Well, another page of my MotoGP calendar needs to be turned over and that means it is time for another of my monthly Odds and Ends “catch up” postings. September has been really busy, especially with both silly season and new bike announcements trickling out, so I’ll have to skip a few things just to keep this post from being too long.

First up, is a news item about newly crowned ‘05 MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi. No matter how talented the guy is on the track his real talent is his ability to constantly keep his name in the news. He has monopolized the headlines for most of September as people focused on what he was already doing in 2005, questioned his 2006 plans and speculated about what he would be doing in 2007. For 2005, he has been winning races but has also now had two controversial accidents. The season opener at Jerez with Sete Gibernau and now one with Marco Melandri at Motegi. I’ve covered all this in my MotoGP blog entries but the overriding message is that Rossi continues to keep people guessing. As for 2006, I covered Rossi’s re-signing with Yamaha in my August Odds and Ends posting so that isn’t new news but who will be sponsoring the Italian superstar’s Yamaha has been the topic of endless speculation. Rossi is currently sponsored at Yamaha by Altadis’ Gauloisis cigarette brand but has apparently asked to be run without tobacco sponsorship on this bike in ‘06. The most likely reason for this, other than a possible dislike of tobacco companies, is that he is still flirting with racing a Ferrari F1 car in the near future. The best way to avoid problems with Philip Morris, the long time sponsor of Ferrari, is to make sure he has no contractual obligations to a competing tobacco company. What colors Rossi will be running next year is yet to be decided but the rumors continue to pop up on motorcycle racing news sites. Finally, there is the constant speculation about Vale becoming a F1 driver in ‘07. Again, the flurry of rumors continued all through September. First, Ferrari sent out a press releases claiming Rossi was basically signed as a test rider in 2006 then Rossi responded with a harsh public statement saying no such thing had been signed and finally Ferrari sent out another message which back pedalled considerably from their earlier claims. Presumably Valentino’s manager has been frantically fielding phone calls from Yamaha, Ferrari, Altadis and Philip Morris all month long and I suspect the actual situation probably isn’t clear to any one of these people yet. All the while, Rossi’s popularity is growing ever stronger and his name is showing up in news reports the world over. We’ll see if October brings any answers…

The rest of silly season has been so completely dwarfed by the Rossi story that very little has made the news. It seems that most of the 2005 championship winners (or likely championship winners when you look at the two international series) are already tied up for 2006. In the AMA series, Mladin (Suzuki), Yates (Suzuki), Duhamel (Honda) and Hayden (Kawasaki) are all staying put for at least another year. The biggest news in the AMA paddock has been Eric Bostrom’s move from Ducati to a Supersport/Superstock ride with Yamaha which, in my opinion, seems like a waste of his talent. The MotoGP silly season has been excruciatingly slow to play out this year and many of the top riders are still unsigned for next year. Leading that list is Sete Gibernau who may be back with Movistar Honda or may be riding for Ducati. Max Biaggi will almost certainly stay with Honda but probably won’t be in Repsol colors. Whether he ends up with the Movistar or Camel team is probably dependent on where Sete ends up. Bayliss and Barros, both teammates at Camel Honda, are unsigned for next year as is Suzuki’s Kenny Roberts Jr. It also appears that Yamaha’s Ruben Xaus, Ducati’s Carlos Checa, Kawasaki’s Alex Hoffman, and all the smaller teams riders like Shane Byrne, James Ellison, Franco Battaini and Roberto Rolfo are without contracts for next season. It seems pretty late in the year for this many teams to be without a signed rider but that may be because the current season still has four races to go. I expect all of these riders to have clarification within the next month. As far as World Superbike goes, it seems certain that Corser will be back with Suzuki next year. However, both Ducati riders, Regis Laconi and James Toseland, appear to be up in the air. Likewise, most of the Yamaha riders (Haga, Pitt, Abe, Gimbert) are still looking for jobs. Honda is rumored to be moving Chris Vermeulen to MotoGP so that opens up a seat at Ten Kate, though presumably his teammate Karl Muggeridge will stay on another year. Who knows what is happening with Kawasaki. Again, I suspect a lot of the WSBK riders will be confirmed in the next month but in the meantime you can always follow who is going where on my silly season web page.

Speaking of the AMA series, a tentative 2006 race schedule has already been announced. Combine this early release of dates for next year with the long term commitment that the AMA Pro Racing board announced earlier this summer for the superbike class rules and you’d almost get the idea that they have been listening to the criticism that has been leveled at them for the past decade. These efforts to get things nailed down early and with more solidity mean that teams can better plan and prepare for the upcoming year. Even better than the AMA’s promptness in this regard is the content of the proposed ‘06 series: As late as February of last year there were only nine circuits listed on the ‘05 schedule while the tentative ‘06 schedule already shows 11. Only three ovals are on the list (Daytona, Fontana and PPIR) while the remaining eight rounds will be at true road race tracks. This year the AMA raced at the same three ovals (and eventually at VIR to make ten rounds) so I’m glad to see that the new addition to the schedule is a venue with a true road race track. Racing at more places that don’t just cram a flat infield into a NASCAR oval will help make the sport safer and will keep the racing more interesting. It is only a baby step but adding one new track is definitely a step in the right direction. Now if only they can find a series sponsor!

Speaking of the new road race track the AMA announcement shows a mid-June date for the inaugural Superbike race at the Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City, Utah in 2006. Even better, this is currently slated to be a doubleheader round so it increases the races on next year’s calendar by *two*. I’m excited about this news for two reasons, the first of which is simply that its close enough that I can actually attend which means I should hit three AMA Superbike races in ‘06: Miller Motorsports Park, PPIR and Laguna. Second, the AMA adding another event in the Rocky Mountain region means that they can now seriously consider dropping PPIR event off the schedule in the future. Its a crappy track for road racing and losing it from the ‘07 AMA schedule wouldn’t be much of a loss. Lets hope the clock has started ticking on how much longer the AMA guys will have to suffer through going round and round the PPIR merry-go-round.

Another bit of exciting AMA Superbike news as the announcement at the Kawasaki dealer show that Team Green would be racing the ZX-10R in Superbike next season with Tommy and Roger Lee Hayden as their riders. This again is great news for the sport because it gets the premier superbike class that much closer to having full participation by all the major manufacturers. Additionally, it puts two of the most talented riders in the series into the top class in the series which again increases the excitement of the racing. Both riders deserve a shot at the top prize in AMA road racing and I’m thrilled to see they are getting their shot. Kudos to Kawasaki for taking up the challenge. Now if only Yamaha was so brave.

