Superbike Situations

Superbike situations

TDC

Kevin Cameron

THINGS ARE HAPPENING, WHICH IS OKAY by me. When I was a little boy, I yearned for things to happen-for something to interrupt the bland routine of daily life. Even a flat tire in the family car would do.

For the past several years, we have been treated to the spectacle of close competition in World and AMA Superbike racing-series that are based on production machines extensively modified for racing. This culminated in 2002 with the riveting, season-long chase of Ducati star Troy Bayliss by a relentless Colin Edwards on Honda. Racing just doesn’t get any more dramatic than this.

I regarded this past season as a transition year, when ideas were implemented to revitalize the challenge from fourcylinder machines. Here in the U.S., Mat Mladin took the title on one of the new Suzuki 1 OOOcc inline-Fours created by the changed rules. With some expected tire trouble, he used Yoshimura power in (basically) the already developed GSXR750 Superbike chassis to swat away opposition. In Europe the story was different. There the dominant force is Ducati and there was no team or rider armed with 1 OOOcc Fours capable of seriously troubling Bologna’s operations. Neil Hodgson took the title, but Gregorio Lavilia occasionally showed what the GSXR1000 might do if properly managed.

Then in mid-season came the bombshell. World Superbike would for 2004 become a spec-tire series run on Pirelli rubber. Other tire-makers, take a hike. Shocker #2: Plans made to equalize performance based upon intake air restriction were dropped, with Supersport-related equipment regulations put in their place (basically a limitation to stock valve lift). First there was consternation, then apathy as this news was digested. “Oh, well,” people seemed to say, “that crazy Flammini is at it again, trying to ruin WSB. But it’ll grow back like a hardy garden weed. The world needs a production-based series and this is it.”

Now, more fireworks: The membership of the Motorcycle Sport Manufacturers’ Association (MSMA)-basically the Japanese Big Four plus the Italian Little Two-will not participate in World Superbike in 2004. An exemption is granted to Ducati, obligated by existing contracts. Depending upon which rumor source you apply your ear to, you hear that MSMA members were all ready to come stomping back into World Super-

bike but the spec-tire stipulations stopped them, or that they were ready to participate even so, but the switch from air restrictors to stock valve lift stopped them.

To give added tilt to this, U.S. Kawasaki has released Eric Bostrom from his Superbike contract because that company will not have a ZX-10-based Superbike ready this season, just as predicted by the usual sources. At the same time, general manager of Ducati Corse, Claudio Domenicali, announced that his company has a “surprise” for U.S. racing fans. Does this mean industrialstrength 999 Superbikes will at last invade the AMA series, just when absenteeism threatens to gut it?

Where does this leave us? At present, World Superbike looks set to deserve the epithet “Ducati Cup.” Or maybe Flammini is more clever than we think. Perhaps he plans a series that will gradually be dominated by private teams spending less than, say, the $ 10 million that it takes for a factory to dent Ducati’s mastery. This might fit well in a world whose manufacturers are mostly spending all they have in MotoGP, a series that might be competitive if every manufacturer could find $30 million in spare change. And what spectator cares whether a World Superbike lapping at 1:36 is doing so because its 200-horsepower fullboogie factory race engine is air-restricted back to 175 bhp, or is doing so because its DIY-style semi-stocker is making the same 175 ponies? Hot debate on

these questions is choking Internet chat rooms, but the truth requires hardware experiments. We have to see what the 2004 season will bring.

Think of it as a Monopoly game. Assets that were profitably employed in a certain way last season may bring higher returns if they are now relocated. If Ducati doesn’t have to bring 40 maximum-spec engines to every World Superbike event, maybe that releases some build capacity that can be sent to America, where a newly perky economy needs to be shown red reasons to buy Ducatis. Or Kawasaki, by electing to race Supersport and Superstock in the U.S. in 2004, may be not only racing what it hopes to sell, but also honing tools for whatever World Superbike becomes over the next couple of seaI sons. What about Yamaha? Any money it may have had for AMA Superbike must now be given to the newly hired Valentino Rossi or put into Ml MotoGP development. That in itself will be fascinating. Rossi is a highly intelligent person who needs more novelty than a humdrum series of Honda championships to amuse him. Now we get to see how he does as a combination rider/development engineer in the great tradition of John Surtees-a role that few perform well. Yamaha is banking on Rossi being one of them. Meanwhile, Colin Edwards, banished for a season to an Aprilia team mysteriously deflected away from commonsense motorcycle design by “Formula One fascination,” will be on a Honda RC21IV next year. Expect action.

AMA Superbike may be the hot series next year, with real factory 999 Ducatis versus the Mladin/Yates/Spies Yosh Suzuki fire-eaters, versus whatever comes in the big boxes from Honda. Or the spotlight may shift to close duels in Supersport or Superstock. It’s a pleasant prospect.

What of MSMA’s promise not to assist private teams in whatever World Superbike becomes in 2004? We’ve heard such brave threats before, and yet little by little, private teams in big, publicitygenerating racing series seem to attract the backdoor tech help that turns them into factory-assisted shadow teams. (“Hey, a few bucks in the right places and we could win this series. Think of the ads we can run!”) From there, it’s only a short distance to full teams in company colors. □