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Courtesy Netrider,
This may be old news??

Biaggi moves to WSBK with Suzuki
Saturday January 14, 2006 at 01:55:41 PM by Netrider | Send To Friend

Italian rider Max Biaggi will compete next season in the WSBK with a bike from the current champions' Suzuki's stable.

This confirms the situation that Biaggi will no longer continue his career in the MotoGP after a disappointed 2005 season in which he finished fifth place with the Repsol Honda team taking no victories and was far away in the chase for the World Championship.

Biaggi announced two days ago that he will unveil a book, to be published in a few weeks time, in which all the secrets of his relationship with Repsol Honda will be revealed and exactly what led to his departure from one of the top teams in the Continental Circus.

Team Alstare Suzuki dominated the WSBK last year taking the championship with their bike in the capable hands of Troy Corser. Biaggi won't be able to carry number '3' on his bike as he did in MotoGP because it belongs to Japanese rider Norick Abe, so the Italian will have number '30' in his new challenge.

Biaggi had also negotiated with Kawasaki for next season when he realised his MotoGP options were done.

The 34 year old rider won four times the World Championship in the 250cc class from 1994 to 1997. He also scored 13 victories in MotoGP and three times was the sub-championship ('98, '01 and '02).

Another Italian rider, Franco Battaini, will also move from MotoGP to WSBK this year. The 33 year old rider will compete with a Kawasaki ZX10R for the Bertocchi team.

The WSBK championship begins on February 25th on Losail Circuit of Doha, Qatar.

Who knows..!!

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2006/Jan/060117o.htm

or this...

Max Biaggi is testing the Midlands F1 car today and over the next two days at Silverstone circuit in Great Britain. The four times 250 World Champion had planned to fly on Sunday from Los Angeles to Melbourne to test the Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki at the SBK/Pirelli tire tests taking place over four days from the 17th of January through the 21st, but complications in his arrangements with the team have stalled the still un-signed agreement.

Biaggi now has a solid offer on the table from Francis Batta, owner of the Alstare Suzuki team, but, contrary to reports in the Italian media, the deal has NOT been signed, and, although generous by World Superbike standards, it is for far less that Max earned with Honda in 2005. The deal is for less than one million dollars, but, once signed, offers Biaggi the opportunity to bring additional sponsorship that could increase his earnings.

Suzuki Japan has balked at supporting Batta with additional machines for Biaggi, but the team has budget and provisional plans to build machines for Biaggi identical (in all respects but suspension as will be explained) to those raced by Superbike World Champion Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama.

Unlike MotoGP, where machines (or engines in the case of constructor teams like WCM and Team Roberts) are obtainable only from the factories, the most expensive “free market” components of the World Superbike package are electronics and suspension. The motorcycles are homologated production machines which can be modified under FIM rules to increase performance. Although direct links with the factory make the engine preparer’s life easier, working with the rule back in hand a race engineer with a reasonable budget can match the works and even beat them on occasion, as the Ten Kate Honda team illustrated in World Supersport in the recent past. Fortunately for Batta, the Suzuki electronics (ignition, traction and wheelie control) is available from Mitsubishi for around $350,000 (about 25 times the cost of a standard GSX-R 1000 Suzuki) and tires, the most costly component and critical “outside” component in MotoGP prototype racing, are supplied for a set fee of about $55,000 for the entire season by Pirelli.

But, with the tire factor neutralized the use of Pirelli control tires, the importance of suspension has increased. Now Showa has refused to supply Biaggi…a major setback and perhaps even a deal-breaker since Biaggi has said he will only run with Suzuki if he has a machine identical to Corser’s.

When Showa, a subsidiary of Honda, told Batta that they would not support Biaggi or make their factory suspension components available to Batta for Max’s use, Batta contacted Ohlins about supplying the parallel Alstare Suzuki team that would run Biaggi and former World Supersport Champion Fabien Foret out of the other half of the team’s double garage. Batta assured Biaggi today that he will have top-of-the-line components and support from Ohlins, but he has also told the Italian that his decision must be made very quickly if the team is to have time to build machines in time for him to test at Valencia on February 6 and 7, just two weeks before the opening race.

