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2011
MONZA

VALLELUNGA 2005 - Italy 25th September

PICTURES AT BOTTOM OF PAGE

WORLD ENDURANCE - VALLELUNGA - THE FINAL 2005 ROUND - AND A BRAND NEW TRACK...

VALLELUNGA 2005 - THE RACE

The last race of the 2005 World Endurance Championship was held at the heavily-revised Autodromo De Vallelunga about 60km from Rome. This final race would be a 200 mile sprint event that would decide 2nd and 3rd in the Championship, as castrol Suzuki had already won the 2005 crown after their win at the Oschersleben 24 hour event and were uncatchable.
With the Kawasaki teams of Bolliger No.8 and Diablo 999 getting podiums at the last event and occupying 2nd and third in the points, the pressure was on them to maintain their positions. Yamaha Austria No.7 and Phase One No.3 were both out to improve their points table standings and would be pushing hard.

One of the strongest teams in the Championship, Yamaha Austria No.7 had suffered set-back after set-back throughout the season but even when 2004 rivals GMT94 had all their bikes and equipment stolen just days before the Bol d'Or 24 hour race in the Masters' series one week before the Vallelunga round, the Austrian team were still generous to their former rivals by sending both of their race bikes, along with two technicians for GMT94 to use at the Magny Cours event. Although the GMT94 team came second, the Austrian Yamahas proved their strength and were ready to contest the last 200 miles back with their parent team.

Unfortunately, Yamaha Austria's run of bad luck was set to continue at Vallelunga. A qualifying crash for Gwen Giabbani on his first flying lap resulted in a broken helmet, an event which automatically meant a hospital visit to check for head trauma. The nearest hospital was in Rome and the traffic was particularly heavy, meaning that Gwen was unable to return to the track and set a qualifying time - but in any event, he was nursing and extremely painful right shoulder with a suspected broken clavicle. Early x-rays proved inconclusive, as breaks are normally easier to spot after local swelling has forced the broken bones apart - but it would rule Giabbani, the fastest rider in the Yamaha Austria team, out of the race.

Their rivals, Castrol Suzuki were also in trouble. Rider Vincent Philippe, recovering from breaking a bone in his hand at Oschersleben, crashed at the Tornantino slow hairpin and landed on the same hand, effectively once again ruling him out of the race.

One positive aspect of all of this was that as Vallelunga was only a 200 mile race (effectively 2 hours), only two riders were needed and it wouldn't be the major catastrophe that it would prove in a longer race.

Without Gwen Giabbani to challenge for Yamaha Austria, once again the Castrol Suzuki took pole position, Matthieu Lagrive setting the fastest time. The Swiss Bolliger Kawasaki No.8 with Marcel Kellenberger and David Morillon were in 2nd and local heroes Team Spring on the No.10 Ducati had 3rd ahead of Yamaha Austria.
Many teams weren’t worried about qualifying times as many elected to try for their fastest times on race rubber instead of super-sticky qualifiers.

The British Phase One No.3 team had two Australians as their main team riders (Warwick Nowland and Damien Cudlin) with Andi Notman being snapped up by the Fagersjo-el Suzuki team, which had entered 3 machines for this event.

The scheduled appearance of female race Samuela De Nardi for the Aprilia Motociclismo Team didn’t happen, as Samuela had suffered a back injury in a previous Italian Championship race (which she won!) but two other Italian teams, X-One No.105 and Ducati Y2K No.999 both had female riders from the Italian Womens Trofeo series – X-One with Letitzia Marchetti racing alongside two jounalists (one French, one Italian), with the Ducati team running Paola Cazzola and Chiara Valentini alongside endurance veteran Gianmaria Liverani.

The race was on for Yamaha Austria to elevate themselves from their 4th position in the Championship behind Diablo 666 and for Bolliger to have a trouble-free race to keep 2nd in the Championship secure.

THE RACE

After the run across the track, everyone got away without problems...except one team. It seems that at every race start, there is one team with a problem...this time it was the turn of James Hutchins on the Diablo 666 Kawasaki who rolled to a standstill 50 meters from the start at the exit of the pit lane, the engine revving but with no drive. When the team finally realized that their rider had stopped, they rushed the machine back to the pits where they found that the the rear Dymag wheel had failed, the wheel centers’ ceramic bonding breaking way and leaving the rear wheel hub spinning freely inside the wheel...and Diablo 666 Kawasaki’s 3rd place in the Championship was now in severe jeopardy.

Wildcards Rosso Racing No.141 were another first lap casualty, exiting the race with a blown engine – and two laps later the Innodrom Suzuki was out. When the rider went for the brakes at the very fast and banked Cimini curve, something had fallen off the front braking system and rider Eric Monot had no brakes at all...stamping hard on the rear brake wouldn’t scrub off enough speed and the bike crashed hard. Monot was ok but the bike was out of the race, too damaged to continue.

