From a press release issued by Honda Racing Information:

World Supersport Championship 2003 – Round 10
Imola Race Preview
26 – 28 September 2003

VERMEULEN HOPES FOR TITLE AT IMOLA

Chris Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) enters the Imola WSS race in need of only eight points to make certain of his first and Honda’s second World Supersport Championship Riders’ title. His form this year has often been nothing short of outstanding, and he has secured four wins in nine attempts, scored only one DNF and has taken two additional podium slots along the way.

He was forced into giving best at the previous round at Assen to his team-mate Karl Muggeridge (Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR), after a convincing ride from both Ten Kate pilots, but with the championship tantalisingly close Vermeulen will be hoping to score an entire fistful of wins before the season finishes at Magny Cours in France on 19 September. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Honda enjoys a 34-point lead over the next closest constructor, with two rounds to go.

The evocative Imola venue, which welcomes the World Supersport circus this weekend with open arms, is the third Italian track of the year, the previous Monza and Misano weekends providing excellent sport and a great contrast to Imola.

The Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit in the city centre is no stranger to motorsports of all kinds but is a very different design to most others in Italy. It’s undulating straights, fast corners and elevations are reigned in somewhat by a proliferation of slower chicanes, providing some contrast to Monza’s level parkland speedbowl, Misano’s schizophrenic fast and slow flatness and Mugello’s wide corners and flowing chicanes, running either side of a Tuscan valley. Imola is thus a broad and textured canvas for the WSS artisans to produce their best work on, and the WSS weekend is a popular event in its own right, as last year’s claimed 97,000 spectators will attest to.

Last year Vermeulen scored a podium at Imola and this year he wants to improve on his third position if possible. Prudence dictates that he must adopt a flexible strategy, however, as he is so close to the championship win itself.

“I enjoyed the place last year and I finished third,” reminisced Vermeulen after his arrival in Italy, “and it might have been even better but for some technical problems. It was only my second podium ever. I really like the track and if there is the chance to win then I’ll try my best to take it. In a way I also have to be a little cautious, as it is possible to win the championship this weekend. I do not want to win the title by finishing eighth, however, so I will attack it like any other race.”

For Muggeridge, Imola could not come at a better time, after his win at Assen.

“Imola should be OK for us even if we had a problem in the race last year,” said Muggeridge, shortly before heading off to Italy. “The new bike is really good this year. And after the Assen win I will be trying to ride the wave and see where I can go from now on. I just want to get out there in all the sessions and give it all I’ve got.”

Sebastien Charpentier (Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) will find Imola a novel experience, but if his recent performances are anything to go by, he will have no problems finding the fast lines right away.

“Imola will be the first time for me because last year I had a fracture after the Bol d’Or but I like the look of it. It appears to be a special track – up-down, chicanes, and faster corners. I am confident and relaxed, have a good team and a good bike behind me. It is necessary to get good points so I can improve my championship position in readiness for next season.”

Iain Macpherson (van Zon Honda CBR600RR) makes the long journey from his native Scotland to the middle of Italy once more this year, with high hopes but a relaxed attitude for the penultimate race.

“I quite like the circuit,” said Macpherson, “and I’m hopeful of getting a good result. I’m just going to ride as smooth and fast as I can and see how it’s going to go. I have no expectations about places I’ll finish in, I’ll just go and do my very best.”

Robert Ulm (Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) has not that long a journey to reach Imola from Austria and experience prevents him from making any pre-race prophecies.

“I think Imola is a nice track but I don’t have any predictions for the race,” said Ulm. “I think the Honda is good everywhere and the best bike of this season so I am certainly ready for Imola.”

Werner Daemen, Macpherson’s teamster in the Van Zon effort is another who will be making the most of his last two chances to shine in the 2003 season – and may well now have the means to extend his results into new territories.

“We got some new parts for the Assen race and they made a big difference,” said Daemen. “The bike is really good, fast and suits me well so I am hoping for a good result at Imola. The track is good there, a nice mix of corners and hills.”