Team sponsors Corona Extra, also the World Superbike title sponsor, will increase their spend to include this parallel “team within a team,” but rumors of the involvement of the Italian MS cigarette company are not confirmed. There is interest by MS and several other potential secondary sponsors, but at present nothing is finalized.

Biaggi will test the Toyota V8 powered Midland F1 car, now fitted with a new Midland gearbox. Christijan Albers will also be testing and Tiago Monteiro, who has not yet signed with the Midland team, is also expected to test. These tests take place prior to the official presentation of the 2006 M16 car set to be launched February 3. Biaggi, if he is quick and wants to make the move, could be a candidate for the slot that the Portuguese driver Monteiro seeks.

But the Midland M16 is not a competitive car in F1 and it seems that Max’s only option to competitive machinery is with the powerful Alstare Suzuki team in World Superbike. Normally a rider of Biaggi’s ability and record would have been snapped up as soon as he was fired by Honda HRC, but it now seems blatantly clear that Honda HRC, for whatever reasons, has vetoed Biaggi from any Honda satellite teams. For this reason it is not even an option for Max to sit on the sidelines and await a call as a replacement rider. It seems probable that Max’s name is on a “black list” that seems to extend beyond Honda and even beyond the MotoGP paddock….a controversial situation that FIM President Francesco Zerbi intends to take up with MSMA President (and top Honda executive) Suguru Kanazawa when the two meet early next month.

Because Biaggi spent so long pursuing a Kawasaki ride in MotoGP only to have Bridgestone refuse to supply tires at the last minute, Max has only been working on a Superbike ride since just before Christmas, and now it is again a Japanese supplier, Showa, that has refused to provide support for Biaggi just when all the other pieces were in place.

With the first World Superbike races of the season set to be run in Qatar on February 25th, however, friends of Max who have spoken to him today, say that he is very serious and even nervous about the F1 tests. It would not seem that Max needs any extra publicity since, due to his controversial relationship with Honda and his unsuccessful attempts over the winter to find a MotoGP team, he has actually been in the headlines of the European and Italian sports sections more that Rossi himself. Now one of the best riders of his generation and arguably the best 250 rider in FIM history must decide if he really wants to continue racing motorcycles, turn his attention to Formula 1, or whether he will retire at 34 with four titles and 42 Grand Prix victories to his credi

MadKaw wrote:Who knows..!!
...... or whether he will retire at 34 with four titles and 42 Grand Prix victories to his credi

ONE CAN ONLY HOPE!!!!!

From Biaggi's website:

Hi guys,
reading news papers I've realized that the excitement between me and Superbike, or however for my future, it’s really high. As I already mentioned you last week, on January 10th, the SBK is a championship that has excited me lots of time, that I’ve followed and always esteemed and I have never said that would never have raced there, as someone wrote!!
I’ve also read, with a bit of irony, that I would have signed a contract for the 2006 season with Suzuki Corona, even two days ago… this thing shocked me!
Surely if a concrete proposal arrived, I would be happy to consider it.
In this period I’ve had different opportunities, some of them very interesting, and I am thinking what option could be the best one for me.
If for absurd I'd add two extra wheels, the show will change!
In this period I am having good fun driving the GO-Kart 100cc … could it be a sign???? Ah! It’s also true that a few minutes from here we have Disneyland…
The bike is my great passion, but I would love to have at the same time a good fun and an healthy competition, these aspect are essential for me.
Yesterday, for example, I’ve trained with my Supermotard bike and my friend
Jeff Word (7 times world champion Supercross Ama) and I’ve enjoyed so much. This is to make you understand how easily I have fun!
Of course is also very important to find a good technical packet, in order to be able to race a satisfactory season, for whom like me is racing for winning.
However you know that, despite this is a particular and very delicate moment of my life, I’m living it with serenity and this thanks to all of you that always have a good word and cover up my email-box with all of your love.
Thanks guys.

