FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DE MOTOCYCLISME

SUPERBIKE – SUPERSPORT
STOCKSPORT – SUPERPRODUCTION

Listing of FIM homologated motorcycles for 2003

*New motorcycle models homologated in 2003.

SUPERBIKE
Model/Production period as from

APRILIA RSV 1000 SP JAN 99 – (+ optional fuel injection instrument)
APRILIA RSV 1000 R JUL 99
APRILIA RSV 1000 RP JAN 01
*APRILIA RSV 1000 RP JAN 2003 – (+ optional fuel injection instrument)
BENELLI TORNADO 3-900 LE JAN 01
BIMOTA SB8 K DEC 99
DUCATI 996 SPS (H1) JAN 99 – (+ optional fuel injection instrument)
DUCATI 996 R (H2) JAN 01
DUCATI 998 R (H2) JAN 02
*DUCATI 999 R (H4) JAN 2003 – (+ optional fuel injection instrument)
HONDA VTR 1000 F (SC36) JAN 97 – (*homologation period extended to 31.12.03)
HONDA VTR 1000 SP AUG 99 – (+ optional fuel injection instrument)
HONDA VTR 1000 SP2 (SC45) JAN 02
KAWASAKI ZX 750 P (ZX-7R) JAN 96 – (*homologation period extended to 31.12.03)
KAWASAKI ZX 750 N (ZX-7RR) JAN 96 – (*homologation period extended to 31.12.03)
*PETRONAS FP-1 JAN 2003 – (+ optional fuel injection instrument)
SUZUKI GSX R 750 Y JAN 00 – (+ optional fuel injection instrument)
SUZUKI GSX R 750 (K2) JAN 02
*SUZUKI GSX 1000 (K3) JAN 2003 – (+ optional fuel injection instrument)
YAMAHA YZF R7 JAN 99 – (with optional fuel injection instrument)

SUPERSPORT
Model/Production period as from

DUCATI ZDM 748 R (H3) DEC 99
DUCATI ZDM 748 R (H3) JAN 01
DUCATI 748 R (H3) JAN 02
HONDA CBR 600 F (PC35) JAN 99
HONDA CBR 600 F JAN 01 – (production started on Sept ’00)
HONDA CBR 600 FS JAN 01 – (production started on Sept ’00)
HONDA CBR 600 F4i JAN 01 – (production started on Sept ’00)
*HONDA CBR 600 RR (PC37) JAN 2003
KAWASAKI ZX 600 J (ZX-6R) NOV 99
*KAWASAKI ZX 600 K (ZX -6RR) JAN 2003
LAVERDA 750 S FORMULA JUN 99
SUZUKI GSX 600 R (K1) JAN 01 – (production started in Aug ’00)
TRIUMPH TT 600 JAN 00
YAMAHA YZF R6 JAN 99
YAMAHA YZF R6 JAN 01 – (production started in Aug ’00)
*YAMAHA YZF R6 JAN 2003

STOCKSPORT & SUPERPRODUCTION
Model/Production period as from

APRILIA RSV 1000 JAN 99
APRILIA RSV 1000 R JAN 00
APRILIA RSV 1000 RP JAN 01
*APRILIA RSV 1000 RP JAN 2003
DUCATI ZDM 996 Strada JAN 99
DUCATI ZDM 996 S JAN 01
DUCATI 998 S (H2) JAN 02
*DUCATI 999 S (H4) JAN 2003
HONDA CBR 900 RR (W)-’98 SEP 98 / 99
HONDA CBR 929 RR (Z) -‘99 DEC 99 (00 Model)
HONDA CBR 900 RR (SC50) JAN 02
– (CBR 900 RR for EURO model),
– (CBR 954 RR’ for USA, J model)
HONDA VTR 1000 SP AUG 99
HONDA VTR 1000 SP (SC45) JAN 02
KAWASAKI ZX 9 R 1999
KAWASAKI ZX 9 R NOV 99
KAWASAKI ZX 9 R (F) JAN 02
MV AGUSTA F4S (+1) JUN 01
SUZUKI GSX R750 (Y) JAN 00
SUZUKI GSX R750 (K2) JAN 02
SUZUKI GSX R1000 (K1) NOV 00
*SUZUKI GSX 1000 (K3) JAN 2003
TRIUMPH T 955 1998
YAMAHA YZF R1 (1998 model) 1998/1999 – (*homologation period extended to 31.12.04)
YAMAHA YZF R1 (2000 model) 1999
YAMAHA YZF R1 (2002 model) JAN 02

