Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Ryo knows that the team wants to win, but said "for me, personally, I am very happy to have achieved second place." Third would go to Checa after a battle. After falling back as far as fifth, Checa watched as Gibernau crashed while trying to overtake Rossi for second on the 13th lap. Gibernau was behind Rossi when the Italian slowed and the Suzuki rider had to brake hard while leaned over. "We'd finished braking and were leaned over already when he seemed BRIEFLY••• Brivio also admitted that Yamaha may have tipped their fourstroke hand too eariy. "I don't know if we started first. probably we are the first to show something," he said. "Probably some other factory decided to work more hiding. We work for a few .J.remy Burg•••. the crew chief for Repsol Honda's Valentino months and now we are in testing and we realized in this moment Rossi. missed the two tests at the Suzuka Circuit prior to the Japanese GP after accidentally slicing his left foot open with a chain saw. Burgess was working at his home outside of Adelaide, Australia, the Monday before the tests when the accident occumed. He wrapped the foot himself and drove to a nearby hospital where the gash was sewn up. The saw tore through an artery. but did no damage to the bone or tendons, so the pnocedure was fairly straightforward. Doctors estimated he'd lost 400500cc of blood. Burgess was limping around the Suzuka paddock, joking that he'd cut himself to stay out of Japan as long as possible. that Honda is better probably. Honda set the target very high or higher, and we are, of course. fully committed and working as hard as possible to come close to reach this time. "I think, honestly speaking, I have to say we all working very hard, I mean the riders, who are testing a lot. many laps following our requests, and the team, we are now very demanding to everyone involved in this project - the engineers, the team mechanics. The riders and everybody's focused, because every one of us involved in this project we allow want to reach the target as soon as pOSSible. So it's not so difficult from this point of view because we are all motivated and we are working very hard and I see everybody working on this project no complaint whatsoever, everybody working hard." Brivio also said that Grand Prix racing was entering a transition period between two-strokes and four-strokes The Marlboro Yamaha YZR·M1 that Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa run may not resemble the one they run at the end of the season, so said Marlboro Yamaha's team director Davide Brivio. Brivio said the team was developing fuel injection for the currently carbureted four·cylinder and was experimenting with various engine displacements. ·This is a part of the development we are doing now," Brivio said. "For instance, yes, fuel injection is in the plan. We are working on this project. As soon as It could be ready for racing application we will deliver it to Max [Biaggi] and Carlos [Checal for the races. And also for the capacity. Of course, we are testing different solutions during the testing and now we found the best solution for the moment and we can say which one it is." Though he wouldn't say what the current capacity was, others in the paddock believed it to be 940cc, prompting more than one to ask why they hadn't gone to the full looOcc displacement from the start. ·The different engine capacity has been tested on the track and the dyno, the dyno bench and we are evaluating all the conclusion and we take some decision. We have now one situation and we continue working and see where we can benefit with one solution or the other. " Brivio also said that Yamaha had a new cha••I. for the Suzuka opener. "What we are looking for is a better turning and we are working in engine but also chassis because we are looking for best turning on the bike and we modify one chassis for Mugello in early March and we have another one here and then we will continue," Brivio said. "Something to make a better turning, also to make the front end working better, some different weight distribution and so this is the different weight solution we are testing. We are trying different ways, which one gives more benefit. Because, in the end, it's always a matter to find a compromise. You improve one area, you go worse in another area." Brivio also said that another chassis was in the pipeline. "I don't know when it will be ready, but something is in progress again. We never stop. Of course, we would like to have for every race many new parts, but this takes time and you have to fit into the schedule. So I think this will be a never-ending development, never-ending parts coming. " Marco Melandri (31. Osamu Miyazaki (891. Emilio A1zamora (71. Roberto Locatelli (151 and Randy De Punlet (171 lead the 250. Into tum one. Wildcard rider Miyazaki went on to win on his Yamaha. to virtually stop," Gibernau said after punching himself repeatedly in the helmet while walking away form the crash. That put Checa to fourth and he set out for Itoh, who he passed in the esses on the 17th lap. Too far back normal bike, more round lines, and with the 500 is more necessary ride fast, slow down in the