World
Superbike Championship 2004 World Superbike Championship Round
4
Regis
Laconi Doubles Monza World Superbike at Warp Speed
Monza, Italy 14-16 May 2004 - With ultimate
velocities of well over 300kmph and average lap speeds of
over 190kmph Monza holds the crown as the fastest track on
the SBK calendar. And the fastest rider this weekend was Regis
Laconi (Ducati Fila 999F04) who added to his 2004 race wins
score in perfect fashion at Monza, taking two front running
wins on his Ducati Fila machine. Regis was untouchable and
in each race he won by a margin that underlined why he is
the only rider to have secured more than one win so far this
year. His total now stands at four and he leads the World
Championship by three points from Ducati Fila team mate Toseland,
with a total of 120. Monza also proved tragic for incoming
points leader and local hero Frankie Chili who's PGS-1 Ducati
blew 2 engines (!) in Race 1, and then saw Frankie return
in Race 2 to crashing out and loose the Championship points
lead to the factory Ducati squad.
SUPERPOLE
QUALIFYING
LACONI’S HAT-TRICK OF SUPERPOLE WINS, NEW SPEED
RECORD FOR VERMULEN
Three Superpoles To Rule Them All: Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila
999F04) continued his superb run of qualifying form to secure
his third Superpole win of the 2004 season, setting the best
lap of the meeting with 1:48.258 in the process. His latest
dose of pre-race domination came in front of anenthusiastic
crowd of Ducatisti at one of the Italian factory’s home
circuits, the magnificently appointed Monza. Second in Superpole,
growing in stature with every competitive outing, Ten Kate
Honda rider Chris Vermeulen was almost at the level of Laconi,
despite making a small misjudgement under braking at the entrance
to the first chicane on his flying lap. However, the Australian
took a new top speed record for SBK at Monza of 313 kmh, beating
Frankie Chili’s previous record top speed of 311.2 kmh,
which has stood since 1998.
Pierfrancesco
Chili (PSG-1 Ducati 998) sent his local fans wild when he
temporarily headed the Superpole qualifying times, but after
being deposed by first Vermeulen and ultimately Laconi, the
veteran rider had to be content with a front row start in
third position. Noriyuki Haga finished off the front row qualifying
order - and by being fourth made the post Superpole front
row a carbon copy of the front row order of regular qualifying.
Laconi
Lords It Early On: The fastest rider on show in regular qualifying
(which determines the top 16 to qualify for Superpole, and
the grid order for those outside the top 16) was once more
Regis Laconi. The second place for Chris Vermeulen in the
pre-Superpole sessions was an outstanding result for the Ten
Kate Honda team, which is new to Superbike this season. Leon
Top Five: Renegade Ducati rider Leon Haslam ended Superpole
on the coat tails of his team leader Noriyuki Haga, finishing
with fifth fastest time at
the head of the second row. Ducati Fila factory pilot James
Toseland could only go sixth, but feels confident that he
can run in a podium position on raceday. Gianluca Nannelli
continued his first day ferocity to scoop seventh place on
his Ducati 998, the second row being finished off by the DFX
Ducati 999 of Marco Borciani.
Petronas
Power Down: Losing out in the horsepower stakes to the bigger
1000cc twins and fours, the 900cc Petronas of Chris Walker
was not the ideal weapon to attack the Monza citadel with.
Walker made up for his missing grunt by simply attacking every
corner and chicane on the 5.973km circuit, posting a ninth
fastest time and now hoping to get away with the riders from
rows one and two during the 18-lap races on Sunday. His team-mate
Troy Corser was 12th. His fellow Aussies Garry McCoy (Xerox
Nortel Ducati 999) and Steve Martin (Ducati DFX 999) went
tenth and 11th respectively. All 25 entrants qualified with
the permitted time limit.
