After years of running the Ducati WSBK team, Paolo Ciabatti now helps to run the World Superbike series. image: thanks, jpc

Italian Paolo Ciabatti is one of the most powerful men in global motorcycle racing. For a decade he helped run Ducati's Superbike team, through the glory years of Fogarty, Bayliss, Hodgson and Toseland helping to cement Ducati as a world power in Superbike racing. The likable and clear-thinking Italian took a job last year with the FG Sport company to manage the entire WSBK series. That racing is his job and requires a near 24/7 commitment from him--and the most hellacious travel schedule one can nearly imagine--hasn't diminished Ciabatti's enthusiasm for Superbike racing one iota. We were able to schedule an interview with Paolo at the Miller Motorsportss Park WSBK round. This is a transcript of that interview.

A We are very pleased to be back to the US for World Superbike, and we're very pleased to be at Miller Motorsports Park. After we had to stop going to Laguna Seca, Paolo and Maurizio Flammini have been looking for other opportunities in the US, because definitely this market is very important for anyone. For the manufacturers, for the teams, for the sponsors. But it was not really easy to find a solution. Not many tracks were suited for FIM standards in the US. So actually, we started looking at the available options. One was Barber in Alabama, but and then a couple of years ago this circuit was completed, and this was another facility which was meeting definitely the safety standards that we need to bring World Superbikes, and eventually the decision went pretty quickly with Alan Wilson, and we are happy to be here. And to tell you, all the riders I have been speaking with are very, very pleased with the facility. They like the track layout. They think it's a good combination of fast corners, slow corners, ups and downs, and long straights. So they all like it. Maybe it's the first time when I really hear 100% satisfactory comment from riders and teams. And they like the surroundings. The scenery, the mountains, and also Salt Lake City is a nice place. So we are very happy.

Q What are the chances of more World Superbike rounds in the US next year?

A At the moment, we have almost finalized a deal to go back to South Africa, to Kyalami. It's not a done deal, but there are very good chances. I think in the next couple of weeks we should know if it's finalized. And if so, we will have a championship made of 15 rounds, which is actually the level where we want to stay. We don't want to make it bigger, because then you have to consider that it's two races, so if it's 15 rounds, it's 30 races for the riders. And also for the teams, we want to keep it international, but without killing their budgets. So I think maybe in the years to come, we still need to find a solution to get back to Asia, possibly Japan, and we might decrease a little bit the number of European rounds and add some more overseas rounds. But our next target is Asia and Japan. So eventually, a second round on the East Coast will come, but not in the immediate future.

Q (The Barber Motorsports Park people were at Miller.)

A It's mainly Maurizio and Paolo (Flammini) dealing with these agreements, but with Barber it's still, as far as I understand, an open talk about the possibility to host another US round in the future. I don't think it will happen next year. At the moment we have three rounds in Italy and two rounds in the UK, so it might happen that in the future we drop the number of rounds there. On the other side, the UK rounds and the Italian rounds are the most successful in terms of spectators. So it's a little bit a difficult decision.

Q What about an American rider in the championship, a top American rider? Is that important to World Superbike?

A It is very important. We had many good American riders. Definitely Colin Edwards and Ben Bostrom, they were the most popular we had in the past years. But on the other side, there is a problem. The top American riders, they make big money here. And there is not that money in World Superbike today - maybe for super top riders like Bayliss, Checa, Haga and Biaggi, they might make similar money, but I don't think that there is anyone who is ready at the moment to put that big money on an American rider, which needs still to prove how good he can do in World Superbikes, and learn the tracks and all that stuff. But definitely, we are working on some things, and are looking into the situation. I think we've got some American riders who are looking into the possibility to move to the world stage, either Superbike, some of them think about MotoGP. I think that the World Superbike is, for most riders, probably the best option. I think we're going to have a couple of good American riders in the series next year.

Q So the FIM visited Ducati, and in a press release they mentioned that the FIM wants to push toward more production rules for Superbike.

A The FIM had visited the Japanese manufacturers several months ago, and they recently went, as far as I understand, to visit Ducati with the same agenda. We think that the current set of rules, that we have discussed last year with the FIM, the teams and the representatives of the manufacturers, and which were approved by FIM in July 2007, are very good. So we really see no need for any changes at the moment. Performances of the bikes are very balanced and races are always exciting with many different riders fighting for the top positions.

Q Traction control, engine management, telemetry? What is the future in terms of World Superbike rules?

A That's a difficult issue. First of all, we must remember that we are production-based racing. Many new road bikes, they have traction control. And they have quite advanced electronic management system. So we can't go against the trend of road bikes, sports road bikes. If we would do so, we would be in a situation where we have Superstock, which is our beginners' class, with traction control because it's standard on the bike, and then we have Superbike, which is supposed to be an evolution, which doesn't have it. Doesn't make any sense. So - but what we know is that we don't want costs to grow too high. At the moment, everything seems to be under control. You have, as I said, 15, 16 riders in one second. Basically any one can win. And as usual, best rider, best team will have more chances. But you see - it's not a championship where a privateer team with a talented rider cannot do good. You see Lanzi, you see Xaus, you see Jakub Smrz who is in a very small team, but is a very talented rider. He does very good races. So that's what we want to keep. We want to keep it manageable also for a medium or small size team to be competitive.

Q Can you comment on MotoGP, and their proposed 600cc class to replace the 250s?

A They can't do it with production engines. It's that simple. We have a clear contract - as they have a clear contract with the FIM for prototypes, we have a clear contract with the FIM: everything which is coming from production, it's our exclusive championship. Whatever is included in the Supersport class, it's FGSport. They can build prototypes, because it is their right and that's what it has always been. I don't want to say it's only their problem, because we're talking about the sport of motorcycling. But still, we want to, and we will, protect our rights. They cannot use production engines.