Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Championship Road Race Series Round 7: Dutch Grand BRIEFLY••• Valentino Rossi led a string of complaints about an extraordinary mid-event change to the rules at Assen - which were handed out to teams on the afternoon of final qualifying. The rule change cancels the "two-thirds" rule, by which a race could be stopped for rain after twe-thirds had been completed, and full results taken without a restart. Now any race will have to run the full number of scheduled laps, no matter when it is stopped, with results on an aggregate of both legs. The change affects only the MotoGP class, and was instituted, according to race director Paul Butler, for the good of the show, after spectators and TV viewers were thought to have felt short-changed after the French GP at Le Mans was stopped after just twe-thirds distance. The rule is a stop-gap measure, with sweeping changes banning race stoppages due next year - but it does introduce the worrying possibility of (for example) a restart over one or two laps, with riders packed together on the grid and given the opportunity to try too hard. It was also the insensitive timing of the announcement, with everyone already locked in to the procedure of the meeting. Rossi was incensed. "The organizers are playing with our safety," he said. "They get us to do a lot of stupid things (for example, a photo-opportunity visit to a cheese factory in the run-up to Assen). But when it is something as important as this, they don't even ask us," he complained. "I don't see any safety problems," said Paul Butler, though he added: "I expected the rule change to take effect at the next race at Donington, but all the interested parties thought it should be brought In immediately." Butler dodged questions on pace cars, which strong rumors suggest will be brought in next year, along with the new flag-to-flag rules banning race stoppages in favor of pit stops to change tires. "We're discussing many things, and there was talk about the possibility of pace cars in the early stages," he said. The revisions to As. .n drew harsh criticisms from several riders, with Kenny Roberts Jr. leading calls for the dangerous new kinks to be removed and the track straightened. The offending area is the new Veenslang, where track designers tried to replicate the te-and-fro chicanes of the old section. However, in a layout that Dutch rider Jurgen van den Goorbergh described as "a complete failure," they instead introduced a serious danger point. The new track is an interesting technical challenge, replacing corners of increasing speed with fast zigzags that actually get tighter. The second-last, a right-hander, had all riders dropping a gear and some even braking: the next left is even slower, tuming back to rejoin the old track at the Stekkenwal corner. "The problem is that the track doubles back on itself," said Roberts. "You're going into the first comer in fifth or fourth gear, and if you have any sort of problem you'll go on straight. and then go right across the track where it's coming back." The high speed of the approach combined with the layout presented all the ingredients for a serious aCCident. agreed other riders and observers. One pungent comment came from Proton KR3 rider Jeremy McWilliams. "It won't be to everybody's taste, but it gets my vote. But then I've always liked dangerous circuits." Kenny Roberts Sr. blamed a lack of consideration at the design stage. "The problem is with the exception of Barcelona the people who design circuits now never ask the riders," said the team owner, a noted safety campaigner during his riding career. Roberts Jr. called for an urgent redesign. "They really should consider taking those comers away and just having a straight running into a final comer (before Stekkenwal) like it was before. The speed would be higher, but the layout would be safer. " Strong rumors suggest that there will be eight V ·five Honda. on the MotoGP grid next year, and that Australian star Garry McCoy may be riding one of them - but a moratorium on information meant a mystery surrounded the true facts, and speculation was rife. Unofficially, it is thought that Honda plans to supply complete machines to two two-rider teams - their own Repsol-backed squad with Rossi and a teammate: and the Fortuna-Gresini squad currently running Daijiro Kato. Kato's future teammate is still unknown. Two more teams will be supplied with engines, runs the story, and will supply their own chassis. They are Red BulllWCM, currently running Yamaha two-strokes, who are expected to commission chassis from Moriwaki: and Team West Honda Pons, which already has chassis constructor Antonio Cobas on the team. Red Bull had expected to make an announcement this weekend, and it was thought this would confirm the new