—not surprising considering that Fours have won only 20 percent of WSB titles. Therefore, the FIM determined to homologate intake-restricted 1000cc Fours, allowing their makers to race bikes from what has become a hot sales category.
As part of a rather whirlwind European trip, I found myself within the shady city park of Monza, Italy, on land that was once a nobleman’s hunting preserve. This is a track that positively vibrates with history, summoning up the long list of revered Italian racing names. Save for the paddocks, most parts of this track are not far from the shade of big trees, and fans stroll to their favorite spots through a natural cathedral of upsweeping trunks and leafy canopy.
Tractor-trailer rigs line the back of the long pit building/grandstand/hospitality structure. Facing the track are the pits, made into industrial show dioramas for the weekend. Everything is a photo op in this business, but a few low-bucks teams are tucked into the dark alleys of this otherwise prosperous “city.”
In Race One, Neil Hodgson on the factory Fila Ducati 999 led by as much as 3 seconds, but there was constant action in the second group-the two HM Plant Ducatis ridden by James Toseland and Chris Walker, Regis Laconi on an NCR Ducati and the ever-popular (perhaps immortal) Pier-Francesco Chili. Here also was Gregorio Lavilla’s Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000. This group of five was never far back, swapped places constantly, and no one could pull away. Lavilla came slowly from the rear of this group to the front. Each time he lost a place, he was able to pull back the lost ground. Chili never advanced, despite the announcer’s partiality and vocal gymnastics. Every time he uttered “Superbike,” the first syllable was extended-‘SUUUUU-p air -bike-a,” into an heroic song of secondslong duration. Laconi won the race for second place, with the seemingly unstoppable Hodgson first. Lavilla finished an impressive third.
I find myself thinking that Hodgson’s experienced team has complete informa-
tion for its bike on this circuit, but because Lavilla is on a new bike with a new engine, he has no such blueprint, no reference. This first race is therefore just more practice for him. He will go better in the second race after further adjustment to his setup.
In Race Two, Lavilla was so persistently a tight second that it appeared he must soon lead. So he did, passing Hodgson on the outside in the long right-hand corner called the Parabólica. Amazing blue smoke billowed from Lavilla’s rear tire, causing a British journalist behind me in the press room to exclaim, “I can smell that!” Hodgson was suddenly last in the lead group, his terminal speeds on the long finish straight dropping in a way that suggested he was carefully resting his tire. Lavilla and Laconi dueled on, but Hodgson
sprang a last-moment rush to the front, held off Lavilla and won again.
Lavilla wasn’t a front-runner in the past on 750s, so the full-sized Suzuki has made a difference. Surely to some extent, its possibilities have also “unlocked” Lavilla’s talent, now that leading races is within his grasp. He was second again four weeks later in Race Two at Silverstone, England, after a first-race DNF, and this time there were three lOOOcc Suzukis in the top 10. A trend?
At Monza, I enjoyed the musical sound of the Foggy-Petronas FP-1 Triple, but was disappointed by its resolute slowness. Does money buy progress, or are they just going to the races like privateers, hoping to get lucky? Both machines caught fire in Race Two-the official cause was overheating of new carbon silencers.
My hope is that restricted lOOOcc Fours will soon win races, that Petronas R&D bucks more efficiently become power and professionalism, and that World Superbike may recover the sparkle it had when Yamaha, Ducati, Honda and Aprilia were all possible winners. But I’m also familiar with what they say about the best-laid plans of mice and men. -Kevin Cameron
Metzger lands a fresh start
Mike Metzger hangs it out in a world where most of us only dare to tread in our imagination or while playing a video game. His is a place of near-vertical metal take-off ramps taken pinned in third gear, always face-to-face with the reality of possible terminal consequences. It’s also a world of fame-and quite probably great fortune-for the Southern Californian.
So, why would the Godfather of Freestyle Motocross and the master of the backflip be retiring from the sport that’s made him a household name, as recent reports have indicated?
He’s not, actually. The only thing Metzger is retiring are the hopes and dreams of his freeride compatriots who harbored the desire to become the new Godfather of Freestyle. But he’s not hanging up his big bag of tricks for good, just putting the backflips and such on the backburner while he tries something new. Which is? An assault on the new AMA Supermoto Championship.
“Traveling for freestyle competitions is not what I want to be doing right now,” Metzger says. “Racing the Supermoto series is. In racing, I’m not subject to the opinion of some judges. I just have to cross the finish line first. I’ll still ride freestyle at some select
demos, for videos and when I feel like riding, ’cause its fun.”
Barring injury, Metzger still practices every day, so after a bit of breakfast and a kiss for the wife and kids, it’s on with his riding gear and off to the jumps in his personal freestyle park-right in his backyard. Metzger makes the inverted one-handed scissor Superman seat-grab over a 70-foot gap look easier than some people’s walk to the end of their driveway for the Sunday paper. Sick!
Yes, he’s got the aerial antics absolutely wired-that’s why he’s so famous. Almost too famous, if you ask him.
“Since I did the backflip, everyone wants a piece of me,” Metzger says. “I’ve had to hire a lawyer and a business manager, and my phone hasn’t stopped ringing.”
The Supermoto sideline won’t be the first time Metzger has put slick tire to pavement, though. A fiery roadracing crash during a club meeting at Willow Spring Raceway in 2002 cost Metzger a burned-to-the-ground Yamaha YZF-R1, and taught him how expensive pavement practice could be. It also showed him that full-on roadracing wasn’t necessarily his thing. Just yet.
“Willow Springs is hot and windy, or cold and windy,” Metzger laments. “Seeing those people who go out there month after month, year after year, with their shiny, bitchin’ bikes in the back of their beat-up old pickups, I just didn’t understand why.”
It was after riding a few Supermoto events, as well as hosting a race in his hometown of Lake Elsinore (track rental at the local baseball stadium paid for with a backflip!), that Metzger became a disciple of the Supermoto discipline. He now has his sights set on the goal of becoming a successful professional Supermoto pilot-maybe even the first-ever AMA Supermoto National Champion.
Clearly, he has the talent to make a motorcycle do what he wants it to do. And as long as he keeps the showboating off the Supermoto jumps to a minimum, he might not get too famous from his new career. -Mark Cernicky
