The BMW Chronicles – Chapter 9 – Donington Park
- From: 'the Wire' | Published: June 29th, 2009 - 12:15 pm
2009 Superbike World Championship Preview: Round 9, Donington, GB
“A bit of a problem today (Friday) a bit frustrating because I can get to a certain level without too much of a problem, but then it is difficult to go faster. At the moment, I feel that pushing the bike is harder work than it should be and it’s difficult to get comfortable and go faster. The bike’s rear is spinning a lot and that means we can’t get good grip. If we could solve that problem, we’d be able to go a lot faster for sure. The bike has good power and it’s just a case of finding a way of using it the way we want. The potential is there, we just have to unlock it and that takes time and experience.”
“It’s funny to think that I broke the lap record, lapped faster here than ever before, but still ended up in 15th place! So once again it’s row four of the grid and two good starts required tomorrow.”
“We had some new stuff to try today and I think the early signs are quite positive. Certainly it feels more easy to use the throttle and some of the hesitation has gone. The bike is a bit easier to control and I think we will be able to get a better set-up more quickly. Of course, there’s a lot of work to do, but it’s encouraging and good that we are moving in a positive direction.”
“I am getting a bit disappointed and frustrated because I am unable to get back to the kind of form we showed earlier in the season. OK, I am not yet 100% fit, but I expected more this weekend, even allowing for the condition of my shoulder. Today was terrible for me and most, if not all, of it was down to the fact that I had no grip. It is difficult to ride fast when you have no grip, but at the moment, the bike is not so easy to ride and you have to concentrate every second of the race and that is exhausting – physically and mentally.”
“Although we changed a few things in this morning’s warm-up, the bike didn’t feel comfortable then, or in the races and it’s difficult to push hard when you don’t know where the limits of the bike are. Fortunately we have some tests coming up and I am hoping that we will be able to sort out what’s going on and make some good improvements.” – Troy Corser
Round nine of this year’s Superbike World Championship took place at Donington Park, GB The 4.023 kilometre circuit hosted the first ever WSBK race back in 1988 and is currently undergoing several modifications for the F1 race in 2010.
At the moment, Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport are not having a good run of luck, though Ruben Xaus leading in the damp at Misano last weekend provided the team with a ray of sunshine, in what became a difficult weekend. But, with Misano just a memory, it’s time for Ruben and Troy to think ahead, get back to business and battle for the top ten once more this weekend.
Ruben
It was a great feeling leading a race last weekend, even though the final result was not the best. Last Friday’s practice in Misano was definitely a positive day for us and it is a pity that the weather did not allow us to continue our progression on Saturday and Sunday. But we learned a lot more about the bike and have some ideas about what has to be done. Unfortunately, having another race so soon does not give our team enough time to prepare some solutions and new ideas and we will have to use Friday afternoon to try out many things. But that’s the way it is at the moment and it is up to me and Troy to do the best we can and think positively about the way ahead.
Troy
The best thing I can do is forget Misano and concentrate on Donington and that’s what I am doing. Crashing out before the first race in Misano was very unfortunate because I think I would’ve managed OK in the wet on the bike. Donington is a tough track and it’s certainly going to give us something to think about, especially in the first two sessions. We have a lot of work to do, as usual, but if we can get a good set-up early on and qualify better in Superpole, then we can chase a far more positive result.
TOUGH START FOR RUBEN AND TROY
Friday qualifying, June 26th, conditions: dry, then damp 21C.
Ruben and Troy finished 17th and 20th in a tough qualifying at Donington today, but the lap times are close and a fraction of a second less would’ve placed Ruben in the top ten. The untimed first session took place in the dry, but the second (timed) session started with a damp track, causing many riders to wait and see if conditions improved. The track did dry out and Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) took provisional pole, with Leon Haslam (Honda) second, Ben Spies (Yamaha) third and Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) fourth.
Ruben – 17th, 1:32.186
Before we weren’t able to go fast in the wet, but today I was leading the standings for quite a long time. Then, when the track dried I was overtaken, but the lap times are close and I am happy because I went one second a lap faster here today than I did last year. At the moment, I can get down to quite a good lap time without too much of a problem, but when I want to faster, it is hard to do so. Troy, I and the team are working our hardest and we just need to find that next step up to be more competitive. I am convinced that this bike has potential and it will be great once we can show it.
Troy – 20th, 1:32.476
You cannot just ride this bike, you have to think it and work at it. I can get to a point fairly easily, but then it is a struggle to go just that bit faster. It’s not a new problem, but it’s just something that we have to work on and improve if we want to be challenging more easily for the top ten. It’s kind of frustrating, because we are not that far off and if we can just make that small leap, we’ll be able to fight for the top ten again.
