Rubén Xaus
Rubén Xaus ( born February 18, 1978 in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Catalonia Spain ) is a former Spanish motorcycle racer.
Xaus was considered hard and spectacular driver, which is very endeared him to the fans.
Career
Rubén Xaus got his first motorcycle, a 25- cc Montesa, given the age of five by his father, who had himself once denied motorcycle racing. This also brought him immediately the motorcycle driving at, and Xaus trained in the following years very intensively with motocross bikes. At the age of 14 years, his father, however, convinced him to switch to road racing. Therefore, starting from 1992 in the Catalan 125 cc road championship the following year won the Catalan 80 cc Supermoto Championship.
In 1994, Xaus start for the first time on large-volume four-stroke engines and denied the Open Ducados SuperSport Series in Spain and joined them on the 17th Place. The following year, he was able to improve for the third overall, he also participated in the Thunderbike Trophy FIM in part and denied in Honda Pons team Fortuna five 250 cc Grand Prix, without, however, being able to retract points.
In 1996, the Spaniards sixth in the Thunder Bikes was and in 1997 in the World Supersport series, he played on Honda and finished on the 17th place overall. This year Xaus also could the 24 -hour race at his home track, the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, win. Rubén Xaus launched in 1998 for the team Alpha Technik on a Suzuki GSX -R 750 in the German Pro Superbike series, graduating in sixth place overall, also he played on his first Suzuki Superbike World Championship races.
In the 1999 season, Xaus rode on Yamaha team in Dee Cee Jeans back in the Supersport World Championship, where he reached the fifth time World Cup ranking. When running in Misano he was able to retract his first victory. In 2000, Rubén Xaus was then official Ducati factory rider in the Supersport class and started on a Ducati 748 He immediately came to terms with the two- cylinder engine and won at Assen the second world championship race of his career. In the overall standings, he came into this year on the seventh rank.
Superbike World Championship
For the 2001 season Rubén Xaus then switched to the Superbike World Championship, where he piloted a Ducati 996 R- factory bike in the Ducati Infostrada team on the side of Troy Bayliss. His performance improved continuously, until the middle of the season he was a regular in the top ten and fell a few times. At the first race in Oschersleben Xaus could then celebrate with second place behind world champion Colin Edwards his first podium finish. The second race of the day, he could even win and so became the first Spanish rider ever to win a round of the World Superbike Championship. In the World Cup, which won teammate Bayliss, the Spaniards landed in sixth place.
In the 2002 season started Xaus continued for Ducati Infostrada, again as team-mate Troy Bayliss on the new 998 F02. Already at the second round of the Australian Phillip Iceland he came twice on the podium. He started this season a total of ten podium finishes and came in every race in which he finished in the top ten, which in turn earned him sixth place in the championship standings.
For the 2003 season, the Briton Neil Hodgson replaced the MotoGP migrated Troy Bayliss at Xaus ' page in the Ducati factory team, as Fila Ducati team was launched this year. Not only teammate and name were new, but also the motorcycle. The Italian manufacturer sat for the first time one of its all-new 999 F03. The new Ducati proved to be highly superior to the Japanese competition out and won 20 of 24 races. Rubén Xaus rode a seven victories and a total of 15 podium finishes and was beaten in the standings only his teammate Hodgson.
MotoGP class
For the season 2004 the duo Xaus Hodgson then moved together in the MotoGP class, where she piloted a Desmosedici GP3 - year machine Ducati D' Antin team. The team suffered from a chronic lack of money and could barely afford test drives. Rubén Xaus came in this year with his machine along better than teammate Hodgson and drove regularly in the points. The first exclamation mark put the Spaniard in the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, where he rode along in the rain long in the top group and came in fifth. In the 13th round of the season, the Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail, Xaus achieved with rank three even his first podium and at the same time the first for Ducati this season at all. With 77 points, he finished eleventh in the standings and was named Rookie of the Year.
For the 2005 season, Rubén Xaus moved to the Fortuna Yamaha Team, where he started with his friend and fellow countryman Toni Elías. This year he had with the Yamaha YZR -M1 machine was available, with the Valentino Rossi in the previous year in the factory team won the World Cup. Nevertheless Xaus came with this bike, mainly because of its very hard driving style, can not cope and therefore fabricated a lot of falls. His best results were fourteenth places. With 52 points, he eventually became 16th in the overall standings.
Return to Superbikes
For the 2006 season, then Rubén Xaus returned to the Superbike World Championship and Ducati. He started for the team Sterilgarda Berik on a 2005-spec machine work. However, the Spaniard was unable to repeat his previous performance here and landed after some racing falls only ranked 14th in the overall standings.
Also in the 2007 season started Rubén Xaus for the sterile Garda team in the Superbike World Championship. He in turn drove a previous machine from Ducati. His best results were a victory in the first round in Valencia and a third place in the first race at Assen. After a constant season by his standards with only three failures in 25 races, Xaus finished second in the overall standings to sixth place and was thus also the factory Ducati rider Lorenzo Lanzi behind.
For the 2008 season, Xaus was in the sterile Garda team, which now Sterilgarda Go Eleven was confirmed. Xaus piloted one of the all-new 1200 cc Ducati 1098 RS 08, his new teammate was four times the 250 cc World Champion Max Biaggi. From the outset there was a rivalry between the two, which was held hard on the track. After four successful race at the start of the season, the Catalan took the meantime World Cup third place. But was followed by several failures and rear positions, which made him fall back. In June it was announced that Xaus 2009, the BMW factory machine piloted, and shortly afterwards he was able to celebrate the single race win of the season, Biaggi finished second made the sterile Garda perfect success in the second race at Misano. In the following two races in Brno Rubén Xaus turned out at Brands Hatch, he was able to win any points. During rainy race weekend at Donington it came to a confrontation between Xaus and Biaggi 's team-mate. The Spaniard had come in the first race at position three lying to fall. Since the run was canceled but still on the same lap, Xaus would actually have been in third place. However, he did not make it, as prescribed in the regulations, on his motorbike to reach the box within five minutes, and that's why he was disqualified later. Believing to have been the third, Xaus went to the award ceremony, but when Biaggi was then proclaimed as a third party, he berated his teammates desolate, but later apologized publicly for it. In the overall standings, the Spaniard finished with 178 points in tenth place.
As of the 2009 season, Xaus went for the BMW factory team that had gone into this new to the Superbike World Championship, at the start. The Catalan was at the Munich manufacturer a contract up to and including 2010. His new team-mate, the Australian Troy Corser.
In the 2011 season, Xaus started for the team Hannspree Ten Kate Honda and finished his last season with 49 points off on the 17th place overall.
With 33 years Ruben Xaus finished his active racing career in 2011 and has since worked for the Italian motorcycle manufacturer Bimota as a consultant.