motoprint news 16 December 2008
And now for something different
Living as I do in 1972 or so, and Kyalami not being as spectator-friendly as I think it could be, it came all of a sudden that the World Superbike teams would be having a full-scale Pirelli test for three days in December. All the manufacturers’ teams except Kawasaki were there, and that meant Aprilia and BMW as well.
The deal was R50,00 per day for The Great Unwashed (you and me) but free if you had a ticket for the race in May or for the A1GP in February. I paid up and drifted along to the pits and after the usual blanks from the security bods, found out that red armbands, as given free in hospitals, could be bought at the gate for R100,00. So back to the gate.
What you got was what you made of it. In a couple of cases, garages adjoining the teams were open and a small area about a metre onto the pitlane was open. So with a ladder, the twist of Chubby Checker, the patience of Job, a telescope, spare camera batteries and great good fortune, one might get a few celebrity photos. In other cases, the adjoining garages on either side were firmly shut so the chances of peering in at Aprilia and Suzuki were nil. All one could do was, like the Apostle Paul said, wipe the dust from your feet and move on.
The press, I mean THE PRESS, were there in force. Very very young men from ‘Tiny Tots’ magazine, with the digital versions of an Instamatic, old ducks from Garden and Home, Red Roses, Antique World, acne-ridden youth from Teen and a lot, a lot, of other irrelevancies, all with ‘Press’ garlands and these mik-en-druk cellphones or similar. Mmmmm.
The bikes? I was fascinated more by the riders. It is quite something to see the ritual. Into the Box, off the bike, technicians and laptops, mechanics covering the bike up. Team mates? No such things. Into the ‘Box’, off the bike etc. etc. And all serious, no play stuff. It is quite something to see young men like Jonathan Rea, Tom Sykes and others at work and showing the strain to make a mark in this business. And the not so young. Carlos Checa, now 35. Working just as hard. And showing it.
Michel Fabrizio on a Ducati was fastest on all three days, setting a final time of 1 min, 39.714. Ben Spies was 2nd on a Yamaha at 39.978 and Nori Haga 3rd on 39.984. Ruben Xaus was slowest on the new BMW at I min 41.996 but it looks the part and it’s early days yet.
Have a look at my album on the main website. There are 109 photos; all you need to do is go to ‘Quick Search’ on the home page and from ‘events’ scroll to ‘superbikes’. This will bring up all the photos. If you want only riders, go to ‘advance search’ choose class ‘portrait’ and event ‘superbike’. For the bikes only, choose class ‘motorcycle’ and event ‘superbike’.
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