Honda Moriwaki tie-up for the independent team. However, the planned press briefing was canceled, and team manager Peter Clifford remained tight-lipped and unable to confirm or deny any details. "We were only going to announce our plans rather than any completed deals," said Clifford. "But there are too many other people involved, and I can say nothing." The team had preViously been linked with a venture with Aprilia, taking over the factory MotoGP four·stroke effort. Garry McCoy is set to make his retum to GP racing at Donington Park for the British GP in two weeks' time - but much depends on the outcome of pre-race tests on the Tuesday before, at the unlikely venue of Cadwell Park in England. McCoy is recovering well after pulling out of the French GP, follOWing ;26 JULY 10, 2002' II: U n II: •• __ • serious pain and struggles at the first three rounds of the year, after breaking both bones in his lower right leg in preseason tests. With screws in his leg bending and breaking, McCoy (below) took a four-race break to allow the injury to heal. "I'm feeling pretty good," said the Australian Red Bull Yamaha rider McCoy, in a break from training back home in Andorra. "I'm walking around normally. I've built up the muscles and I have more movement in my ankle than at any time since the crash," he said. The Mallory test will be on July g, with the British GP on July 14. ..Ion Ekerold, the only privateer to win a World Championship (in the 350cc class in 1981>, launched a searing attack on mid'70s circuit-safety campaigner Jackie Stewart, in a controversial new autobiography, published at Assen. Ekerold, in forthright style, dubs the F1 World Champion "arrogant and self-opinionated," and states firmly: "Although he may have saved the lives of one or two Formula-One drivers, the graveyards are full of young motorcycle racers who died as a direct result of Stewart's selfish and short-sighted actions." Ekerold, always a staunch independent. has published a 4000-strong limited edition of the memoirs himself, in conjunction with German publishing firm Text&Technik Verlag, and cognoscenti already consider it "a minor classic of racing literature." Other sections deal harshly with Banry Sheene and contain suggestions of high-level fuel cheating by rivals, but it is the attack on Jackie Stewart that most benefits from and best reveals Ekerold's lucid Writing style, clear and forceful arguments, and a strong sense of justice. "Despite the rising death rate in motorcycles racing [in the '60s and '70sl, the prima donnas of Formula One led by Jackie Stewart kept demanding more Armco barriers and later catch fencing, with total disregard for the lives of the motorcycle racers who used the same tracks," writes Ekerold. "I often wished the arrogant and self-opinionated little man who was responSible for this state of affairs could see what a human body looked like after hitting a steel barrier or catchfence pole at high speed. To see him today telling whoever cares to listen how much he was responsible for safety in motor racing makes people like me want to be sick." The South African-born ex-racer, now based in Germany, wrote "Jon Ekerold - The Privateer" without the assistance of a ghostwriter, and clearly didn't need one. Apart from being well structured - weaving in the fasci· nating story of his early life and his break into world racing with the blow-by-blow account of his title defeat of Toni Mang's factery Kawasaki - the book benefits from his clear and outspoken style and fearless criticism. Ekerold insists there will be no reprint after the numbered editions are sold out. The book will not be available in stores, but you can order it through www.bodoschmidt.de or bye-mail fromEkeroiddirect.atjonekerold@aol.com. or by fax (49-6887-3168), or by mail at Wendalinus Strasse 10, 66839 Schmelz, Germany. The book is selling for 25 Euros <$24.70) a copy. Which way should the crankshaft spin for best handling? It's a moot point. but a snippet that emerged at Assen showed how seriously the question is taken, and to what lengths people will go for an answer. Proton Team KR engineering boss Tom O'Kane described how, in 1999, he commissioned a special primary drive chain for the three-cylinder Modenas to replace the usual gears. A quick change-over in the pits, with a suitable ignition-chip change, allowed back-te-back testing with the crank spinning one way with the chain, the other with the gear drive. "I believe we're the only team to test both directions of rotation with the same bike and the same rider in the same practice session," said O'Kane. It was with rider Mike Hale, and the results were revealing. "There was a huge difference in handling. Ever since then, we've believed it best to spin the crankshaft forwards," said O'Kane. Kenny Roberts ..Ir. is enjoying racing