Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.


By Glenn LeSanto

Bayliss gains last-gasp pole

Troy Bayliss grabbed a last-gasp pole position from Colin Edwards in a dramatic Superpole at Silverstone.

A shower before the start of the session meant that the usual one flying lap format was dropped in favor of a 50-minute session where the riders had a maximum of 12 laps to set their fastest time. It was Bayliss who set the early pace with a lap at 1:48.399. The Infostrada Ducati rider could see the gathering storm clouds and knew that setting the good laps straight away was the key to pole.

Edwards was right behind, though. The 2000 World Champion had grabbed pole in the previous session by getting in a good lap before the heavens opened and was looking to do this again. He was on the pace from the second his garage door went up, pipping Bayliss for pole, before the Aussie bettered his time with a lap of 1:47.991.

This looked like it would be the lap that took pole because, just after the Ducati crossed the line, the rain that had been threatening to engulf the session began to drop. This was bad news for a number of riders, most notably British rivals Neil Hodgson and Chris Walker. Both had been slow getting up to speed in the blustery conditions with Hodgson in eighth and Walker languishing back in 15th place with clutch trouble on his Fuchs Kawasaki.

As the rain splashed onto the circuit, the chances of anyone improving their times seemed to be going down the drain with the water. Luckily, this time Silverstone’s notoriously changeable weather meant the rain passed as quickly as it came. Surely, though, there was no way that the track could dry in time for anyone to improve, right?

Bayliss certainly didn’t think so. The reigning World Champion was so confident, he sheltered in the warmth, behind the closed doors of his garage. Edwards had other ideas and as soon as the track looked like it was drying, he started putting the laps in.

The Texan was in awesome form around the 3.5-mile circuit, spinning up his RC51 out of almost every corner in a bid to carry every last rev onto the track’s long straights. His pace was impressive and Edwards nicked pole back from Bayliss, giving the Aussie a wake-up-call and forcing him out onto the track with only three minutes to go to better his rival’s time.

Bayliss didn’t disappoint. With an uncannily smooth lap, reigning Superbike World Champion Bayliss snatched pole back with a lap at 1:47.991. It was classic Bayliss, not a single mph was wasted as he carried huge speed around Silverstone’s sweepers. Edwards had completed all his laps and couldn’t respond.

Steve Hislop was also on the pace. Hizzy’s Monstermob Ducati–rumored to by down on power by 13 bhp compared to the factory bikes–looked good and the Scot seemed set to break into the top two until a slide at Priory halted his charge.

Aprilia-mounted Noriyuki Haga rounded out the front row, with Michael Rutter in fifth and Frankie Chilli in sixth. Hodgson was unable to improve his position and will start both races from the back of the second row. Shane Byrne will get his first taste of WSB action from 10th on the grid, with Chris Walker and James Toseland just behind in 11th and 12fth.



Silverstone World Superbike Qualifying Results:

1. Troy Bayliss, Ducati, 1:47.729
2. Colin Edwards, Honda, 1:47.883
3. Steve Hislop, Ducati, 1:47.902
4. Noriyuki Haga, Aprilia, 1:48.561
5. Michael Rutter, Ducati, 1:48.567
6. Pierfrancesco Chili, Ducati, 1:49.001
7. Ruben Xaus, Ducati, 1:49.108
8. Neil Hodgson, Ducati, 1:49.127
9. Lucio Pedercini, Ducati, 1:49.523
10. Shane Byrne, Ducati, 1:49.629
11. Chris Walker, Kawasaki, 1:49.687
12. James Toseland, Ducati, 1:49.732
13. Ben Bostrom, Ducati, 1:49.783
14. Glen Richards, Kawasaki, 1:49.923
15. Gregorio Lavilla, Suzuki, 1:50.136
16. Steve Martin, Ducati, 1:51.309
17. Eric Bostrom, Kawasai, 1:52.266
18. Dean Ellison, Ducati, 1:52.541
19. Juan Borja, Ducati, 1:52.578
20. Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki, 1:52.616
21. Marco Borciani, Ducati, 1:52.890
22. Serafino Foti, Ducati, 1:53.405
23. Peter Goddard, Benelli, 1:53.509
24. Ivan Clementi, Kawasaki, 1:53.753
25. Alessandro Antonello, Ducati, 1:53.908
26. Broc Parkes, Ducati, 1:54.249
27. Mark Heckles, Honda, 1:54.370
28. Jiri Mrkyvka, Ducati, 1:55.529


More, from an Aprilia press release:

HAGA AND THE APRILIA RSV MILLE GRAB FIRST ROW

Silverstone (Great Britain), Saturday 25 May 2002 – Noriyuki Haga and the Aprilia RSV Mille fought their way up the ratings to make first row at the end of the British GP qualifying sessions for the sixth round of the World Superbike Championship to be raced on the historic Silverstone track. Bad weather on Friday rather messed things up but today the Playstation2-FGF Aprilia Team was once again back in the limelight. Haga made fourth quickest time in the Superpole which, threatened by imminent rain, followed the procedure for racing in the wet: fifty minutes, with a total of 12 laps. Yet it was raced on a dry track. Again at Silverstone, the Aprilia RSV Mille registered the fastest top speed: 284 kph. The British Grand Prix is raced in two legs of 20 laps each on the 5,094-metre circuit of Silverstone.

NORIYUKI HAGA (Playstation2 – FGF Aprilia Team rider) said “I’m really pleased with the work we’ve been doing: the bad weather on Friday did make things difficult but we’ve rapidly gained ground. On the fast lap, I went round the Abbey curve in sixth, instead of fifth, to see if I could slice off a few hundredths: I was real chuffed with myself.”

GIACOMO GUIDOTTI (Technical Manager, Playstation2 – FGF Aprilia Team)commented: “There are some extremely fast British wild card riders racing here at Silverstone, so we’re very happy to be on the front row. In spite of the quirks of the weather, we’re keeping to schedule for the set-up programme and we saw the results right from the race simulation: Noriyuki kept up a fast pace of 1:49 and we think he’s in the running to take on the very best of them. Haga was just fantastic today and made some excellent times in the wet as well.”

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Foggy Workshop Opens For Business

By Glenn LeSanto

Carl Fogarty officially opened his Burton on Trent based workshop on May 21. The 12,500 square-foot facility looks impressive, and has just about anything you’d want in a fully fitted race shop, bar one important feature – the bikes!

Fogarty insisted that the bikes are on schedule and the team will race at Laguna Seca in July. “It’s incredible what you can do with shit loads of money,” said Fogarty to his assembled guests. But his riders still haven’t actually ridden the FP1 three-cylinder Superbike, although they have sat on a mock up. James Haydon described the bike, designed by Steve Eviritt Automobile Design as ‘beautiful’. The team claimed that the looks haven’t compromised efficiency, saying that the bike proved extremely effective in the wind-tunnel. “I can’t wait for you all to see it,” said Haydon.

Troy Corser has also seen the bike, “It’s come a long way,” said the former World Superbike champion. “I have faith in this team and I can’t wait to get out on the track and ride.” Haydon agreed, saying, “let’s go racing.”

In an official opening ceremony that was heavy on dignitaries and VIPs but light on press men, Foggy showed visitors the fully equipped dyno room, and then the prayer room. Petronas, which is bank-rolling the team, is based in the Muslim state of Malaysia, so a prayer room is a must at any of its facilities. Given the short lead time the project has to get the bikes from nothing to the grid the prayer room might well come in handy, even for the non-Muslims on Foggy’s payroll. Fogarty claimed the prayer room’s toilet cost £3000 (about $4500), and certainly no expense seems to have been spared fitting out the huge workshop, which was an empty shell only a few weeks earlier. The facility also has an extensive office suite for the administrative staff, including Fogarty’s office, which he shares with his wife, Michaela, and which overlooks the factory floor with a picture window. You can easily imagine Foggy’s legendary eyes boring down on the workers toiling below!

The bikes themselves will be shown to the press in London on June 11.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Glenn LeSanto

Wet and dry qualifying leaves Edwards on pole.

Colin Edwards has taken provisional pole after a difficult qualifying session held half in the dry and half in torrential rain. Edwards got straight down to work with qualifying tires as soon as the session started, rather than risking waiting. His gamble paid off as the rain soon came and because the session had been announced as wet in advance, qualifying continued despite the rain. The Texan beat the weather, recording his fastest lap on only his third flying lap of the Silverstone circuit. His time of 1:48.913 was enough to secure pole, he only lapped a total of six times in the session.

Edwards demoted yesterday’s pole sitter and local hero Neil Hodgson to fourth. Hodgson did more laps, staying out in the rain to perfect his wet set-up. But his fastest dry lap of 1:50.100 was enough to get him on the provisional front row in fourth.

Troy Bayliss recovered from his crash during Friday’s qualifying to leap up the ladder to provisional second on the grid. His teammate Ruben Xaus continued his return to form by qualifying third.

America’s Eric Bostrom managed to make the most of the dry session, getting himself inside the 107% of fastest time cut-off to qualify 17th on his factory Kawasaki. His brother Ben Bostrom is provisionally ninth on the grid.