Supersport:
Karl Muggeridge (Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) continued his domination
of the Supersport class at Monza with pole position to add
to his provisional pole from Friday. The Aussie’s best
lap of 1:51.624 was fully a second faster than closest chaser
Sebastien Charpentier (Klaffi Honda), with Yamaha rider Fabien
Foret (Team Italia) third quickest. The front row for Sunday’s
16-lap race will be completed by Foret’s team-mate,
championship leader Jurgen van den Goorbergh. Katsuaki Fujiwara
gave the Alstare Suzuki team a top five finish, with Ten Kate
Honda rider Broc Parkes in sixth. Aussie Kevin Curtain rode
his Yamaha Germany machine to seventh and the top local rider
is Italia Megabike Honda rider Alessio Corradi, last man on
the second row. On home soil, Italian manufacturer Ducati
placed rider Lorenzo Lanzi ninth, not an ideal start for the
16-lap Supersport event.
RACE
DAY: Laconi & Ducati Double Down
- Tragedy for
Points Leader Chili
First Among Equals: Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila 999F04) added
to his 2004 race wins score in perfect fashion at Monza, taking
two front running wins on his Ducati Fila machine. He was
untouchable and in each race he won by a margin that underlined
why he is the only rider to have secured more than one win
so far this year. His total now stands at four and he leads
the World Championship by three points from Toseland, with
a total of 120. In a day of much regulatory discussion, Chris
Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda) was excluded from second place
after his engine cut-out switch, devised to kill the engine
in the event of a fall, did not function when tested.
Race
1: With Pierfrancesco Chili (PSG-1 Ducati 998) experiencing
an engine failure from his first choice machine, pulling out
on the warm-up lap and swapping to his 999 machine in pitlane,
the way was open for Chris Vermeulen to take an early advantage.
He could not make his early speed stick for the entire race,
as he dropped back to finish fourth. Regis Laconi ran away
to a clear win, by 9.8 seconds over the hard charging James
Toseland, his own team-mate. The Fila Ducati 1-2 was followed
on by a third place for Aussie privateer Garry McCoy, on the
first Xerox Scuderia Caracchi 999RS. Aussie Chris Vermeulen
was fourth, in a race that was to deliver his only points
scoring finish of the day.
Race
2: After Vermeulen was excluded from race two, having had
a clear race in the vacuum of the disappearing Laconi (some
12 seconds ahead), James Toseland was promoted to second and
Garry McCoy bagged himself a pair of third places –
making each podium finish a carbon copy of the other. In fourth,
Leon Haslam belatedly had his best ever SBK result, earning
13 additional points.
Chili
Calamity: The beaten but unbowed figure of Pierfrancesco Chili
left Monza with no race finishes to his name, the championship
leader before Monza having two mechanical failures in race
one and a crash in race two. A Monza crowd up 14,000 from
last year - to a total of 86,000 - was behind Chili’s
attack from the start, on a day when Superbike racing offered
a feel good factor off the scale at the revamped Monza.
Petronas
Perseverance: Despite a lack of power in comparison to the
big twins and fours in SBK, the recently re-engineered Petronas
machines of Chris Walker and Troy Corser battled around what
will maybe be their worst circuit if the year. Each scored
strong top ten finishes; Corser was ninth and fifth, with
Walker eighth and seventh. Walker was especially combative,
running all over the back tyre of Marco Borciani’s DFX
Ducati in race one, with Borciani seventh and eighth.
Supersport
Race
Karl Muggeridge (Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) once more bulldozed
the Supersport competition, winning from Fabien Foret (Yamaha
Italia) – another rider who was later excluded for a
technical infringement – again a non-functioning engine
cut-out switch. Muggeridge’s team-mate Broc Parkes was
thus promoted to second and championship leader Jurgen van
den Goorbergh to third. Sebastien Charpentier (Klaffi Honda)
took fourth despite a time penalty for a jump-start. In the
championship van den Goorbergh leads with 73, Muggeridge is
second with 62. Retiree Kevin Curtain (Yamaha) is third, some
way back with 47.
