Aprilia WSB pedigree a spur for RSV4 squad
Wednesday, 25 February 2009 16:04 GMT
Aprilia WSB pedigree a spur for RSV4 squad
After a strong showing in recent testing the exquisite vee-four Aprilia RSV4 has already demonstrated some of its more obvious capabilities early in its development cycle. With riders of the calibre of Max Biaggi and Shinya Nakano already making great strides on track, the prospect of Aprilia podium finishes sooner rather than later is a real possibility. And given Aprilia's previous exploits in a short but glorious period of factory WSB racing between 1999 and 2002, it's easy to see why everyone is getting excited by the return of the 'men in black'.
Aprilia Racing has, in fact, a glorious past in WSB, with Troy Corser going third in the championship standings in 2000 and fourth in 2001, on the vee-twin RSV 1000. In total, Aprilia riders secured a remarkable 26 podiums. Of those top three finishes, 18 went to Corser, one to Regis Laconi and seven to Noriyuki Haga. An Aprilia race victory total of eight came almost exclusively from Corser between 2000 and 2001, but Regis Laconi took a famous win at the final round of the 2001 season, at Imola.
What price more victories being added to the Aprilia total in 2009?
