"b"
01-26-2007, 11:32 AM
Collision Course: MotoGP and WSB
1/24/2007
By Dennis Noyes SPEEDtv.com (http://www.speedtv.com/)
When current World Superbike Champion Troy Bayliss, after winning the title and half the 24 World Superbike races, interrupted his vacation to make a sayonara ride for the same Marlboro Ducati World MotoGP team that fired him at the end of the 2004 season, the 37-year-old two times WSBK champion did something outrageous. Something that stunned many in the MotoGP media center who regard the World Superbike Championship as "second division" at best and, at worst, as a kind of elephant's dying ground for has-beens and riders who never made the cut.
Bayliss not only won the race, he led every lap and looked ready after the podium ceremony to go back out for a second race as he does every weekend in World Superbike where the practice is to run two Grand Prix length races on a single day instead on a single race of approximately 45 minutes.
Bayliss' win was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that American Nicky Hayden's third place, back of the factory Ducati Desmosedici V4s of Bayliss and Loris Capirossi, was enough to clinch the MotoGP title over superstar Valentino Rossi, breaking the Italian's five-year stranglehold on motorcycle racing's most prestigious crown.
Now, after the recent World Superbike tests in Phillip Island (where Bayliss clipped an amazing 1.3 seconds off his 2006 lap record) and the first 2007 MotoGP tests in Sepang (where Rossi on the new 800cc was just off his own record pace from last year), we are seeing that the gap between Superbike and MotoGP performance seems to be narrowing. The increasingly undeniable fact is that, if Superbikes continue to develop as they are currently progressing, MotoGP and World Superbike are on merging paths. They may not be on course for a head-on collision, but they look certain to sideswipe in the near future.
This is how it is:
Prototypes Versus "Production-Derived" Machines
By definition MotoGP is a World Championship for prototype machines and World Superbike is limited to production-based bikes, just as Formula 1 is a prototype World championship and the World Touring Car Championship is a production class.
No one could ever confuse a modest 275 horsepower 2 liter WTCC (World Touring Car) vehicle for a fire-breathing 750 horse power, 2.4 liter V8-powered, open-wheel Formula One car, but when reigning Superbike World Champion Troy Bayliss took his 999F06 Ducati to a 1 minute 30.7 second lap during the recent Pirelli tests at Phillip Island, Australia, he was fast enough to have bettered five of the nineteen bikes on last year's MotoGP grid at the Australian Grand Prix, including the two full-factory Suzuki V4s, two satellite Ducati Desmosedici and one of the satellite Yamaha M1s.
The time recorded by Bayliss was 1.7 seconds slower that the pole position time of 1'29.029 recorded by Nicky Hayden on his factory Honda 990cc V5, but given that Hayden was running state-of-the-art Michelin tires and Bayliss and all other SBK riders are limited to the same short list of Pirelli "production" racing tires, the true performance potential of the top Superbike and MotoGP machines seems much closer than would be expected.
MotoGP machines are not for sale in any form and if they were the price would be astronomical, especially if maintenance and replacement engine costs were factored in. But at the end of the World Superbike season last year at Magny-Cours, France, the Klaffi Honda team sold the Honda CBR1000RR that Alex Barros had ridden to victory in Imola for a price of less than $100,000.
If it is true that the Ten Kate Honda produced "more than" 220 horse power at the rear wheel last year, as claimed by Honda Europe's Carlo Fiorani, and that this year's MotoGP machines, reduced to 800cc and with a liter less in the mandated 21 liter fuel tank, will be making some 15% less than the admitted 250 horse power of the fastest prototypes, then we are seeing two FIM World Championship classes with very similar power. In fact the strongest 1000cc four cylinder Superbike engines, if they make a true 220 horse power would be, theoretically anyway, more powerful that the exotic MotoGP prototypes, although carrying an additional 37 pounds due to minimum weight rules.
The Ducati 999, however, which is running to 2006 specs again this year, is managing to set the pace in off-season testing in spite of being up against a horsepower wall of, according to Bayliss, around 196 H.P. It is for this reason, because of the advantage under current World Superbike rules for four cylinder 1000cc engines over twin-cylinder 1000cc engines, that Ducati is lobbying for an increase in capacity to 1,200cc in 2008.