The second row features no less than three British riders, with Michael Rutter fifth, Steve Hislop sixth and Chris Walker seventh. Noriyuki Haga took the final provisional second-row place, in eighth.

Saturday’s Qualifying Times:

1. Colin Edwards, Honda RC51, 1:48.913
2. Troy Bayliss, Ducati 998F02, 1:49.469
3. Ruben Xaus, Ducati F02, 1:49.977
4. Neil Hodgson, Ducati 998F01, 1:50.100
5. Michael Rutter, Ducati 998RS, 1:50.104
6. Steve Hislop, Ducati 998RS, 1:50.138
7. Chris Walker, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:50.573
8. Noriyuki Haga, Aprilia RSV1000, 1:50.676
9. Ben Bostrom, Ducati 998F02, 1:50.749
10. James Toseland, Ducati 998F01, 1:50.836
11. Pierfrancesco Chili, Ducati 998RS, 1:51.303
12. Lucio Pedercini, Ducati 998RS, 1:51.526
13. Gregorio Lavilla, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:51.762
14. Glen Richards, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:51.904
15. Steve Martin, Ducati 998RS, 1:52.021
16. Shane Byrne, Ducati 998RS, 1:52.143
17. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:52.266
18. Dean Ellison, Ducati 996RS, 1:52.541
19. Juan Borja, Ducati 998RS, 1:52.578
20. Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:52.616
21. Marco Borciani, Ducati 998RS, 1:52.890
22. Serafino Foti, Ducati 996RS, 1:53.405
23. Peter Goddard, Benelli Tornado 900, 1:53.509
24. Ivan Clementi, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:53.753
25. Alessandro Antonello, Ducati 998RS, 1:53.908
26. Broc Parkes, Ducati 998RS, 1:54.249
27. Mark Heckles, Honda RC51, 1:54.370
28. Jiri Mrkyvka, Ducati 996RS, 1:55.529
DNQ, Yann Gyger, Honda RC51, 2:06.628
DNQ, Bertrand Stey, Honda RC51, 2:21.107

From an AMA press release:

JAMIE HACKING LOSES POINTS, TEAM BLIMPIE YOSHIMURA SUZUKI FINED FOR EQUIPMENT VIOLATION AT ROAD ATLANTA

PICKERINGTON, Ohio — AMA Pro Racing has deducted 10 championship points from Jamie Hacking and fined his Team Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki team $2000 for using a non-production rear wheel in the AMA Pro Honda Oils U.S. Supersport race Sunday, May 20 at the Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship event at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga.

The wheel, which was impounded after customary post-race inspection, proved to be lighter than an OEM stock wheel.

(AMA Pro Racing issued revised point standings, showing Aaron Yates leading with 142 points and Hacking in second with 109 points, followed by Damon Buckmaster with 106 points.)


(Editorial comment: The points deduction launched more controversy regarding inconsistencies in AMA rules enforcement. While Hacking lost 10 points for running a lightened wheel at Road Atlanta, and while Ben Spies lost 32 points for running with a disconnected air injection line–designed to reduce emissions–in the Superstock race at Fontana, Damon Buckmaster lost no points for running an illegal frame in Formula Xtreme at Fontana, Sears Point and Road Atlanta. All of which led Jason Pridmore to state, “They took points from Ben, they took points from Jamie, and they didn’t take any points away from Damon for riding an illegal motorcycle. It’s beyond me.”)

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Formula USA Director of Road Racing Bill Syfan announced Friday that Coca-Cola will be the new title sponsor for the Formula USA National Road Race Series. Syfan made the announcement during the riders’ meeting at the start of the F-USA/CCS Summit Point Cycle Fest at Summit Point Raceway, in Summit Point, West Virginia.

Syfan said that the deal had been completed on Tuesday, May 21, adding that he had no details, but expected Coca-Cola to make the first official announcement of the relationship soon.

Later in the day, F-USA NRRS Manager Ken Abbott added, “We are very excited about the possibilities of this multi-year relationship with Coca-Cola. We’re hoping to do some cross-promotional activities, such as offering Coca-Cola product samples at F-USA events and being included in Coca-Cola P.O.P. (point-of-purchase) advertising displays in stores.”

From a press release:

Webster from Abbott and Steinhausen

Steve Webster celebrated his return to Silverstone with a provisional pole in today’s Superside qualifying. But fellow British rider Steve Abbott was breathing down his neck as the Superside Championship thundered around the former aerodrome in Northamptonshire.

“It takes some time to learn the track,” said Webster’s passenger Paul Woodhead. “There’s some fast bits, and there are also some niggly bits, like the chicanes. And there’s also some really fast corners, or ‘big ball corners!’ where you’ve got to be committed to go fast.”