The Bolliger Kawasaki, David Morillon on board, had taken the lead from the start but within two laps Matthieu Lagrive had passed him on the Castrol Suzuki No.2 a started to pull away, with Warwick Nowland on the Phase One Yamaha getting into 2nd place a few laps later. The Diablo Kawasaki was back on track but had lost three laps because of their rear wheel failure and their chance of 3rd in the Championship had evaporated.

Without Giabbani, Yamaha Austria were struggling to match the two Australians on the Phase One No.3 and catching the flying No.2 Castrol Suzuki was a distant dream. By Lap 25 the Castrol bike headed the field by 17 seconds, a gap that would extend all through the two hour, 79 lap race.

With only two other retirements (the No.110 Polizei NRW Suzuki crashing heavily on lap 7 with rider Eric Van Loock and the No.5 Bridgestone Bikers Profi Suzuki out on lap 33, the fight on the track was between the Fagersjo-el No.12 Suzuki of Andi Notman and Lars Carlbark and the No.6 Shell Academy Yamaha of Calvin Hogan, Ben Wylie and Marko Rohtlaan.

Lap 39, half distance and the Castrol Suzuki was now 47 seconds in the lead, ahead of Phase One No.3 who were in turn 11 seconds in front of Yamaha Austria with the Bolliger Kawasaki over 30 seconds back in 4th, the Spring Ducati N.10 in 5th.

There the order stayed, Yamaha Austria manager Mandy Kainz telling his riders not to push Phase One, as they wouldn’t improve their Championship positions by taking 2nd in the race. With Diablo 666 still racing but out of the points, Yamaha Austria were running 3rd in the World Championship at that stage and wouldn’t want to risk anything happening if they pushed too hard.

200 miles later, Castrol Suzuki crossed the finish line as the winners, Matthieu Lagrive doing a victory lap and “swimming”, lying face-down on the bike and making swimming motions as he crossed the line again. Phase One were second with Damian Cudlin getting his first-ever World Endurance podium visit and Yamaha Austrias Thomas Hinterreiter and Igor Jerman took the thrid step on the podium, along with the injured Gwen Giabbani.

Bolliger were 4th, cementing their 2nd place in the World Championship with Yamaha Austria the 3rd best in the world.

That’s 2005 – next year Zolder joins the World Endurance Championship and early indications are that Castrol Suzuki will again be back to defend their crown from the first round of 2006 at Assen on the 17th of April.

RACE REPORT FROM CALVIN HOGAN - SHELL ENDURANCE ACADEMY YAMAHA No.6 RIDER

The weekend didn't get of to best of starts for us, as our third rider this weekend failed to turn up on Wednesday, leaving both Phase One teams with only two riders, something team boss Russell Benney did not want to do, so a quick phone call to our team mate of all year Marko ensured we had three riders and a spare rider just in case anything happened in the senior team. I believe the phone call went on the lines of Russell asking Marko whether he wanted to ride over the weekend, Marko replied "...I'm already packing!"

There was free practice on Wednesday afternoon and with only me and Ben there at the time it gave us a little more time to learn yet another new track. Going out and being overtaken in the first session by every man and his dog is a little frustrating at times and this was no different. With the championship so tight with ourselves only 2 points ahead of Italian team No Limits, who no doubt live across the road from the circuit, we had to jump onto the pace straight away, with Marko arriving Thursday and knowing the track from last year I knew we wouldn't have too much of a problem come race day.

Qualifying went ok for us, I was still learning the track but managed to put a respectful time in, knowing I could go quicker in the race, with my fastest lap of the second qualifying session being on the last lap with a 30 minute old rear tyre which to say the least had seen better days! Marko however was on an absolute mission and put a stunning time in which was less than 1/2 a second slower than the Seniors, hoisting us up to 7th on the grid next to the Senior team (Phase One No.3).

It was decided that I would start the race, not quite sure why but I jumped at the chance, having never started an endurance race before, then as the race approached started packing it! On the start of the warm up lap where we have to do a mock start my nerves weren't helped at all by stalling the bike! However on the real start I actually got away well, but not being used to first corner scenarios since the Boxer Cup last October in Valencia where I was t-boned on the second corner by a Spanish wild-card, I got bullied back a few places on the opening lap. I did manage to pick the places back through the stint and brought the bike back after the first hour in 7th place. Marko rode brilliantly, as he has all year and hoisted us up to 5th. Which made for a really good race because Diablo had problems at the start which cost them 2 laps and were in 20th place but rising. That meant for us to take 5th place in the championship Diablo had to fail to score a point and us to finish in 5th.