This seems counter-intuitive at first glance, but what Ducati (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=2#) is asking for makes perfect sense if it is looked at in relation to the existing regulations. At present twin cylinder 1000cc machines in WSBK are allowed more tuning freedom, including the use of special crankshafts, primary gears and alternate throttle bodies. Traditionally twins were allowed a capacity compensation (1000cc twins raced against 750cc fours as recently as 2002), and the idea that Ducati proposes would be a return to the original philosophy. Twins would be given a 20% increase in capacity but would lose all the current exceptions in the technical regulations.
Currently Ducati have introduced an interim 1098cc replacement of the 999. The Xerox Ducati Junior team which will enter Italian Nicolo Canepa and Australian Brendan Roberts on a pair of works-supported 1098s in European Superstock and we will also see the big twins campaigned in some national championships (such as the Formula Extreme class of the Spanish National Championship). But the ultimate objective of Ducati is still to obtain approval of their 1200cc proposal for the 2008 or 2009 WSBK season, or at least that was the plan the plan when I last spoke to Xerox Ducati Corse team director Paolo Ciabatti at the end of the season.
All of this places Ducati in a rather strange position. They have said that the current 999F06 is at the end of its development and that there is no “F07” version. If they win again with the 999, and Troy Bayliss must start this season as favorite, the Japanese manufactures will argue that granting any more capacity to Ducati is unnecessary. Likewise if the Ducati 1098s are dominant in the European Superstock Championship Japanese importers and manufacturers will argue that further compensation for Ducati would be excessive.
In many ways it would be politically fortunate if Ducati were beaten in both Superbike (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=2#) and Superstock this year, fueling the argument in favor a 1200cc limit for twins, but don’t look for Ducati to take a dive. It is not in their DNA; they will be doing everything to win another SBK title and to take their first Superstock title even if their success fuels arguments against their request for the an increase to an 1200cc maximum capacity for twins against the 1000cc fours.
Two Ways to Skin the Same Cat
But beyond these internal Superbike considerations, the fact remains that, while the FIA (world automotive federation) has clearly established Formula One as the premier automobile (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=3#) racing series on asphalt, the FIM now finds itself with two championships that look alike, sound alike (although MotoGP is significantly louder…130 decibels for MotoGP compared to 107 decibels with a 3 dba post-race tolerance for Superbikes), and now produce about the same maximum power. (I do commentary in World Superbike for Spain’s Telecinco and one question that casual viewers call in with during live Superbike coverage is, “What happened to Rossi and Pedrosa?” Nobody calls in during a Touring Car race to ask. “What happened to Alonso?”)
Add to this visual similarity the improvements in performance that advanced electronics are likely to produce in World Superbike (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=3#), and the two series seem to be on a direct collision course. Superbikes are still heavier, with a minimum weight of 363 pounds (165 kilograms) compared to the MotoGP minimum weight for four cylinder machines of 325.6 pounds (148 kilograms). Additionally the use of carbon brakes is not allowed on Superbikes, a significant advantage as regards lap times for MotoGP bikes.
The two formulas, MotoGP (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=3#) and World Superbike, are offering very similar power and differences in lap times are determined more by brakes, tires and minimum weight than by engine performance… and while MotoGP 800cc may equal last year’s times set with the more powerful 990s, first indications from the Phillip Island tests are that Superbike times are improving drastically with the latest Pirelli tires and up-dated electronics packages.
No Consensus for Universal Superbike Rules
The FIM is aware of the situation and tried last season to explore the possibility of reaching a consensus for a new set of Superbike rules intended to be applied to all Superbike championships, both world and national.
This proved impossible and it now seems that the tendency in most national series will be toward reducing the performance and cost of Superbikes while FGSport will differentiate itself from national championships by continuing to allow the current level of preparation and modification and by continuing to explore the possibility of increasing the maximum capacity of twins from 1000cc to 1200cc while, at the same time, eliminating the compensations that are allowed at present for twins.
