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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128115
Ryon Be ll (G-G) and Fred C rossett
(G- G) w ere th e win ne rs at th e fifth and
sixth ro unds of the AMA/ NATC Nation al
Trial s S erie s in C ay ut a. N ew York, July
21 -22 . Crosse tt finished sec ond on Saturd a y . wi th d efen ding ch amp Geoff
Aaron (G- G) t hird. A aro n was se co nd
on Sunday , w ith Bell taking third .
Frank Trombino (Ya m) w o n th e Parts
Canad a Supe rb ik e ro un d at M o sp ort
International Rac ew ay o n Ju ly 22 , finishing so me 14 seconds ahead o f Francis
Martin (S uz) , Owen Weichel (Kaw)
w a s t hird , whi le c ha m p io n ship leade r
Steve Crevier (Hon) fin ished fo urth .
Cre v ie r now le ad s M art in . 252 -210 .
W ei c hel is third w ith 20 7 po ints . In o ther
ac t ion at M osport, Tro m b ino also won
the O pen Spo rt B ike final. topping M art in.
C revi er. meanwhile, won the 6 00 S po rt
Bi ke race aft er passing Jean-Franco is
C yr in the final co me r.
The new breed of four-st ro ke Grand Prix
machines wi ll make their debut in competiti on at the J apanese G rand Prix at S uzuka o n April 7, accordi ng to the provi-
si o nal ca lenda r fo r th e 200 2 World
C h a m p io n s h i p s
th at
th e
FIM
has
released . The sc hed ule is ne arly identical
to thi s year's calendar. right down t o not
having a da te for a Unit ed States G rand
Prix. The order o f th e 16 race s and actual
day s are o ff by o nly a day fro m thi s year
t o next - i.e.. Su zuka is April 8 thi s ye ar.
the 7th next ye ar - w ith the exceptio n o f
the swapping of the M alay sian and Au strali an r o unds . Sepa ng move s f orwa rd
o ne week t o Octob e r 13, Phillip Is land
back a week to the 20th. Of th e 16 ci rcuits. 11 still need t o be homo log ated to
Controversy - and th e distant sound of lawyers preparing expens ive
legal bri efs - surrounded the firing of British road racer Chris Walker.
who was dumped mid-way through his first season and a quarter of
the way through his two -y ear contract with th e Shell Advan ce
Honda team.
With the alternative of tight -lipped silen ce or implausible statements, it was impossibl e to ascertain the exact circum stances of the
abrupt end to the British Superbike star' s ill-fated and crash -strewn
GP career.
Did he jump. or was he pushed? Possibly a bit of both . There
were strong rumors tha t he and the team planned an amicable parting of the ways in the summer break after the German GP (on July
22) - but it seemed something dramatic happened the week before
the rac e that precipitated the dramatic and premature termination.
Some sources said that the team had insisted he should ride
Haslam's V-tw in in Germany, with his young teammate on the
V-fou r - and that Walker had blown up as a result. None of this
wa s remotely clear from a flurry of mo re or less conflicting
statements from three parties in volved - the rider, the t eam
manager, and the Australian -based spon sors, Shell Advance.
T he news bro ke on July 18 in an official statement from
Shell Advance, saying that Walker was out of the German GP
while recovering from head injuries, and hinted that replacement rid er Brendan Clarke m ight be calle d on ag ain i f th e
British rider does not recover.
"Th e head injuries Walker sustained in a high- speed crash
at the Du t ch TT at A ssen ar e still ca use for con cern , and
despite his brave effort to race in his home GP at Donington on
J uly 8, he has been advised to sit out this race," said the statement .
Wa lker resp ond ed w ith a co nt radictory st ate me nt o f hi s
own, saying he was perfectly fit and had been prepari ng to go
to Germany when the call came tellin g him not to do so, and
not to bother coming back at all .
On the first day of practi ce in Germ any , th e plot thickened
still further. with a written statement from th e team boss Jeff
Hardwick distancing the team from th e earlier A ustra lian statem ent. especi ally the comments on Walker' s physical con diti on.
" At that time, th e team expecte d Chr is Walker woul d race at
Sachsenring. and those stat ements in regard to Walker's fitness
wer e not issued by t eam m an ag er : Hardwic k st at ed , th en
declined to make any furth er comm ent,
Th e contradic tion suggests franti c back-ped aling, perhap s
becaus e of impending lega l action concerning the break ing of
Walker's contract.
. At thi s stage, th e only person whose remarks are plausible
is Wal ker. who se managem ent' s stateme nt said : " Chris was
feeling 1DO-percent fit and read y for the week end whe n he
receiv ed a call fro m Jeff Hardwick ju st hou rs before setti ng off
for the Sachsenring."
The Walker stateme nt co ntinued: "Chris is eno rmo usly disapp ointed with the team 's dec ision. especia lly considering the
fact th at he negotiated a two -year con tract in order to be able
to use the first season as a 'Iea m ing year' witho ut the added
pr essure of havin g to produ ce immediate results.
" He feel s that the t eam hav e not sup ported hi m th rou gh
what has been a very di fficu lt period with injuries suffe red in
Suzuka, Barcelon a and Assen, the lac k of t estin g time ava ilable
to him , and the very lim ited ran ge of set- up chan ges he is able
to ma ke on the bike. He feels that he has been ma de to suffer
for the poor financial positi on of the team and its lack of expe rience at the highest level. "
The statement quoted Walker: "I knew it would be very hard for
m e to come into Moto GP and make an impact in a yea r when
records are being broken at every circuit and I was havi ng to learn
to ride a new bike on new tires at a new circuit every week. How ev er, with the right support from my team, I knew that it woul d only be
a matter of time before I was riding at a competitive level.
"Unfortunately the tea m have not been true to their word and
have deci ded to rep lace me without. reall y giving m e the ti me to
adapt to riding a 500 , which was an agreed part of my origina l deal.
I'm devastated. "
Walker, who finished a close second in last year's British Superbike Championship after a yearlong duel with Neil Hodgson, is considering offers to retum to four -stroke racing for the rest of the season.
Michael Scott
confirm thei r da tes , th ough it' s stric tly a
fo rmality . The series schedu le is as fo llows: A pril 7 - J apan. S uzu ka : A pril 21 -
calendar is that on e of the two rou nd s
C astrol Ho nda 's Colin Edwards w as
in a D ucat i press release , "I almost fo und
S out h A fric a. W elkom : M ay 5 - S pai n ,
slate d for Englan d w ill be held at the Sil -
the fas te st o f the World Sup erbike me n
the rac e tire . w e 've go t a co u p le t o
J erez de la Frontera : M ay 19 - Franc e. Le
verstone circu it rath er tha n D o ning t on
who tested at the Enzo & D ino Ferrari Cir-
c hoose from . the bike is pretty muc h set
M an s: Jun e 2 - Italy, M ugello : J une 16 -
Park. Laguna Se c a is also o n the calen-
c uit in Imo la, It aly , last wee k . Ed w ard s
up the way I wa nt it and the geari ng is
Catalunya. C atalun ya: June 29 - Holl and ,
dar, with th e race schedu led for July 14 ,
clicke d off a 1:4 9 .42 t o best Aprili a' s
good . We' v e made a good start come
A s se n: Ju ly 7 - England . Doningt on Park :
The sc hedu le is as follows : Marc h 10 -
Reg is Lac o ni on the sec o nd day o f the
race w eekend in S ep t ember . " Bayliss .
July 2 1 - G ermany , Sach sen ring : A ugust
Spain , Va le ncia : M arch 2 4 - A u st ral ia,
two-day test that feat ure d the majority of
mea nwh ile, co mpl e ted 73 laps o n t he
25 - C zech Republic , B m o : Se pt emb er 8
Phillip Island: Ap ril 7 - S ou th A frica , Kya la-
the World Superbike factory team s, L&M
se c ond day, setti n g a b e st ti m e of
- Po rtugal, Estoril: Septe mber 22 - Valen -
rni: April 2 1 - J apan. Sugo: M ay 12 - It aly,
D u c at i' s B en Bos trom , meanw hile,
1:50 .5 2 . b ut adm itted th at more work
cia , Ricard o Tormo: Octo ber 6 - Pac ific,
M on za: M ay 26 - Great B ri t ain , Si lv e r-
ended t h e tes t in fif th p la c e . moving
needed t o be don e b efore he could be
Tw in Ring Motegi: O ct ober 13 - Ma laysia,
stone : Ju ne 9 - G ermany , Euro speedway
a h e a d o f c h a m p io ns hi p leade r T r o y
satisfied with his Imola set-up. " I did a lot
Sepang : O ct o b e r 20 - A ustralia , Ph illip
Lau s it z (T B C); June 30 - San M ar ino,
B ay lis s , Bo st ro m wa s upbeat about his
of lap s and lea rn ed the t rack , but I'v e
Is lan d : N ove mber 2 . Rio de J an e ir o ,
Misano (TBC ): July 14 - U nited Stat e s ,
performance, during w hich he ran a total
been wrestling w ith the bi ke a little fo r th e
Jacarep agu a.
L agu na Sec a : July 28 - Great B rit a in ,
o f 63 lap s w it h a be st time of 1:50. 3 4,
p as t two da ys and we're sti ll m iss in g
B rands Hatch : September 1 - Germany,
decl aring th at he w as pleased with t he
so met hin g, " t he A u stralia n sa id, " Th e
O s chers lebe n ; S eptember 8 - Nethe r-
general race se t -up o f his D ucati 996R .
problem now is finding somet hing on the
The FIM has also iss ued a " pre-calendar"
for t h e 2002 World S upe rb i ke
lands , Assen; September 29 - Italy. lrnola:
" I' m really hap py with the tw o days test -
bike to make up another second on the
Championship , The big c hange to the
O ct ob er - France