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.