MotoGP
World Championship, Round 3 French Grand Prix at Le Mans
Gibernau Joins the
Title Hunt with Resounding LeMans Victory
LeMans, France, Sunday May 16, 2004: The
day belonged to Sete Gibernau (Telefonica Movistar Honda RC211V)
who, despite a raging fever, rampaged to a dominant win over
a resurgent Carlos Checa (Yamaha) with Max Biaggi (Camel Honda
RC211V) third in front of a packed Le Mans crowd of 75,000
sun-drenched race fans.
Carlos
Checa took a well-earned second in the French Grand Prix today
after a close-fought race in Le Mans, France. While his Gauloises
Fortuna Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi was unable to overcome
the set-up problems which he battled with all weekend, but
still the young Italian finished a strong fourth after a hard
fought battle with third placed Max Biaggi (Honda). Checa
made the holeshot and slung his machine into the Dunlop chicane
at the end of the main straight inches in front of Sete Gibernau,
with Max in close pursuit. Valentino Rossi was right up with
them and as the pack gradually stretched itself out there
was still incident to come on the opening lap.
Ducati
rider Neil Hodgson lost the back end of his machine with Norick
Abe (Yamaha) and John Hopkins (Suzuki) close by – too
close to take any avoiding action and prevent the three of
them sliding into the gravel trap. Hopkins broke a thumb,
Hodgson two ribs, while Abe was unhurt.
While
the unlucky trio left the track for treatment, Checa set about
installing himself as race leader and Gibernau was happy to
keep him in sight as the 28-lap contest settled into a rhythm.
As Max Biaggi had predicted, that rhythm was nowhere near
as quick as the qualifying laps might have suggested. Indeed
it was Biaggi who eventually recorded the fastest lap at 1m
33.425s on his penultimate lap.
The heateed
race long battle between the bitter rivals, egotistical Max
(3) Biaggi (aka Camel) and Valentino (46).
Rossi
dived inside Max to take third at the final turn on lap one
and within another two laps it was clear that Checa, Gibernau,
Rossi and Biaggi would be the riders involved in the scrap
for podium places. But Gibernau was not prepared to wait until
the end to make his move and the Spaniard edged past his countryman
Checa at the right hand Garage Vert turn on lap 11 when the
Yamaha man ran wide.
Meantime
Max was unprepared to let the leading duo run clear and he
made his way past Rossi two laps later to mount a challenge
to the top two. Rossi knew if he could hang onto Max he could
get a tow towards the front with him. But a mistake on lap
16 looked to have made his task too hard. He would eventually
finish three and half seconds adrift of Max in fourth –
but not without a final effort to get on terms.
The last
three laps were frantic as backmarkers entered the equation
but Gibernau’s comfortable 2.2 second cushion over Checa
was never threatened. Rossi however would bite back at Max
on lap 26, but it was just the spur Max needed to set that
fastest lap and take the sting out of Rossi’s frantic
final attack.
Sete
wheelied away with the win and the Championship points lead
at LeMans.
“I
have to thank Honda for their efforts,” said Gibernau.
“They helped us understand some of the problems we’d
been having at the first two Grands Prix which has got us
going in the right direction. I had a fever and it was a very
hard race. Carlos rode well but I passed him at half-distance
and was able to open up a gap.”
Max was
philosophical about his third place. “That was tough,”
he said. “I had many duels with Rossi and I ran a soft
tyre which turned out to be the best way to handle the whole
race. I had a good duel with Checa too – but the win
was beyond me today.”
Colin
Edwards (Telefonica Movistar Honda RC211V) endured front-end
problems but still managed a fifth-placed finish. “The
problem is temperature,” he said. “When it gets
hotter the front end is not so good. We’re going to
Michelin’s test facility to try and work out a solution.
Apart from that everything feels good.”