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Dr. James Adams, Tachyon Sports Injury Research Foundation

The death of Baltimore Orioles pitcher, Steve Bechler is a tragedy. Newspapers are discussing the stat use of the supplement Ephedra, a non-regulated substance found in over-the-counter diet pills, and some pills linked to “performance enhancement.”

Athletes don’t need governmental controls to do the right thing.

The real lesson can be seen in the face of the young man as he left the field less than 24 hours before dying. His eyes are unfocused, his face had no expression. It is a lesson that we road racers need to understand and remember as we prepare for the 2003 season.

Five points:

(1) high performance demands season-long, controlled fitness and diet.

(2) As we work out in the spring, our body has to acclimate to warmer and warmer temperatures.

(3) We must listen to our body as we work for improvement, even if it means slowing our pace.

(4) Exercise must be done with intervals of rest–this is how the body improves.

(5) As usual, drink plenty of fluids as we deal with the heat.

By starting our fitness programs early and remaining consistent, by the time we are racing in July, we’ll be ready for high temperatures. By having realistic goals, we’ll perform at our personal best.

The person with high personal goals, tends to think he or she can “push it” and demonstrate his or her commitment to sport. World-class fitness leads to maximum performance. It is only reachable with year-long commitment and pace. Most of my racing friends are in their 20s. It was difficult to imagine the sorrow that attends a death of an athlete at the beginning of the Pro adventure. Tragic, indeed.

From a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing:

Troy Corser will start the new World Superbike season wearing a new helmet after signing a two-year deal with top French manufacturer Shark.

The Australian former world champ, who is preparing for the official winter test which starts at Valencia on Friday, is following in the footsteps of Foggy PETRONAS Racing boss Carl Fogarty in joining the Shark camp.

When Troy parted company with previous helmet suppliers Suomy, Shark jumped at the chance to sign one of the major names in the sport.

And he is hoping to be sporting his new helmet design, featuring the trademark croc logo in time for the opening race on March 2.

Troy said: “I am really happy to be with Shark. They are one of the safest helmet manufacturers and they have wanted to sign me for a couple of seasons. As soon as there was a parting of the ways with Suomy I sat down with them and we agreed a deal straight away.

“They are hoping to have a new model on the market by the middle of the season so I will be wearing the same model that Carl still uses for the first few rounds.”

From a pretty-much verbatim press release issued by NCR Ducati:

REGIS LACONI VISITS DUCATI FACTORY

After the formalising of the agreement with Scuderia Caracchi NCR to contest on the Ducati 998RS Nortel Networks 2003 World Superbike, Regis Laconi has been guest of Ducati Factory where he met the manager of Superbike Ducati activities dott.Paolo Ciabatti.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

LRRS Racer Joe Zeno and wife Lisa had a son, Joseph Domenic Zeno, February 14 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

From a press release issued by Frank Angel, for Nate Kern:

KERN TO RUN BMW BOXER CUP AT DAYTONA

Mount Laurel, NJ–February 19, 2003–Nate Kern will join a select group of American riders contesting the opening round of the BMW Boxer Cup at Daytona International Speedway March 9, 2003.

Sponsored by the New Sweeden BMW Riders Group and BMW Motorcycles of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Kern will ride a minimally modified production R1100S.

