Honda And Ducati Preview This Weekend’s World Superbike Opener At Valencia

Honda And Ducati Preview This Weekend’s World Superbike Opener At Valencia

© 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

DUCATI CORSE PRESS INFORMATION

WORLD SUPERBIKES BACK IN ACTION AT VALENCIA
HODGSON AND XAUS LINE UP FOR TEAM DUCATI FILA

The World Superbike Championship swings back into action this weekend at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia, Spain for its sixteenth season. In the five months since the memorable end to the 2002 championship, Ducati Corse has been hard at work preparing for the new season, which it will tackle with a new rider, a new bike and a new sponsor.

Britain’s Neil Hodgson, who moves up from the ranks of the HM Plant satellite Ducati team to race for Team Ducati Fila, and Spain’s Ruben Xaus, confirmed for a third successive year with the factory squad, will spearhead the Italian manufacturer’s attack in the World Superbike Championship in 2003.

Hodgson and Xaus are the first riders to get their hands on Ducati’s latest Superbike, the 999, and they will ride the 1000cc twin-cylinder machine exclusively throughout the 2003 season. The Ducati 999 Factory ’03, which sports an exciting new design married to the successful Testastretta engine, has tested well throughout the winter and promises to continue Ducati’s successful tradition, which has seen them take Riders’ or Manufacturers’ titles with every Superbike machine produced to date (851, 888, 916, 996, 998).

With the arrival of globally-renowned Italian sportswear manufacturer Fila as partner, the bikes also sport a totally new livery for the first time in four years. The 999, resplendent in its exciting new colour scheme, was revealed in a spectacular media event last Monday in Milan, which marked the start of a two-year partnership with Fila.

Hodgson smashed the Valencia lap record at last weekend’s pre-season testing session, leaving the new unofficial mark at 1:34.01. Even at this early stage, the 29-year-old British riders is not letting himself be overawed by the tag of #1 favourite for the title: “I’m really looking forward to weekend now because I had a really good test last week and that took a lot of the pressure off me. The Valencia track has not been one of my favourites in the past but as I finally got to know it well at the weekend, I feel a lot more at home on it now. The Ducati 999 is a big improvement on my last year’s bike and I feel really comfortable with it and confident about the season ahead.”

Xaus, who finished sixth overall in last year’s championship, starts his third season with the factory Ducati SBK squad full of confidence for the year ahead is one of the most difficult tracks for me, because it is the way the corners are, they are very tight, with hard braking and changes in direction, not long and fast corners as I like. It’s my home race however and with the new Ducati 999 I’m enjoying it much more. The 999 seat is wider than the 998 and it’s easier to move the bike around so I feel more comfortable.”

CIRCUIT
World Superbike comes to Valencia for the fourth time since the ‘Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana’ opened for business in 1999. The circuit is 25 kms from Valencia along the motorway to Madrid and can accommodate over 110,000 spectators surrounding the 4.005 km track. Valencia has many slow turns, mainly left-handers and a long pit straight measuring almost 900 metres.

STATISTICS
Lap record: Bostrom (Ducati) 1:35.306 (2002); Qualifying: Bostrom (Ducati) 1:34.649 (2002); Superpole: Bayliss (Ducati) 1:34.814 (2002). Race distance: 2 x 23 laps/92.115 kms.

2002 WINNERS
Race 1: 1. Bayliss (Ducati), 2. Haga (Aprilia), 3. Bostrom (Ducati). Race 2: 1. Bayliss, 2. Haga, 3. Edwards (Honda).


More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing:

HONDA RACING INFORMATION

World Supersport Championship 2003
Valencia Race Preview
28 February to 2 March 2003

Honda Riders Ready For Season Opener

World Supersport is shaping up to be the most closely contested streetbike-based class of all this season, and Honda riders have proved to be in the forefront of recent test results. Buoyed by their own shakedown results in recent weeks, the majority of the eight officially backed Honda pilots in the series approached the official SBK sessions at Valencia (21-23 February) in confident mood – and with good reason.

The prime focus for their high spirits is the all-new Honda CBR600RR, the most race-ready middleweight the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer has ever produced.

Four teams – Ten Kate, van Zon, BKM and Klaffi – will be running the in-line fours under a factory banner this year and five riders from these teams featured in the top ten at the Valencia tests.

New 600cc Supersport machines from three manufacturers will do battle with Suzuki’s factory effort this season in this important class of racing, where success on track is often translated into sales of road machines in an already cutthroat sector of the market.

Ten Kate Honda produced the machinery for Riders’ World Championship winner Fabien Foret last season, and once more started the run up to the season’s first race in almost perfect form. Chris Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) was fastest at Valencia and his team-mate Karl Muggeridge set the third quickest official test time.

Although delighted to have performed so well in the only official SBK tests of the season, Vermeulen did not lose sight of the fact that there are no points for his excellent pre-race showings. “We’ve had a good test and the bike is working very well,” confirmed Vermeulen. “It’s very adjustable and we’ve tried lots of tyres to select good race options. The main thing is the race next weekend, not this test, so we spent most of our testing time working towards a proper race set-up.”

No other rider in the Valencia tests could get near Vermeulen’s best of 1:37.331 but behind the young Aussie the times were nonetheless very tight – as always in this category of racing.

Muggeridge was the closest Honda man to his fellow Aussie Vermeulen, after spending a lot of time working on chassis set-up in race trim. Ronald Ten Kate, team boss of the Dutch team explained the impact the new CBR has had on his riders’ pre-season progress. “When we started testing this bike the riders’ first impression was of how easily adjustable the machine was and how sensitive it was to set-up changes. At first Karl felt more comfortable on the machine with a tank pad fitted, because he felt that the he needed to push some weight backwards under braking. Now both riders have taken the pads off, after they got used to the more purposeful nature of the new bike.”

The tall figure of Austrian Robert Ulm (Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) spent much of his time at Valencia working through set-up on the small and compact machine and, even though much time was lost due to adverse weather, he left the test satisfied with his state of readiness for the first race.

Christophe Cogan from the BKM Honda team hopes to translate his seventh place after Valencia testing into an even better race result for his Belgian team. Broc Parkes, also from the BKM Honda team, should be a force at the Valencia race if he can continue his good form in readiness for his ‘rookie’ WSS season.

Gianluigi Scalvini (Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) used all his GP experience and his test mileage on Supersport bikes in 2002 to get to grips with Honda Supersport machinery at Valencia, proving his natural aptitude at an early stage of his learning curve on the CBR600RR.

The CBR600 Honda has played a key part in the career of Iain Macpherson (van Zon Honda CBR600RR) in the past and his acquaintance with the latest version has been largely successful. He has shaken off the effects of a crash during testing and his looking forward to scoring more than the single podium finish he took in 2002, while competing for the Ten Kate Honda team.

Werner Daemen (van Zon Honda CBR600RR) is racing for a career best finish in the coming season, and with what is already a well-developed Supersport machine at his disposal he has never been in a better position to finish in the highest echelons.

The 4.005km Valencia circuit, now a well known venue for even the newest of teams and least experienced Supersport riders, will provide a tough test for all, not least because of the expected cold weather, and the possibility of rain anywhere in Spain at this time of year.



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