Alex
Barros (Repsol Honda RC211V) finished seventh. “The
lights seemed to be on for a long time and when they eventually
turned off, my clutch was going and I lost a few places. Then
I nearly got caught in the crash on the first lap and had
to concentrate and work my way up the field. I’m obviously
not pleased with the result but I’m happy to have climbed
from 13th to seventh.”
Makoto
Tamada (Camel Honda RC211V) riding on Bridgestone tyres was
eighth. “I’ve got to improve my starts and get
right on the pace in the first few laps. Today the temperature
was higher and we lost a bit of grip compared to yesterday.
I just couldn’t run at the pace required to catch the
others.”
An 11th
place finish was not what Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V)
wanted. “I’m real disappointed. The weekend started
out so good then we found it really difficult to go forward.
Everything we tried with the bike and myself didn’t
seem to work. We stayed pretty much the same all weekend and
everyone else got faster. I guess we’ve got to look
forward and learn from here.”
Gibernau
heads the points table as the next race at Mugello looms in
three weeks time. He has 66 points to Biaggi’s 56 with
Rossi on 51.
Results
MotoGP : (28 laps = 117.04 km) Pos/ Rider / Nat / Team / Motorcycle
/ Time/ KM/H
1 / Sete GIBERNAU / SPA / Telefonica Movistar Honda / HONDA
/ 44'22.750 / 158.236
2 / Carlos CHECA / SPA / Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha / YAMAHA
/ 44'24.421 / 158.137
3 / Max BIAGGI / ITA / Camel Honda / HONDA / 44'24.658 / 158.123
4 / Valentino ROSSI / ITA / Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha / YAMAHA
/ 44'27.022 / 157.982
5 / Colin EDWARDS / USA / Telefonica Movistar Honda Mot /
HONDA / 44'38.505 / 157.305
6 / Marco MELANDRI / ITA / Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 / YAMAHA
/ 44'40.975 / 157.160
7 / Alex BARROS / BRA / Repsol Honda Team / HONDA / 44'50.406
/ 156.609
8 / Troy BAYLISS / AUS / Ducati Marlboro Team / DUCATI / 44'54.280
/ 156.384
9 / Makoto TAMADA / JPN / Camel Honda / HONDA / 44'55.914
/ 156.289
10 / Loris CAPIROSSI / ITA / Ducati Marlboro Team / DUCATI
/ 45'02.262 / 155.922
11 / Nicky HAYDEN / USA / Repsol Honda Team / HONDA / 45'10.375
/ 155.455
12 / Kenny ROBERTS / USA / Team Suzuki MotoGP / SUZUKI / 45'34.890
/ 154.062
13 / Jeremy McWILLIAMS / GBR / MS Aprilia Racing / APRILIA
/ 45'46.141 / 153.431
14 / Ruben XAUS / SPA / D'Antin MotoGP / DUCATI / 44'23.773
/ 152.526
15 / Kurtis ROBERTS / USA / Proton Team KR / PROTON / 44'24.402
/ 152.490
Fastest Lap: Max BIAGGI 1'34.088 159.935 Km/h Lap 27
World Championship Positions:
1 GIBERNAU 66, 2 BIAGGI 56, 3 ROSSI 51, 4 BARROS 38, 5 CHECA
36, 6 EDWARDS 29,
7 HAYDEN 27, 8 CAPIROSSI 20, 9 MELANDRI 15, 10 TAMADA 15,
11 ROBERTS 12,
12 ABE 12, 13 NAKANO 11, 14 BAYLISS 10, 15 FABRIZIO 6.
250cc
Race : (26 laps = 108.68 km) Pos / Rider / Nat / Team / Motorcycle
/ Time / KM / H
1 / Daniel PEDROSA / SPA / Telefonica Movistar Honda 250 /
HONDA / 43'03.338 / 151.450
2 / Randy DE PUNIET / FRA / Safilo Carrera - LCR / APRILIA
/ 43'11.049 / 150.999
3 / Toni ELIAS / SPA / Fortuna Honda / HONDA / 43'22.571 /
150.331
4 / Hiroshi AOYAMA / JPN / Telefonica Movistar Honda 250 /
HONDA / 43'23.765 / 150.262
5 / Alex DE ANGELIS / RSM / Aprilia Racing / APRILIA / 43'24.513
/ 150.219
6 / Anthony WEST / AUS / Freesoul Abruzzo Racing Team / APRILIA
/ 43'27.607 / 150.041
7 / Fonsi NIETO / SPA / Repsol - Aspar Team 250cc / APRILIA
/ 43'41.875 / 149.224
8 / Franco BATTAINI / ITA / Campetella Racing / APRILIA /
43'43.165 / 149.151
9 / Alex DEBON / SPA / Wurth Honda BQR / HONDA / 43'45.927
/ 148.994
10 / Joan OLIVE / SPA / Campetella Racing / APRILIA / 43'50.879
/ 148.713
11 / Jakub SMRZ / CZE / Molenaar Racing / HONDA / 43'51.212
/ 148.694
12 / Chaz DAVIES / GBR / Aprilia Racing / APRILIA / 43'54.961
/ 148.483
13 / Hector FAUBEL / SPA / Grefusa - Aspar Team 250cc / APRILIA
/ 43'55.151 / 148.472
14 / Naoki MATSUDO / JPN / Team UGT Kurz / YAMAHA / 44'02.218
/ 148.075
15 / Alex BALDOLINI / ITA / Matteoni Racing / APRILIA / 44'06.599
/ 147.830
Fastest Lap: Daniel PEDROSA 1'38.202 153.235 Km/h Lap 5
Championship Positions:
1 DE PUNIET 60, 2 PEDROSA 50, 3 NIETO 34, 4 ROLFO 32, 5 DE
ANGELIS 32, 6 ELIAS 28,
7 DEBON 28, 8 PORTO 25, 9 WEST 23, 10 AOYAMA 18, 11 BATTAINI
14, 12 POGGIALI 13,
13 VINCENT 11, 14 MATSUDO 8, 15 LEFORT 7.
2004
American AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship Rounds 6 &
7
Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Mladin Reigns in AMA
Superbike with 1-2 Finshes at Barber
Birmingham, Alabama, USA, May 16-17th –
Defending American Superbike champion Mat Mladin has maintained
his position at the top of the 2004 American AMA Chevrolet
Superbike Championship after his opening race victory on Saturday
in Race 1, was followed by a third place finish on Sunday
in Race 2 at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
The weekends result leaves the four times American Superbike
champion with a 25-point advantage over Miguel DuHamel (243
- 218) who took the win in today’s second Superbike
national from fellow Honda rider Jake Zemke who lies third
on the points table, two points further adrift.
Hondas
led 24 of the 28 laps in Saturday’s race, again with
Ben Bostrom out front early followed by Zemke. Bostrom’s
front tire washed out on the fourth lap, putting him out of
the race and handing the lead to Zemke for the next seven
laps. Mladin led laps 11 through 13, then it was Zemke again
to the final lap, losing out when Mladin sped by on the run
to the flag. The margin of victory was 0.011 seconds. Duhamel
came third.
Saturday’s
opening race win was Mladin’s 29th career AMA Superbike
victory and fifth for the season, while the pole position
he earned during qualifying was the 36th in his AMA career
and third for the season.
After Saturday’s opening race win, Mladin and his Yoshimura
Suzuki GSX-R1000 were again the combination to beat in Sunday’s
28-lap race, which was red flagged on the fourth lap and a
complete restart ordered by officials. Starting from pole
position, Mladin made a steady start, but was caught in the
frantic action of the opening laps and was made to work hard
in his efforts to rejoin the lead group of riders. Along with
DuHamel, the pair worked their way forward, with Mladin moving
into second place for the first time on lap 16. The pair continued
their tussle right through to the flag, before DuHamel made
his way past Zemke to take the race lead and eventual win
with two laps to run, with Mladin maintaining third and the
final place on the podium.
