1998 Superbike World Championship | |||
Previous: | 1997 | Next: | 1999 |
Support series: Supersport World Series |
The 1998 Superbike World Championship was the eleventh FIM Superbike World Championship season. The season started on 22 March at Phillip Island and finished on 4 October at Sugo after 12 rounds.
The season saw the introduction of a revised qualifying system: after two timed qualifying sessions, the sixteen fastest riders were admitted to the newly created Superpole, which determined the first four rows of the starting grid; during this session each rider went on the track in reverse qualifying order to take a single flying lap. [1]
Carl Fogarty, who amassed three race victories during the season, won the riders' championship [2] for the third time after 1994 and 1995; Fogarty prevailed over Aaron Slight at the last round, while Troy Corser, who had entered the final event leading the standings, could not race due to injury. [3] Ducati won the manufacturers' championship. [4]
This season also saw the round at Sentul being dropped from the 1998 calendar due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
|
Bold – Pole position |
‡ Due to separate accidents, the first race in Laguna Seca was stopped on the 13th of the 28 scheduled laps and the subsequent restart was aborted; half points were awarded. [6]
1998 final manufacturers' standings [4] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pos. | Manufacturer | AUS | GBR | ITA | ESP | GER | SMR | RSA | USA | EUR | AUT | NED | JPN | Pts | ||||||||||||||||||
R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1‡ | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | |||||||||
1 | Ducati | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 487.5 | ||||||
2 | Honda | 7 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 416.5 | ||||||
3 | Yamaha | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 307 | ||||||
4 | Suzuki | 6 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 13 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 252 | ||||||
5 | Kawasaki | 5 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 16 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 251 | ||||||
Pos. | Manufacturer | AUS | GBR | ITA | ESP | GER | SMR | RSA | USA | EUR | AUT | NED | JPN | Pts |
‡ Due to separate accidents, the first race in Laguna Seca was stopped on the 13th of the 28 scheduled laps and the subsequent restart was aborted; half points were awarded. [6]
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the race, although penalties may award it to the second fastest driver, as the pole position is statistically awarded to the driver starting in first position. The number-one qualifying driver is also referred to as the pole-sitter. The pole position starts the race "at the front of the starting grid. This provides the driver in the pole position the privilege of starting ahead of all the other drivers".
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