Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Dennis Noyes

With no fanfare and no press relations personnel on hand from the FGSport group, the first tire tests of the new era of World Superbike are being run at Valencia, Spain.

After two days of testing, Fila Ducati riders Regis Laconi and James Toseland are lapping consistently in the 1:36 range on Pirelli slicks. Best unofficial time provided by a Solo Moto journalist on site was a 1:36.5 by Laconi.

Neil Hodgson was the quickest rider in this year’s World Superbike races at Valencia with a time of 1:35.007 on Michelins but the still-standing race record lap of 1:34.649 set by Ben Bostrom on Dunlops dates from spring of 2002.

The Petronas team is also present with Troy Corser doing the tire testing on the 900cc Triple while former 125cc World Champion Alessandro Grammini is testing a YZF-R1 Yamaha for Yamaha Italy. A YZF-R1 from Yamaha France was also being tested by two Spanish riders.

Top Supersport teams present are Ten Kate Honda, Alstare Corona Suzuki and Belgarda Yamaha. Conditions are chilly and dry and all teams are in and out frequently, testing a great variety of new tires and compounds.

Tomorrow we hope to have a credible list of lap times and obtain some comments from the teams and Pirelli technicians.

FGSport, owners of the commercial rights of the World Superbike, World Supersport and European Superstock Championships, reached an agreement with Pirelli to supply all tires for all three classes in 2004 and 2005. FIM regulations regarding the number of tires available to each team and the system for distribution are pending.

Due to these regulations five of the six members of the MSMA (Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers Association) have said that they will not directly support a factory team in the Superbike class. Ducati is the only MSMA member that has announced plans to compete, but Honda will be present unofficially with their new CBR1000RR in the Ten Kate Honda team. It was expected that Suzuki would do the same via the Alstare Corona Suzuki team, but the team is not running a Superbike at Valencia and rider Gregorio Lavilla told me yesterday by phone that Francis Batta has not yet been able to reach an agreement to run the GSX-R1000 in 2004.

Yamaha France has shown great interest in the class, but has of yet not made a commitment to race. Kawasaki will not support a works team, but the new ZX-10RR will be present run by the Italian Bertocchi team.