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RUBEN XAUS

This is how far Jarno Saarinen's riding style has developed.  Ruben Xaus is perhaps the most brilliant hang-off'er ever — here pictured during the World Superbike 2002 — this is the way it should be done (if you're in good shape that is).  Again, see how he rotates his body and stretches it away from the bike.  Sadly this Spaniard kid is way too erratic to get any consistent results or much less a championship title — but jeez, isn't this art in motion or what?!?

Although being a prodigy of sorts, Ruben's idiosyncratic riding caused so much havoc for the Ducati team that they got Carl Fogarty to supervise and train him during an entire season.  Having Fogarty as his Godfather almost immediately proved to be a success — gone were all the crashing, and during the last races of that season he spurted ahead of everyone and even toyed with his team-mate Troy Bayliss.  Since Bayliss was a runner-up for the championship title that year, the team director for Ducati demanded that Foggy cool off Ruben in order for Bayliss to get the win — naturally, Ducati couldn't afford having this kid take away Bayliss' chances for the title — no matter how impressive it was. 

But as soon as Foggy left Ducati to develop the Petronas bike, Ruben was back to his erratic/inconsistent self.  In fact, at times it got so bad that it was hilarious to watch; at Laguna Seca in 2002, Ruben managed to crash his Ducati two times... on the warmup lap!!   Although it might be hard to find a mentor of Fogarty's caliber, it shouldn't be too hard to see that this kid needs someone to occasionally pinch his ear. 

Ruben Xaus — 2002