From a press release issued by HM Plant Ducati:

Sights set on Italian success

Imola was first introduced to the Superbike World Championship calendar in 2001 and the last two years have seen some epic battles around the 4.93km Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit. Last year the Italian venue was the setting for a breathtaking season finale during which Colin Edwards snatched the 2002 title from Ducati’s Troy Bayliss. In 2001 it was the turn of Ruben Xaus as Regis Laconi to come to the fore.

This year, the French circuit of Magny Cours will stage the final round of the season on 19 October and Fila Ducati’s Neil Hodgson has already wrapped up the 2003 championship with four races yet to run. But this certainly does not mean that there will be any shortage of fireworks at the weekend. Hodgson will no doubt be keen to remind everybody just why he was crowned 2003 Superbike World Champion and Laconi and Xaus will be hoping to recreate their previous results at Imola.

However, these three Ducati riders will have their work cut out if they are to repel the orange attack that will be heading their way courtesy of James Toseland and Chris Walker.

For the HM Plant Ducati team-mates, Imola presents both challenges and opportunities. Toseland now has his sights firmly set on second place in the championship by the end of the season and is hoping to claw back some of the 51-point advantage that Xaus currently holds over him.

“I’m really fired up for this one,” said Toseland. “Getting a DNF at Assen has really put the cat among the pigeons. It might have been a slightly different situation if I’d got two fourths and moved out of Laconi’s reach. Then I could have ridden with nothing to lose at Imola – but I’m going to anyway, because that’s just me.

“It’s going to be every man for himself out there and everyone will be trying to get past at every opportunity, so I’m sure there’ll be elbows rubbing now and again. I desperately want second in the championship but I’ve also got to watch my back.”

Many other riders will be just as eager to impress as they look to secure their championship positions and hopefully a ride for 2004. The on-track competition is guaranteed to be fierce and this is something that Chris Walker, for one, will relish.

“This season has had its fair share of ups and downs for me,” said Walker. “A few unlucky injuries have made life difficult but on the whole I’ve had a great time with HM Plant Ducati. It’s a real shame that the team doesn’t feel that it is able to take part in the championship next year but there are still two rounds left to go this season and I want to do the best possible job for them. I’m on good form and really looking forward to the weekend. If things go my way there’s the opportunity to improve on sixth place in the championship before the end of the season and I’ve still got time to get my first World Superbike race win.”


More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing:

Foggy PETRONAS Racing face uphill task at Imola

Carl Fogarty today sounded a note of caution ahead of his Foggy PETRONAS Racing team’s penultimate World Superbike championship round of the season at Imola, Italy, this weekend.

The four-times World Superbike champion was encouraged by the performance of Troy Corser at the previous round in The Netherlands, when the Australian achieved his second best finish of the season on the FP1 – the Malaysian superbike – with a stylish sixth place in the opening race. But Carl warned that the engine modifications which contributed to that improvement at the fast-flowing Assen circuit are unlikely to have as marked an effect around Imola’s tight corners and uphill sections.

Foggy said: “Just because we had a sixth at Assen doesn’t necessarily mean we will be able to repeat that at Imola, where you need a lot more acceleration and power for the slow corners and uphill drags. I have only ridden here once, for a Ducati test in 2000 with Ben Bostrom and Ruben Xaus. The weather was not helpful, but I did find it a difficult circuit to learn and my team has not tested here. So we will be aiming to finish in the top ten and I think that anything more than that will be a bonus.”

Corser still holds the Superpole record at Imola and was second in the first race of his only visit here, in 2001. But he echoed Carl’s realism, saying: “I really like the circuit but I do not think it will suit the FP1, at this stage of development, as much as Assen did. You need a lot of horsepower here as there are a few up and downhill climbs. The start-finish straight is also long, with top speed important. So I think this weekend is going to be one of the harder ones for us.”

Team-mate James Haydon has been struggling to recover from a hand injury sustained in a spectacular Assen crash, but is hopeful that, with painkilling injections, the strained tendons will not prevent a positive finish to his season. He said: “I would say that the hand is 80-85 per cent okay and some of the movements that I still can’t do I won’t really need for riding. I still don’t like people shaking my hand and it is a bit swollen but I have my grip back, which was what stopped me from racing at Assen. I also went out for a hard enduro session in Andorra, which is what you have to do with an injury like this, to break down the internal scar tissue.”

Circuit information: Enzo e Dino Ferrari Circuit, Imola, Italy

Superpole record: Troy Corser, 1:48.649 (2001).