Ah! for everybody: I’m still in America, just to avoid others misunderstandings…

Talk to you soon,
take care.

With Bayliss, Biaggi, etc. going to Superbike I reckon the championship would be better than MotoGP, even more considering that MotoGP will run s smaller bike

.. and you can ride around the track too

javaman wrote:With Bayliss, Biaggi, etc. going to Superbike I reckon the championship would be better than MotoGP, even more considering that MotoGP will run s smaller bike

.. and you can ride around the track too

Whoa.. there...

Superbikes is certainly shaping up be a great show this year but it won't be as good as the main game - MotoGP... IMO

Actually I think Javaman has made a fair call, F1 cars are shit boring due to M Schumacher dominating so much (with the exception of last season) and the MotoGP is becoming similar with Rossi spanking everyone, the big plus for Motogp is that Rossi has a personality of course

Credit where it's due to Schumacher and Rossi that they have the determination and skill to come up year after year however for Mr/Mrs Joe Average it gets a bit repetitive and predictable. IMHO.

they said exactly the same thing when Dick Moohan won everything during the 90's..........and they were dead right.

In fact, at one stage, I just stopped watching GP's altogether because who wants to watch people race for 2nd place ??????? and lets face it, during the mid-nineties, that's all it was........

Hopefully there will be some better competition for Vale this year, we can only live in hope.....

Gosling1 wrote:they said exactly the same thing when Dick Moohan won everything during the 90's..........and they were dead right.

In fact, at one stage, I just stopped watching GP's altogether because who wants to watch people race for 2nd place ??????? and lets face it, during the mid-nineties, that's all it was........

Hopefully there will be some better competition for Vale this year, we can only live in hope.....

you cant possibly say that mick was boring to watch?
a man with the injuries he carries, controlling a bike in such a manner?
More skill then most racers could ever dream about.

well, in some respects, yes. Don't get me wrong, Mick's abilities on a bike are beyond question, he was the best .....but would you watch the Melbourne Cup every year, if you knew which horse was going to win every year ??

I wasn't so much doubting his ability, just the 'spectator' value of watching a race, knowing that the same rider in almost every event, was going to waltz off into the distance, without the pack even snapping at his heels.

I guess my experiences of televised GP racing go back to the very first GP's televised on SBS, with Will Hagon ( I think), doing the commentary, and a pack including Lawson, Schwantz, Mamola, Gardner, Rainey, etc, any one of which could win any race, it wasn't really a lay-down misere....and this variety and excitement just dissapeared after Mick's 2nd or 3rd titles for me it was a bit like that with Vale as well, at least last year some of the pack started closing up to him........and close racing is exciting racing, its that simple......for me anyway

red_dave wrote:

javaman wrote:With Bayliss, Biaggi, etc. going to Superbike I reckon the championship would be better than MotoGP, even more considering that MotoGP will run s smaller bike

.. and you can ride around the track too

Whoa.. there...

Superbikes is certainly shaping up be a great show this year but it won't be as good as the main game - MotoGP... IMO

And the main game is MOTO GP..... after all it's all about staying at the track and partying............. Trees included...

I like the supers but the GP is the main event. (waits for sledges)

Apart from Baylis and Corser, what have the supers got for us that the GP has? We had just as much enjoyment watching Nakkers get a top 10 as seeing Stalker loose his way around the track, yes?



Put a decent rider on the ZX10 and maybe I'll change my mind.

Whilst its good to have this ex-MotoGP crowd in superbikes and it should make for some more interesting racing, its also disappointed. Its been proved these guys are no longer top class material, and these geriatrics will only serve to clog up a development pipeline of younger riders.