With a move to Castrol Honda from the BMW factory squad Ruben Xaus has discussed the differences between the CBR1000RR and the S1000RR.
After two seasons as part of the new factory BMW outfit onboard S1000RR Xaus has made the switch to join the newly branded Castrol Honda Ten Kate team, speaking on his previous ride, he said: “BMW have really good things, they just need to put it together as a complete package.”
“It [the S1000RR] is really powerful but it still does not have perfect power delivery. In some corners and tracks it is really good. But then on the other side it’s crazy and difficult to ride on stop and go circuits.” continued Xaus.
Commenting on the CBR1000RR Fireblade he will contest in the 2011 season: “The Honda is more functional, everywhere you touch the gas the bike is manageable, it is easy to put it in to corners. The bike is more refined, but this is down to much more experience from the team.”
BMW ventured in to the WSB series without any real experience of superbikes or racing in general: “You have to consider that BMW was brand new to racing and to be at world level is incredible, so they did a good job.”
In contrast Aprilia had a new entry that coincided with BMW, with the S1000RR facing off against the RSV4.
At a comparison with Aprilia the BMW has lacked the overall competitive result of the Italian manufacturer with Max Biaggi victorious in the bike’s first season and going on to win the championship last year.
According to Xaus the main reason behind the success of Biaggi and the RSV4 was experience: “Aprilia did what it did because of experience, they have the experience in racing: 125s, 250s, 500, MotoGP and Superbike. Many categories to gain experience within.”
In the two years he raced for BMW Motorrad Xaus’ best finish was a fifth at Brno last season. But what became evident was the familiar sight of Ruben catapulting himself into the stratosphere, dusting himself off and leaving a battered BMW in the gravel trap.
Regarding his time Ruben believed that he was not performing to his best: “I tried my best, tried many things. It was a; new project, a new bike, everything was new, we put it a lot of effort but of course what we can see in WSB now it is very competitive. It's very interesting for the manufacturers with a lot of interesting bikes and a lot of good riders."
“If you don’t have everything perfect it is difficult to be at the same level as everyone else.” said Xaus, “I expect much more at Ten Kate; it’s a winning machine, team and team-mate. So I’m expecting a lot more from myself and the package.”
With the move to Castrol Honda Xaus understands that he has the complete package to challenge for higher positions again. But with the focus on finding the perfect package and the rise in professionalism the Spaniard, who has competed in both WSB and MotoGP, believes that there is a decline in raw talent shining through considering the demands for the complete package,“In tennis for example. You need to have a good coach, a good diet, good training and focus. No longer can you be like 'a McEnroe', that’s finished.”
