Suzuki dominates World Superbike Championships
from Motorcycles (349 articles)
Click image to enlarge
Image Gallery ( 17 images )April 7, 2005 With four races completed in the 2005 World Superbike Championships, the good news is that the race that was known by many as the Ducati Cup over the last few seasons is now a thriving series once more with six competitive manufacturers fielding two three and four cylinder machinery – the bad news is that the podium for 2005 may be dominated by Suzuki as much as it was by Ducati in 2004. From a possible 180 points so far, Suzuki has scored 176 points – and although the prospects for Yamaha, Honda and Ducati look brighter as the year progresses, 1996 Superbike champion Troy Corser looks already like the 2005 champion. Corser and team-mate Kagayama pulled off a sensational double one-two on their Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra GSX-R1000s at the second-round at Phillip Island, Australia last weekend. Championship favourite Corser won both the first and re-started second race and Kagayama pulled back to second again in the rain-hit second race after improving from sixth place when it was stopped. So dominant are the Suzukis that Corser is already long-odds on for the title – as a long time campaigner on the superbike championship circuit, Corser has an awesome record at most of the remaining circuits in the title race. The remaining circuits and Corser’s record there are as follows: Valencia (3 wins, 2 superpoles, three fastest laps), Monza (2 FL), Misano (2 W, 2 SP, 5 FL), Brno (2 W, 2 FL, 1 SP), Brands Hatch (2 W, 2 SP, 2 FL), Assen (2 SP), Imola (1 SP, 1 FL) and Magny Cours (1 SP). Of the remaining circuits, only Silverstone and EuroSpeedway have not seen Corser take a superpole, fastest lap or a race win mainly because he hasn't competed et either circuit in superbikes.
Corser totally dominated the first of the two 22-lap races and was leading the second by a considerable margin when it was red-flagged after 13 laps. The second part was a ‘wet race’ and this time Kagayama crossed the line ahead of Corser, but when the times were aggregated, the 1996 World Champ took the win by a comfortable margin.
In race one, Corser headed the field from the first corner and nobody got anywhere near. At the end his victory margin was more than eight seconds. Kagayama took runner-up spot with Chris Vermeulen (Honda) third some four seconds behind. Fourth was Max Neukirchner (Honda) ahead of Andrew Pitt (Yamaha) and Norick Abe (Yamaha).
Neukirchner looks special
The two-part second race saw 21 year-old Superbike rookie Max Neukirchner take third behind the Suzuki GSX-R1000s. Neukirchner looks to have something special. He was rookie of the year last year in supersports, though he failed to take a single podium in his first year of international competition. This year though, he has taken to the Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR and stepped up into the big league. His first race was the aborted first leg at Losail where he finished 18th, only to DNF in the restart. His second race at Losail saw him take eighth spot, just behind Norick Abe and just ahead of Andrew Pitt.
His third race in superbikes saw him trading paint with Chris Vermeulen and narrowly losing out on a podium spot and in only his fourth superbike race he took to the podium. Germany has a proud history of motorcycle champions with names such as George Meier, Werner Haas, Ernst Degner and Anton Mang winning important titles, but there has been a dearth of championship-winning talent in recent times. Neukirchner looks to have the ability – watch this space!
With two of the hardest riders on the circuit in Vermeulen and Superbike Rookie Muggeridge, plus the proven ability of ten Kate to extract horsepower from Honda motorcycles, the team will obviously become more competitive as the season goes on. Vermeulen scored four wins last year, and had things gone his way, he might have even snatched the championship after a strong second half to the year. After Kagayama, Vermeulen still rates as the most likely challenger to Corser for the title.
Vermeulen’s team-mate, Karl Muggeridge had a dreadful weekend with just an eighth place to show for his trouble and a high-speed crash in warm-up knocking him about and preventing him from doing his best. Muggeridge has the speed to win races.
Gallery Images
Share this article
