  The recent discovery of the unusual supernova SN1998bw and its apparent
correlation with the gamma-ray burst GRB 980425 has raised new issues
concerning both the GRB and supernovae. Although the spectra resemble those of
TypeIc supernovae, there are distinct differences at early times and SN1998bw
appeared to be unusually bright and red at maximum light. The apparent
expansion velocities inferred by the Doppler shift of (unidentified) absorption
features appeared to be high, making SN1998bw a possible candidate for a
"hypernova" with explosion energies between 20 and 50E51 erg and ejecta masses
in excess of 6 - 15 M_o. Based on light curve calculations for aspherical
explosions and guided by the polarization observations of "normal" SNIc and
related events, we present an alternative picture that allows SN1998bw to have
an explosion energy and ejecta mass consistent with core collapse supernovae
(although at the 'bright' end). We show that the LC of SN1998bw can be
understood as result of an aspherical explosion along the rotational axis of a
basically spherical, non-degenerate C/O core of massive star with an explosion
energy of 2foe and a total ejecta mass of 2 M_o if it is seen from high
inclinations with respect to the plane of symmetry. In this model, the high
expansion velocities are a direct consequence of an aspherical explosion which,
in turn, produces oblate iso-density contours. It suggests that the fundamental
core-collapse explosion process itself is strongly asymmetric.
