Fogarty’s retirement has left a void in the World Superbike series
Gavin Foster
When the 2001 World Superbike series circus moves on to Phillip Island in Australia after next weekend’s second round at Kyalami motorcycle racing fans should have a fair idea of what’s in store for the rest of the season, and perhaps even for next year.
If Troy Corser clears off into the distance on his Aprilia and leaves the opposition for dead like he did at Valencia a couple of weeks ago, then the season looks like being the most boring for years, and if his rookie team-mate Regis Laconi rides like he did in his Spanish debut it could very well become a monotonous Aprilia 1-2 parade all season.
Corser has taken his fitness training very seriously for this year, and in Valencia the trimmed-down smooth-riding 1996 World Superbike champ totally dominated practice and superpole before walking off with both heats.
But it’s still too early to start presenting Corser and his Italian factory with the trophy. The Aussie has always shaped well at Valencia but Kyalami might be a different kettle of fish.
At early season testing at the Gauteng track last month Australian Troy Bayliss and reigning British Superbike champion Neil Hodgson were both quicker than Corser, and both broke last year’s lap record on their Ducatis. And Suzuki rider Pier-Francesco Chili, always a tough man to beat at Kyalami, won’t have enjoyed having to settle for two seventh places in Spain.
But the one everybody’s watching with interest is reigning champ Colin Edwards. Always a strong performer when an underdog, he seemed to lose his way last year when Carl Fogarty dropped out of the fight and took far too long to button up the championship that should have been his by July.
Facing mechanical problems with his Honda V-twin he could manage no better than a sixth and a fourth in Spain this year, leaving him in fourth place in the championship after the first round, 23 points behind Corser’s 50. That makes him a bit of an underdog again coming into Kyalami, so perhaps we’ll see the Texan and Honda regain their top form.
Then there’s Gregorio Lavilla, who stunned everybody with his performance in Spain on the dated but still quick Kawasaki 750, and Tady Okada on the other Honda …
There’s no doubt that World Superbikes was left with a huge vacuum by the departure of Fogarty, and the move across to 500cc Grand Prix racing by the spectacular Nori Haga hasn’t helped the organisers keep their fans as enthralled as they’d like.
If this season turns out to be a damp squib, then the new four-stroke premier Grand Prix class next year could strike the death knell for the production-based Superbike series. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.