Lap record: Troy Bayliss, 1:48.389 (2002 race)

Pole position: Left. Circuit length: 4.933km.

Corners: 10 left, 6 right

Corner radius: Maximum 60 degrees, minimum 11 degrees.

Slope: Downward 6.22 per cent. Upward 7.81 per cent


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

Mission accomplished for Ducati Fila as the Team returns to Italy with two World Superbike titles

Imola (Italy), 25 September: Imola, the scene for last year’s titanic battle between Bayliss (Ducati) and Edwards (Honda), opens its gates again this weekend to World Superbike, which reaches the penultimate round of the 2003 championship. Team Ducati Fila’s mission for 2003 was accomplished at Assen when Neil Hodgson picked up the Riders’ title to go with the Manufacturers’ crown that Ducati had already clinched at Brands Hatch.


“Imola is exciting, historic and demanding” says the newly-crowned world champion. “and in particular I really enjoy the uphill part of the circuit after the tight corner, the flat out right then downhill to the Acque Minerali. It’s special, a real privilege to race for the factory with the support of all the fans, you have a responsibility to put on a good show. Although I have never had a good result at Imola, I am looking forward to this race like no other. I won the title at Assen but for me the only enjoyment out there comes from winning and I want to get two first places at Imola.”


Team-mate Ruben Xaus will also be looking for two good results to consolidate his second place in the championship. Ruben has already won at Imola for Ducati but does not feel any particular pressure at what is essentially Ducati’s ‘home’ race. “I feel no pressure here, it’s worse for me when I am at Valencia so the Imola race doesn’t create any problems” says Ruben. “I finished first and second in 2001 and twice third last year but I love racing here because there are thousands of ‘ducatisti’, the track is in Italy and Ducati has always obtained fantastic results at Imola, starting with the 200 Miles race in 1972”.


Circuit: the Autodromo Enzo & Dino Ferrari has been permanent since 1979, when it was updated and modified to become an established Formula 1 venue. The first World Superbike round was held here in 2001, and last year’s spectacular race was watched by a record-breaking 97,000 spectators, the highest-ever figure in Italian motorcycling history. The 4.933 km sloping circuit has 10 left and 6 right-hand corners and a finish line straight measuring 358 metres.


Ducati employees: The Imola race will also be a special event for the many Ducati employees who work at the Borgo Panigale factory just a quick trip up the motorway. A 500-seat grandstand has been reserved for employees, suppliers and supporters directly in front of the Ducati Fila pit garage and they are sure to make a spectacular sight with their red Ducati T-shirts! Meanwhile down at the Rivazza curve the usual display of pyrotechnics has been organised by the Ducati Desmodromic Club of Rome to cheer on the Ducati riders at that point of the circuit.


Fila Guests: Ducati Fila’s title sponsor will be bringing along three of its athletes, all keen Ducati fans, to Imola to lend their support to the team at the penultimate round of the championship: Italian ice-hockey star Gianluca Tomasello, Olympic slalom skier Giorgio Rocca and cross-country skiing expert Cristian Zorzi.


More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing:

Yamaha supported teams Yamaha Belgarda and Yamaha Motor Germany will each enter an additional rider at round ten of the Supersport World Championship, in Imola this weekend (26-28 September).

One event entries have been granted for current Japanese 250 champion Tekkyu Kayo and five-times Australian champion Kevin Curtain. Kayo will ride in the colours of the Italian Yamaha Belgarda Team, for whom he finished fourth in his one and only previous World Supersport outing – at Sugo – earlier this year. The 24-year-old Japanese has had a varied season this year. His ‘full-time’ job has involved defending his All-Japan 250 title and, in addition to the Sugo outing, he has also raced as a wild-card at the Japanese 250GP and at the Suzuka 8-Hour, where he qualified strongly on a YZF-R1.



“Sugo was the first time I rode the YZF-R6 but I found that I had no trouble adapting to it after the two-stroke TZ250,” explained Kayo. “Before that race I also had concerns about communicating with the Italian team but I found them to be very professional and had no problems at all. At Sugo I learned about the team and bike and although Imola is a new track for me I have watched videos of races there so that I can learn a little about it. I do not have to consider the championship standings and I hope to thank the team for this opportunity by getting a good race result – hopefully at least as good as at Sugo.”


