Following the statement issued by the Airwaves Ducati team after it was informed that the Ducati 1098R is to given a ten kilo weight penalty by Bennetts British Superbike Championship officials, Crash.net contacted team boss Colin Wright to get the latest on whether or not the team will run at Donington Park this weekend...


Crash.net:
Colin, can you give us an update regarding Donington?

Colin Wright:
Nothing has changed at this minute.

As Darrell said, we are investigating the possibility of how and where to fit the weight. The problem is that nobody – Ducati or the factory team – has tested the bike with this sort of weight added and therefore we can't guarantee the safety of either the parts fitted or the weight fitted and we don't know about the stability of the bike, the brakes, or whether it is going to stress the engine more.

The bottom line is that, had we had known this was a possibility, we would have tested it and would have known what any possible problems would be. In other forms of motorsport they add weight but the teams know it is going to happen and they test it.

Crash.net:
MCRCB said that the rules would be under periodic review during the year so do you know how it was decided that the 1098 had an advantage? Is there a system in place like in WSBK?

Colin Wright:
No there is no system.

Crash.net:
So do you know how it was decided you had an advantage?

Colin Wright:
I can only assume it is following a conversation between the MCRCB and MSVR board. I've done the sums myself and having used the World Superbike system, we worked it out as 2.17 points difference.

Crash.net:
So there would have been no need for a change with that system...

Colin Wright:
Like Darrell said in the press release, he questioned had Cal not fallen off at Oulton Park and been 44 points behind Shane, would they have made the same decision? I think the answer is probably not.

Crash.net:
Six kilos is the current difference between twins and fours in WSBK, do you know where this ten kilo figure for BSB has come from?

Colin Wright:
Not at all. The one thing we do know, because Ducati have tested it, is what the bike would perform like and what the set-up would be at 171 or 172 kilos – whatever it is. We would be happy to do it. The real truth is that they want to convince the other manufacturers that by bringing their RPM down, they aren't going to lose out to the Ducati.

Crash.net:
So you think that is the trade off they are trying to sell to them?

Colin Wright:
Yeah and they'd rather keep the rest of the paddock happy instead of us. They have to keep the majority happy at the end of the day I suppose.

Crash.net: