Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

BRIEFLY••• The p ost-race flare-up between Biagg i and Rossi saw fists fly on the short jo urney from th e pare fe rme pit to the ro strum . one story higher . Precise information was hard to co me by. with many different vers io ns ci rc ulati ng - but it see ms th at it all beg an w ith an acci den ta l bump by Biaggi to Ro ssi' s manage r. Gi vo Paddioli . The pair had word s. and started pushing each othe r. A t t hat point . so mebody held Biag gi back . wh ereupon Ro ssi to ok the oppo rt unity to land a punch square on his face . A scuffle followed. with fists and feet flying . so th at Rossi also came away with les ions to his face. bef or e the rival s were separated and led aw ay to separate ro om s. to await the short TV int erviews that pr ecede the ros trum ce remo ny. A sk ed at the post-race conferenc e w hy his face wa s sc ratched and bru ised. Biaggi said : " I d on't know why . Perhap s a mosquito bit me." and as rumors gath er ed mom ent um as t o who had ac t ua lly d on e wh at t o whom . te am and spo nsor officials tried uns ucc ess fully to put a lid on the w hole affa ir. The bro ad detai ls we re co nfirmed. howeve r . by an o ff ic ial s ta temen t fr om the FIM . after t he Rac e D irect ion had called both riders in fo r an off icial warn ing. for " an alt er cati on ... prejud ici al to th e int ere st s of the sport. " Bo t h rece ived an off icial w arning, and w ere to ld ..the next infract io n wi ll be san c ti oned with a severe penalty. " Iden ti cally wo rd ed statements fo llowed bo th from Ros si's Nast ro Azzurro tea m and Yamaha . admitti ng " an incident on the very cra mped staircas e leading to th e TV interview ro om and podi um. A small misunderstand ing got out of hand . All parties regre t the incide nt. and the team s have made a com mit men t to keep the we ll-docu me nted rivalry... w it hin acceptable sporting parameters. " The incident was bo th hilarious and de p lora ble . and showed G old en Boy Ro ssi in a so mewhat unsavory light. As eyew itness C apiro ssi said: " I am frie nds wit h bo th of them . but our spo rt is a clea n sport . It is not like foo tb all. " Suzuki is to join the four-stroke GP race in 200 3 . the secon d yea r of the new fo rmula. with an all-new v -fc ur prototy pe machine currently undergo ing deve lopm ent in J apan . The anno unce ment came at C atalunya , co mpleting the set of three Japanese racing fact ories comm itte d to the new class. which has yet ta be named . The new machine . called the XREO. is " an ultra-co mpact . g90 cc . 16 -val ve V vfo ur. " t hat wi ll be mounted in the exi sting RG V Gamma tw o-st roke chassis. adapted to fit. Engineers conservatively predi ct power of 2 10 hp fr om the inject ed engine. wh ich will have double overhead cams hafts . driven by a gear train. The V four was chosen afte r exte nsive study and com puter simulatio ns. which began in February of last year. The target is to test a complete machine in Sept ember of this year. " D uring 200 2. the fourstroke develop ment will con tinue sepa rate ly from the active racing team . " said a written state ment. The facto ry's own test riders would handle early deve lopment. with no plans for curre nt riders Kenny Roberts Jr. or Se te Gibernau to become involv ed at this stage. The factory team will co ntinue to campaign the two- stroke next year. and in 2003 Suzuki plans to sw itc h the team to run the four-stroke. This contradicts earlier report s from the W orld Su perbike paddo ck that the four-stroke te am there. the Alstare C oronas team . w ill ta ke over in GP s f ro m the es tablished England based t e am . Te am m an ag er G ar ry T ayl or a dded furt he r info rmation , saying that Suzuki wa s wa iting unt il the second year of the new form ula becau se " we want to ente r the class with a competitive machine capable of challenging for victory. W e need to allow enou gh time for the new machine to be fully developed ." The V- four de sign had been chos en " as the best cho ice under the new regulations - co nsidering