WSBK News

In reality it has only been three months but for Carl Fogarty it must have seemed like a lifetime. Foggy has finally been given medical clearance by his doctors to begin training once again, allowing the Blackburn rider to re-build the muscle in his broken left arm.

In the wake of the TIA's decision to uphold Noriyuki Haga's ban and loss of points following his drugs test failures at Kyalami and Monza, Yamaha have taken their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Suzuki's Italian war-horse Frankie Chili has vowed to cut into Colin Edwards' points lead at Laguna Seca this weekend despite having a badly broken collarbone and seven pins in his shoulder.

In several rounds of the World Superbike Championship, the local wild card riders are considered nothing more than a nuisance, slow and untidy with a tendency not to get out of the way whilst being lapped. Not so at Laguna Seca.

On Friday afternoon the FIM released a statement saying that after careful consideration, Yamaha's appeal against Noriyuki Haga's one month ban and deduction of his South Africa points, had failed.

Rumours in the World Superbike paddock at Valencia suggest that Bimota could be returning to the fold in the near future, less than a month after they announced their temporary withdrawal from the championship due to a lack of finance.

The only experience many of the World Superbike riders will have of the 2.95 mile Valencia track will be the three day test in March in which Honda's Colin Edwards emerged fastest.

The troubled Bimota outfit have been forced to temporarily withdraw from the World Superbike Championship after a deal with Levi's fell through leaving the team with very little sponsorship revenue.

It is a good thing that no-one in the factory Ducati team has a weak heart because if they did, they wouldn't last too long in the pit garage this year. Emotions have gone from the highs of victory to the depths of despair and back again in a matter of months.

Yamaha's dreams of clinching the 2000 World Superbike crown may be in tatters with the suspension of Noriyuki Haga but they have good reason to smile about their future prospects.

1. Troy Bayliss AUS Ducati 14 laps. 2. Akira Yanagawa JAP Kawasaki 0.202. 3. Noriyuki Haga JAP Yamaha 0.748. 4. Colin Edwards USA Honda 0.799.

Yamaha rider Noriyuki Haga was at his spectacular best at Hockenheim on Sunday afternoon, snatching victory away from Colin Edwards at the last moment to give both himself and his Yamaha team a much needed boost.

Japanese Yamaha star Noriyuki Haga has incurred the wrath of the International Disciplinary Court for failing two drug tests in the first five rounds of the 2000 World Superbike championship.

Colin Edwards put any lingering doubts over the sheer power of the Castrol Honda straight out of the window by dominating the time-sheets throughout Friday practice.

It has been all change in the Ducati camp ever since Carl Fogarty broke his arm at Phillip Island during round two of the World Superbike championship.

In 1999, Australian veteran Peter Goddard spent most of his time developing Aprilia's initially troublesome RSV1000 in the team's first factory assault on the World Superbike Championship.

Defending World Superbike Champion Carl Fogarty was given a second brain scan recently after the Ducati star suffered a severe bout of headaches at his Blackburn home.

Yamaha's spectacular number one rider Noriyuki Haga is facing a possible three month ban from the World Superbike championship after he was twice found to be over the FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme) limit for ephedrine, a dietary supplement.

Hockenheim, like Monza is a power circuit with long blasts punctuated with tight, fiddly chicanes. It is not uncommon to see a train of ten to twelve bikes towing each other around the 4.2 mile German Grand Prix circuit where keeping momentum is of premium importance.

Tragedy hit the British Superbike series last weekend, when a spectator was killed by a machine which flew into the crowd at Oulton Park.

Throughout practice and qualifying, the Honda of Texan Colin Edwards was the rider/bike combination to beat. Edwards turned in two stunning laps to take top spot in qualifying which he then translated into a third successive Superpole victory.

Superpole results.