The two major national championships, the BSB and the AMA, are unlikely to give away even an ounce of autonomy to the FIM, so we are likely to see as many variations of Superbike rules as there are Superbike championships, with World Superbike backing away from any attempts by the FIM to dumb down the series by applying rules that would decrease power and performance. In other times the FIM had control over regulations and they were able to step in and simply terminate the Formula 750 World Championship at the end of the 1979 season in order to prevent the series from taking prestige away from the premier 500 Grand Prix class. (The F750 series started as a “production-based” series but the rules were badly written and poorly enforced to such an extent that Yamaha eventually produced a dominant 750 that was as much a prototype as any 500.)The possibility of the FIM simply stepping in to mandate new regulations in order to protect the shrinking performance advantage of MotoGP machines over World Superbike machines is not an option because, unlike during the Formula 750 experiment of the seventies, the FIM today has leased very comprehensive rights to both Dorna (holders of MotoGP rights until 2026) and FGSport (holders of World Superbike rights until 2021). Both series now have rulemaking mechanisms that prevent the FIM from introducing new technical rules without the approval of the promoter. In the case of MotoGP, competence for technical rules is with the MSMA (the manufacturers); while in World Superbike the promoters and the FIM must agree on changes. This arrangement is not parallel to the clear hierarchy as established by the FIA to ensure the supremacy of Formula 1. Dorna pay significantly more for their commercial rights than FGSport (this information is confidential but it is estimated that Dorna pays as much as five times more per year), but this does not guarantee any superiority over the junior series…junior because, while the GP series began 58 years ago in 1949, WSBK, born in 1988, is now starting only its twentieth season.Clearly MotoGP (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=4#) enjoys more world-wide prestige, delivers larger TV audiences, has a grander tradition, and still puts faster and more technologically advanced bikes on the track. But it is also true that costs for running a MotoGP team have sky-rocketed when four-stroke 990cc machines replaced two-stroke 500cc bikes and costs have increased yet again with the change from 990cc to 800cc four strokes this year. The fact that HANNSpree, Taiwanese producers of televisions sets and LCD screens, has replaced tobacco sponsors for two top Honda (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=4#) teams (Team Gresini in MotoGP and Ten Kate Honda in World Superbike and World Supersport) means that major sponsors are now going to be comparing the return on investment in the two rival series. The roadracing division of the MSMA, unable to establish authority over World Superbike, is now concerned almost entirely with MotoGP. The MSMA don’t like the idea of any perceived parallelism between the MotoGP class (where they make the rules) and the SBK class (where their rules were rejected in 2003 causing a major schism) but major sponsors looking to move into the vacuum being left by the banishing of tobacco sponsorship are anxious to measure the impact per dollar in the two series. Eventually, however, those who benefit from this rekindled GP and SBK rivalry will be riders. Already we are seeing movement between the two camps…World Supersport champion and World Superbike contender Chris Vermuelen was plucked from Ten Kate Honda in SBK by Rizla Suzuki (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=4#) in MotoGP at the end of 2005…Alex Barros has been recovered by D’ Antin Ducati in MotoGP after a year (and a win) in SBK with Klaffi Honda…250 GP stars like Fonsi Nieto and Roberto Rolfo now emerging as SBK stars…and, of course, Max Biaggi, has returned from Honda-imposed exile in MotoGP to retake his proper place as one of the world’s best and highest paid riders for the Corona Extra Suzuki team in WSBK. Although the World Superbike grid for 2007 has now shrunk to a mere 23 riders (including two riders listed only as TBA), that number, plus the 21 slots on the MotoGP grid and the larger 250, 125 and Supersport grids increase world championship opportunities to around 130 potential contracts. Good riders should rejoice that their options have increased, but, in fact, far too many of the slots in the supporting classes are determined not by sheer ability, but by how much personal sponsorship a rider can bring to the team. (The absence of American riders in World Superbike is not due to a lack of talent stateside, but instead to the fact that AMA riders make serious money and will not be induced to take a pay cut merely to “represent their country” in a World Championship.) Is it a good thing that the two FIM Roadracing World Championships are competing again, as they did in the mid and late nineties, for prestige, riders and sponsors?
