World SuperSport 2003 - Round 10 - Imola

Race date: 28 September 2003
Track length: 4933m
Year opened: 1952
2002 WSB winner: Colin Edwards (Honda) (both races) WSB lap record: 1:48.717 - Colin Edwards (Honda)
2002 WSS winner: Katsuaki Fujiwara (Suzuki) WSS lap record: 1:53.954 - Fabien Foret (Honda)

Kayo and Curtain add extra spice The Supersport World Championship makes its third and final visit to Italy this season when the penultimate round of the 2003 campaign takes place at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, on the outskirts of the town of Imola, a 20 minute drive from the city of Bologna, next weekend (September 26-28).

This undulating 4.9km circuit is one of four circuits shared between the World Supersport and Formula One car racing series, which means that teams and fans alike can expect to find great facilities. Imola has been the scene of many great battles on both four wheels and two and last season’s World Superbike title showdown between Troy Bayliss and Colin Edwards showed that this circuit can produce some great bike racing action.

This year the Imola event will be especially hectic for Yamaha. In addition to the seven regular supported Supersport riders, Yamaha will also have two additional entries for this race: Japanese 250 champion Tekkyu Kayo and five-times Australian champion Kevin Curtain. Kayo will ride in the colours of the Italian Yamaha Belgarda Team, while the experienced Curtain is riding for Yamaha Motor Germany.

Yamaha YZF-R6 set-up report

An interesting layout Imola, like so many circuits used by Formula One cars, is bumpy with a lot of surface changes making chassis set-up critical. The many chicanes added in to slow down the cars over the years have emancipated fast and challenging corners like Tamburello and Villeneuve and contribute to the stop-start nature which puts a premium on front-end feel. For the riders it is an interesting track to ride, although one of the more challenging tracks at which to find an optimum setting.

These slow corners provide a good opportunity to outbrake rivals, making stability and front-end feedback vital. To cope with the bumps, which are small and rippled, the riders will normally run a fairly soft front spring to provide a plush ride, although this does cause the bike to bottom out under hard braking. To compensate, a smaller air chamber will be used in the front forks.

Supersport rules allow the use of different camshafts, air intakes and fuel injection mappings to boost power over the stock bike. The many slow corners at Imola means that the top-power specification used at some of the faster tracks will be replaced by a more conservative motor tuned to deliver strong mid-range power between 8,000 and 12,000rpm. This mid-range punch is a real benefit at Imola, which has two uphill sections. These follow low-gear corners where it is difficult to make an advantage from carrying high corner speed.

Power counts up these hills, and the Yamaha has generally worked well on these types of circuit, with the R6 regularly recording the fastest speed trap figures thanks to this strong acceleration out of the slow corners.

Season so far

Vermeulen can win the title in Italy A crash for Jurgen van den Goorbergh (Yamaha Belgarda Team) at Assen may have ruled the Dutchman out of the championship race, but there is still plenty to play for at the final two races.

The Australian with the Dutch name, Chris Vermeulen (Honda), looks to have one hand on the title and will secure the title with a finish of eighth or better in Imola. Second in the final standings is still a possibility for Van den Goorbergh, who is keen to chalk up his first win in a debut Supersport season that has seen him on the podium in four of the ten races so far.

Christian Kellner (Yamaha Motor Germany) was a winner in Sugo and some strong results in the last two rounds could see him with a top five championship finish. Challenging him for that honour will be Italian rider Alessio Corradi (Yamaha Team Italia Spadaro) who is currently seventh in the series and always impressive on home territory.