The one-off ride is truly a grass roots privateer effort supported by BMW enthusiasts from Southern New Jersey and surrounding areas. Wayne Reiss, president of the New Sweeden BMW Riders Group, was instrumental in putting the ride together. In addition to owning the race bike, Wayne has coordinated the effort from its inception and has been working closely with BMW Motorcycles of Cherry Hill to prepare the motorcycle.

In addition to the sponsors mentioned above, Nate’s sponsors include Suomy Helmets, Corsa Leathers, Metzler, Traxxion Dynamics, and Fabri-Tech Designs Racing Graphics.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

This just in, from Morgan Broadhead of American Suzuki, in response to an inquiry from Roadracingworld.com reader Craig Montgomery, who wrote, “I am sure you just post what gets sent to you, but I don’t see a payout for Lightweight Superstock at the regional club level. Was this an oversight on Suzuki’s part?”

And Broadhead’s reply is: Yes. It looks like there was an oversight on the release regarding regional Twins which would also be Lightweight Superstock in some regions. Here is the payout to be added to your information.

Selected CCS, WERA, AFM, CMRA, CRA, LRRS, MRA, OMRRA, WMRRA, WSMC regional event payouts for SV650, TL1000R, SV1000
1. $500
2. $250
3. $125
4. $75
5. $50


(In related news, Broadhead said that the program will pay out riders on 2001-2003 model-year machines. That detail was also missing from the press release.)

From a press release issued by Daytona International Speedway:

Hayden’s Daytona 200 Win A Dream Come True

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., (Feb. 19, 2003) — Last March, Nicky Hayden turned Daytona International Speedway’s 3.56-mile road course into his personal playground.

Hayden, riding the No. 69 American Honda RC51, held off an early challenge from Kurtis Roberts and dominated the 61st Daytona 200 By Arai, pulling off an 18.225-second victory.

For Hayden, it was only his third start in the prestigious motorcycle race and at the age of 20, he became the youngest winner of the race since 1976.

“It was huge to be honest with you,” said Hayden when he visited the Speedway last August for a Dunlop tire test. “Being an American kid, this was the race we grew up hearing about. This was the one you use to lay in bed and think about.”

Hayden won’t be defending his Daytona 200 By Arai title after opting to compete overseas for Honda in 2003. But he looks back at his Daytona 200 victory as the spark that led to him to his first AMA U.S. Superbike championship.

“I felt like when we left here we were really in the position,” Hayden said. “We were setting the tone. We were the people to beat for the rest of the year. Mat (Mladin) had trouble. He had been the guy, but he didn’t have a good weekend. It established us as the people to beat.”

Hayden established himself as one of the pre-race favorites during the qualifying session when he blistered a record lap of 1:47.174 (119.581 mph) and captured the pole and the Rolex watch.

Of course, Hayden wanted to post an even faster lap. He ducked into the pits, put on some fresh tires and soared back onto the track only to highside entering the chicane.

He was uninjured, but the incident put a damper on his day.

“The guy (EMT) asked me what day it was and I told him, ‘Up to now it was the best day of my life,'” Hayden said at the time of the accident.

Looking back at the accident, Hayden said the worse thing was that he lost his primary motorcycle for the weekend.

“At first I was pretty lucky to be OK,” Hayden said. “I hit the ground pretty hard. The next day, I didn’t really get much warm up. The first practice was pretty much a throw way. I didn’t feel good at all. But after that, I settled down and felt a lot better. It pretty much eliminated one of our bikes.”

Rounding out the podium was Yoshimura Suzuki’s Jamie Hacking and Yamaha’s Anthony Gobert. Hacking nipped Gobert at the start/finish line for second. With his win in 2002, Hayden earned Honda’s eighth Daytona 200 victory and its first since 1996. Hayden also became the first American to win the Daytona 200 since Scott Russell in 1998.

What will happen at this year’s Daytona 200 By Arai on March 9? How will the Bostrom brothers fare? Will Mat Mladin return to his glory with a third Daytona 200 win? Can Miguel Duhamel win a fourth Daytona 200? Or can Kurtis Roberts tame Daytona for his first triumph?