engine performance, weight. compactness. reliability and fuel efficiency ." The effic iency came from the reduced number o f main bearings po ssible wi th the des ign. cutt ing internal frict ion . and the strengt h from the compa ct size of th e crankshaft and crankcases . The fuel-injecti on sys tem would be basically the same used on sports producti on motorcycles , but with a dual injector sys tem. a high-speed computer co ntrol mo del and mor e so phisticated sensors: wh ile future production plans wo uld " depend on the outcome o f the V4 project. " W ith Suzuki completing the J apanese Big Three set wi th Honda and Yamaha. Ducati also comm itted to 2003 . and Team Robert s already talking about a proposed three-cylinder machine . it leave s only Ap rilia of the major fac to ries to make a definitive announcement. to co nfirm rumors that they are experimenting with a variety of engine co nfigurat ions. Honda' s new V -fiv e four-stro ke GP engine was on display at the function . along with a video show ing the new bike undergoing tests in Japan - and includ ing a bliss fully co mplex and layered exhaust note . gruff and shrill at the same time . Some more details on the engine we re announced . It is full g9 0c c capacity. rat her th an the 8 10cc first suspected. and is a wet -su mp design. The very compact mach ine w ill have the fu el tank under the seat . inte nded to reduce pitch ing and to avoid the big differe nce in handling between full and empty tank s. The engi ne has a 72·degree V -angle. and no balance sha ft. Bu t HRC engi nee rs wo uld not reveal the crankshaft timing or firing intervals. " W e might experi ment with diffe rent orde rs ." said HRC preside nt Yas uo Ikenoya. The display mot or also showed a vari ation from the plain intake trumpets of the first pict ures shown earlier this yea r. In Fl style . the V -five motor also has exterio r injector nozzles ups tream of the bell-mouth intake s. This was planned from the start. said Ikenoya. Twenty five HRC and Honda M otor staff memb ers were wor king exclu sively on the engine , he said, and so far the three machines built had covered between 1800 and 2500 miles of te sting . They hoped to have a machine running in p ublic by Oct ober. and to have broken the lap reco rd at Suzu ka by then . V alentino Ro ssi had no t te sted t he mac hine y e t . sa id Ikenoy a. co nt radi ct ing reports in th e Italian press. They expected to enter one or tw o machine s next yea r. but wou ld no t be drawn on wh ether t hey expect ed to beat the two-strokes fir st time out. ..Our aim is not to win the first race. but eventually to win a series of races and the W orld Ch amp io ns hip . " said Ikenoy a (below). add ing th at the unusual number of cy linders had been chosen not only because they believed it made an effective package wit hin the new requlation s. but also" because it is more interest ing. " previ ous three races followi ng a wrist-breaking preseason crash . " II' s perfect now . " he said. "Well . almost perfec t. " Good enough for the 250 W orld Champion to dec ide to pre ss on and race . after qualifying 16th . The third victim was Leon Haslam. wh o also fractured his wri st at Le M ans. but afte r 11 laps on the Shell Advance Honda. the Briton decided he was not able to ride any more this weekend . Spanish te nnis stars Arantxa S a nches Vicario and Juan Carlos Ferrero we re the latest to enthu se about the Marlboro Yamaha tw o -seat er GP machine. after a couple of laps on the day befo re the GP . The stars w ere at the track for a special tenni s match wi th Telefonica M oviStar Suzuk i rider s Sete G ibernau and Kenny Robert s J r.. as we ll as Barro s. U kawa. C ardo so . Katoh and Alzamora. Spe ct ators repo rte d that Robert s gave the pro s a goo d run fo r their money, includi ng an ace serv ice win. A f rea k whirlwind sto pped the final 250cc qualifying ses sion, with adverti sing banners blowing acro ss th e track while the bike s we re circulating. It was pure luck that no riders , marshals or crowd members were hit by debri s flying eve ryw here. The sess ion wa s res