Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Championship Road Race Series Round 15: Australian Grand Prix ~@D@7][?@ffI@0 !XJG!JD@ !l0u@ Arnaud Vincent to take the title fight closing the gap. By the 12th, he was down to the wire in two weeks in right with Barros and sometimes even pulling alongside down the straight, Valencia. Lucio Cecchinello was a close sec- taking tighter corner lines and looking pretty comfortable. ond, inches ahead of Pablo Nieto (both Aprilia), with Vincent just one He finally pounced down the tenth adrift in fourth, narrowly head- straight as they started the 23rd lap, ing Dani Pedrosa's Honda. At one and now it was Barros' tum to follow point, the first seven riders had been and probe. They started the last lap covered by less than a second, but De Angelis dropped out, and Sanna still jammed up close, but separated halfway around, when Barros took the lost touch in the closing stages for escape road at the hairpin. After that, sixth. Rossi could win at his will. The close battling had been behind them. The first trio comprised Ukawa, Pedrosa's title chances are now over, more than 25 points behind Vincent, but Poggiali is just eight Kato and van den Goorbergh, with points behind and it will all hinge on the four-strokes simply trouncing the the final race. two-stroke down the straight, but van den Goorbergh passing Kato straight MataGP back, often on the exit from turn one. Barros took the jump with Rossi He never did get ahead of Ukawa, and Ukawa tucked up behind; van den Goorbergh was the best two- however, and at the end Kato again consigned him to a season-best fifth stroke away, slotting into fourth with in the sprint to the line, by less than a McCoy behind him by the end of the tenth. It was an education in the value first lap. The first third of the race didn't of different machine strengths and weaknesses, and of the ultimate give the close up-front excitemen~ worth of sheer horsepower. one expects at this fine, fast circuit, with Barros stretching away, Rossi McCoy and Roberts had been on the back of the group in the early chasing as much as 1.3 seconds laps, but lost touch after the third, cir- behi"nd. After eight laps, they were culating close together, the Suzuki five seconds clear of the pursuit, and DfBDffJfJiJ@ Freakl Cried the defeated four-strokes. A total surprise, cried the Michelin tire runners, all of whom are used to domination. A mirage cried Alex Barros, the best of the rest. Be that as it may, the front row at Phillip Island was determinediy two-stroke, with two Bridgestone tire users and two on Dunlops. All the riders were over 30. And pole went to the oldest man on the grid on the slowest bike down the straight - Jeremy McWilliams on the three-cylinder Proton. McWilliams was almost 20-mph slower through the speed traps, but his comer speed was conspicuous around the rest of the fast and sinuous seaside circuit, appropriately known as "the Assen of the south" for the way it rewards riding skill and sweet handling, and he not only topped the lists with 10 minutes to go, but went out again after he was nudged to second and set a lap a full half-second faster than his nearest rival. "It wasn't a perfect lap - a bit ragged," he admitted. "But I'll take it." Uke a handful of others, McWilliams had holes cut in the upper and lower surfaces of the KR3's fairing to try and reduce lift, especially with the bike leaned over - stiff and gusty crosswinds plagued both days of practice. "To me, it feels as though it works - so it's a psychological advantage anyway," he said. But he was concerned about race prospects. "The problem is they Just eat us down the straights. I might have to be a little harsh making up time elsewhere'. It could be a contact sport tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it," said the man who is known as a hard and determined competitor at the best of times. McWilliams' run put him back ahead of home hero Garry McCoy, haVing at last a lateseason flowering at a track where his Dunlops worked as well as they had worked badly at the last two. It was qualifiers that put him where he was, but he wasn't too worried about race rubber. "I haven't done full race distance yet, but I'm pretty confident," he said, adding: "The two· strokes work pretty well compared with the four-strokes here. It's going to be interesting." Nobuatsu Aoki was alongside, doing without the holes in his fairing and capitalizing