Régis Laconi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Régis Laconi is a French motorcycle racer, born July 8, 1975 in St. Dizier. In 2006 he races in World Superbike on a semi-works Kawasaki. He was series runner-up in 2004, and was the first man to win races in both 500cc and World Superbike.
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[edit] Early career
Régis has a French mother and Italian father. He started racing in 1991 in the French 125cc championship. He won this title in 1992, the French 250cc title a year later, and the European 250cc title in 1994. For 1995 he went to the 250cc World Championship, but was never a front-runner in his two seasons there.
[edit] 500cc
1997 was his first season on a 500cc bike, but his World Championship season was ended by injury. With Red Bull backing he returned for 1998, riding a Yamaha for three years. He finished 10th, 11th and 12th in the series in this time, but won at Valencia in 1999.
[edit] World Superbike
For 2001 he was a factory Aprilia WSBK rider, taking his first series win at Imola, although results elsewhere put him 11th overall . A move to MotoGP for 2002 was not successful, with a best result of 8th, so for 2003 he returned to WSBK for the Caracchi Ducati team, doing enough to earn a factory ride for 2004 by taking 5 podium finishes, finishing 4th in a relatively weakened championship. He and team-mate James Toseland were clear favourites for the 2004 title, which Toseland took at the final round of the season, in spite of Régis taking 5 poles and 7 wins, and having what is seen as the stronger team of mechanics. His 2005 season was interrupted by injury, and for 2006 he switches to a Kawasaki for PSG. After half the season he was the lowest of the team's 3 riders in the championship, lying 13th, with Chris Walker 8th and Fonsi Nieto 10th.