Commenting on the pressure the Liveonscreen.com team were coming under from Steve Abbott and Jamie Biggs, Woody said; “Quite frankly I’d rather it was them than Klaffenbock. We’re happy to fight it out with Steve and Jamie, especially with Klaffenbock down in fifth! Klaffi kept trying to get a tow behind us today, but each time I saw him try I tapped on Steve’s shoulder and he slowed down. Then, when Klaffenbock had passed us, we let him get way ahead and that gave us some clear track to put in our fast lap.”

Steve Abbott was especially pleased with his performance, “We’ve come in second today despite using our ‘middle’ sized 1080cc engine. We’re 13 kph down on top speed but only under half-a-second behind Steve. The outfit is handling really well and we’ll be looking for a little more top speed tonight. I think we’re in a good position for a win tomorrow,” predicted Steve.

Third on the time sheet was pairing Steinhausen and Hopkinson, back in full swing after a spot of upside down grasstracking at Monza.

“What people don’t realise,” pointed out Jorg, “was that we were upside-down at well over 200 kph! And even Trevor didn’t realise until afterwards that he’d dislocated his shoulder in the crash.”

“It takes some time to get your confidence back after an incident like that,” admitted Trevor Hopkinson, “but I think that session’s a sign that we’re getting it together again, if we don’t go even faster tomorrow I’ll be really disapointed.”

Hanks and Biggs brought the Halton Fabrications outfit in fourth fastest, continuing their impressive run of form this season. They’ll be looking for results to back up their qualifying progress in Saturday’s race.

Meanwhile, Klaffenbock, winner of the sensational Monza race, was back in fifth, perhaps suffering from a simple lack of cubes around the fast, flowing Silverstone track.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Beth Wyse

Vesrah Suzuki continued to dominate the 2002 WERA/GMD Computrack National Endurance Series by taking a fourth consecutive victory, in a 4-hour race at Virginia International Raceway held Friday. Vesrah’s Tray Batey and John Jacobi won the red-flag-plagued race on a Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Army of Darkness (AOD) riders Jim Williams and Mark Crozier wound up second overall, 65 seconds behind the leaders, on a Suzuki GSX-R600. AOD also topped the Mediumweight Superbike class after an early-race battle with Vesrah Suzuki II.

S&S Endurance took third overall and first in Mediumweight Supersport in its first endurance race as a team. Red-flag delays allowed Scott Harwell to ride the entire race on the S&S Suzuki GSX-R600, without breaking series rules regarding the length of on-track riding stints (120 consecutive minutes) and off-track breaks between stints (30 minutes).

Batey pulled a gap on the field of 47 bikes at the start of the race, but the first red flag came out just short of the one-hour mark for a rider down in turn three. Batey took the lead again on the restart, but only rode for seven minutes before the second red flag came out for a bike that left oil through turns two and three before catching fire.

After a long clean-up period, the race was started for the third time just past the halfway point on the official race clock. Batey was still on the Vesrah Suzuki bike and once again took the lead. The third red flag flew with 15 minutes remaining for another bike on fire, and the race was called complete.

In the Heavyweight Supersport class, moto-heaven.com finished first in class and 11th overall. Justin Marm and Phil Caudill shared the riding on a Honda CBR600F4. Team Infotech took first in Lightweight Superbike and 14th overall with Bobby Miosek and Tommy Bauchiero on a Suzuki SV650.

Overall Results

1. Vesrah Suzuki (Tray Batey/John Jacobi), Suz GSX-R1000, HSB, 94 laps

2. AOD (Jim Williams/Mark Crozier), Suz GSX-R600, MSB, 94 laps

3. S&S Endurance (Scott Harwell), Suz GSX-R600, MSS, 94 laps

4. Vesrah Suzuki II (Dave Yaakov/Brian Stokes), Suz GSX-R600, MSB, 93 laps

5. Team Outa Sight (Jason Peters/Adam Coco), Suz GSX-R600, MSS, 91 laps

6. Northern Getaway (Mark Morrow/Tim Kephart), Suz GSX-R750, HSB, 91 laps

7. Team Velocity (Paul Aalderks/Chuck Ivey), Suz GSX-R600, MSS, 91 laps

8. Team Life (Joe Milanesi/Kevin Warner/Justin Marm), Yam YZFR6, MSS, 91 laps

9. Cycle Therapy Racing (Neil Mummau/Cole Regal/Ricky Ford), Suz GSX-R1000, HSB, 90 laps

10. Velocity Crew (Kevin Perkins/Paul Youngman), Suz GSX-R600, MSB, 90 laps