middle of the comer, and pick up the throttle. With this one is a little bit more similar to 250 a little bit. But when you have more than 200 horsepower, the bike is very fast and nervous. " Rossi showed up in Japan with a .cruffy beard and bu.hy hair. tucked under a green army cap, an ersatz young Fidel Castro. Rossi explained that he'd made a pact with his family that if he won the 500cc World Championship last year in BraZil, he wouldn't have to cut his hair or his beard, "and I arrive in March like a wolf. Now I cut it because my mother say if you are like this don't come inside my house. Now is okay, but is better. " Because he'd never ridden the RC211V four-stroke in the rain, Rossi wasn't happy when he woke up on the rainy Sunday morning. "This time when I wake up I say f - like any rider, not only me." he said. "where we can have some races where two-strokes may be more close to four-strokes. [it is in this sense thall this year, it may be more competition. I expect less competition in 2003 and 2004 when the four-stroke will be more developed." Valentino Rossi enters the four-stroke era as the prohibitive favorite. So much so, that rival Loris Capirossi even suggested Rossi could defend his title with one hand tied behind his back. "I try tomorrow [the first day of practice] with one hand, but is necessary to speak with Loris [Capirossi] because maybe with the right is possible, but oniy with the left is not possible," Rossi joked, while disagreeing with the premise. "I think we have some tracks where we have an advantage, some tracks where we are at the same level, and also some tracks where we have a disadvantage." What has made Rossi the favorite is the string of impressive results in the preseason tests, ending with last weekend's runs at the Suzuka Circuit. "Yes, the test went very good and the bike growing up very much in the winter," Rossi said. "We make a big work, especially about handling. Now I like ride the bike better. Everywhere is good lap times. But you know the race is a different story." Rossi admitted having limited fourstroke experience before the RC-211 V project. Initial tests weren't what he'd hoped for, but the development process paid off. "At the beginning, I don't like ride the bike especially for the engine character and also a little bit for the chassis," he said. "All the rear part of the bike was not good. I like the front because the front was already not so bad, but I don't have traction on the rear. Engine character is very much like a four-stroke. I want to modify a little bit and make a little bit more similar as a two-stroke about the power delivery. Because at the beginning, when you open the throttle only 10 percent, anrive too much power and the way the tire is you lose grip when you are on the edge, so is not possible to put on the track all the horsepower, because it slide everywhere. And so this has been modified. We modify also the rear part of the bike. the swingarm to make a little bit more similar for the 500. Is possible ride this bike more like Telefonica MoviStar Suzuki's K.nny Roberts .Jr. may be lagging behind the rest of the four-stroke competition, but he's happy to be in the fight. "For me, it's much more exciting because it's basically the first motorcycle that's different than the '99 Suzuki," Roberts Jr. said dUring a pre-race press conference at the Suzuka Circuit. "I mean, the 2000 was different. and 2001 was much the same, so this is really the first time I've had an opportunity to completely change everything and start fresh. The power-to-weight ratio on these bikes is quite a bit different." he continued. "For me, the 500 was qUite a bit more violent on the chain force once you initially opened the gas and the first three or four meters, you kind of made your commitment whether you were going to jump off the bike then or not. This bike is not as hard that way and it's much different going into the comer, a little bit unsettled. We're trying to work in that area. It's like riding a 250 motocross bike and then jumping on the new four-stroke bikes. The two-strokes you're going a million miles an hour, you're much faster, but the lap times are the same. So the fourstroke gives you an opportunity. Everything's a little more slow motion. The bike moves around a lot more for me than the twostroke. When the two-stroke moved, it was for a reason. And this bike does it because it's happy moving around and it's a little bit slower - everything happens a little bit slower." Roberts Jr. admitted that the rider they're all chasing is World Champion Valentino Rossi. "Valentino has the advantage riding the motorcycle and also a mental advantage right now because he knows what he has to do right now to win the race," he said. "And we're just trying to build the bike and the tires and so many things as a team effort and we're not concentrating on what we need right now, right here to win this race. This is what we need to think about, the future, so it's two different categories. I'm happy in my position. I'd like to be in a different position, but it's not possible. We're going to work with what we have and trying to make the best of it." cue I • n _ _ so • APRIL 17, 2002 13

• Cover