From a press release issued by FGSport:

World Superbike Championship 2004 World Superbike Championship Round 4 Monza, Italy 14-16 May 2004

PREVIEW – WORLD SUPERBIKE PREPARES FOR WARP SPEED

At The Speed of Light: 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. Despite the addition of numerous chicanes over the years, speed and power are the most important steps on the Monza podium ladder. Monza is one of the most atmospheric and traditionally sculpted circuits in world racing, a true giant among tracks – and one of the longest – at 5,793km. The oldest permanent European track still in regular use, Monza is located inside a former Royal Park, surrounded by greenery and the remains of the old circuit’s steep banking. A place of memories and nostalgia, Monza is still a venue where modern SBK competitors get to practice their slipstreaming and racecraft in a unique fashion.

Leading Light: With no fewer than five different winners in six races so far this year, the 2004 version of World Superbike is as closely fought and unpredictable as ever. The adoption of a blanket 1000cc capacity limit, stringent technical regulation and the innovation of single make Pirelli control tyres have all contributed their part to this phenomenon. The latest race winner is also the pre-Monza championship leader, Pierfrancesco Chili (PSG-1 Ducati 999/998). At Misano on April 18 Chili sent his local crowd (and legions of his loyal fans around the world) into a frenzy of joy, securing his 17th career win, in his 223rd SBK race. The enduring and always entertaining Chili knows what it’s like to win at Monza, having secured his first ever SBK victory there in 1995.

Fila Factory Power: Privateer Chili’s speed and consistency have delivered him a 20-point championship cushion but at the high-speed academy of Monza, works power is always an important asset. The factory Fila Ducati riders, James Toseland and Regis Laconi, sit second and third overall in the table at present. More than any other riders, they will be looking to exploit any power advantage that their unique Ducati 999F04 machines may have. In this season, in which ultimate performance is within range of more teams than ever before, Monza will be an excellent test of how far the teams equipped with multi-cylinder 1000cc machines have progressed since the first round at Valencia on February 29th.

Honda Powers On: The foremost four-cylinder machine in the championship at present time is the Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade of Chris Vermeulen. The reigning World Supersport Champion has made outstanding progress since his promotion to Superbike, having secured two podiums already. The 21-year-old Aussie now sits in fourth place overall, 27-points off the lead. Monza is a circuit Vermeulen rates very highly and if his still-developing machine has improved sufficiently since Misano, he may be the darkest horse in the Monza firmament. As Vermeulen is the only rider in the top six without a win to his name this season he is particularly keen to join this increasingly inclusive club with all due haste. Other top-level four-cylinder entries come from the Bertocchi Kawasaki, MIR Suzuki and UnionBike Yamaha teams. Winner’s Circle: With Chili, Toseland and Laconi (2) having all won races so far, the other victories have gone to Ducati 999RS riders Noriyuki Haga (Renegade Ducati 999RS) and Garry McCoy (Xerox Ducati Nortel Networks 999RS). Monza will be less of a known quantity for SBK inductee McCoy, as this is his first full season of World Superbike, having enjoyed a glittering GP career.

Petronas Progress: The upwardly mobile Foggy Petronas team, running the unique three-cylinder Petronas FP-1 machine, has experienced a real measure of success this season. First off Chris Walker took a third place at Valencia on the opening day and more recently Troy Corser secured second place in race one at Misano. An interim engine specification will power their Monza assault, before a full revamp comes on stream for the Laguna Seca round in July. The team has managed to squeeze in a test of the new motor in Spain and it has already been voted an improvement over the previous spec.

Supersport: The fourth round of the World Supersport Championship is expected to be the most knife-edge of them all, despite the recent success of Honda riders at the Monza speed bowl. Last year’s winner Chris Vermeulen has moved on to Superbike duty for the Ten Kate Honda team, but the remaining combatants, Karl Muggeridge and Broc Parkes, know that Ten Kate CBR600RR Hondas have secured the past two Monza wins. The other four manufacturers involved in Supersport have already proved to have their own turns of speed this season, and with Championship leader Jurgen van den Goorbergh (Yamaha Italia YZF-R6) finishing second last year, and with his team hailing from the outskirts of Monza itself, there is great expectation from the official Yamaha camp. To underline the challenge, 2002 World Champion Fabien Foret (Yamaha Italia) won the ‘02 Monza race on his way to the title. Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) is another Monza favourite, and the all-new Suzukis of Katsuaki Fujiwara and Stephane Chambon, plus the factory Breil Ducati 749 of Lorenzo Lanzi, cannot be written off.

Webcam World: The trial use of webcams for interviews and other live coverage of the Superbike World Championship at Misano has been deemed a huge success and will continue for Monza (May 15th and 16th). Seen only on the official website for the series, www.worldsbk.com, the huge number of visitors using the interactive area has delighted the race organizers. The webcam initiative is one in a series of planned improvements to the www.worldsbk.com designed to give visitors not only more news and information on World Superbikes, Supersport, Superstock and the participating teams and riders but also to be directly involved. Fidoweb provides live interviews, video highlights and video IRC chat facilities through the interactive interface on the SBK website using a minimum of three exclusive cameras. On the Saturday after Superpole, live interviews with the front-row qualifying riders from Superbike and the pole sitter from Supersport take place. During this session, visitors to the site can put their questions, seeing and hearing the answers the riders give those chosen. On the Sunday, there are two more sessions similarly covered following the end of the Supersport and two Superbike races. Other interviews are planned with many of the Championship’s leading riders including Pierfrancesco Chili, James Toseland, Regis Laconi, Noriyuki Haga, Chris Vermeulen and Garry McCoy. Other chances to put questions in Italian or English to team personnel will take place over each weekend.