Isn’t competition what racing is really about?
1/24/2007
By Dennis Noyes SPEEDtv.com (http://www.speedtv.com/)
When current World Superbike Champion Troy Bayliss, after winning the title and half the 24 World Superbike races, interrupted his vacation to make a sayonara ride for the same Marlboro Ducati World MotoGP team that fired him at the end of the 2004 season, the 37-year-old two times WSBK champion did something outrageous. Something that stunned many in the MotoGP media center who regard the World Superbike Championship as "second division" at best and, at worst, as a kind of elephant's dying ground for has-beens and riders who never made the cut.
Bayliss not only won the race, he led every lap and looked ready after the podium ceremony to go back out for a second race as he does every weekend in World Superbike where the practice is to run two Grand Prix length races on a single day instead on a single race of approximately 45 minutes.
Bayliss' win was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that American Nicky Hayden's third place, back of the factory Ducati Desmosedici V4s of Bayliss and Loris Capirossi, was enough to clinch the MotoGP title over superstar Valentino Rossi, breaking the Italian's five-year stranglehold on motorcycle racing's most prestigious crown.
Now, after the recent World Superbike tests in Phillip Island (where Bayliss clipped an amazing 1.3 seconds off his 2006 lap record) and the first 2007 MotoGP tests in Sepang (where Rossi on the new 800cc was just off his own record pace from last year), we are seeing that the gap between Superbike and MotoGP performance seems to be narrowing. The increasingly undeniable fact is that, if Superbikes continue to develop as they are currently progressing, MotoGP and World Superbike are on merging paths. They may not be on course for a head-on collision, but they look certain to sideswipe in the near future.
This is how it is:
Prototypes Versus "Production-Derived" Machines
By definition MotoGP is a World Championship for prototype machines and World Superbike is limited to production-based bikes, just as Formula 1 is a prototype World championship and the World Touring Car Championship is a production class.
No one could ever confuse a modest 275 horsepower 2 liter WTCC (World Touring Car) vehicle for a fire-breathing 750 horse power, 2.4 liter V8-powered, open-wheel Formula One car, but when reigning Superbike World Champion Troy Bayliss took his 999F06 Ducati to a 1 minute 30.7 second lap during the recent Pirelli tests at Phillip Island, Australia, he was fast enough to have bettered five of the nineteen bikes on last year's MotoGP grid at the Australian Grand Prix, including the two full-factory Suzuki V4s, two satellite Ducati Desmosedici and one of the satellite Yamaha M1s.
The time recorded by Bayliss was 1.7 seconds slower that the pole position time of 1'29.029 recorded by Nicky Hayden on his factory Honda 990cc V5, but given that Hayden was running state-of-the-art Michelin tires and Bayliss and all other SBK riders are limited to the same short list of Pirelli "production" racing tires, the true performance potential of the top Superbike and MotoGP machines seems much closer than would be expected.
MotoGP machines are not for sale in any form and if they were the price would be astronomical, especially if maintenance and replacement engine costs were factored in. But at the end of the World Superbike season last year at Magny-Cours, France, the Klaffi Honda team sold the Honda CBR1000RR that Alex Barros had ridden to victory in Imola for a price of less than $100,000.
If it is true that the Ten Kate Honda produced "more than" 220 horse power at the rear wheel last year, as claimed by Honda Europe's Carlo Fiorani, and that this year's MotoGP machines, reduced to 800cc and with a liter less in the mandated 21 liter fuel tank, will be making some 15% less than the admitted 250 horse power of the fastest prototypes, then we are seeing two FIM World Championship classes with very similar power. In fact the strongest 1000cc four cylinder Superbike engines, if they make a true 220 horse power would be, theoretically anyway, more powerful that the exotic MotoGP prototypes, although carrying an additional 37 pounds due to minimum weight rules.
The Ducati 999, however, which is running to 2006 specs again this year, is managing to set the pace in off-season testing in spite of being up against a horsepower wall of, according to Bayliss, around 196 H.P. It is for this reason, because of the advantage under current World Superbike rules for four cylinder 1000cc engines over twin-cylinder 1000cc engines, that Ducati is lobbying for an increase in capacity to 1,200cc in 2008.
