Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127991
Round 1: Malaysian GrandPrix
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROAD RACING SERIES
Laconi, with shoulder injuries, and
delighted with seventh, inches ahead of
Juan Borja in his first factory ride on the
second Movistar machine.
Front-row starter Aoki, on the second
Suzuki, all but caught this group after a
torrid afternoon. He'd slowed off the
start Hne with a recurrence of an electronic problem that had struck un.expectedly in morrting warmup and then
run off the track and dropped to 18th
trying to regain places. From then on,
still suffering from acceleration problems, he picked his way through into
the top 10 again.
Sete Gibernau was lOth on the vtwin Repsol Honda, and Yukio Kagayarna was 11th on the third Suzuki. A Httle
way back carne Jean-Michel Bayle, his
Modenas triple outpowered on the two
long straights as well as out of the three
slow corners. Tetsuya Harada was a disappointed] 3th in his first 500cc ride on
the Apriba. Simon Crafar was 14th after
continuing to struggle with his switch
from Dunlop to Michelins, just one second ahead of top privateer Haruchika
Aoki, who took the last point.
Then came the private Hondas of
Sebastien Gimbert and newcomer
Markus Ober, with Mike Hale's Modenas 18th and last in his first GP.
Both MuZs were among seven nonfinishers, with Luca Cadalora and Jurgen van den Goorbergh suffering identical failures to the balance-shaft
system.
second anywhere else - I want to thank
Yamaha for keeping faith in me after
my big accident last year," the
Spaniard sa id, less than a year after suffering hIe-threatening injuries a t the
British GP.
Checa held on under considerable
pressure - not on!y from Criville, who
said later that he was sliding too much
to pose a real threat, but.also from
Okada, who had caught up after five
laps rr6m a mediocre start.
Doohan picked his way through to
sixth on lap four, but' he was out of
touch with the leaders and under
severe pressure for most of the race
frRm Alex Barros on the Movistar
H~nda.
"We'd been struggling aJ] weekend,
and I was just playing catch-up,"
Doohan said. "I smoothed it out to try to
get Alex off my back."
In the last laps he closed dramatically
on the group disputing second, but he
was only able to pass Okada. Then the
Japanese rider slowed on the last lap, his
radiator holed and his engine overheating.
Johnn K's da
I
26
t is not unheard of for Mick Doohan not to be on the front
row of the grid, but it is unusual enough to be remarkable. It
might have been dlfferent had the second session not been hit
by a tropical deluge minutes before the start - which kept the
track soaking wet tbroughout the session - so that neither
DOOhan nor anybody else got a chance to improve, leaVing the
.five-time World Champion (a crasher on day one) seventh overall and on the second row.
Pole went to another Honda rider, with an even bigger point
to prove: John Kocinski, on the unsponsored Kanemoto Honda,
looking at a race-by-race prospect.
"A good result here is our ticket to Japan," he said. "I can't
even think of not doing well."
Riding an ex-Biaggi machine, Kocinski claimed pole by .090
of a second and was fast all the time. It didn't matter that it was
a year-old machine, he said.
'1[ you have someone who can make it the way you want it,
it doesn't matter what you have," he said, adding a paeon of
praise for Erv Kanemoto's ability and dedication. "He's slept
two hours a night for the last 10 days, and hardly eaten," he said,
adding, "This team has been a dream for me for a long time."
Max Biaggi was second, making a strong start on the Yama~
ha, and declining to be drawn into making a direct comparison
with the Honda he rode last year.
"All bikes have advantages and disadvantages compared
with each other," he said. "It's up to the rider to compensate for
problems and make the most of the strengths."
He also feU in practice, at low speed on a slow-down lap
when he ran over a white line, lucky to escape injury in a heavy
high-sider.
Third and fourth - and here was a surprise, to those who
.haven't paid attention to the testing times - were the two
Suzukis, with Kenny Roberts Jr. faster, then Nobuatsu Aoki.
Five-time World Champion Mick Doohan
(1) could do no better than fourth in the
series opener as he ~ttled with a lack of
traction. Here he leads sixth-place finisher
Alex Barros (5).
"There was smoke coming up from
the fairing on the last lap:' Okada said.
"J didn't slow down, but 1 prayed it
would hold together to the finish."
Barros, troubled with hand injuries,
was happy enough with sixth. Then
came Red Bull Yamaha rider Regis
;!50cc GRAND PRIX
Capirossi led Nakano away, with pole
man Rossi left behind to finish the first
lap in seventh. He never did get going.
"My start was fine until J tried to
shift to second gear," he explained.
"There was some electronic problem,
and my bike wasn't working properly. ~
could only ride more than two seconds
slower than my normal pace, taking so
many risks that I nearly crashed a couple of times."
In his absence, akano took the lead
on the second lap and stayed there ior
almost the entire race. By half-distance,
the Japanese newcomer, riding aggressively, had a lead of almost two seconds.
But he was not alone for long.
Capirossi and Shell Advance Honda,
Roberts had been fast all winter, and he ju t carried on the
Sete Gibemau's V-twin Honda was 13th, with new Yamaha'
same way, running quickest in the wet, although he was anoth- rider Carlos Checa 14th, one place ahead of Jean-Michel Bayle's
Modenas. The Spaniard would surely have been higher but for
er to crash on the first day, at high speed.
"Getting results is all I've been thinking of since November," a spectacular high-speed crash tiW spoiled his Friday time. He
he said. "We know we have the bike a lot better, but it's good to gamely got to his feet and threw gravel over his burning
get over the first hurdle of qualifying."
machine, to no avail.
.
Aoki's position was rather more surprising, since the secLuca Cadalora's MuZ led row five, with Tetsuya Harada
ond-year Suzuki man has struggled to find the pace during test- alongside on the Aprilia, well below his testing fonn, and nursing, striving all the while to refine his riding style. His habit of a ing a painful shoulder after almost being thrown off in a highlifetime of racing involves beavy use of the rear brake, even sider.
The 250s were hit by the same weather problems as the SOOs,
with the throttle opening, and he has been struggling to change
this, while also coming to terms with changes to the machine.
so again the times may not have been completely representa) ...t last 1 have found a way to ride this bike," he said. "Now tive. Then again, Valentino Rossi, now the sole factory Aprilia
I am feeling much more confident, and enjoying myself. It is entry, has dominated testing, and he did the same thing again,
interesting to have a fast teammate like Kenny, and good for claiming his first-ever pole position by a narrow margin over
motivation, but until now I have been quite confused with try- newcomer Nakano's Yamaha.
It had not, said Rossi, been easy.
ing to find the right way."
A mere four-tenths covered the front row, with less than
"We still have a lot to do with setting the bike here - it's a
two-tenths to Alex Criville's Honda, leading row two from difficult track, very technical;' he said. "But it's the S<1me for
Abe's 1998 Yamaha. Doohan was ju t hundredths slower, com- everybody, and r have done a lot of testing over the winter, so
plaining about a lack of feeL There is nothing new in his prob- maybe we can get the bike better tomorrow morning."
Nakano was just two-tenths behind, praising his Yamaha's'
lems finding fidelity from the front wheel - the change is that.
Suzuki and Yamaha have put the pressure on like never before.
performance. Clearly down on speed to the Apriba (247.7km/h
in the fast session against Rossi's 254.1), he could make it up on
But a dry second session may have changed things.
"We had some more things to try, and I'm confident I could fast and slow corners.
have gone faster," he s