again this year. The word is official, given at a special exclusive press briefing to selected journalists on the evening of the Dutch n. Last year, Roberts put up the worst title defense on record and was plainly disgruntled at the lack of competitive performance from his Suzuki two-stroke. This year, on the new V -four four-stroke, though it is not yet a winning machine, things are different. "I know if I was on the same bike as Valentino Rossi, Loris Capirossi and Max Biaggi, I could beat them. I'm not here to come seventh or eighth - I'm here to beat Valentino in the last two laps. That is what I've trained to do all my life. Last year, it was hard for me to accept that I couldn't do that with the machine as it was. This year, I'm trying to forget that - to have fun, and enjoy the bike. I don't care where I qualify on the front three rows, because I know what the bike is capable of. I'm still motivated. I'm looking forward to riding the bike more, because the bike is getting belter." Roberts (below), in expansive frame of mind, would not be drawn on whether he'd rather be riding a more challenging two-stroke 500, as Rossi has often intimated. "I really wanted to be 500cc World Champion, and when I'd achieved that I didn't mind about the change," he said. "When you had a 500 hooked up and the throttle open, there's no question that was the best bike to ride especially at tracks like Phillip Island, when you could throw it into the comers so fast and slide it. But I enjoy the four-stroke more than a 500 in some ways because they have so much technology involved, and more companies that understand and are interested. And, the four-stroke, you slide the back into the tums, and it's backfiring and spinning. I enjoy it because it's different - but it will never be as nimble as a 500. The four-stroke Is easier and more forgiving. You can see that because Ukawa's a good rider, but he's not in the class of Rossi, and he can stay close to him. But if the racing's closer, that's not a problem for me." Roberts was fresh from Barcelona tests where the team had made a couple of breakthroughs - a new chassis, and an even more important improvement to engine management and the "throttle connectlon," something about which he talks a lot. "All the time I've been with Suzuki there has been a spike of power as you open the throttle. We couldn't get rid of it with the two-stroke. It made it very difficult to open the throttle with the bike right on Its side .. you had to pick it up, open the throttle, lean it over again until it would spin the wheel or wheelie, pick it up again, then it would go into a horsepower dip... Sometimes Rossi would come past me so fast I'd get frightened. I'd be sliding around, and he'd be glued to the ground. The four-stroke had the same thing, but Warren Willing found something with the engine management after the Barcelona race that made it a lot better. This is the first Suzuki I've ridden that doesn't have the spike - that you can touch the throttle with the bike on its side. hold it open, then gradually open wider and power comes in smoothly and progressively. Now we need to improve our slipper-clutch system· we have more engine braking than you can use to brake - get more horsepower and a beller chassis. We have a wobble problem that is hard on the tires ... The factory had been putting in long hours, but Roberts did not underestimate the task of trying to match the well-developed flve-cylinder Honda. "If they're at a level of 10, then we are at five," he said. "But we have to work twice as hard, because if we just try and catch them up, then they will take a step forward. The Honda seems like a really simple bike, with good horsepower but with a normal mechanical slipper clutch, not like Yamaha's electronic system. They clearly don't have traction control, because of the way Valentino is sliding on all the comers. If Honda starts to throw some electronics on that thing... '" SuzukI's progress had been good, though. "We seem to have peaks and valleys. They develop new stuff, then there's a pause while they work on the reliability, then more stuff again. It seems to me that, for the past few years, the factory with the most money and the biggest R&D budget has been winning all the races - and we all know which factory it is. We got them once [in 2oo1l because of being in the right place at the right time. We had better steering, Warren [wiIIingl and I knew how to get the best out of each race track, and we out-smarted them." Valentino Rossi moved into sixth on the all-time solo GP win list at Assen. It was the young Italian rider's 45th win, putting him equal with Jim Redman. The greatest of all is Giacomo Agostini, with 122 wins, then Angel Nieto with 90, Mike Hailwood with 76, Mick Doohan with 54, and Phil Read with 52.

• Cover