Ruben Xaus "Not Under Threat" At BMW

Ruben Xaus' 2010 World Superbike campaign got off to a tumultuous start, with four crashes during practice for the first round at Phillip Island. After a final error during the morning warmup, which saw Xaus slam into Noriyuki Haga and end the session badly shaken up, the BMW Motorrad team elected to sit Xaus out for the opening two races, considering it too much of a risk to allow the Spaniard to race.

That decision triggered a wave of speculation about the future of Ruben Xaus at BMW. Rumors seeping out of the World Superbike paddock suggested that BMW were tired of Xaus' continuous crashing, which all too often forced Xaus to either ride injured or miss races while he recovered. It was said that BMW were actively seeking to replace Xaus, even though the season had only just got underway.

Fortunately for Xaus, it appears there is no substance to these rumors. In an interview with the Dutch magazine MOTOR.nl, Barry Veneman - who is the official test rider for the BMW World Superbike team - denied that Xaus' position was under threat. "There is no question of Ruben Xaus being dumped," Veneman told MOTOR.nl. "That would be extremely unwise at this stage of the season." The matter had never even been considered, according to the former World Supersport rider. "It was never even an option. Xaus will continue as the second rider alongside Troy Corser."

Veneman was speaking to the Dutch magazine after having spent several days earlier in March at Misano, putting in several hundred laps aboard Troy Corser's BMW S1000RR race bike in an attempt to solve the grip problems that Corser and Xaus suffered at Phillip Island. Part of the problem is that Corser uses a setup with a lot of weight over the front wheel, according to Veneman. But the role of test rider precludes altering that setup, Veneman told MOTOR.nl. "As a test rider, I can't say 'let's switch the bike around and set it up the way I like it," the Dutchman said. "It's my job to find a solution as quickly as possible within the parameters used by Troy."

Corser uses the front-end heavy setup because it offers clear advantages. The bike is very easy to turn in, according to Veneman, the downside being that the rear can break away without warning, leaving the rider sliding through the gravel, as Veneman found to his discomfort. Finding a solution to that problem is not easy, despite the vast resources that BMW are throwing at the problem. "There were twenty of BMW's development engineers at Misano," Veneman told MOTOR.nl, "several of them from BMW's now defunct F1 program."

As for Veneman himself, after being forced to withdraw from the World Supersport championship due to a lack of funds, the Dutchman is currently due to race in the highly competitive German IDM championship aboard a BMW. But he may yet make a return to the World Superbike paddock, even if only in a temporary capacity. The Dutch BMW importer and the Assen circuit management are trying to find a way for Veneman to compete at Assen as a wildcard, aboard a third factory BMW. That will not be easy, though, as the Assen round of World Superbikes clashes with the season opener for the IDM championship, and Veneman is yet to obtain permission to miss the opening races from his team.