The final race, at the re-visited SBK venue of Magny Cours, takes place on October 19.


More, from a press release issued by the World Superbike Press Office:

Penultimate Round holds high hopes for SBK

As the home stretch comes into view for the 2003 SBK express there is still much for the top competitors in SBK to play for. Neil Hodgson (Ducati Fila 999 F03) may have clinched the overall championship, and Ducati have taken the manufacturers’ crown, but for most of the rest of the competitors, with 2004 plans still not fixed, the results of the two Imola Superbike races will be pivotal.


Since the inclusion of Imola into the SBK calendar in 2001, it has formed the final hurdle of the challenging SBK championship, but this year it is the penultimate test of production derived machines, with the final round appearing on October 19 at Magny Cours in France.


Imola, a traditionally rapid circuit, albeit adorned by numerous chicanes to maintain a safe level of corner speed on today’s 200bhp Superbikes, has seen some epic clashes over the past two years.


Of the current crop of Superbike aces two have enjoyed wins at the Imolese circuit, Ruben Xaus (Ducati Fila 999 F03) and Regis Laconi (Ducati NCR Nortel 998RS). Each took a win in the 2001 season, on a Ducati and Aprilia respectively and each was good value for their successes.


Xaus has mounted more of a challenge to Hodgson than any other rider this season, and his total of four race wins have helped him to a 51-point lead over third place, almost guaranteeing second place on his factory machine. For Laconi, on a customer machine, wins have come tantalisingly close this season, but as yet he has not scored a full pointer. An old fashioned hard charger with the approach of a cavalier and the experience of a proven SBK and MotoGP race winner, Laconi will be on top form for his Italian based team at Imola, as he attempts too finish third overall.


Laconi’s target in the title race is English fighter James Toseland (HM Plant Ducati 998F02), after scoring a race win at Oschersleben in June and gathering points in a host of other races. Both Laconi and Toseland have a small fistful of DNFs this season, and that as much as anything else may determine their overall fates come Magny Cours.


Imola will present the Alstare Suzuki rider Gregorio Lavilla with a special challenge on his four cylinder 1000cc GSX-R. Despite the mandatory restrictor plates fitted on the intakes of his factory machine, the big Suzuki has proved to be fast at virtually every track, and a fully competitive machine in its first year of competition. The prospect of his first win will be enough to see Lavilla pushing as hard as ever in Italy.


Chris Walker, Toseland’s HM Plant Ducati team-mate has had his usually dramatic season, riding the highs as well as the lows with his infectious enthusiasm for the next challenge and Imola will be no different for him than his home circuits like Brands or Silverstone or the far flung rounds at Sugo.


The most experienced man in the championship is the elder- statesman of the SBK paddock, Pierfrancesco Chili (Ducati 998RS). His business suit may be made out of leather but his approach to the art of on track war is still as pugilistic as ever. Having already scored a race win at Laguna Seca in July. Chili could only top that marvellous display with a win in front of a home crowd at Imola.


With the usual crew of tough privateers running Ducati 998RS machines, the Suzukis of Lavilla and part time rider Vittorio Iannuzzo, are joined in the exhaust symphony by the high-pitched howl of the three-cylinder Foggy Petronas FP1, piloted by Troy Corser and James Toseland. Improvements to the triple have seen it almost match its early season best of fifth at the previous Assen round. Corser, the 1996 World Champion, can maybe even improve on that score in Italy, but needs to be on absolute top form to take on the more highly developed competition.