Fidoweb specializes in Internet broadcast techniques and uses the latest digital equipment and satellite links to ensure that everybody with internet access is able to take full advantage of this unique free service. FGSport will study the level of interest and, if it proves as successful as is anticipated, the company plans to expand the service to all events in 2005. The Championship website receives more than 32-million page views, 219-million hits and has in excess of 1,550,000 unique visitors. It is the definitive source of information on the Superbike World Championship.



More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing:


HONDA RACING INFORMATION

World Supersport Championship 2004 – Round 4
Monza Race Preview
14 – 16 MAY 2004

FESTIVAL OF SPEED BECKONS FOR HONDA SUPERSPORT RIDERS

Almost exactly one month after the last Italian based race of the 2004 World Supersport campaign the top Honda riders in the series return to this hotbed of European motorsport, this time to the historic Monza circuit, just north of the industrial power base of Milan.

All six manufacturer supported Honda entrants will have the proven capabilities of the championship winning Honda CBR600RR to call on, a machine which scooped both rider and manufacturer championships in 2003. The well-balanced CBR600RR is also usually the fastest machine through the speed trap at any track on the ten race campaign trail and at Monza speed and outright power are required to compete along the many straights and fast curves of the 5.793km city centre track.

A proliferation of speed calming chicanes have been introduced to the Monza layout over the years, making stability under braking from top speed another important consideration in the pre-race set-up rituals.

Monza is a circuit the Ten Kate Honda team relishes competing at more than any other, thanks to its consistent record of success at this cathedral of speed. In the past two years, the combination of Honda power and Ten Kate preparation has taken pole position and wins in each Monza WSS race. Karl Muggeridge (Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) was the man in control of qualifying in 2003 and he hopes to add his first Monza win to his recent Misano victory in round three. ‘Muggas’ currently lies third in the championship chase, with seven rounds remaining.

Muggeridge’s talented team-mate Broc Parkes has shown his speed in qualifying in his first full Ten Kate Honda season, but with misfortune frequently dogging his raceday performances, he looks to Monza to acquire his first podium of the year and move back into the top ten overall.

For the Klaffi Honda team, based in Austria, Sebastien Charpentier (Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) lies one place behind Parkes in the table, having also seen his raceday luck desert him on more than one occasion. Always a force in practice, Charpentier took pole in Misano and loves the high-speed ballet and chicane brinkmanship that Monza offers.

Charpentier’s 20-year-old team-mate Max Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) approaches Monza with a very different level of experience when compared to almost any of his rivals. Having moved from 250cc European Championship racing this year, the class rookie has never been to Monza.

Honda’s third supported team, Team Italia Megabike, is on home tarmac once more. Alessio Corradi (Team Italia Megabike Honda CBR600RR) learned enough about his new-for-2004 Honda at Misano to take a charging fifth, while his team-mate Denis Sacchetti (Team Italia Megabike Honda CBR600RR) is in his rookie World Supersport season.

Karl Muggeridge, a man with no end of reasons to look forward to Monza, stated, “I don’t know what the weather will do but we’ll be alright because the bike is good. Winning at Misano was great because we’re back in the game. That’s brought a bit of a buzz back into the team. There is no pressure because we know that there’s a lot of races left in the season.”

For Broc Parkes, Monza is an opportunity to improve his championship position. “Hopefully it will be better than Misano,” said Parkes, who fell while leading last month’s race. “Last year the Ten Kate riders were fast at Monza and the bike should be pretty good. I’m not sure about the exact set-up yet but the team knows what they want to do. They know a lot more than me about the bike. If nobody breaks away early we can all run together at Monza and that makes it easier to slipstream. I’m hoping that Karl and I can be the ones who can be break away together.”

Despite his recent fall in Misano, Sebastien Charpentier can’t wait to get to Monza. “I am OK, my body condition is OK, my mindset as well.” Charpentier also feels he and his fellow CBR riders are in good shape this weekend. “I like the track and it seems to be made for the Honda. Monza was a good race for me last year. It was my first European ride for the Klaffi team, I wasn’t fully race fit but I still got sixth place. I will be going for the podium this time around, no question.”

Max Neukirchner may be a stranger to Monza, but he has no end of experience to call on in the Klaffi pit garage. “Monza is very fast so it should be interesting for me!” said the talented German. “I don’t know Monza at all but my team boss, Klaus Klaffenbock has told me all about it. Monza should be good for us. I hope to at least finish in the points, inside the top 15. Our bikes are good and very fast so we could do quite well.”

After Monza the championship features races each alternate weekend until the summer break, with Oschersleben running on May 28 – 30 and Silverstone scheduled for June 11-13th