Also on the domestic front the AMA Pro Racing board made news this month when they handed down fines to motocross riders Mike Alessi and Matt Walker after the Tedesco/Alessi/Walker incident earlier this month at Glen Helen. At issue was an accident in which Alessi appeared to intentionally take out 125cc championship rival Ivan Tedesco but ended up taking himself down as well. Alessi then stood on Tedesco’s still running bike to prevent him from being able to continue the race. Meanwhile Tedesco’s teammate Walker doubled back on the track to knock Alessi of the Kawasaki so Ivan could get back underway. The AMA decided that because of his actions Alessi needed to take a $5,000 hit to his wallet, as well as a disqualification from the entire Glen Helen round and a 12 month probation. Finally, and perhaps the most painful, is that Alessi is also taken out of the running for the AMA Pro Racing Rookie of the Year award. Walker was deemed to have also acted in a way that negatively affects the sport and was given a $2,500 fine, a disqualification from the second moto at Glen Helen and a was put on probation for next year’s Supercross and Motocross seasons. I have mixed feelings about the reprimand for Walker but I’m thrilled to see Alessi get such a heavy penalty after acting so immature. Bravo to the AMA for taking action on this.

Shifting gears completely, let me mention two completely unrelated things to close out this month’s Odds and Ends.

First, Yamaha did an initial announcement of their new bikes earlier this month and included in that a quick photo of the ‘06 FJR1300 sport touring bike. Then all the info associated with the FJR was removed from their web site which caused all sorts of rumors to start flying around the net. Well, at the Paris Motorcycle Show today the European model FJR was officially announced and the mystery was finally revealed: the 2006 FJR will be released with a semi-automatic transmission. This means it will have a conventional gearbox but will use electronics to handle the shifts without the rider having to use a shift lever. It remains to be announced if this auto tranny will be available on US models or not. This will be the first production street bike since the old Hondamatic and Moto Guzzi Convert to have an automatic transmission so this is pretty big news from a technology stand point. However, as a rider I have zero interest in such a thing as shifting gears is a fundamental part of the motorcycle experience for me.

Finally, I wanted to mention that a new motorcycle movie about New Zealander HJ “Bert” Munro has been released Down Under called The World’s Fastest Indian. I doubt this movie will make it to US theaters but it should eventually be available on DVD some time next year. If you haven’t heard of HJ Munro he build Indian motorcycles in the pre-WWII era as land speed racers. Like John Britten, who came along much later, Munru hand build most of his bike’s parts in a little shed in on the south island of New Zealand and was a real innovator at a time when the application of technology to motorcycles was still at a relatively early stage. His story is a fascinating one to anyone interested in the people who pushed the limits of motorcycles during the infancy of the sport. I think it will make a nice addition to my library of motorcycle movies so I hope the DVD does make it to the US so I can buy a copy. Maybe it will inspire me to finally buy that welder for the garage I’ve been dreaming out…

That’s it for this month. Thanks for reading.

[image from the Drive.com.au web site.]

This past weekend the World Superbike series had its most exciting race to date, which is saying alot considering how fantastic the racing has been so far this year. All this excitement is primarily because of four men, so I am dubbing them the Lords of the ‘Ring. Those four are: Troy Corser, Chris Vermuelen, Noriyuki Haga and Lorenzo Lanzi. What makes this particularly exciting is that these four all represent different manufacturers which shows that WSBK has not only overcome their “Ducati Cup” reputation but they have also become the most competitive motorcycle road racing series in the world. Impressive. As for the riders, their weekend adventure goes like this:

Troy Corser - The Suzuki rider’s job for the weekend was simple. Play it safe, gain some decent points and let the season wind down. So long as Corser finishes in the top five at every race for the remainder of the season, he will win the 2006 World Superbike title. An easy job, right? Well, for race #1 of the weekend it certainly looked that way. Troy got a good start, ran at the front and basically kept fellow Aussie Vermeulen and Japanese ace Haga honest. At the end of the day Troy had a respectable third place finish. His second race started out the same, with another phenomenal start, but went south quickly when he crashed in turn one on the second lap. He got the bike back on track but could only salvage a thirteenth place finish. While any points are useful, he must be disappointed that he crashed while leading when a more conservative approach may have netted him more points. The crash cost him valuable points, something he can’t afford to do against Vermeulen who is on a late season charge that has seen him cut Corser’s points lead in half. I think Corser is so enjoying being on a competitive bike again and being in a position to actually fight for the lead that he can’t restraint himself the amount necessary to just think championship.

Which brings me to Chris Vermeulen - What an amazing kid and what an amazing streak. (Were it not for Colin Edwards memorable 2002 late season charge, I would declare Vermeulen’s current trend to be miraculous.) Chris has won three times in a row, including an amazing race one victory over Haga, to take a big bite out of the points lead that Corser enjoyed before the mid-season break. While it is still a long shot that he will win the title, his impressive riding over the past month should really have the Honda bosses looking for a factory GP ride for the kid or at least build a full factory World Superbike team around him. He slides the bike as comfortably as Haga but doesn’t seem nearly has hard on this tires. He’s been able to deal with pressure from Corser and Haga in recent races without making mistakes and doesn’t seem the least bit intimidated by aggressive riders. He is nearly guaranteed second place in the championship and still has a shot at winning the whole thing. Amazing.

Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha’s Nitro Nori also continues to impress after a first half the season that looked really disappointing. His team has publicly stated that getting a single win for the season was their goal for ‘05 while they developed the bike with only minimal support from the factory. Well, Haga has already won twice for them this year, once at Brno and then again at Brands Hatch, and has been on the podium seven of the last eight races. As I’ve mentioned in all my WSBK reviews so far this season, it is vitally important for the series that the Yamahas become competitive and that definitely appears to be the case. Haga still has some setup work to finish up so that they can get the R1 to run the pace without chewing up tires but he’s able to ride fast and loose, just like he likes it. His recent battles with Vermeulen, Corser and Toseland show that the Samurai of Slide is definitely back.

Lorenzo Lanzi - The Italian was the single biggest story of the weekend. He was called up by the factory Ducati team at the last minute to stand in for the injured Regis Laconi. He then surprised everyone by immediately putting the Xerox Ducati on the pole. In race one he got pushed wide in the first corner and came back in a questionable position. This was clearly against the spirit of the rules as he gained a few spots in the process and was thus called in for a ride-through penalty. Before making his mandatory visit to the pits, he proved a point by moving into the lead. Point made, he took his punishment and then charged back through the pack to an eventual eighth place finish…a performance that certainly raised some eyebrows. It bettered this in race two by staying on track through turn one and then moving forward to lead the race. He had a fight with Haga in the middle portion of the race that made it look like he was a seasoned pro rather than a first year superbike rookie. He then broke away for a convincing victory. Surely we will see the young Italian on a factory bike…probably a Ducati…in 2006.

