Wayne Gardner gets to grips with Superbikes
One man however whose name has never graced the World Superbike stage is Wayne Gardner, the 1987 500 cc World Champion. Infront Motor Sports took the opportunity to invite Wayne down to Portimao to see what WSB was all about, as well as to test the latest factory machinery.
Apart from a brief ride on Kevin Curtain's Kawasaki ZX-10R machine, the last time Wayne had ridden a Superbike was in 1992 at the Suzuka 8 Hours so as tester for Australian monthly magazine Rapid Bikes, he relished the opportunity to get to grips with the bikes. We caught up with him after an exhausting day's testing, just before he headed to the airport for the long trip home to Australia....
"First of all it's an honour and a pleasure to be here, it's my first time to the circuit and it's been a long time since I've ridden such good bikes. The tests have been interesting, I've ridden the weakest ones to the strongest ones, some have a long way to go and some have surprised me the way they are as good as or even better than my GP bikes from the 80s and the early 90s. That's how far street bikes have come in such a short period."
When pressed on his preferences of the seven factory machines, Wayne finally came clean.
"Testing all these bikes is like having seven different wives in one day, they've all got different personalities and characters, down to some of the weaker ones that were quite a handful to hang on to."
| "The Aprilia was the best bike, it's a very precise, ‘point and squirt', and has good power. It was not the fastest but it had the most directional, confidence-inspiring chassis, and gives good feedback for the tyres on the road." |
| "And just behind the Aprilia was the BMW! It steers very precisely and very well, considering it's got a cross-the-frame four-cylinder engine. Out of all the four-cylinder bikes, I'd say this and the Honda were the best handling of the four". |
| "On this up and down circuit, one of the best bikes around here is the Ducati, I had lots of fun with it. It's got lots of big Vee-twin power, but it's tractable power and the bike was really fun to ride". |
| "The Honda is always fast and very good. The gearbox felt smooth and precise via the quickshifter. Speed on the straight is good and acceleration is also very strong. With over 215-horsepower on hand, I'd forgotten how much fun a fast race bike was..." |
| "The Kawasaki was the big surprise, it was right up there! It gave me one of the best lap times and was very confidence-inspiring but their traction control is too strong. I'd say if they fix that up it will be a strong bike next year". |
| "Probably the Suzuki is one of the weakest bikes out there. It feels big and old-fashioned. It had a great engine but the chassis is a bit outdated, I think the Japanese have got some work to do there to be a front-runner". |
| "For me the big surprise was the Yamaha, I was expecting a lot more of it. It's probably got the best engine, but the effort required to get that bike around the corner surprised me. It really emphasizes how good Ben Spies is, I believe he's won not on the best bike so it's a testament of his ability." |
We then asked him about what he thought of the riders he had seen out on the track on Sunday.
"Spies is an interesting case. He's a lot more technical-minded than I was expecting, he understands exactly what's happening on the bike. For Ben to come into the championship and win it like that is very important. I'll be watching him with interest".
"Rea is a real talent, he makes time in the right places and has a good head on his shoulders for such a young kid. I think he's got a good chance of being a world champion next year, but I hope he doesn't hang around here for too long as he's too good".
"Fabrizio is very fast and very talented but is a bit hot-headed, he needs to have a cold shower on his decisions. He's good but needs to use a bit more brain power on some of the silly moves he's made. He's someone to watch in the future".
We also asked Wayne what he thought of the championship. Despite the fact that his career was forged before World Superbike started in 1988, he has a keen eye for what makes racers and championships tick.
"This is a great class of racing. The average consumer that goes and buys a motorcycle can come and see his bike race, that's the great beauty. It's good advertising for the manufacturers so that's why they show strong support. Because they're all modified street bikes it produces very close racing. There are not just one or two winners, as it is in GP sometimes and there's a great a variety of manufacturers so it puts on a good show on the racetrack which is our stage. TV enhances that and I think that Infront Motor Sports and the SBK championship is really flourishing and has a very bright future. For me it opened my eyes up here how good and professional it is and it was a pleasure to be here this weekend".
