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/128102
F IM W o r ld E n d u r a n c e C ham p ions h ip Round 1: L e Man s 2 4 H ou r (Left) Arnaud van den Bossche leaves the pits on the SERT GSXR1000. The team ended up third o verall. (Right ) The Phase On e c rew attempts to fix Its GSXR10 00. s pe n d the mo ney o n dev e lo p m ent a nd testing than rid ing around with no cha nce at winni ng ." Prid m or e h ad rid den onc e bef or e for the Pha s e O ne team , a t th e Bo l d 'Or in 19 97 . "I fe e l like I brou ght b ad luck to the team ," Pridm o re s a id . "At the Bol , we DNF 'd and now he re ." Pridm or e said he would p robably ride abou t five of the eight rounds of the series that don 't conflict w ith the AMA Superb iKe S eri es. T eam m a nag er Benny was quite im press ed with the performance of the Californian , pra ising h is consistency , pr ofession ali sm and speed. Rich ie Alexande r traveled wit h Pr idm ore a nd wa s t he t e a m ' s ba cku p rid e r. Mic h a e l Ba rn e s was als o o n h a n d , riding for a Bel g ian team at the Wo rld Endur anc e ro unds tha t d id n't conflic t with his For m u la USA com m itme nts. His fina l stint o n the team 's Superbike e nded whe n the chain broke . He p ush ed ba c k to th e pit, th ey fitt ed a new c ha in a nd his day was over. "Not how I wanted my da y to e nd ," Ba rnes said. At t h e start of t he race it had a p pe ared tha t t h e Yamaha- France YZF -R7 S uperbike entry wa s goi ng to tea ch th e Superpr oduction bik es , and even the Ho nda Fra nce VTR, a lesson in s p eed. F or whi le la s t yea r's Le Man s w in n e rs Ho nda Fra n c e we re clearly fa vored aft e r setting po le time with a ll t h ree rid er s - Fa b ia n Fore t, Se ba s tien Charpe nt ie r a nd Seba s tie n Gimbert - im pres s ively c onsiste nt , it was t he Yam ah a F ra nce R7 S u p e rb ik e e n try t h at le d t he way in t he early going . The bl ue n umb e r 17 machine, with starte r Lud ovic Ho lon at the con t ro ls , jum pe d o u t to an impressive lead , setting the fastest lap of the race , a 1:4 4 . 138 , in the proc ess. But it a ll c a me to a gr inding ha lt when on his next stint he crashed at the Chemin aux Boeufs bend. The chassis wa s c ra cked, which the team we lded in the p it but , up on resa rting the engine, it ran poorly from a s uspected bent va lve . 38 MAY 2 , 200 1 • c u e I e This left the lead to the other top Su pe rbi ke , t he VTR 1000 of Hon d a E lf. T h ro ug h t h e n ight and in t he inte rm itt ent rai n, the Honda sh ared the lead with the SER T GSX -R1000 , but th is was not to be a hap py ra c e for th e fa ctory S uzu ki te a m . Aro und 1 a .rn ., Ar n au d van d en Bo s sc he t o o k o ver. Ha v in g left t he p it , h e m ight have been t oo kee n o n c o ld tires with a cold trac k and left th e ro a d in an untid y tumbl e. He ro de back , but a lot o f ground wa s los t . Having climbed back to th ird , anoth e r pit stop produc ed a flat t ire and m or e tim e wa s lost coa sti ng in for a fre s h front. Th ird was good unde r th e cir cu m sta nc es . With the SE RT Suzu k i b eh in d th em , the GMT Suzuki clos ed to with in a lap of th e VTR by mid morning . Th en Fabia n Fo ret c ra s hed the Honda just after 11:3 0 , hea vily damaging th e left s id e of th e bike . They lost eig ht m inutes in the pit, putting them about fo ur la ps down on th e new leaders, GMT S uzuki. GMT's margin was such tha t they c ru is e d to the fin ish with co nse rvative la p t im es, often in th e 1 :5 0 ra n g e. Th e repai red Hond a , meanwh ile, worked to clos e the ga p, a ltho ugh hope of a win was s lim . S aid Ho nda te a m manager Rigon i not long afte r the c rash, "Mathematically we k now it is not possi b le t o win , bu t the re are two hours .left and an yth ing can h a p p e n. T h a t ' s e nd ura nce ra ci ng. Now we just try to (Left) Viva la France. An all-French podium celebrates In the French classic event. pressure the leaders and inc rea s e the gap to third place." The leading Suzuki d idn 't falter , even in the ra in t hat fell during the final hour fo rcing t eam s to pit for wets. The Honda fin ished second , a lap down , SERT Suzuki a further t hr ee la p s be h ind . Te am Fr e e Bik e Pe rfo rm an c e was fo urth o n a n R7 S u p erb ik e , whi le im p re s s ively a Stoc ks port cla ss ZX-9 R finis he d fifth , 29 la ps behind the le ader. The former prototype category was renamed the Open class and had three ma ch ines make th e s tart, an a lmost c om p letel y stoc k facto ry MV Agusta F4 , a ZX-1 2R whic h was said to produce in excess of 200 horsepower, a nd a Voxan Ca fe Ra c er. Th e ma chines didn ' t fig u re in the o fficial re s ul t s , a lthough the Kawasak i was tuming in impress ive la p times until th e teach cras hed out Satu rday aftemoon , while the MV Agusta soldiered on to the fin ish d e s pite a huge c rash a bo ut two hours into the race. The Voxan , meanwhi le , cons umed a set of s pa rkp lugs every two hou rs , th en dropped out with a broken cra nksha ft. eN World Endurance Series Round 1 of 8: Le Mans , France Results: Apri l 15- 16, 2001 OVERALL : 1. Guyot/Scarnato/ Dussa uge (S uz) 2. Charpentier/ Foret/ Gibert (Hon) 3 . Lavieille/MorTisonIVandenBossche ( Suz) 4. Mizera/ Fema ndez/ Lagrive (Yam) 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Giabbani/ Roche/ Kishida (Kaw) Haquin{W aldm eir/ Michel (Kaw) Joliv et/ Moisan/ Millochau (Suz) Fulfo/ J auln eau/ Alberti ni (Yam) Morilla s/Gom ez/Ul mann (Suz) 10. Cuzin/ Donischa l/Kempener (Yam) . Race tim e: 24 hours. 1 min., 18. 170 sec. Dist ance: 759 laps, 2025.85 miles Average Speed: 84.334 mph Fa stest lap : Fab ien Foret, 1:44 .138 , lap four Upcoming rounds: Round 2 - Bmo, Czech Republic, May 6 Round3 - Brands Hatch, England, June 9 oe"" s