The Lausitzing ring shows that the season is now at the point where the primary news is focused on the top three and then emerging new talent. There are some amazing riders that are mired outside this spotlight, including reigning world champ James Toseland, early season phenom Yukio Kagayama, elder statesman Frankie Chili, perennial top ten finisher Andrew Pitt and the consistently inconsistent Max Neukirchner. Don’t expect to hear much about these guys until the season wrap-up. The Lords of the Lausitzring were defiintely Corser, Vermeulen, Haga and Lanzi.

[image from the Ducati web site.]

This weekend offers up quite the contrast when it comes to racing motorcycles. At the ultra-modern EuroSpeedway track in Lausitz, Germany the World Superbike regulars will be racing their ultra-modern sport bikes. Meanwhile, at our local Pueblo Motorsports Park in Pueblo, CO the AHRMA guys will be racing their vintage bikes. Both are equally fascinating though they are such completely different experiences to watch.

First, the World Superbike event in Germany… This will be the third to the last race weekend of the series and probably the first chance for Troy Corser to lock up the title (assuming he gained the maximum 50 points by winning both races and Chris Vermeulen failed to gain a single point). This is an unlikely scenario so expect the title fight to continue into the penultimate weekend at Imola in three weeks. For this round, expect Chris Vermeulen to continue to ride hard and expect Corser to continue to balance conservative riding with opportunistic grabbing of points. Regardless of the championship’s status, the track is bound to throw a wrench into many of the riders’ plans. The 2.6 mile long track, placed inside a huge Indy car oval, is a series of fast straights which are tied together with 13 curves many of which are slow first and second gear corners. Things are further complicated by the fact that the relatively narrow track and the tightness of the turns means that passing in very, very difficult. Expect the race to turn into an hour long series of drag races as riders attempt to get their bikes upright exiting turns and try to pull up along side other riders before slamming back down through the gearbox for the next turn. I think that aggressive riders on bikes which accelerate hard from low speed will be the ones to watch. I think this will favor the Suzuki GSXRs, as they seem to have massive power *everywhere* along with riders like Vermeulen, Haga and Toseland who have proven themselves very aggressive over the past few races. Also interesting in that Lorenzo Lanzi will be stepping up from the Scuderia Caracchi privateer Duck to fill in for the injured Regis Laconi. Since Scuderia just fired their other rider, Fonsi Nieto, it will be interesting to see who they have on their bike this weekend.

At the other end of the spectrum are the old bikes, and often old riders, who will be joining the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association (AHRMA) for their annual visit to the American south-west. In this case, they are visiting Pueblo Motorsports Park which, in my opinion, has the most interesting layout of any of our Colorado area tracks with its 2.2 mile long, 10 turn road race configuration. The track surface isn’t the greatest, something that will be particularly noticeable on the poorly suspended vintage bikes, but at least it has a mix of straight aways, fast turns and slow turns. I find all the AHRMA road racing classes interesting but the one I’d most like to see is the modern Triumph Thruxton Bonneville bikes being raced in the Thruxton Challenge. These nearly identically prepared bikes have all the right look for a race series tied to a vintage organization but have the added benefit of running more reliable engines in more modern chassis. Since this is a spec class, the racing should be close and the winner’s advantage should clearly be in skill rather than machinery. As a final incentive, some of our local MRA racers, including the guys at Foothills BMW/Triumph, where I have my Beemer serviced, will be there. Unfortunately, I’m out of town this weekend and won’t be able to catch the races…definitely my biggest motorcycle racing disappointment of the year.

Old bikes or new bikes, Multi-million dollar international race circuits or modest local tracks, world champs or aging enthusiasts…either way watching motorcycle racing is good stuff.

[image from the 2WF web site.]

“Bip, bomp, bam alakazam
But only when you’re grooving
With the Double Dutch Man
Put on your skates don’t forget your rope
Cause I know I’m gonna see you
At my Double Dutch Show”
— Frankie Smith, Double Dutch Bus

Back in April, during the early rounds of the ‘05 World Superbike series, I did a blog entry about how Aussie rider Troy Corser ruled at Philip Island. Well, there is now another Australian rider ruling at his home track (even though its not down under). I mentioned on Friday that Chris’ Ten Kate Honda team is based in Holland but I didn’t point out that his grand parents are also from Holland. That makes two reasons for Vermeulen to do well at Assen and he backed it up with double wins at a track known as the “Cathedral of Speed”.

Not only did Chris win twice at Assen but he did it in two completely different ways. During both practice and qualifying, the Honda rider was incredible turning in laps nearly a second faster than anyone else. In the one lap dash that makes up Superpole he was able to turn a 2:04.179 to earn his first ever pole position. On Friday, I also commented that two riders needed strong rides at Assen, Chris Vermeulen and Regis Laconi. With pole position secured, Chris was doing his part but Regis went the opposite route. The Frenchman got pitched off his Ducati twice on Friday and the second off was a nasty highside which resulted in a damaged arm which ruled him out for the weekend and dashed any hopes he may have had for a top three finish for the season.

In the first race Chris got a good start and quickly moved to the front ahead of Corser, Haga and Toseland. One thing Assen is known for is close racing mainly because the track’s majority of high speed bends allows for a flowing riding style that isn’t interupted by a lot of stopping and accelerating. Apprently no one told Vermeulen that racing at Assen had to be tight because once he got to the front he proceeded to turn in lap after lap that was half a second faster than anyone else. With the Honda disappearing out front, the Yamaha of Haga, the Ducati of Toseland and the Suzuki of Corser started scrapping for the left overs. Corser eventually took an uncharacteristically conservative approach and appeared to concede the podium spots to the mix of bikes ahead of him. That meant the only battle to watch was the Haga-Toseland fight and fortunately it didn’t disappoint. Toseland and Haga traded places at least once a lap, usually with daring passes in the amazingly fast flip-flop bends. Toseland seemed to have the advantage, making the majority of his passes in the final turns before the finish line and this proved to be pivotal. With Vermeulen out front by 3.5 seconds, Toseland was able to make the definitive pass and hold on for second over Haga. Corser came home in forth.

With an easy win from the front under his belt the Ten Kate rider decided to shake things up the second race. He got off to a slower start, ending the first lap in sixth place, but was able to move forward after multi-lap dices with Kagayama, Corser, Pitt and Toseland. Around half-race he finally made the pass for the lead and then spent the majority of the remainder of the race in a titanic struggle with Toseland and Haga. Unlike race one, in the second event Vermeulen couldn’t check out and was hounded by Haga for the last three laps while Toseland slipped back by around a second from the two leaders. On the last lap either rider looked capable of winning but in the first few turns the Aussie made the final pass and then cranked up the speed to hold off his Japanese rival for the remainder of the lap. The margin of victory at the line was only 0.085 second. Toseland came home in third and Corser again rode to a steady forth.