This seems counter-intuitive at first glance, but what Ducati (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=2#) is asking for makes perfect sense if it is looked at in relation to the existing regulations. At present twin cylinder 1000cc machines in WSBK are allowed more tuning freedom, including the use of special crankshafts, primary gears and alternate throttle bodies. Traditionally twins were allowed a capacity compensation (1000cc twins raced against 750cc fours as recently as 2002), and the idea that Ducati proposes would be a return to the original philosophy. Twins would be given a 20% increase in capacity but would lose all the current exceptions in the technical regulations.
Currently Ducati have introduced an interim 1098cc replacement of the 999. The Xerox Ducati Junior team which will enter Italian Nicolo Canepa and Australian Brendan Roberts on a pair of works-supported 1098s in European Superstock and we will also see the big twins campaigned in some national championships (such as the Formula Extreme class of the Spanish National Championship). But the ultimate objective of Ducati is still to obtain approval of their 1200cc proposal for the 2008 or 2009 WSBK season, or at least that was the plan the plan when I last spoke to Xerox Ducati Corse team director Paolo Ciabatti at the end of the season.
All of this places Ducati in a rather strange position. They have said that the current 999F06 is at the end of its development and that there is no “F07” version. If they win again with the 999, and Troy Bayliss must start this season as favorite, the Japanese manufactures will argue that granting any more capacity to Ducati is unnecessary. Likewise if the Ducati 1098s are dominant in the European Superstock Championship Japanese importers and manufacturers will argue that further compensation for Ducati would be excessive.
In many ways it would be politically fortunate if Ducati were beaten in both Superbike (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=2#) and Superstock this year, fueling the argument in favor a 1200cc limit for twins, but don’t look for Ducati to take a dive. It is not in their DNA; they will be doing everything to win another SBK title and to take their first Superstock title even if their success fuels arguments against their request for the an increase to an 1200cc maximum capacity for twins against the 1000cc fours.
Two Ways to Skin the Same Cat
But beyond these internal Superbike considerations, the fact remains that, while the FIA (world automotive federation) has clearly established Formula One as the premier automobile (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=3#) racing series on asphalt, the FIM now finds itself with two championships that look alike, sound alike (although MotoGP is significantly louder…130 decibels for MotoGP compared to 107 decibels with a 3 dba post-race tolerance for Superbikes), and now produce about the same maximum power. (I do commentary in World Superbike for Spain’s Telecinco and one question that casual viewers call in with during live Superbike coverage is, “What happened to Rossi and Pedrosa?” Nobody calls in during a Touring Car race to ask. “What happened to Alonso?”)
Add to this visual similarity the improvements in performance that advanced electronics are likely to produce in World Superbike (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=3#), and the two series seem to be on a direct collision course. Superbikes are still heavier, with a minimum weight of 363 pounds (165 kilograms) compared to the MotoGP minimum weight for four cylinder machines of 325.6 pounds (148 kilograms). Additionally the use of carbon brakes is not allowed on Superbikes, a significant advantage as regards lap times for MotoGP bikes.
The two formulas, MotoGP (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=3#) and World Superbike, are offering very similar power and differences in lap times are determined more by brakes, tires and minimum weight than by engine performance… and while MotoGP 800cc may equal last year’s times set with the more powerful 990s, first indications from the Phillip Island tests are that Superbike times are improving drastically with the latest Pirelli tires and up-dated electronics packages.
No Consensus for Universal Superbike Rules
The FIM is aware of the situation and tried last season to explore the possibility of reaching a consensus for a new set of Superbike rules intended to be applied to all Superbike championships, both world and national.
This proved impossible and it now seems that the tendency in most national series will be toward reducing the performance and cost of Superbikes while FGSport will differentiate itself from national championships by continuing to allow the current level of preparation and modification and by continuing to explore the possibility of increasing the maximum capacity of twins from 1000cc to 1200cc while, at the same time, eliminating the compensations that are allowed at present for twins.