on being fast both days with a near-horizontal-leaning flier at the end. Even with hard Bridgestones he was happy: doing without the drilled fairing and pinning his faith in setup changes that made him fast around the sJow corners on the second day, without spoiling his conspicuous extra speed on the fast ones. Jurgen van den Goorbergh was alongside, his first time on the front row since the Czech GP last year. "I'm not riding the bike any different from at the start of the year. It's Just one thing grip. The Bridgestones are working really well here." Barros, banished to lead row two after dominating for most of the rest of the time, was scornful. "The front row is a mirage. They aU used chewing-gum tires," he said. Once again, he was enjoying the four· stroke Honda to the full, and also the ease of preparation and setting up, making only small changes. Tohru Ukawa was alongside, and then teammate Valentino Rossi, stiLi haVing obvious difficulties going into and coming out of corners, adding weight to rumors that he was testing a new clutch and other equipment for HRC. By now getting used to missing the front row, he said: "Generally, the feeling of the bike is good, though I am haVing some trouble getting into the hairpin and some chatter in the middle of it. It will be important to look after the tires in the race. I did that last year, and J won." Max Biaggi was alongside, four hundredths slower, less than a second off pole. In affable mood as he enjoys his last Yamaha rides, far outclassing his favored teammate Carlos Checa, Biaggi complained of uncertain steering in the wind, but said: "It's strange to see two-strokes on the front row, but I think the race will be quite different." Loris Capirossi led row three from Daijiro Kato, Regis Laconi's Aprilia (enjoying the Dunlop effect) and Kenny Roberts Jr., still less than 1.2 seconds from pole. He had great chunks sliced out of his fairing to stop the bike acting like a sail and getting pushed wide in the turns. "I think we can be somewhat competitive tomorrow," he said. , Wild card Shinichi Ito (Kanemoto Honda) led row four from John Hopkins, Sete Gibernau and Shinya Nakano; second new four-stroke Gauloises riders Olivier Jacque led the fifth from Tetsuya Harada, Andrew Pitt's Kawasaki and Checa's factory Yamaha, the MI rider all at sea through the fast tums. "The bike doesn't want to turn when I'm on the gas. It wants to stand up. We'll try some things in warm-up," he said wistfully. Sadly, his bike broke down on the first lap of warm-up instead. Jose Luis Cardoso made up the field; Norick Abe was a doubtfuJ starter after injuring his hand in a very fast highsider in turn one on Saturday moming. rider lacking the drive he needed out of the corners to use his extra speed after 10, Rossi started to work on said_ "I fitted exactly the same kind of down the straight. At the same time, Biaggi and Aoki had managed to get rear and then I was doing my fastest past a soon-to-fade Gibernau, and by lap six they had tagged on to the laps of the race: the first must have been the bad one in the batch." pair, with Jacque also getting past the Suzuki to join on after one-third distance. It was about now that Aoki started It took Aoki and Biaggi two laps to get by Roberts, and soon afterward he and Jacque started to lose touch, to pester Biaggi seriously, ahead by the end of almost every lap, but leading the Yamaha over the line on five or six occasions, but only by inches. '" had to take many risks and ride When Biaggi pulled his final straightline pass on Aoki at the finish, they were four seconds adrift, with Jacque passing Roberts over the line. McWilliams was next, his last victim having been the off-color Checa, very hard to pass him every lap, but Kenny Roberts Jr. (10) leads Oliver Jacque (191 a1 the end of the race. Roberts relinquished the position to Jacque, who finished el9hth, with Roberts ninth. 12 OCTOBER 30,2002' cue • e n • _ s "It was fun playing with the four- he could just come past me so easily on the straight," Aoki said later. strokes, but a frustrating afternoon," McCoy was leading the group on lap 13, but pitted next time around. "The tire was sliding so much the bike was virtually unrideable," he he said later after finishing two seconds ahead of the Yamaha. Then came Shinya Nakano, with Tetsuya Harada and Jose Luis Cardoso taking the last points, Hopkins

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