RideFast Aug2020
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Bimota BB3<br />
Arguably one of the stranger<br />
episodes to unfold in recent years<br />
was the brief return to WorldSBK<br />
by – once again – Bimota.<br />
A company which, like a lot of<br />
the Italian motorcycle firms,<br />
had been sent down the path<br />
of destruction only to reemerge<br />
with new investors and<br />
promises of a return to the glory<br />
days, Bimota’s latest owners<br />
wanted to use WorldSBK to<br />
publicise that everything was<br />
just fine with the marque.<br />
Except everything wasn’t ‘just<br />
fine’ and it’s hard to believe<br />
exactly how WorldSBK played<br />
along for such a lengthy period<br />
of time. In short, Bimota planned<br />
to enter a pair of BMW-powered<br />
BB3s in WorldSBK’s new (and<br />
shortlived) EVO class for 2014,<br />
but in order to do so it would<br />
need to meet the homologation<br />
demand of 1000 roadgoing<br />
models.<br />
As a company with traditionally<br />
low production capabilities this<br />
didn’t seem at all possible from<br />
the outset but WorldSBK bended<br />
the rules to allow the team to<br />
compete in the meantime without<br />
being allowed to register points.<br />
As it happens, the bikes –<br />
campaigned by Ayrton Badovini<br />
and Christian Iddon and prepared<br />
by former Suzuki WorldSBK<br />
champions Alstare – were<br />
competitive and picked several<br />
de facto EVO class wins and even<br />
a few overall top ten finishes<br />
between them.<br />
However, not<br />
only were<br />
Bimota nowhere near that 1000<br />
bike total, they weren’t even<br />
close to the much-reduced 125<br />
bike quota WorldSBK had later<br />
proposed. In fact, only 30 Bimota<br />
BB3s rolled off the production<br />
line.<br />
The team was thrown out of<br />
WorldSBK by the mid-summer<br />
break.<br />
Unfortunately it was a fleeting<br />
high for all with Bimota<br />
struggling for finance before<br />
the lifeline of a proposed<br />
sponsorship deal with Levis fell<br />
through (via an unscrupulous<br />
businessman who quickly<br />
stopped answering his calls) and<br />
the team folded having started<br />
just ten races.<br />
and test some of its more<br />
unusual features, such as the<br />
under-seat radiators.<br />
As it happens, the bike – in the<br />
hands of experienced Australian<br />
Peter Goddard – was modestly<br />
competitive, it’s 2001 midseason<br />
arrival yielding a handful<br />
of points that could have been<br />
greater had the series not<br />
enjoyed such huge grid numbers<br />
at that time.<br />
A fuller season followed in 2002<br />
– despite missing some of the<br />
opening rounds – and Goddard<br />
became a fairly regular pointsscorer<br />
with the bike proving<br />
more reliable on track that it<br />
arguably was off it.<br />
However, despite that solid<br />
platform, Benelli didn’t invest in<br />
the WorldSBK project any further<br />
even if the Tornado stayed on<br />
sale until 2010.<br />
Bimota SB8R<br />
While the Yamaha-powered<br />
Bimota YB4 was one of the<br />
founding ‘fathers’ of the inaugural<br />
WorldSBK Championship in 1988,<br />
it’s easy to forget that the Italian<br />
marque not only returned to the<br />
series in 2000 but even went on<br />
to win again.<br />
Using the Suzuki-engined SB8R,<br />
Bimota rocked up to the start of<br />
the season with minimal testing<br />
but did have the wildest of<br />
wildcards in its armoury through<br />
rider Anthony Gobert. The<br />
Australian’s off-track exploits<br />
may go on to overshadow what<br />
he could achieve on-track, but<br />
there was no denying his fierce<br />
talent when the stars all aligned.<br />
And that’s exactly what<br />
happened during round two at<br />
Phillip Island when he swept<br />
to an astonishing win on home<br />
turf in treacherous conditions.