World Superbike Season Opener In Qatar - Pit Pass Quick On The Draw

Between his first cautious outing on an ‘06 GSX-R at Magny-Cours back in October and the buildup to the opening event of the new World Superbike season, we can count at least six separate preseason tests for the winner of Race 1 at Losail, Mr. Max Biaggi. A fair amount of track time, you have to admit, but for a guy who had been arguably run out of the MotoGP paddock and forced to sit out a year of racing, he probably needed every single minute of it to prepare for the World Superbike field this year.And it clearly has worked: On the brand-new ‘07 Corona Alstare GSX-R1000, Biaggi stunned the World Superbike regulars by winning the first race outright and finishing a strong runner-up in the second.Why did we call him “Mr.” Max Biaggi?Simple. We have to argue the case that what Biaggi actually won was more than just a share of the championship lead, as he entered the second weekend of the 13-round SBK championship. He also won back respect from some quarters of the racing world. And we would imagine that this respect is more important to Biaggi than almost any other racer.

His last few MotoGP seasons were not his best. And in terms of fan reaction around the world, pure race results and attempts at projecting a positive public image outside his own loyal fan base, Biaggi had been soundly outmaneuvered by the phenomenon that is Valentino Rossi.In taking an enforced yearlong hiatus (due to burned bridges with nearly every manufacturer), then switching to a different world championship series and winning his first time out, Biaggi has created–if not quite earth-shaking history–the biggest seismic shift in what could have reasonably been expected since…well, since ‘06 WSB champion Troy Bayliss’ cameo victory at the final MotoGP round at Valencia last year.So this game of global rider switcheroo, an exchange program of wonderful strangeness, has shown us a few things. One is that top-class riders from either series, which are run on different tires, on different kinds of bikes and with vastly different budgets, can obviously interchange–if only when given factory support as the backbone of the package. Another is that as a top-level racing force, Biaggi is by no means past his prime. The only thing that matters in racing, really, is results. And “rookie” Biaggi beat the entrenched World Superbike field straight up, no explanation or excuse necessary. This is by no means any small feat, because this season’s WSB series is rock-hard in terms of evenly matched talent on increasingly factory-supported bikes. So to win even one race is an achievement worth smiling about.If Biaggi’s opening win was impressive, then former WSB Champion James Toseland’s start-to-finish victory in Race 2 at Losail can hardly be much less so. Perhaps we should call him Mr. Toseland now as well?

Every time Toseland takes to the track, he seems to be better than the time before. No big-step changes, no sudden epiphanies of heavenly throttle control, but rather gradual and relentless improvements. And he wears his determination this year like an aura. He smiles more frequently than other riders, but with an inner toughness that is visually apparent. Like Nicky Hayden in MotoGP, one minute the young Brit was a good rookie with good bikes, then the next he’s a title prospect. Toseland may be the youngest-ever WSB champion (winning the title in 2004 for the Ducati factory in a thin year of works machinery where sheer grit and desire paid off after a wobbly start), but just a couple of years after taking the title he is now a much improved, more well-rounded winner.

But Biaggi and Toseland’s achievements may have overshadowed what was arguably the most significant event at Losail. Current WSB Champion Troy Bayliss, an industrial-scale vacuum cleaner for points and race wins last year, was clearly suffering some kind of technical and psychological blockage at the opening race. He can make errors when he tries too hard, as he has done at key points in the past, but in Qatar it looked like self-inflicted technical and mechanical mistakes all ’round in the Ducati camp. The only high point for the team was a battling third for teammate Lorenzo Lanzi in the opening 18-lapper, despite his slide back down the order to seventh in Race 2.

Although the distinct absence of the Ducatis from the fray at the top was startling (a temporary occurrence, we must assume, considering the team’s history of rebounding from stumbles like this), the rest of the top players were also somewhat subdued in race form, compared with that shown in qualifying or preseason testing. This year we have a very definite split again, with each and every one of the five competing manufacturers (discounting MV Agusta, which is represented by a very small private team from Austria) fielding improved machinery and top-level riders–if even just potentially. Qualifying at Qatar initially proved that premise, with a core of seven leaders all on top bikes, then a real gap back to the next batch.Just when it looked like Biaggi had done enough to win the best grid spot, up stepped the veritable sultan of Superpole, Troy Corser, now astride an R1. A new signing for Yamaha to pilot the latest generation of its venerable literbike, Corser gave the all-new R1 an early boost with his 39th Superpole win, extending his record for this specialized test of nerve, setup skill and rider speed.