TROY AND RUBEN TOGETHER ON ROW FOUR
final qualifying, Saturday June 27th, conditions: mostly overcast, some rain, 17-19C
Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport riders Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus finished Superpole with the 15th and 16th fastest laps and will start alongside each other on the fourth row of the grid at Donington tomorrow. The team had some new parts from Munich to evaluate, so most of the day was used working with these instead of chasing lap times. At the end of the day, both Troy and Ruben were happy with the new material and are looking forward to more time on the bike and further improvement. American Ben Spies (Yamaha) took his eighth Superpole of the season in a rain-affected Q3, with Max Biaggi (Aprilia) second, Shane Byrne (Ducati) third and Shinya Nakano (Aprilia) fourth.
Troy – 15th, 1:30.916
We had some new stuff to try today and the first signs are encouraging. It was a bit more easy to use the throttle and a bit of an improvement in set-up. Everything feels a bit more fluid and, although there’s still a lot of work to do, I am looking forward to further progress. This series is the hardest and most competitive it has ever been and there are so many strong teams out there all fighting for positions. Considering the level of competition this year, I think we’re doing pretty well at this stage of our development.
Ruben – 16th, 1:31.120
I am going two seconds or so a lap faster than last year and that makes me happy. The new parts have had an impact on me straightaway and I think we can improve the bike quite a bit as we carry on the good work. This series is tough for sure, and it’s interesting to realise that today’s lap times are so much faster than last year. I had a bit of a problem with the brakes on one of my bikes today, otherwise I think I could’ve pushed harder in Superpole. But the important thing is that we are all working hard. Today has given us all something to work towards because we can see the possibilities better.
TOP TEN FOR RUBEN.
Sunday June 28th, Crowd: 61,000 (3-day). Conditions: Dry, overcast first, then sunny, 20-23C
Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport rider Ruben Xaus took a superb ninth place in the second Superbike World Championship race at Donington Park this afternoon. In sunny conditions, Ruben fought his way up through the field from the fourth row of the grid to take his third top ten finish of the season. This followed his 15th place in race one and showed that he and the team have recovered from their recent poor results. Ruben’s team mate Troy did not enjoy such a good day. A crash in race one, when he found a false neutral, and general lack of grip meant a real struggle in race two. But despite the grip problems, Troy kept going and managed to finish the race, albeit outside the points. American Ben Spies (Yamaha) won both 23-lap races today and closed the gap on series leader Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) to just fourteen points. And with Haga injured in race two, and facing a possible lengthy layoff due to a back injury, Spies should be able to take advantage of the situation in the next few races. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) took runner-up spot in race one, with Haga third and and Leon Haslam (Honda) fourth. Second to Spies in a race two was Haslam, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) third and Shane Byrne (Ducati) fourth.
Ruben – Race 1: 15th, Race 2: 9th
That was a tough weekend and I really know that I have done two hard races today. At the moment, the bike is very demanding physically and mentally and it requires a lot of concentration. I am happy to get a top ten finish, but I would be more happy if Troy and I would be getting top six finishes for sure. Today our bike was good in the fast corners, but we lost out on the slow ones. My riding style is more aggressive than Troy and for that you have to be 100% fit. Troy is not 100% fit yet, so he is having a harder time getting the bike round the track at the speeds he would like to do. I see positive signs ahead and I am looking forward to the next two tests.
Troy – Race 1: DNF, Race 2: 20th
For me, it was a terrible day and not such a good weekend. All weekend, I have being having a problem because of the lack of grip and today it was as bad as it has ever been. The bike felt hard to ride today and I got a lot of wheelspin and found it hard to stop it wheelieing. In race one, the bike just jumped out of gear when I tried to backshift from third to second and I was forced into the gravel and had to lay the bike down. Fortunately, I didn’t hurt myself at all, but it was an unnecessary crash. Race two was all about grip, or lack of it. But I kept going, even though I was losing places, because I wanted to give the team as much telemetry info as possible.
Berti Hauser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director)
This weekend has given us a lot of surprises. We were surprised that the weather was not as expected, or forecasted. Happily the conditions were dry for both races, which means that we have a huge package of information and data to take back to our workshops. Regarding the results: we know where we are in the rankings. We know what technical issues we have to improve and we will address them for the next tests. I am happy that Ruben managed a top ten and would like to compliment Troy on bringing the bike home in race two despite difficult crcumstances. We don’t have any deep disappointment this weekend. We realise that we have a lot of work to do and we need to keep improving every time Ruben and Troy go out on the bike.
Berti Hauser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport, Director)
The new parts seem to give the bike better rideability and now we need to do more work and analyse the results. Our bike works normally on race rubber, but it seems quite sensitive when it is on very soft tires and then it requires different settings. We decided to use this weekend more as a test, then look at the data and go for further improvements at the next two tests. Our positions today are not wonderful, but consider that both our riders are quicker than last year’s lap record. That shows how competitive and hard this series is this year. I don’t think this championship has ever been so tough, but we’re ready for the fight and feel positive about the future.
