Superbike World Championship
He switched to the Superbike World Championship in 1995 on a private Ducati, taking a win at Monza and 3 further podiums, as well as the fastest lap in four races, en route to eighth overall. Curiously, in each of 1995-1997 he won race two at Monza after crashing in race one. In 1996 he took two wins as well as his first two poles, coming sixth in the championship. He was seventh-placed in 1997, taking three wins and three poles but only three more podiums.
Results in 1998 on a factory Ducati were an improvement - Chili won five races to come fourth place overall, his best ever finish. However, at Assen he battled too hard with Carl Fogarty (also on a factory-backed bike, although a separate team), falling on the final lap, and was sacked at the end of the year. In 1999 he raced for Suzuki, coming sixth with two more wins. His first win came in race two at the A1-Ring, after crashing while leading the first race.
In 2000 he repeated the ten podiums and fourth place overall of 1998, although with only a single win as Colin Edwards dominated. Over the next two years he made the podium just three times, coming seventh and eighth in the series. Although he was only seventh again, 2003 represented something of a resurgence for a rider nearing forty years of age; with five third places and one win. The year 2004 was even better for the PSG-1 Ducati team, fifth overall with another nine podiums. In 2005 he moved to the Klaffi Honda team with rookie Max Neukirchner, coming tenth overall. 2006 was ruined by a broken pelvis, which caused him to miss several races. Following his retirement he became team manager of the Guandalini Racing team in World Superbikes for the 2009 season
Read more about this topic: Pierfrancesco Chili
Famous quotes containing the word world:
“How is the world ruled and led to war? Diplomats lie to journalists and believe these lies when they see them in print.”
—Karl Kraus (1874–1936)