“It was a tough race out there for us today and I think
it was one that got away from us,” said Mladin. “From
the restart we had a problem with the bike and that made it
difficult to maintain the speed I wanted to out there. I had
a good battle with Miguel (DuHamel), but when it came time
to move forward in the closing laps, the problem with the
bike began to get worse and I had to ensure that I brought
it home and score as many points as possible. We’ve
extended our points lead very slightly here and not by as
much as I would have liked. It’s still close and we
still have a lot of work to do.”
Hondas
took the top two podium on Sunday for Race 2 with American
Honda’s Miguel Duhamel winning over Erion Honda’s
Jake Zemke on Sunday, while Zemke got his turn with a hard-fought
win in Saturday’s Formula Xtreme race. Hondas led every
lap of Sunday’s Superbike race, American Honda’s
Ben Bostrom for the first three laps, then Zemke from laps
four to 26. Zemke’s lead gradually dwindled as he encountered
lapped traffic, allowing Duhamel to make one of his patented
late race moves. Two laps from the end, Duhamel slipped past
Zemke in the penultimate corner of the tortuous track, then
sped to victory by 0.377 seconds. Yoshimura Suzuki’s
Mat Mladin, winner of Saturday’s Superbike race, was
third. Bostrom slipped to fifth after losing concentration
and making a mental error on the white flag lap.
“I’m
just ecstatic,” a sweat-drenched Duhamel said. “It’s
definitely one of the wins that I put in my book as one of
the good ones.”
Prior
to the Barber weekend, Zemke had finished second to his senior
teammate three races in a row. That all changed in the Formula
Xtreme race when he pipped Duhamel at the line by 0.011 seconds,
his win ending Duhamel’s perfect season. Erion Honda’s
Alex Gobert made it an all-Honda podium.
“You
can’t always win them all,” a subdued Duhamel
said after the race. “I’m real happy. My guys
gave me a great bike.”
Colorado’s Pikes Peak Raceway is the destination for
the eighth round of the 2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship
with the two-day event scheduled for this coming weekend,
May22 & 23.
RESULTS
Barber 2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship, Top 10
Round
6 (Saturday) / 28 laps
1. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki) 40:51.46 mins
2. Jake Zemke (Erion Honda) +0.011 secs
3. Miguel DuHamel (American Honda) +35.150 secs
4. Eric Bostrom (Ducati Austin) +41.463 secs
5. Josh Hayes (Attack Kawasaki) +1:00.285 mins
6. John Haner (Suzuki) +1:12.679 mins
7. Geoff May (Suzuki) +1:14.345 mins
8. Jeremy Toye (Yamaha) +1:25.959 mins
9. Eric Wood (Hooters Suzuki) +1:26.832 mins
10. Shawn Higbee (KWS Suzuki) -1 lap |
Round
7 (Sunday) / 28 laps
1. Miguel DuHamel (American Honda) 40:41.42 mins
2. Jake Zemke (Erion Honda) +0.377 secs
3. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki) +9.094 secs
4. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki) +18.980 secs
5. Beb Bostrom (American Honda) +23.975 secs
6. Josh Hayes (Attack Kawasaki) +31.659 secs
7. Eric Bostrom (Ducati Austin) +36.646 secs
8. John Haner (Suzuki) +1:15.247 mins
9. Geoff May (Suzuki) +1:17.528 mins
10. Jeremy Toye (Yamaha) +1:17.771 mins |
2004
AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship (Points after 7 of 18
rounds)
1. Mat Mladin (243, 5 wins); 2. Miguel DuHamel (218, 2 wins),
3. Jake Zemke (216), 4. Geoff May (154); 5. Eric Bostrom (147),
6. Lee Acree (136), 7. John Haner (132), 8. Larry Pegram (117),
9. J Hayes (112), 10. Cory West (109).
