Ducati 916 World Superbike works racer Corser 1996 Spanish Grand Prix Albacete

Description

A superb and rare photo of the magnificent two-times Superbike World Champion
Troy Corser
seen after he just won his
very first Superbike World Title
in
1996
!
This photograph was taken moments after he won the second race at the
Spanish
Albacete
circuit
on
October 6, 1996
. He also had won the first race of the same
Albacete
round on the same day, and that was enough for him to clinch his
first Superbike World Title
!
.
We see
Troy
on his
Ducati 916 Desmoquattro World Superbike
works racer of
1996
.
A very historic photograph that would look nice framed in any living room, office or workshop!
The 1996 Superbike World Championship season was the 9TH FIM Superbike World Championship season. The season started on April 14 at Misano, and finished on October 27 at
Philip
Island
after 12 rounds. Troy Corser won the rider's championship with 7 victories and Ducati won the manufacturer's championship
Troy Corser
(1971) is a professional motorcycle road racer and the 1996 and 2005 Superbike World champion. Having previously won the Australian and AMA Superbike Championship titles, and shone in a handful of wildcard rides in the Superbike World Championship (taking five podiums), he went to the series fulltime in 1995. He was classified 11th in WSBK for 1994, hence his riding #11, which he used for many years. Pole for the first round showed his potential, although he only took one podium until his win at round 5 at the Salzburgring (partly due to collisions with Anthony Gobert and Piergorgio Bontempi at
Monza
). A strong remainder of the season (including a win at Laguna Seca, one of the few tracks on the schedule that he knew) saw him beat Aaron Slight to 2nd overall. He won this title in 1996, but 1997 was an unsuccessful and fragmented year in the 500cc World Championship, while teamed with Luca Cadalora on Yamaha YZR-500, Power Horse backed, team. Back in WSBK for 1998, he came close to retaking the title, helped by a double win at Laguna, the second race by a mere 0.005sec. He led the standings before the final round, took pole, but crashing and breaking ribs in a warm-up crash. For 1999 he was teamed with Carl Fogarty on Davide Tardozzi's team, the title going to Foggy with Corser again third. In 2000 and 2001 he was on a factory Aprilia RSV-Mille. He would take the Aprilia to its first WSBK wins in 2000, and opened 2001 with a double victory in
South Africa
, but a double DNF at
Monza
scuppered his hopes of a championship challenge. In 2002 he joined Carl Fogarty's Foggy Petronas team, and spent the year developing the bike before racing it in 2003 and 2004. He finished 9th in the 2004 championship, with a best result of 3rd, but chose to leave the team after this. In 2005 he raced for the Alstare Suzuki Team on the GSX-R1000 which enabled him to regain his position as Superbike World Champion, winning the championship after a run of early-season victories - later in the season Chris Vermeulen and Noriyuki Haga were usually the men to beat.
Troy
won two races early in 2006, however a crash at
Phillip
Island
, and a DNF at Silverstone enabled compatriot Troy Bayliss to gain the upper hand in the early stages of the title chase. A double non-finish at Assen with 4 rounds to go left him 5th in the championship, behind Bayliss, James Toseland, Noriyuki Haga and Andrew Pitt. He ultimately overhauled Pitt to finish 4th, through a double podium at the final round. For 2007 he left Suzuki to join Yamaha, however he was outpaced by team-mate Noriyuki Haga and finished 5th overall, with eight podiums but no wins. He remained with the team for 2008, pipping Haga to finish as championship runner-up behind Bayliss. For the 2009 WSBK season Corser is to ride for BMW alongside Ruben Xaus on BMW's new superbike. His best result in the first half of the season was an 8th place in the opener at
Philip
Island
, although there were several other minor points finishes. Strong results later in the season saw him finish 13th overall. Corser and Xaus continued with the team for 2010. Corser scored two fifth places at Assen, he took BMW's first ever WSBK podium in race two at
Monza
, aided by a first-lap collision between Xaus, Jonathan Rea and Toseland. He also took pole at Misano and had scored in every race until being forced to miss Brno following a practice crash.
Troy
has been on pole at
Philip
Island
and
Valencia
four times, equalling a championship record for a single track. Of the eight cases of a rider having 10 or more podium finishes at a particular circuit,
Troy
has four - 13 at Misano, 11 each at Laguna Seca and
Philip
Island
, and 10 at
Donington
Park
.
The
Ducati 916
was manufactured by Ducati from 1994 to
1998. In
contrast to Japanese inline four-cylinder competitors of the time, its V-twin engine produced less outright power, but a more even torque spread. The 916 model was replaced by the 996 model in 1999. The first development of the 916 model family can be traced back to the development of the four valve Ducati engine, the desmoquattro, through the development and racing of the earlier Pantah models, to the road-going 851 and 888 models. The chief designer of Ducati motorcycles since the 1970s was the late Fabio Taglioni (1920-2001). He introduced the Pantah in 1979; its engine was updated in the 1990s in the SuperSport (SS) series and all modern Ducati engines are derivatives of the Pantah, which employed a set of revolving cams to actuate the engine's valves (eliminating valve springs), called desmodromic. Taglioni, did not, however, have an interest in four-valve head engines, and so this was left to his successor. The eight-valve V-twin was the work of Taglion's successor, Massimo Bordi. Making its debut in 1994, the Ducati 916 was admired because of its new design and outstanding technical features. Designed by Massimo Tamburini and Sergio Robbiano and his team at the Cagiva Research Centre in
San Marino
, the 916's water-cooled engine was a revision its predecessor, the 888, with larger displacement, a new engine management system, on an overall smaller motorcycle with a chome-moly trellis frame (which was shared with the Ducati
748 in
1995 and beyond). This was accomplished by increasing the crankshaft stroke from 64mm to 66mm. Using the same 94mm bore size as the 888 resulted in a capacity of 916cc - although by the time the 916 was introduced the final 851/888 Corse engines had also had their bore sizes increased to 96mm resulting in 'race only' capacities of 926cc and 955cc respectively. This combined with a striking new bodywork that featured aggressive lines. It was later replaced by the 996 and 998 with similar design but revised engines and even more power. Design of the Ducati 916 was a balance between function and form. The single-sided swingarm was beautiful, but designed to make wheel changes faster during races. The underseat exhausts improve aerodynamic performance, and resultantly gave very clean lines. Massimo Tamburini went on to design the MV Agusta F4, the bike which is seen as his replacement for the 916 range, and it shares many similarities with the 916 especially in the tail section.
This is a very nice and very rare non period photo that reflects a wonderful era of Ducati ‘s rich motorcycle history in a wonderful way. This is your rare chance to own this photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 12" (ca. 20 x
30 cm
). It makes it perfectly suitable for framing!
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