Vermeulen did what he had to do in order to keep his championship hope alive. Chris took back 24 points this weekend, so with three rounds (six races) left to go in the season Corser holds a 86 point lead over his countryman in the title chase. With 25 points available per win, there are still 150 points left in the season, it is unlikely a champ will be crowned this coming weekend at Lausitzring but it also means that Troy would have to have finishes worse than forth (assuming Chris can sweep the rest of the races) before he would jeopardize his championship lead.

While Vermeulen was definitely the big news for the weekend, it wasn’t the only news. Also notable were some events that will impact the rest of the season: As I’ve already mentioned Laconi was out before the race even started with his highside. He will be having surgery this week to repair ligament damage but will likely miss some, if not all, of the remaining races. Then in race one, an accident sent Chris Walker to the hospital with a broken elbow probably taking him out for the year. Race two saw the other PSG-1 Kawasaki rider crash while still recovering from his own broken elbow. Time will tell if he can race in Germany this coming weekend. Finally, Fonsi Nieto won’t be riding his Scuderia Caracchi Ducati any more this season but not because of injury. Instead, he was sacked by the team during the first day of practice because of his poor results this year. Sadly, it appears that Fonsi’s career has continued to self destruct after he came so close to winning the 250GP title in 2002.

This weekend, like the season as a whole, seems to indicate that the Aussies do in fact rule in World Superbike.

[image from the Ten Kate Honda Team web site.]

This weekend servers up a three course meal made up of double shots of production bike racing. First, the World Superbike series lines up for their ninth weekend of a twelve race season in Assen, Holland. Then the AMA boys take a visit down south for their final race of the season with a double header at Road Atlanta. As if four superbike races weren’t enough for one weekend, the local MRA club has their first ever double header weekend at PPIR. Regional, national or international, this Labor Day weekend has you covered.

First up, lets cast our eyes on the International stage. The World Superbike series is entering the final quarter of their season with this weekend’s race at the famous Assen TT Circuit. With Troy Corser on top by 110 points, it seems unlikely anyone will be able to win the title without the Aussie having some sort of problem but since they don’t give out the trophies until the final checkered flag it is still a bit early to declare him the champ. The riders that will have to step it up here at the end of the season to even keep their hopes alive are Honda’s Chris Vermeulen and Ducati’s Regis Laconi. Unfortunately, Laconi threw his Duc down the track in practice this morning and ripped a few holes in his body. At a time when he needs to be at his best, he may be at his worst. I think today’s highside has ended the Frenchman’s ‘05 championship run. So that leaves Australian Vermeulen as the great hope if the Superbike championship battle is to stay exciting for the last four races. Fortunately, his Dutch Ten Kate Honda team are on home ground this weekend which may be enough of an advantage to tip the balance in Chris’ favor. Chris has been consistent over the last three rounds with four podium appearances in six races (two 2nds, two 3rds) but hasn’t won since the second Monza race back in June. He needs to get back to his winning ways this weekend. Haga, on the other hand, has won two of the last four races but with him mired down in fifth in points he is just racing for pride at this point. Vermeulen doesn’t need to crash but he does need to maximize his points. Haga, if he continues with his current form, is going to hamper that goal as he may well take much needed points away from the Honda rider this weekend. As with the MotoGP guys earlier this summer the World Superbike guys are visiting this Assen track for the last time before a major construction project dramatically changes the layout and just like the GP riders the WSBK riders are already bemoaning the changes to the track. Lets hope this weekend’s race is a good one and that it doesn’t end up going down as the last of the great Assen motorcycle races.

Closer to home, the AMA Superbike series has their last race of the year this weekend. What isn’t unusual is that Mat Mladin comes in as the clear favorite to win the championship having won 10 races so far this year. What is unusual is that the now traditional Rd. Atlanta double header is closing out the season where normally it is held earlier in the year. Strangely enough, despite the event being the last on the calendar all four AMA classes come to the Georgia track without a champion in any of them having already been decided. Thus all the races this weekend will be closely watched to see who is crowned but none of them will be more highly anticipated that the two Superbike races. Mladin leads teammate Spies by a scant 21 points after his double wins at VIR last weekend. As with the World Superbike points race, Mladin has the upper hand and only a crash or a bike problem will keep him from earning his 6th AMA Superbike title. However, problems have often found Mat at this track including his spectacular rear tire failure in ‘03 and his nearly running into an ambulance in ‘99. Since Mladin opened his weekend at Road Atlanta by turning laps a second faster than anyone else, the odds are clearly in his favor even considering his infrequent bad luck on the back straight. With the other Yoshimura riders also riding well at Road A, another pair of Suzuki podium sweeps may be likely. This morning, Honda’s Miguel Duhamel and Ducati’s Neil Hodgson were also fast so expect them to be involved in the fight for the final podium spot.

Finally, the MRA is heading down to southern Colorado to knock out a double header weekend at Pikes Peak International Raceway. This will be the seventh and eighth of the ten round season and the points earned this weekend may well lock up the premier Race of the Rockies titles…in practice even if not in points. Shane Turpin has trounced the competition this season having won every RoR GTO race. The only reason he hasn’t already tied up the title is that second in points Dan Turner has been nearly as consistent only failing to finish second on one occasion (when he finished forth). Turpin currently holds a 28 point lead over Turner with Rich Demming a further 14 points behind. Turpin also leads the RoR GTU class with a 31 point lead over Marty Sims and a 45 point lead over Greg Greenwood. It seems nearly certain that Shane will be the double #1 plate holder for the MRA in ‘06. The MRA has 28 different classes so there will be lots of racing this weekend and plenty of excitement for those following the points battles. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a big fan of PPIR. However, I do hope people will turn out for the races this weekend, not only because I want to see people support the MRA but I think PPIR deserves a little as well after they supported the Racing 2 Save Lives event earlier this summer.

Alright, so I’ll admit that all the major title chases have lost the majority of their interest. Suzuki seems to be ruling the production bike roost and the points leaders have seemingly insurmountable leads. Still, the racing in all three series is fantastic and the competition seems to be working hard to close the gap on the GSXRs. There may yet be a surprise or two in store for us fans. I plan to spend at least a little of my Labor Day weekend watching racing and hopefully you will too.

[image from the Road Atlanta web site.]