Kevin Curtain
By contrast Curtain is an experienced World Supersport rider with 28 previous appearances in the championship. A full-time WSS rider in 2001 and 2002, he won two races in the 2001 season. This year he won both the Australian Formula Xtreme and Supersport championships racing a YZF-R1 and YZF-R6. Earlier this year he also rode his domestic championship R6 as a wild-card at the Australian World Supersport round in Phillip Island, finishing fifth and Yamaha Motor Germany team manager Terrell Thien is hoping to use all of the rider’s experience.

He said: “Kevin is a proven rider. He knows the Yamaha R6, knows Dunlop tyres and he likes the Imola circuit. We’ve built a bike for him with an identical specification to that of our regular riders. I’ve spoken to Kevin many times over the years and I know that he is keen to return to the world championship full-time. He will be motivated to do well and I am sure that he will be able to provide us with a lot of valuable technical feedback.”

Curtain added: “I’ve been over in Europe since Monday and that has given me a chance to meet the team and adjust little things like the position of the handlebars and footpegs. They’ve built a bike especially for me and I’m hoping to repay the team by getting a good result at Imola.”


More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing:

Race date: 28 September 2003
Track length: 4933m
Year opened: 1952
2002 WSB winner: Colin Edwards (Honda) (both races)
WSB lap record: 1:48.717 – Colin Edwards (Honda)
2002 WSS winner: Katsuaki Fujiwara (Suzuki)
WSS lap record: 1:53.954 – Fabien Foret (Honda)

Imola – Kayo and Curtain add extra spice
The Supersport World Championship makes its third and final visit to Italy this season when the penultimate round of the 2003 campaign takes place at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, on the outskirts of the town of Imola, a 20 minute drive from the city of Bologna, next weekend (September 26-28).

This undulating 4.9km circuit is one of four circuits shared between the World Supersport and Formula One car racing series, which means that teams and fans alike can expect to find great facilities. Imola has been the scene of many great battles on both four wheels and two and last season’s World Superbike title showdown between Troy Bayliss and Colin Edwards showed that this circuit can produce some great bike racing action.

This year the Imola event will be especially hectic for Yamaha. In addition to the seven regular supported Supersport riders, Yamaha will also have two additional entries for this race: Japanese 250 champion Tekkyu Kayo and five-times Australian champion Kevin Curtain. Kayo will ride in the colours of the Italian Yamaha Belgarda Team, while the experienced Curtain is riding for Yamaha Motor Germany.

Yamaha YZF-R6 set-up report – an interesting layout

Imola, like so many circuits used by Formula One cars, is bumpy with a lot of surface changes making chassis set-up critical. The many chicanes added in to slow down the cars over the years have emancipated fast and challenging corners like Tamburello and Villeneuve and contribute to the stop-start nature which puts a premium on front-end feel. For the riders it is an interesting track to ride, although one of the more challenging tracks at which to find an optimum setting.

These slow corners provide a good opportunity to outbrake rivals, making stability and front-end feedback vital. To cope with the bumps, which are small and rippled, the riders will normally run a fairly soft front spring to provide a plush ride, although this does cause the bike to bottom out under hard braking. To compensate, a smaller air chamber will be used in the front forks.

Supersport rules allow the use of different camshafts, air intakes and fuel injection mappings to boost power over the stock bike. The many slow corners at Imola means that the top-power specification used at some of the faster tracks will be replaced by a more conservative motor tuned to deliver strong mid-range power between 8,000 and 12,000rpm. This mid-range punch is a real benefit at Imola, which has two uphill sections. These follow low-gear corners where it is difficult to make an advantage from carrying high corner speed.

Power counts up these hills, and the Yamaha has generally worked well on these types of circuit, with the R6 regularly recording the fastest speed trap figures thanks to this strong acceleration out of the slow corners.

Season so far – Vermeulen can win the title in Italy
A crash for Jurgen van den Goorbergh (Yamaha Belgarda Team) at Assen may have ruled the Dutchman out of the championship race, but there is still plenty to play for at the final two races.

The Australian with the Dutch name, Chris Vermeulen (Honda), looks to have one hand on the title and will secure the title with a finish of eighth or better in Imola. Second in the final standings is still a possibility for Van den Goorbergh, who is keen to chalk up his first win in a debut Supersport season that has seen him on the podium in four of the ten races so far.

Christian Kellner (Yamaha Motor Germany) was a winner in Sugo and some strong results in the last two rounds could see him with a top five championship finish. Challenging him for that honour will be Italian rider Alessio Corradi (Yamaha Team Italia Spadaro) who is currently seventh in the series and always impressive on home territory.