Althea boss dismisses rivals' Ducati advantage claims

Genesio Bevilacqua: I think that our rivals should clarify their declarations as they continue to insist that they believe us to be at an advantage when the opposite is in fact true.
Checa, Bevilacqua, Misano WSBK Race 1 2011
Checa, Bevilacqua, Misano WSBK Race 1 2011
© Gold and Goose

Genesio Bevilacqua says rival World Superbike teams should be giving his Althea Racing squad 'more respect' for its overall efforts, rather than insisting its success is down to the 'advantage' of using Ducati machinery.

Bevilacqua's Althea team made the switch from Honda to Ducati bikes in 2010, a move that transformed it from mid-field minnows into fully-fledged title contenders.

Indeed, on the weekend its rider Carlos Checa made it wins nine and ten this season, thus increasing his lead in the standings to 62 points, Bevilacqua has hit out at rival teams for justifying their success as being down to the twin-cylinder machine having an apparent advantage.

Insisting the 1098R is not unfairly faster than its competition, Bevilacqua is urging his rivals to give Althea Racing and Checa 'more respect' and not discredit its achievements with such claims.

"A double win that gives us great satisfaction," he said. "We've achieved two wins at just the right time and they help increase our championship advantage. A true demonstration of strength by our rider who made the most of everything we have given him on a technical level.

"I would like to underline that it has been a difficult weekend from a media point of view; I think that our rivals should clarify their declarations as they continue to insist that they believe us to be at an advantage when the opposite is in fact true. What we bring to the floor is our strength as a team, a great rider and a bike that has less acceleration. We also lose at least 12km/h of top speed at every track.

"I would therefore like to see more respect being paid when it comes to the hard work of our team and our rider. We will continue to work to achieve our objectives and Ducati's objective."

Ducati has been the source of much controversy since organisers allowed it to race with a 1200cc twin-cylinder machine from 2008, in contrast to the four-cylinder 1000cc bikes used by its rivals.

Equalisation rules have been in effect since then, but have been regularly adjusted in an effort to level the playing field. However, Ducati's official withdrawal from the series at the end of the 2010 season was rumoured to be because it was not satisfied it was receiving fair treatment.

Ducati is tipped to race the next-generation 1098R in the World Superbike Championship next season, though it isn't certain whether it will return in full capacity or donate the bike to Althea.

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