Back In December of last year I did a blog entry about how young Nicky Wmbauer had gotten a gig racing for Moto 1 on a Suzuki GSXR 600 in the World Superstock 600 Championship. I did a followup post in April after the first race at Valencia but haven’t had a chance to give an update since then…now is the time.

So this past weekend Nicky was racing at the Brand’s Hatch circuit. As I mentioned in my preview for the WSBK races at the UK circuit, it is a very tricky track. Fast in places but technical in others. The elevation changes mean getting a good suspension setup is difficult and it is all that much harder on the Superstock 600 bikes like Wimbauer rides since they don’t have the high dollar forks and shocks like the superbikes. Despite these challenges, Nicky scored his best finish of the season…but before I get to the details of that let me give a quick review of what has happened over the first five races of the year.

As I mentioned after the Valencia race, the ex-Colorado based rider scored an excellent eighth place finish at the first race of the season. The second race of the season was at the Monza circuit but didn’t go so well as he was collected in a turn one pile-up. Despite the crash, he returned to the pits to get the bike fixed up and then returned to the track for the track time. While his 23rd place finish doesn’t sound like much, the fact that he had the work ethic to use the rest of race as a learning opportunity speaks volumes about him. Next up was the Silverstone round where he was doing double duty not only racing the Superstock 600 race but also riding as a wild card in the European GSXR-750 cup race. He carded a pair of thirteenth place finishes in the two races. He bettered that by one with a twelfth place finish at the next round in Misano, Italy. The final round before Brands Hatch race was the the complex Brno circuit in the Czech Republic. Wimbauer found the going a bit tougher but still brought home a fourteenth place result.

Prior to Brands Hatch, Nicky seemed to struggle with qualifying. However, this weakness highlighted one of his strengths which is his ability to be aggressive on the track in the heat of battle. In most of these races, he was starting outside the top 15 but has earned finishes inside that range in every race. Clearly he shines when it comes to the actual racing. I think its ultimately easier for a rider to learn how to turn in single fast laps in qualifying than it is to get the skills that come naturally when dicing with other riders. Its good to see that the Suzuki rider is already getting that critical experience. Another thing that impresses me about Wimbauer is his history of getting faster with each lap on the track. If his team’s press releases are to be believed, Nicky is regularly faster on the final laps of a race that he is in the earlier laps. As long as the limit to his speed is his lack of track knowledge, then the chances of him being able to close the gap to the front runners in the class are very good. Finally, the fact that the 17 year old could jump on an unfamiliar bike of larger displacement on an unfamiliar track and still earn a top 15 finish would also indicate that he has not reached the limits of his talent yet.

Alright, so with all this talk out of the way I think that the race at Brands Hatch is the right time to check back in with with Nicky’s Superstock season. First and foremost, Nicky finally put in a top ten qualifying effort allowing him to start the race from the second row in seventh place. Things improved even more once the green flag flew because Nicky was able to run with a group of riders who were all fighting for a top five result. When the checkered flag flew, Wimbauer crossed the line in an fantastic sixth place, 14 seconds down on the winner but racing in a tight pack with the fourth and fifth place finishers. He also turned in the 4th fastest lap of the race while closing the gap on the front runners after being slowed dicing with another rider in the early laps. Impressive stuff.

The final bit of news is that he is now up to 10th place in the championship battle. While he is 109 points behind the leader, he is only 7 points down on sixth place. A top five finish will be tough but isn’t completely beyond his reach. Hopefully his performances for the remainder of the season will continue to improve and that some team manager is ready to move him a rung up the ladder for next season by putting him on a Supersport or Superbike.

[image from the Nicky Wimbauer web site.]

Back in May I did my write up of the Silverstone round of the World Superbike Series by comparing various riders with some famous Winston Churchill quotes. I’ve decided to do something similar for this past weekend’s Brands Hatch round but using J.R.R. Tolkien quotes as the jumping off point.

“From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken: The crownless again shall be king.” - Troy Corser - Alright, so this quote has more to do with the season as a whole than the specific race at Brands Hatch but there is no doubt that Corser personifies the reforged sword. Corser was “The Man” aboard the factory Ducati in the late 90s but then went into the dark years when he signed a four year contract with Fogarty to help develop the Petronas. Now, springing forth from the shadows, the Aussie is again shining brightly. At Brands he fought tooth and nail (and probably needlessly) with Haga in both races. The Yamaha Japanese ace is well back in the points and thus isn’t a threat for the championship but the veteran Suzuki man went for the wins anyway. He looked the faster rider displaying his trademark smoothness while holding enough in reserve to make a last lap pass in both races. The rope-a-dope tactic worked in race one but an uncharacteristic mistake after his masterful pass in race two put him back to second (and nearly into the gravel). The 1-2 finishes extended his points lead in the title fight to an incredible 110. Look for the 1996 champ to be re-crowned at Assen in three weeks.

“All that is gold does not glitter; not all those that wander are lost.” - Noriyuki Haga - So Haga is not taking home championship treasure this season…he is currently fifth in the title hunt and a staggering 177 points down on Corser. However, he has glittered blindingly strong the past two race weekends. The Yamaha team seemed lost for the first half of the season but apparently found their way at Brno. Whatever the equipment change, Noriyuki looked like the “Nitro Nori” of old at Brands. He was on the edge every lap, either a sign of his confidence on the bike or a clear indication that all the R1’s demons haven’t yet been exorcised, with the rear lighting up at each corner exit. This looks like the Haga of 2000 who rode (and at times crashed) his Yamaha into every fan’s consciousness. Haga seemed determined to lead and most of his laps where about a half second faster than nearly everyone else on the track (the exception being the calm, cool and collected Corser). Despite being passed for the lead in both races, and basically being handed the race two win after Troy out-braked himself) Haga looked like the World Superbike superstar he has been for nearly a decade. At one time, Haga was the most popular motorcycle racer in England and his showing this past weekend will have put him on track to regain that title.

