25 Years of World Superbike: Laconi, Pitt and Charpentier
The most exciting finale ever in the 25-year history of the Superbike World Championship at Magny-Cours set the scene for another chapter in the SBK Hall of Fame. On a day that saw a triumph for French motorcycling, with four different winners in five races (Jeremy Guarnoni in STK1000, Sylvain Guintoli in SBK race 1, Jules Cluzel in Supersport and Guillaume Raymond in the final round of the KTM European Junior Cup), two famed ‘motard' riders of the calibre of Regis Laconi and Sebastien Charpentier, together with the Australian two-time Supersport World Champion Andrew Pitt, were awarded their prestigious 25 Years medal.
For Regis Laconi, 2004 WSBK runner-up with the factory Ducati Fila team, it was an important recognition for a successful career entirely dedicated to two wheels and one that rapidly helped him to become one of the most-loved figures in the SBK paddock. The man from Saint-Dizier raced 173 times for Aprilia, Ducati and Kawasaki, scoring a total of 28 podiums including 11 wins, the first at Imola in 2001 on a factory Aprilia RSV1000. He then scored ten others in 2004 and 2005 with the factory Ducati team, coming very close to winning the title. Forced to retire from racing after an unfortunate incident in Kyalami practice in 2009, Regis has since then mainly devoted himself to cycling, his other chief passion even when he was racing bikes!
While Laconi was unable to taste the joy of victory at his home Magny-Cours round, Sebastien Charpentier did so in 2006, his second title win in a category in which he truly made his name. Seb holds the record for pole positions (22) and in 87 races he stepped onto the podium 23 times, with 13 wins to his name. Twelve of these came in 2005-2006 with two successive titles conquered together with Ten Kate Honda.
From one World Supersport champ to another: and this time a rider with SBK glory to his name. Andrew Pitt hit the top spot in 2001 with Kawasaki (the first for the Akashi manufacturer) and then in 2008 with Ten Kate Honda. Appreciated for his refined ability as a test-rider, the multi-talented Australian scored two title wins and 7 race wins in Supersport, but between 2005 and 2006 he also raced for Yamaha Motor Italia in Superbike with excellent results, the best one being his race 2 win at Misano in 2006. After hanging up his leathers for good at the start of 2012, with his entry into the SBK Hall of Fame Pitt has crowned a satisfactory and truly successful career in racing.