Corser and teammate Noriyuki Haga were right in the early mix at the head of both races, but after Corser’s rear tire spun on its rim and Haga struggled for race-distance traction, both Yamaha riders were left battling just to hang onto their positions. Haga was a depressed eighth in Race 1 (just ahead of Corser), but the Japanese superstar rebounded to fourth in Race 2, albeit finishing 14 seconds behind Toseland. It’s hard to know what to make of the new Yamaha right now, but predicting that either or both of the official riders will win races in ‘07 seems like a safe bet, considering both riders’ preseason testing form, which saw them right up with the quickest.Biaggi’s teammate Yukio Kagayama was expected to be higher in the finishing order, but tire problems kept him off the pace all weekend (or, as his teammate perhaps proved, tire selection and/or tire conservation problems). A fourth- and sixth-place tally for the meet was definitely not what former the former Losail winner wanted.There were other surprising finishes on race day, factory and otherwise. Kawasaki clearly lacks the sheer pace and machine consistency of the other works teams, but a superb fifth place from Fonsi Nieto in Race 2 (after his PSG-1 Corse Kawasaki teammate Regis Laconi clanged into him and they both fell in Race 1) was doubly surprising considering Nieto had a virus and was not 100-percent fit.

Max Neukirchner’s Suzuki Germany squad was in rapture at his sixth-place finish in Race 1, two places up from an amazingly mature and speedy Superpole qualifying lap. His achievement was particularly noteworthy given that he was on a nonfactory ‘06 GSX-R1000. Control tires can be dismissed as mere promotional campaigns, but keeping competitors on the same rubber allows stuff like this to happen all the time in World Superbike. Nine-time race winner of yore Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Ducati) rode an ‘06 factory-spec 999 F06 to 10th- and ninth-place finishes, easing out Neukirchner in a less-crash-filled Race 2.World Superbike does start a bit early in the year for a mostly Euro-based series, and it’s entirely deliberate–to get good global media attention before MotoGP and Formula One kick off. It’s a sound enough strategy, but tactically it presents many problems for even the biggest and best-supported teams.After the last two championships were won by the riders who were most ready to win from the very first weekend, it seems almost every top team got the message and this year tested themselves dizzy by normal WSB winter standards.

For those on smaller budgets, and without an umbilical cord to the home-factory or Europe-based distributors’ mother ships, it’s always hard to start the season with two flyaway races. Thus even outwardly strong efforts like the DFX Honda Corse and Alto Evolution Honda (ne Bertocchi Racing) teams were off the pace and still trying new things at Qatar, making Steve Martin’s 11th in Race 1 for DFX, and his teammate Michel Fabrizio’s 12th in the second running, respectable. In these rounds, maybe Neukirchner’s old-but-familiar ‘06 bike has even the tiniest of advantages.

Maybe it’s a bit early to go hunting for trends in World Superbike, but we know the Kawasakis will get stronger. We know Bayliss and Co. were stung to see Biaggi do so well in the first race and will surely regroup to keep him (and others) from jumping to an early points buffer. We know Toseland has already got the confidence from having beaten all the big names at least once or twice and is looking to make this his year. It’s easy to get carried away on a wave of Biaggi fever, but the MotoGP refugee’s early win is probably just the thing the championship really needs. Last year, another former MotoGP refugee, Alex Barros, injected a dose of supposed GP slickness and picky machinery expectations into the WSB paddock. Even running in a private team, it eventually paid off with a win at Imola that made everyone else look flat.There will be many mirrors held up for the usual top riders and teams to stare into this year, and how they respond will make for what looks like a fabulous season in ‘07. Eight riders won races in ‘06, and two have won already in ‘07–and one more race weekend than last year is available. It’s going to be a hell of a rolling 20th birthday party for World Superbike in any case.

Photo Gallery: World Superbike Season Opener In Qatar - Sport Rider Magazine

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Posted on October 8th, 2007 by Klaus Roe
Filed under: Motorsport, Photo