“Little by little, one travels far.” - Chris Walker - If Yamaha went from mid-pack to leading races in just one quick Czech weekend, the Kawasaki squad has chipped away at it all season. They started off squarely mid-pack, then moved up among the front runners at Valencia, then faded a bit and have now come on strong again since Brno. How much of this can be credited to the bike and how much to Chris’ riding is debatable but Brands certainly gave some credence to the rider portion of that equation. Walker seemed to be grabbing the ferocious Kwacker by the scruff of the neck and physically forcing it to his will. Perhaps his dual fourth place finishes should earn him a rodeo belt buckle because he rode the ZX like it was an angry bull. Rarely would I say that just missing the podium two times in a row qualifies as a brilliant weekend but Walker did an amazing job to show so well in front of his home crowd. Perhaps he should be given a shot at the evil handling Ducati MotoGP bike (instead of Checa) since it would obviously suit his riding style…

“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.” - Chris Vermeulen - The Ten Kate Honda rider has sat second in points for most of the year but a poor qualifying session had him starting both races in eighth. His forth place finish in race one was an excellent job of damage control but was really enhanced by his third in race two. It is debatable whether the Aussie would have had the speed of Haga/Corser in the second race but he was definitely faster than everyone else once he worked his way through the pack. His 4-3 finishes allowed him to keep a faint glimmer of hope alive in the championship race. He may well have to focus on defending against third place Laconi now as much as chase first place Corser…

“It needs more to make a king than a piece of elvish glass, or a rabble such as this.” - Regis Laconi - Ducati continues to pin its hopes on the Frenchman Laconi but it seems that no matter how hard he rides, and he rides very hard, it doesn’t seem that the bike can quite give him what he needs. After his wins at Silverstone and Misano, it looked like Ducati had turned a corner but at Brands they seemed to have taken a step back. Regis’ 3-4 finishes may not seem like a sign of impending doom but watching how hard Laconi had to push just to stay on the tail of the Haga/Corser battle shows that the big v-twin doesn’t have the acceleration, especially off the side of the tire, that the Suzuki and Yamaha could deliver. Ducati’s Superbike weapon has evolved from a bike renowned for its mid-range grunt to a high speed, high rpm rocketship that does best when it can stretch its legs. Fortunately, the flowing Assen circuit may play back into the Duc’s strong points.

“His head was swimming, and he was far from certain even of the direction they had been going in when he had his fall. He guessed as well as he could, and crawled along for a good way, till suddenly his hand met what felt like a tiny ring of cold metal lying on the floor of the tunnel. It was a turning point in his career, but he did not know it.” - Karl Muggeridge - Karl had a mixed weekend, at least on paper, with a sixth in the first event and a crash in the second. However, for a Superbike rookie the sixth was a great finish and the fact that he ran with the front runners for a while in both races shows he’s taken another step forward, perhaps his biggest since his 4-6 finishes at Monza earlier this season. Muggas is proving that Ten Kate was right putting the historically crash prone Aussie on their superbike this year.

“It’s like things are in the world. Hopes fail. An end comes. We have only a little time to wait now.” - James Toseland - Sadly, Toseland only has a little time to wait until he has to relinquish his 2004 superbike crown. Despite some strong rides at Silverstone, Misano and Brno, the Brit’s hopes for a repeat title have definitely diminished. The final blow was having his bike quit in race one leaving him to make a long, sad walk back to the pits. Even in race two, he started strong but then faded back as one by one the other front runners passed him and pulled away. Last season, Toseland constantly showed his optimistic attitude and worked harder and harder to take the title over his star teammate. I hope this season’s misfortunes don’t dampen to much of that spirit as he’s a much better rider than his sixth place in the championship shows.

“The burned hand teaches best.” - Andrew Pitt - For the first races of this season, the best performing Yamaha wasn’t Haga or Abe or Nieto or Cardoso or Gimbert but was instead the quiet Aussie Andrew Pitt. However, the hallmark of his rides was that he would qualify strong, blitz off the line into the leading pack and then hold up the other riders as they slowly worked their way past. When Pitt wasn’t going in reverse, he was tossing the R1 into the gravel. Well, it seems that all this trauma has been a good teacher as Pitt carded 7-6 results at Brands. The one thing he still has to learn would appear to be controlled aggressiveness as Laconi and Walker looked much more assertive in their race two battle with Vermeulen and Toseland than did Pitt. In fact, Pitt looked content to follow for most of the race. Nonetheless, to see Pitt actually make a pass on someone else, as he did to Toseland, shows that he’s still improving.

“Still round the corner there may wait, a new road or a secret gate.” - Lorenzo Lanzi - One rider that deserves more press than he’s gotten thus far is Ducati’s chosen son Lanzi. He started the season on the privateer SC Caracchi Ducati and was finishing mid-pack. Over the past three or four race weekends he has continually improved and has scored six straight top tens, including a pair of eighths this weekend. Don’t be surprised if Lanzi travels a new road aboard a factory Ducati next season. In the meantime, he has definitely proven himself to be the best privateer in the series this year.

“Courage is found in unlikely places.” - Yukio Kagayama - Okay, so maybe it isn’t unlikely that the gritty Japanese rider would show courage, after all he came back from a horrible injury last year to win races in the British Superbike Series. Kagayama definitely showed the lion’s share of bravery at Brands riding to double ninth place finishes after a monster high-side in practice on Friday. The crash broke some ribs, generally battered the Suzuki rider and may have earned him enough air time to qualify him for a pilots’ license. Despite the painful injuries, Yukio did Superpole on Saturday and, after having his rib cage bound to restrict movement, went on to race in both events on Sunday. Gritty indeed!

“It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: someone has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.” - Frankie Chili - Chili definitely had to give something up at Brands, mainly his streak of top ten finishes this season and his history of strong races at the Kent circuit. Unlike last year when he challenged for the lead, this year the popular Italian was mired well down the field. He had a bike problem in race one and finished unlucky thirteen in race two.

“It’s a job that’s never started that takes the longest to finish.” - Ben Bostrom - For whatever reason, the Renegade Honda team and their rider Benny B have never really gotten started this season. Whether this is a machine problem, a rider problem or a combination of the two may never be known but any time a rider of Bostrom’s talent has a weekend with 12-10 finishes you know things aren’t right. At the moment the team is an abysmal 15th place in the championship, the most disastrous season in their history. We can only hope that BBoz has another year left on his contract and that Renegade can make the same breakthrough with the CBR as the Ten Kate team have done.

“He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.” - Garry McCoy - McCoy’s downward spiral continues, both in the macro view of the entire season and the micro view of this particular race weekend. The Aussie was once the golden child of the GP paddock but faded from glory there. He had brief moments of success on a privateer Duc in WSBK last season but this year moved to the star-crossed Foggy Petronas team with predictably poor results. In race one, he earned his tenth DNF of the season and then was the last place finisher in race two for an 18th place result. While much of the blame can be firmly placed on the machine there is also the question of whether McCoy knew the FP1 was this bad before signing on for the season. The Sultan of Slide is rapidly slipping into obscurity.

“It’s a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, theres no knowing where you might be swept off to.” - Pere Riba - Spaniard and ex-GP rider Riba got the phone call to replace the injured Mauro Sanchini as Walker’s teammate on the PSG-1 Kawasaki squad. Riba scored a fourteenth in the first race and a twelfth in the second, putting him in points earning positions in both races. Certainly an acceptable weekend from a rider that hasn’t race since June of last year and one on par with the results put in this season by the man he is replacing.

