World
Superbike History and Background
Ducati
launched their first four valve v-twin at the Milan
Show in November 1987. The new
bike was the 851 and offered in Strada (road)
and kit (racing) form, the factory also built a specially
prepared racer for former 500cc world champion, Marco
Lucchinelli. The first round was held at Donington
Park (UK) at the begining of 1988, won by Lucchinelli
on the Italian v-twin.
The
three main bikes were Ducati with a watercooled,
fuel injected, 8-valve v-twin, Bimota with a Yamaha
OW01 engined YB4 model and the Honda RC30. At the
end of the first season it was a combination of American
Fred Markel and the RC30 which won, with runner-up
Davide Tardozzi on the Bimota. Lucchinelli finished
third but didn't compete in all rounds.
Up
until now the Newzealand based Sports Marketing Company
had largely funded the WSB but days before the first
round at Donington Park in 1989 they pulled out.
Fortunatley, the event was saved by the Japanese
Motor Co, backed by Dentsu, the world's largest advertising
agency. The top three in 1989 were Fred Markel (Honda),
Stephane Mertens (Honda) and Raymond Roche (Ducati).
In 1990 Roche won on the Ducati, Doug Polen won in
1991 and 1992, with Roche finishing second on both
occasions. Scott Russell, riding a Kawasaki, won
in 1993.
Carl
Fogarty rode at the 1992 round at Donington Park,
beating the works team on a privately entered Ducati
Corse 888 and was signed by the Bologna factory team
for the 1993 season. Foggy won the title in 1994
and 1995, his main rival, Scott Russell, quit to
join the Grand Prix circuit.
Unfortunately
for Foggy, he switched to Honda in 1996 but returned
to Ducati in 1997 and won the title again in 1998
and 1999 until an unfortunate accident at Philip
Island, Australia in 2000, finished his racing career.
Today, he runs Foggy Petronas Racing. There is no
doubt that the dominance of Foggy helped the WSB
to become as popular as it was.
The
WSB has challenged the popularity of the MotoGP and
has continued to grow from year to year. |