To purchase tickets for any of the Daytona 200 Week events, go online at http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or call the Speedway ticket office at (386) 253-7223.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts with files from Bob Dragich

Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom recorded the fastest lap time during AMA team testing Wednesday at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California. After testing a ZX-6RR Tuesday, Bostrom lapped the rolling 2.2-mile road course at 1:27.16 on his big-bore ZX-7RR Superbike in cold and windy conditions Wednesday afternoon.

Bostrom led all times at the last test session at Laguna Seca, held on January 23, with a 1:26.215 on the 750cc version of his Kawasaki Superbike.

The second day of the multi-day, multi-team test at Laguna Seca started with rain, which limited riders to about 2.5 hours of track time in the afternoon, while other riders and teams packed up and went home without making any laps Wednesday.

Attack Suzuki skipped Tuesday, arrived at the track Wednesday morning, unloaded, then re-loaded their truck and went back to their shop. Defending AMA Formula Xtreme Champion Jason Pridmore told Roadracingworld.com that he felt he could accomplish nothing even if the rain stopped, which it did around noon local time. Pridmore’s teammate Josh Hayes was also in attendance but did not ride, while Attack Suzuki’s newly announced development rider Danny Eslick did not attend the test.

Yoshimura Suzuki planned to finish testing Wednesday, but decided to leave early due to the rain. In better conditions on Tuesday, Mat Mladin recorded a 1:26.4 during his first day with his new GSX-R1000 Superbike at the Laguna circuit. Mladin qualified at 1:26.553 on his GSX-R750 for the 2002 AMA Superbike race at Laguna Seca.

Mladin’s teammates Aaron Yates and Ben Spies weren’t quite as successful, recording a 1:28.1 and 1:28.2, respectively, on their GSX-R1000 Superbikes Tuesday.

Yoshimura Suzuki did not bring Yates’ and Spies’ GSX-R600 Supersport bikes to Laguna.

Yamaha’s factory Supersport truck left after team riders Jamie Hacking, Damon Buckmaster, Aaron Gobert and Jason DiSalvo tested their YZF-R6s at the Monterey track for the second time this off-season on Tuesday. DiSalvo, who will only race a YZF-R6 in 2003, continued to ride his 600 Wednesday and nearly equaled his best lap times in the less-than-ideal conditions.

Meanwhile, DiSalvo’s teammates moved on to testing their Graves Motorsports YZF-R1-based Formula Xtreme machines. Hacking’s 1:28.4 was the fastest Formula Xtreme lap time, the second-fastest overall time for Wednesday and only slightly slower than Jake Zemke’s 1:27.808 from a January test of his CBR954RR FX bike at Laguna.

Bruce Transportation Group Honda’s Marty Craggill planned to test his CBR600RR and CBR954RR for two days at Laguna Seca, but a recurring pinched nerve problem in Craggill’s neck sidelined him after just a few laps on Tuesday. The Bruce team left the track Tuesday night.

Annandale Honda’s Ty Howard and Craig Connell were also at Laguna Seca testing their CBR600RRs and trying their CBR954RR Formula Xtreme bikes for the first time away from team headquarters at the Motorsport Ranch racetrack outside of Fort Worth, Texas. Connell spent more time in the pits than on the track Wednesday.

Bostrom’s teammates Tommy Hayden and Tony Meiring continued to test their Kawasaki ZX-6RRs but did not match the testing pace set by Yamaha’s Supersport riders.

Hayden crashed and suffered a concussion during testing at Laguna Seca on January 21 and missed two important days of testing at the challenging track.

So far this off-season, rain and/or wind has inhibited tests at Daytona International Speedway, Laguna Seca and twice at California Speedway.


Wednesday’s Fastest Unofficial Lap Times:

1. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:27.16
2. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:28.4
3. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:28.7
4. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:29.0
5. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:30.5
6. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:30.7
7. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:30.9
8. Ty Howard, Honda CBR600RR, 1:34.8
9. Craig Connell, Honda CBR600RR, no times provided by team