“A star shone at the hour of our meeting.” - Fonsi Nieto - Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bad moon rather than a lucky star. Just a couple of years ago, Nieto was on the verge of winning a 250GP title and was the great hope of the Spanish moto-journalists. Crashes ruining that shot at a 250 championship and the repercussions were felt for the next two seasons. This year it seemed he had a chance to step back and regroup but has instead gone from GP disaster to WSBK disaster. His dual DNFs this weekend were his seventh and eighth of the year with the only highlight of the season being a fifth at Phillip Island. Nieto may be the best test case yet for whether Spanish nationality alone is sufficient for a rider to keep their ride despite dismal results…

“This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers: Gnaws iron, bites steel: Grinds hard stones to meal: Slays king, ruins town, And beats high mountains down! Time.” - Ducati - This weekend was, in my opinion, the final nail in the coffin for Ducati’s chances of claiming their 14th manufacturer’s title and their 12th rider’s title. Time has marched on and the dominance of the v-twins from Bologna may be at its end. If WSBK, like so many of the national superbike championships, commits to freezing the rules for a few years then the big red machines may struggle more and more against their four cylinder competition. Only time will tell if Ducati introduces a Superbike version of their V-four MotoGP bike (especially when GP rules go to 800cc in 2007) or if a more competitive v-twin can yet be built.

[image from the Yamaha Racing web site.]

Despite the June WSBK race at Silverstone officially being called the “European round”, this weekend actually marks the second time this season the World Superbike guys have come to the UK to race. (Hopefully, they will get better weather than the torrential downpour that greeted the MotoGP guys three weeks ago at Donington Park). With 70,000 fans flooding into Silverstone for the WSBK race in May and 75,000 showing up for the drenched MotoGP race at Silverstone last month, anticipating a large turnout at the Brands Hatch circuit should be a foregone conclusion especially considering its proximity in Kent putting it so near London.

This is the eighth round of the twelve round series, so we’re at the 2/3 mark for the season. After this, the riders get nearly a month off before returning for the September race at Assen. As such, all the riders would like to go into the break with a good pair of results. With silly season in full swing, the motivation is that much higher. Finally, the two brits of Toseland and Walker, along with the British based Renegade team, would all like to do well in front of their home crowd so expect that little bit extra from them.

The track itself is a great one. Brand’s Hatch has been on the WSBK calendar since 1993 and as mentioned above has been one of the best attended throughout that time. The circuit is 2.62 miles in length with 9 (or 11) turns depending on how you measure it. The track has a few “straights” that actually contain a kink so these sections are particularly fast (as well as confusing when tallying the curves). In addition to the fast turns there is also a lot of elevation change around the circuit, so suspension setup becomes particularly tricky. The fast corners need some plushness to the suspension to keep the tire from lighting up over small bumps while the elevation changes require a stiff suspension to avoid bottoming. Expect to see different riders make different choices and thus have bikes that react differently in the various parts of the circuit. Another feature of the track is the difference in safety between the old classic track and the newer, faster “new” portion of the track. The new section runs through the woods making it both scenic and a bit more dangerous in the event of an accident.

Another unique aspect of the track is it’s history. Only two brands have ever won at Brands, Ducati and Honda, despite having hosted 22 superbike races. Even odder, of the 11 rounds held at Brands, 7 have resulted in double wins as Falappa, Foggy, Edwards x2, Bostrom, Byrne and Haga have all “done the double” here. Of the riders currently in the series Chili, Bostrom and Haga have all had good results at this track. Last year, the race was dominated by Haga with double wins on his Renegade Ducati. Equally memorable was the vicious race one highside experienced by Chili while leading the race. He rebounded to an amazing second place finish in race two. Laconi also had a mixed bag last year with a second place in race one but then a crash in race two. The final memorable ride was Corser who brought home a fifth on the Petronas, one of their best finishes ever. Unfortunately, he DNF’ed race two, keeping at least part of the FPR reputation alive.

This year, things are looking much better for Troy Corser. First, he comes into Brands with a 94 point lead in the championship. Second, he starts the weekend a new father as his wife Sam just gave birth to their second child, a baby girl, last week. Third, he won three weeks ago at Brno, his first win since race one at Monza, which shows that the early season speed of the Suzuki hasn’t been completely eclipsed by the Ducatis, Hondas and Yamahas. Finally, he grabbed provisional pole position in qualifying today. If he can follow that up in Superpole it will be his third straight pole, which will net him his 34th career pole position and 72nd front row start (out of 217 races…that is a staggering 33% ratio of front row starts in his 13 year WSBK career). The man is a machine when it comes to qualifying!

So, who (other than Corser) should you watch? Well, most of the riders had inconsistent results at Brno so its tough to tell. Haga won race two but was down in seventh in race one. Vermeulen carded a third in race two but was behind Haga in eighth in race one. Likewise, Laconi was third in race one but sixth in race two. Even Toseland (2/8), Walker (4/10) and Abe (9/4) were a little schizophrenic in the Czech Republic. Only Corser really shined with his first and second place results.

If you look elsewhere for a sign, the Silverstone races in June casts things in a different light. In front of the English fans, it was Toseland that “came good” with a third and a win. Laconi also looked strong with a win in race one but a crash in race two. Haga showed flashes of improvement with a third in the second race to bounce back from a crash in race one. There was a lot of consistency just off the podium as Vermeulen earned a pair of forths, Chili was fantastic with double fifths despite a broken collarbone and Walker wrestled the Kawasaki home for twin sixth place finishes. Corser, naturally, finished the doubles by getting second in both races to extend his points lead over Kagayama. Silverstone was the first sign of trouble for the Japanese WSBK rookie as he was eleventh in race one and seventh in race two. The British track was the beginning of the end of Yukio’s challenge of Corser for the WSBK title.

So first and foremost I’ll be watching the Brits. Toseland seems to find that extra little bit when racing for his fellow countryman so expect something special from him. Likewise, Walker did well at Silverstone and the Kwack is improving every race so he should be able to run closer to the front. Laconi seems to run well at Brands, when he isn’t crashing, and his past few races show a “win it or bin it” attitude. Given the addition of some animosity with his teammate, if Toseland runs up front I suspect Laconi will as well since he seems to believe in the “beat your teammate first, everyone else second” philosophy. Corser, naturally, should be at the pointy end though that 94 point championship lead means he can play it safe if things get too hairy. Finally, Chili is perhaps more popular in Britain than the British riders. He has had many spectacular rides at Brands over the past 12 years and if he can keep it on two wheels expect him to be at the front. Finally, I really want a Yamaha to challenge for the podium to prove that Haga’s Brno win wasn’t a fluke. The series *needs* a competitive Yamaha R1 to go with the GSXRs, CBRs, and 999s.