Marko pitted 5 laps early, and handed over to Ben, unfortunately Ben couldn't quite hold on to 5th, being overtaken in the final stages by the very fast local Ducati team, and in the dying stages by former Phase One Senior rider Andi Notman riding this weekend for Team Fagersjol-el Suzuki Sweden. However due to Marko pitting early the bike was actually spluttering round on the last lap running out of fuel and Ben was lucky to cross the finish line...it stopped soon after the line and he pushed back to parc ferme.

Overall, this year has been the best of my career to date, 6th place in the World Championship and 7th at the Bol d'Or was better than we could have expected considering that 7 months ago, I had never even sat on a Superbike, let alone compete in a race lasting more than 30 minutes! I must thank everyone at Phase One, with special thanks to Russell, Roy, Bill, Keith, Steve and Rox who have been the backbone of Phase One and Shell Endurance Academy throughout the year.

Special thanks to my team mates Marko, Ben and Christer (replacing Marko at the Bol) for all the hard work on and off track this year. Also thanks to Phase One Senior riders Warwick, Damo and Andi, who have helped immensely when I've been struggling with certain problems either with the bike or a particular section of track throughout the year. Roll on Feb 2006 when we can get this show back on the road!

Thanks!
Calvin Hogan #6

BEN WYLIE AT VALLELUNGA - AND ANOTHER THING...

7th place at the final round of the World Endurance Championship in Italy meant we finished 6th in the championship, a result I should really be happy about, with it being my first go at it and my complete lack of knowledge of all the tracks, and endurance racing in general - but you know how it is, I would have preferred 5th!!

February this year I had no clue what I was going to do, it was looking like running my own bike in British Superstock again, then I got in contact with Russell from Phase One who offered me a ride for the season on his Junior team in the World Endurance Championship. I've gotta be honest, I'd never even thought of doing Endurance racing before but got right into the idea, so thought I'd give it a go. I'm really pleased I did, I've learnt a new side to the sport and feel I've learnt so much this season on and off track and sure, it's made me a better rider. It also gave me the chance to compete in the hardest motorcycle races, Le Mans 24hour, Suzuka 8 hour and the Bol d`Or all of which I felt privileged to be involved in.

My highlight of the season was Suzuka in Japan for the experience. Yamaha looked after us so well it made you feel like Valentino Rossi, the track was awesome and best of all the enthusiasm of the fans was the best in the world. It was like being a movie star walking around in Japan. Then, from a result and the riding side, my highlight was the Bol d'Or. The whole team worked so well, us riders didn't put a foot wrong and it felt great to get a good result.

The amount of fun I've had this year away from the track with team mates must be illegal (obviously only a figure of speech, were all good boys) (SHUUURE....Ed). Its been like going on holiday with your mates every few weeks. I thinks it best to omit details here!!

I'm now flat out already trying to get something good in place for next year - as usual it all depends on if I can get sponsors (anyone interested get in touch!!), I'd love to stay in World Endurance but, whatever happens, it's gonna be good and you will all see me on an world endurance bike when my next chance arises. I would like to say a massive thanks to Russell Benny and the whole Phase One team for giving me this chance, to Yamaha for there help, especially in Japan, to all the organisers and marshall's, all my sponsors and everyone who has helped me, the other riders for being loads of fun and all the fans who support the WEC!! Keep checking my site over the winter for regular updates on my 2006 plans!!


Thanks
Ben Wylie
www.benwylie.com

PHASE ONE No.3 - THE DOWN-UNDER CONNECTION - DAMIAN 'DAMO' CUDLIN'S PRESS RELEASE

Taree's motorcycle ace Damian Cudlin has ended the 2005 World Endurance Championship with a stunning 2nd place at the final round of the series in Italy.

Cudlin aboard the Phase One Yamaha took his first podium in the World Endurance Championship and moved from 6th to 4th in the final Championship standings. 22 year old Cudlin, who alongside team mate Warwick Nowland qualified 6th for the race, put in a gritty performance to move to 2nd and hold off 3rd placed Yamaha Austria to the flag.

"It sure was a great feeling to be standing on the podium at last" Cudlin said. "I knew we would be strong here, we have been all season but for one reason or another it just hasn't come together. This weekend our Dunlop tyres worked great, our bike was fast, Warwick rode really good and our team made no mistakes with our stops" Damian explained.

"I'm so pleased for everyone in the Phase One Yamaha Team, my supporters, my sponsors and everyone who made this finally happen. I want to take this chance to thank Phase One for believing in me when they signed me last year."

Returning home to Taree in a couple of weeks, Cudlin is now planning for the 2006 season and is currently in talks with numerous teams who'd like his signature for next year.

"I haven't decided on what I'll do for next year just yet, but it's nice to have a few options this year." Cudlin said. "I expect to come to a decision in the next few weeks."

DIABLO 666 KAWASAKI RACE REPORT HERE

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