More, from a press release issued by Michelin:

Michelin: Imola Preview UK

Hodgson looking to celebrate world title at Ducati home track

Neil Hodgson (Ducati Fila-Michelin) rode to the 2003 World Superbike title at the last round, in Assen, on September 7. He comes to Italy ready to celebrate his new crown at a track located only minutes from his employer’s home. Imola is only 35 km away fr om Ducati’s Bologna HQ so Hodgson and Spanish team-mate Ruben Xaus (Ducati Fila-Michelin) will be aiming for more glory in front of Ducati personnel and numerous local Ducati fans. Hodgson’s title is Michelin’s twelfth in the championship. In a recent interview, Hodgson, who previously worked with a rival manufacturer, revealed some of the secret to Michdelin’s success. “People think they didn’t do as much development work, but I did three tests with Michelin and they turned up with twenty new tyres just because I didn’t like the feeling at the front,” Hodgson answered, when asked how much of a difference his Michelins made this year, despite the fact that the French tyre giant didn’t do a lot of development work. “They couldn’t have worked much harder, they must have produced sixty tyres for me to test, which I’d never experienced before. They didn’t really have to because I was leading the championship and going well. They realised I had a problem and so they worked hard. At the start of the season I was nervous about doing the transition from Dunlop to Michelin but I took to them like a duck to water. They are the best tyres I have ever used.”

Michelin and Ducati in World Superbikes

Michelin and Ducati started winning together as soon as the World Superbike championship was created. At the very first round held at Donington in 1988, Marco Lucchinelli won the second leg on a Ducati-Michelin. Michelin’s years working alongside Ducati ha ve yielded great results including Carl Fogarty’s four world titles in 1994, 95, 98 and 99, Raymond Roche’s 1990 title. Then came the Australians with Troy Corser becoming world champion in 1996 and Troy Bayliss in 2001. Neil Hodgson put Britain back in fr ont this year as Ducati’s latest Superbike world champion.

Foggy Petronas Racing’s development work

The Foggy Petronas Racing team recently asked rider Jamie Morley to ride a development session at the Bruntingthorpe test track. “We are very happy, that the development of the FP1 is heading in the right direction,” said Ariff Ahmad from the Petronas motor sports division. “And also with the, incredible hard work and commitment displayed by everyone involved in this project.”

Imola and tyres

Imola is one of few European anti-clockwise tracks (Misano is another). It used to be extremely fast but average speeds were greatly reduced after Ayrton Senna’s tragic 1994 crash. Imola is 35 km southeast of Bologna, 90 km from Florence, 16 km from Faenza and 35 km from Forili. “You need a nimble machine for Imola’s three chicanes,” says Michelin’s chief of motorcycling competitions Nicolas Goubert. “The chicanes mean that the right-hand side of the tyre doesn’t get loaded up much under braking so grip characteristics need to be good. Combining high levels of sidegrip with light steering is hard, especially on a bumpy surface like this one.”

The Autodromo Enzo and Dino Ferrari started life in 1950 as a public road circuit. Imola’s first large-scale motorcycle race was held in 1953. Imola became a permanent racing circuit in 1979 and welcomed the Formula One ,championship for an exhibition race (held a week after the Italian GP at Monza). The first F1 championship race happened the following year and was called the “Gran Premio Dino Ferrari”. Twelve motorcycle GPs have been held at Imola: 7 Nations GPs (1969, 72, 74, ,75, 77, 79, 88), two San Mari no GPs (81, 83) and three City of Imola GPs (96, 97, 98). Freddie Spencer (Honda-Michelin) took his first 500cc World Championship at Imola in 1983, beating Kenny Roberts by just one point.

Michelin and Imola

Michelin brings a total of 600 tyres (400 rears and 200 fronts), wet and dry, for this race. Sizes are 19 / 67-420 (16,5 inch) for rear slicks, rain tyres and intermediates. Front tyre sizes are 12/60-420 (16.5 inch) tyres.

Michelin’s on-site personnel includes one team manager and two tyre fitters.

Since the start of the world Superbike championship in 1988, Michelin riders have won 264 races out of 383 and taken 12 out of 16 world titles. Michelin won 25 races out of 26 in 2002 and 15 out of 20 this year.