[image from the Official Brands Hatch Circuit web site.]

“Age and experience will always beat out youth and inexperience.” —Tonny Robbins

Its been a week since the World Superbike races at Brno but I’m just now getting caught up enough to comment. Consider this late posting a little case of time travel going back a week. For another instance of time travel, just watch the races…

Race one looked like the calendar had rolled back to the first races of the season. Troy Corser took his Corona Suzuki to the front on the first lap and never looked back. Just like the early races, Corser was untouchable. The battle for second, on the other hand, was much more contemporary with the Ducati’s maintaining their recent return to form. Even more exciting, Chris Walker had his Kawasaki in the mix, meaning that perhaps the green team has made a step forward with their bike. In the end, the two Ducati teammates seemed to have burned the last vestiges of their friendship which resulted in some harsh passes. Eventually, it was Toseland that handed out the last harsh pass over Laconi and thus earned the middle step on the podium. Walker trailed behind for forth and Chili charged through the field for an eventual fifth place finish. Impressive stuff considering this was his fifth top five finish of the season. In fact, except for his DNF at the first round, the 40 year old Italian has finished in the top 10 at every race.

The second race was exciting from the beginning as Laconi hit the front and started pulling a lead only to have the race red flagged after someone’s bike lunched it’s motor and sprayed oil on the track. On the restart, it was Corser who returned everything to its normal order by again getting to turn one first and leading the race. It was another flashback, this time to race one, as Corser started to pull away while the Ducati teammates again went at each other, this time slight further down the order. Then the surprise of the season…Haga, on his under-performing Yamaha, suddenly charged forward to lead Corser after starting from 18th on the grid. Not only did he lead but he actually pulled away to win. This performance perhaps indicates that Yamaha has finally made the changes necessary to become competitive but it remains to be seen if this win will give Haga the confidence to run at the front for the remainder of the season. Given that Nitro Nori was expected to be a challenger for the title this year, his performance thus far has been abysmal with only one other podium appearance and only three other top five finishes this season. As for the rest of the finishers, it was Corser who cruised home for second and continued to extend his points lead over Vermeulen and Laconi. Third was a determined Chris Vermeulen who is still grasping for the rapidly vanishing chances of a Superbike championship. Forth a surprisingly strong finish by Norick Abe, again perhaps indicating that Yamaha has turned a corner. Continuing his trend, Chili turned in yet another top five finish. Go Frankie!

The best news: with both Kawasaki and Yamaha having strong performances at Brno the final ingredients may finally be falling into place to boost the WSBK series into the best motorcycle racing series on the planet. A little bad blood between the Ducati teammates will crank the intensity level to 11. Having guys like Walker and Abe up front with their over-the-edge riding style is the final icing on the cake. Why, oh, why can’t we just fast forward two weeks to the upcoming Brands Hatch round?

But ultimately, it was seeing old guys Corser, Haga and Chili up front that made Brno seem more like 1998 that 2005. These guys are the legends of the WSBK championship and it is awesome to see them still on the bleeding edge of superbike racing. Hopefully, the young guys like Vermeulen, Muggeridge, Neukirchner, Pitt and Lanzi can learn from these guys.

[image from the Motorcycle News web page.]

Racing this weekend comes courtesy of the country that is short on vowels but long on motorcycle enthusiasm: Brno, Czech Republic. The World Superbike regulars are returning from a three week break but its been nine year gap the track last saw racing from the world class production bikes. As a result, only two riders have any previous experience racing Superbikes at the track: Chili and Corser. However, quite a few other riders raced there more recently in the Grand Prix series: Abe, Haga, Laconi, Walker, Nieto, McCoy, Cardoso and Pitt. As a result, this could be a place were some unexpected riders move to the front early and get a better setup than some of the traditionally fast riders who may have to learn the track in the early practice sessions.

The track itself is a great one. The 3.4 mile long circuit has two particularly impressive features. First, the track is very fast and flowing. Of the 15 turns on the track, all are taken in second, third or even forth gear. Expect this constant series of high speed bends, not unlike Assen, to favor riders who have the huevos grande necessary to keep the throttle cranked while rubbing fairings with other riders. The second feature is that the track is very wide. This allows multiple lines through corners so both the brave and the foolhardy can try to make passes which wouldn’t be available on other courses. There are four short straights at the Brno circuit so while top speed can’t win the race, raw horsepower can certainly be useful when it delivers strong acceleration between corners. Finally, it is a bumpy circuit so it will take excellent front end setup to deal with the hard braking for the various turns without upsetting the chassis and ruining the high corner speed that will be so important for a good lap.

I think the biggest story of the weekend will again be Troy Corser. He knows the track, in fact he was the double winner at the last WSBK race at Brno in 1996, so shouldn’t have too much difficulty getting the GSXR setup out of the way in the early practice sessions. However off the bike he now has a 73 point lead in the championship over Vermeulen so he doesn’t need to stick his neck out for a win. That said, the Hondas and Ducatis have been coming on strong lately with five straight non-Corser wins, the last four of those being won by the big red Italian v-twins. With twelve races left in the season and 25 points per win, Corser can’t relax too much too soon. It would take a miracle or a mistake for someone to catch Troy in the points battle but as 2002 proved the unexpected can happen.

The second thing to watch are whether crashes determine the outcome rather than fast laps. Given the aggressiveness that Vermeulen, Toseland and Laconi have shown over the past few races, Brno should provide them with ample opportunities to generate some mid-corner excitement. Throw in some nothing-to-lose riders like Haga, Neukirchner, Walker or Muggeridge and plan on some over-the-top passes…some of which may end in the gravel traps.

Finally, I hope that the Czech race will reveal that Yamaha and Kawasaki have finally decided to join the championship party. The WSBK series has made a remarkable rebound in popularity and excitement compared to the past two seasons when it was dominated by a single marque. With Suzuki, Honda and Ducati all showing competitiveness in the first half of the season, all that remains are for the other players (well, except the perpetually slow Petronas) to make the leap to the front. If there were really 10 or 12 evenly equipped factory riders duking it out for the WSBK title, World Superbike would easily surpass MotoGP as the most popular form of motorcycle racing in the world. Lets hope we get to check out a little of that progress from Yamaha and Kawasaki at Brno.

Oh, and my bitch-of-the-week: I won’t be checking out that progress on Sunday as SpeedTV has again decided to tape delay the World Superbike races until Tuesday. Looks like Champ Cars and Touring Cars are what get the air time on Sunday. Sigh.

[image from the Suzuki web site.]