The two major national championships, the BSB and the AMA, are unlikely to give away even an ounce of autonomy to the FIM, so we are likely to see as many variations of Superbike rules as there are Superbike championships, with World Superbike backing away from any attempts by the FIM to dumb down the series by applying rules that would decrease power and performance. In other times the FIM had control over regulations and they were able to step in and simply terminate the Formula 750 World Championship at the end of the 1979 season in order to prevent the series from taking prestige away from the premier 500 Grand Prix class. (The F750 series started as a “production-based” series but the rules were badly written and poorly enforced to such an extent that Yamaha eventually produced a dominant 750 that was as much a prototype as any 500.)The possibility of the FIM simply stepping in to mandate new regulations in order to protect the shrinking performance advantage of MotoGP machines over World Superbike machines is not an option because, unlike during the Formula 750 experiment of the seventies, the FIM today has leased very comprehensive rights to both Dorna (holders of MotoGP rights until 2026) and FGSport (holders of World Superbike rights until 2021). Both series now have rulemaking mechanisms that prevent the FIM from introducing new technical rules without the approval of the promoter. In the case of MotoGP, competence for technical rules is with the MSMA (the manufacturers); while in World Superbike the promoters and the FIM must agree on changes. This arrangement is not parallel to the clear hierarchy as established by the FIA to ensure the supremacy of Formula 1. Dorna pay significantly more for their commercial rights than FGSport (this information is confidential but it is estimated that Dorna pays as much as five times more per year), but this does not guarantee any superiority over the junior series…junior because, while the GP series began 58 years ago in 1949, WSBK, born in 1988, is now starting only its twentieth season.Clearly MotoGP (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=4#) enjoys more world-wide prestige, delivers larger TV audiences, has a grander tradition, and still puts faster and more technologically advanced bikes on the track. But it is also true that costs for running a MotoGP team have sky-rocketed when four-stroke 990cc machines replaced two-stroke 500cc bikes and costs have increased yet again with the change from 990cc to 800cc four strokes this year. The fact that HANNSpree, Taiwanese producers of televisions sets and LCD screens, has replaced tobacco sponsors for two top Honda (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=4#) teams (Team Gresini in MotoGP and Ten Kate Honda in World Superbike and World Supersport) means that major sponsors are now going to be comparing the return on investment in the two rival series. The roadracing division of the MSMA, unable to establish authority over World Superbike, is now concerned almost entirely with MotoGP. The MSMA don’t like the idea of any perceived parallelism between the MotoGP class (where they make the rules) and the SBK class (where their rules were rejected in 2003 causing a major schism) but major sponsors looking to move into the vacuum being left by the banishing of tobacco sponsorship are anxious to measure the impact per dollar in the two series. Eventually, however, those who benefit from this rekindled GP and SBK rivalry will be riders. Already we are seeing movement between the two camps…World Supersport champion and World Superbike contender Chris Vermuelen was plucked from Ten Kate Honda in SBK by Rizla Suzuki (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/moto/worldsuperbike/34989/?page=4#) in MotoGP at the end of 2005…Alex Barros has been recovered by D’ Antin Ducati in MotoGP after a year (and a win) in SBK with Klaffi Honda…250 GP stars like Fonsi Nieto and Roberto Rolfo now emerging as SBK stars…and, of course, Max Biaggi, has returned from Honda-imposed exile in MotoGP to retake his proper place as one of the world’s best and highest paid riders for the Corona Extra Suzuki team in WSBK. Although the World Superbike grid for 2007 has now shrunk to a mere 23 riders (including two riders listed only as TBA), that number, plus the 21 slots on the MotoGP grid and the larger 250, 125 and Supersport grids increase world championship opportunities to around 130 potential contracts. Good riders should rejoice that their options have increased, but, in fact, far too many of the slots in the supporting classes are determined not by sheer ability, but by how much personal sponsorship a rider can bring to the team. (The absence of American riders in World Superbike is not due to a lack of talent stateside, but instead to the fact that AMA riders make serious money and will not be induced to take a pay cut merely to “represent their country” in a World Championship.) Is it a good thing that the two FIM Roadracing World Championships are competing again, as they did in the mid and late nineties, for prestige, riders and sponsors?
Isn’t competition what racing is really about?