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/128089
But although Honda had succeeded once again in doubling up by also winning the Manufacturers' world title, this marked a watershed in the 500cc GP balance of power in 1999. For Honda's supremacy at the top of the 500cc tree was now seriously threatened by both Suzuki and Yama- ALAN CATHCART PHOTOS BY KOICHI OHTANI (jf he writing was already on the wall for Honda, even before the Japanese giant's half-decade of Mick Doohan dominance was ended in 1999 with the Australian's injury. Still, that year saw the sorcerer's longtime apprentice, Alex Criville, assume the mantle of 500cc World Champion from his Repsol Honda teammate, thanks to a string of six GP victories and in doing so, the courteous Catalan not only preserved Honda's titlewinning streak, he also brought added joy to HRC's Spanish petroleum sponsors, by becoming the first-ever Spanish rider to win the 500cc World Championship. He was also the first European to win the title in 17 years. U 14 JANUARY 31,2001 • cue I • It was the 2000 season that underlined how Honda's GP supremacy had been dented, with the company failing in its bid to win a 10th 500cc title, while also losing the manufacturers' crown to its Yamaha rivals - after winning just six of the 16 races. Crivi1le's defense of his world title was ha - and for the first time in many years, the rostrums at each of the two South American races that concluded the 20th century of 500cc GP racing were both completely devoid of Honda riders. Indeed, in the final race of the year in Argentina, the first NSR500 rider home was Criville, in a lowly fifth place. It wasn't the way HRC wanted to remember the old millennium - but it was a signal of what By disrupted early on by health problems reputed on his own account to be a mild form of epilepsy, as well as by a wrong direction in R&D undertaken by HRC engineers. The troubled Spanish defending World Champion won only a single race in 2000, the was to come in the new. n • _ s French GP at Le Mans, en route to a dismal ninth place in the series. Still, that was better than his teammates Tadayuki Okada and Sete Gibernau, who were still more shipwrecked by controversial changes in the NSR500's specification, and didn't even manage to break into the top 10 of the world title standings by the end of the season. Why? Well, as HRC engineers explained a year ago, with the Yamaha frequently faster and the Suzuki usually better handling, they figured the time had come to redesign a motorcycle which had remained essentially unchanged for most of the past decade - reflecting Doohan's reluctance to experiment, preferring instead to pile on the titles by making the bike he already had even better, then riding the wheels off it en route to his customary appointment with the checkered flag. But with Doohan out of the equation, Honda