Thirty-two of the best superbike riders in the world. Six makes of machine. Two hard-fought races at Kyalami. Gavin Foster wonders who’s going to take home the bacon
Will it be Italian flair paired with Australian balls? Japanese technology flavoured with Texan cojones? Two cylinders or four? Newcomer Regis Laconi or veteran Pierfrancesco Chili? One thing about World Superbikes (WSB), where you can have more leaders on one lap than Formula One does in two seasons, anything can happen on the day.
Top dog going into round two has to be Australian Troy Corser, the man who dominated at Valencia. The problem is, Aprilia’s top rider often promises more than he delivers, and this is especially noticeable at Kyalami. In the three WSB meetings so far staged at the South African track he’s taken superpole twice in 1999 and last year but hasn’t yet managed a win. His number two, Laconi, could also be a front runner. Despite being knocked off by another rider in the morning warm-up at the first leg of the championships at Valencia a few weeks ago, Laconi rode well enough to get a fourth in the second heat at his first WSB meeting. An MRI scan taken afterwards revealed that he had ridden with a snapped ligament in his knee. A rider that talented and that hungry on a bike as good as the Aprilia RSV 1000 clearly can’t be ignored. Apart from its VTR 1000 SP that took the title at its first attempt last year, Honda also looks good in that it has two hard riders, reigning champ Colin Edwards and his team-mate Tady Okada. Edwards was winning WSB races on an outclassed Yamaha against Carl Fogarty when the Englishman was at his best a few years ago, so despite his disappointing season-opener at Valencia the Texas Tornado cannot be discounted. Neither can Honda, a company renowned for throwing huge sums of money at any problems that prevent it having its way on the racetrack. You can be sure the Big H will have done something to get their V-twin back on the pace this weekend. Okada? Maybe a podium, possibly even a win at a long shot.
Also in the running, and very much so, has to be the Ducati brigade, as motley and cosmopolitan an assortment of talent, guts and aggression as you’ll find anywhere in motor racing. Aussie Troy Bayliss and Austrian Ruben Xaus with the Ducati Infostrada team, Brit Neil Hodgson, Yank BenBostrom and a host of others are all mounted on the Italian twins. Bearing in mind that four of the six heats so far held at Kyalami have been won by Ducatis, and that Bayliss and Hodgson were both quicker than Corser during pre-season testing at Kyalami earlier this year, things look promising for Ducati on Sunday.
And rest assured, unless it rains, the lap record set by Colin Edwards last year is going to tumble. The first seven riders, mounted on four Ducatis, a Suzuki, a Honda and an Aprilia, were all inside the Texan’s 1:43,270 best.
Which leaves us with the Japanese four-cylinder brigade. Heading up Suzuki’s challenge is Chili, who achieved the double by winning both heats at our first South African WSB meeting in 1998. Problem is, he was on a Ducati then, and last year, despite riding his nuts off, the Italian could manage no better than a fifth and a third on his Suzuki.
In pre-season testing he was fifth-fastest, behind Hodgson, Bayliss, Corser and Bostrom. Expect a good fight from him, as always, but a win is unlikely. His team-mate, Supersport champ Stephane Chambon, is still a little too new to Superbikes to hope for a win on the uncompetitive Suzuki at Kyalami.
Kawasaki’s a bit of a dark horse. Written off by most at the beginning of the season, the green meanies surprised all by picking up a fifth and a third in the hands of Gregorio Lavilla at his home circuit at Valencia.
The talented Spaniard may snatch another podium at Kyalami but I doubt it. Team-mate Akira Yanagawa has been off the boil of late and is unlikely to shape on this twin-cylinder track.
So what are my predictions? I don’t think we’ll see a repeat of Valencia, with Corser having it all his own way. I’ll be conservative and say that by the time the two heats have finished the podium will have been occupied by various combinations of Edwards, Corser, Bayliss, Hodgson and Lavilla.
And who will have stood on the top step? Edwards and Hodgson!