tarte d for the final 35 minutes. but the track wa s so dusty that nobody co uld improve their times . Michelin brough t a new 16.5-inch rear tire to Catalunya , developed with the Suzuki team to tackle the tw in problem s of slow steering responses and chatt er. But alth ough the new rubber suited some rider s. including Ro ssi and Nakano . who considered the tire as a second option for the race . it didn't wo rk fo r Su zuki. w ith Robert s switching bac k to his p referred 17-Inch tire. The new tire has a softer con struction for " a bet ter contact feel ing. " acco rding to Mi chelin. Yamaha 's YZR-M1 (below) made a pair of dem onstrati on laps on race day. t he first of th e new ge neration G P bike s to be seen. It was ridden by factory te st er Nor lhiko Fujiwa ra - w ho perform e d a s t ring of imp re s siv e w he el ie s in pl ace o f fa st laps.Yamaha has ta ken the lea d in the publicity stakes. wi th this firs showing of a g9 0c c fo ur -st rok e . However. many felt th at Honda' s advent uro us engineeri ng upstaged Yamahas relative ly pede st rian in-line -fou r de sign . even if they didn't actually have o ne run ning at th e trac k . Th e acid tes t . however. w ill co me whe n th ey start raci ng eac h ot her. Former two -t ime 500cc W o rl d C hamp io n Freddie Spencer w as ind ucted int o t he G rand Prix Hall o f Fam e at Catal unya, the latest star to be recognized in this way. Spencer . w ho also wo n the 250 title. wa s in Ca talunya for Honda' s party to celebrate Honda' s 500 GP wins. Luckless British rider Chris Walker had a lucky escape during prac tice. w he n he was run over by fello w clas s ro o kie .Iohan St igefelf s Sabre V -four . W alker fell in the Anal stages of the first qualify ing session . and Stigef elt was unable to avoi d him . The Swede was distrau ght. " The way he fell I thought I had run over his head. " he said. In fact it was his left arm. which was severely bru ise d and co ntuse d. but luckil y not fractur ed . and Wa lker was out again the next day. Sadly. in his nightm are first season, he crashed again. J e re m y McWilliams joined his thi rd team of the year at Cata lunya . now in M S Ap rilia colors alongside German rider Klaus Noehles in the German-run factory team. His first team. the Britishbased Um ot o squad. fell to bits before the sea son with no spo nso rs hi p . April ia saved the ir form er 500 rider' s bacon by draft ing him into an upgr aded Italian team. entered as Ap rilia Racing. The latest move is a cost -cutti ng measure, and in theory does not affect his pos itio n. Honda ho st ed a mass ive party (be lowi with a highly impre ssive guest list at Catalunya. to celebrate its SOOth G P vic tory at Su zuka this year. Guests incl uded former champions Mic k Doohan. Freddie Spencer. An to n M ang. J im Redman. Luigi Taveri, Ralph Brya ns. Tom my Hob b. Luca Cada lora . Loris Capirossi and Sito Pons. and GP wi nne rs Nobuat su Aok i. Randy M am o la. N ob bi e Ued a and Daijiro Kato h. And. of course . Valentino Ro ssi. winner of the SO Oth G P. Three of this season's 500cc-class broke n·wr ist victim s returned to the track at C atalunya. but only one wa s still riding by Su nday . Au str alian Red Bull Yama ha rider Garry M cC oy was one who survived for two days . after fractu ring his scaphoid two race s ago at Le Mans. The GP winner had surgery, and missed one round . But the cast was only removed the day before practice . "I was n' t sure I'd be able to ride until late last night wh en I go t the okay fro m the surgeon. - M cC oy said. " I' m far from 1DO-percent fit . I' m wearing a small brace on my left hand t hat res tri ct s my movement - and it isn't exac tly pain-f ree . The goo d news is I think the pain is musc ular. " M cC oy pos te d th e 14t h-fa stes t ti me. 1.6· seconds o ff pole pos ition . Still . he decided to withdraw fro m the race . I don't think I could go full race distan ce . so there' s no poi nt . " the Red Bull Yamaha ri de r sai d . Olivie r J acqu e (Gau lo ise s Yamaha) was also back , afte r missing the N cyc le n eVIl's JUNE 27 , 2 0 01 33

• Cover