Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128198
• .... ...._:-1.... .., .......... .I'I~ •• .... - Happenings In Motorcycling World Champion Valentino Rossi and his teammate Nicky Hayden started their 2003 testing schedule at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia on Monday, January 20. Rossi spent his first day sorting out the brakes on his RC211 V, while Hayden went about the task of learning another new circuit. "This is another good chance for me to get in some training on the bike," Hayden said. "This is my first time at Sepang, and I like it. It's a real GP circuit, fast and safe. I didn't push so hard today; I just concentrated on finding a setup for the circuit and trying to find a good rhythm out there. I need the experience." Hayden ended the first day of the test exactly two seconds slower per lap th.an Rossi. The Ducati Marlboro shared the circuit with the Honda teams at Malaysia, with teammates Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss continuing development and setup work on the Ducati Desmosedici in view of this year's MotoGP championship. Uke Hayden, it was Bayliss' first time at Sepang. Capirossi, however, is a veteran of the Malaysian circuit, and he lapped at an impressive 2:05.3. while Bayliss did a best of 2:06.5. "We are all really satisfied with the way things went: said Capirossi. "Today was important because we didn't have any reference data on this track. We started from scratch, and if this is the starting point, then we can only be pleased. We still have to get the bike fully set up, but we are already at the same level as the competition. We are improving aU the time, the team is working well. and the 38 laps completed today have already provided us with some important data. There are still two more hard days to come, after which we will have a better idea of where we stand.' "I'd never been to this circuit before," declared Bayliss at the end of the session, "so I bought myself a PlayStalion and FI game and tried to leam the track as best as I could. I'm only joking, though. because today was an important debut, and I'm pleased with the way it went. I did 39 laps, looking for the best lines on this wide and long track, and tried to set a good lime. Seeing as we didn't have any data to go on, we used the Phillip Island setup as a starting point, and so my best time of 2:06.5 is an excellent result. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to test with the different gear ratios because of the rain. n By ALA CATHCART • • All about Derbi Another world title-winning motorcycle marque besides Ducati in which TPG has an indirect interest (thanks to its minority shareholding in Piaggio) is Spain's scooter and small-bike specialist Derbi, winner of 18 Grand Prix World Championships between 1969 and 1989 in the 50cc, 80cc and 125cc classes. This honor roll should, by any judgement, have risen to 20 in 2001, when San Marino's Manuel Poggiali and Japan's Youchi Ui finished first and second in the 125cc World Series on the Harald Bartol-developed bikes which had been campaigned for the previous three seasons as Derbis - only for PoggiaU's bike to be badge-engineered into a Gnera at the start of that season, when Piaggio acquired Barcelona-based Oerbi from the founding Rabasa family. They were even run out of the same pitl For four decades, the 'balas rojas' (red bullets) have been a proud component of Spain's love affalr with Orand Prix racing, and now. at last. II book has been written in both Spanish and English, recording Derbl's illustrious competition history. Entitled Oerbi - 40 Years In the World Championship and publl.s/led in Spain by Editorial Contexto of Barcelona (ISBN 84932909-0-4), this extremely well-researched and appropriately illustrated 240-page history by Spain's leading classic bike joumalist Manuel Garriga is a must-have volume for anyone Interested In the development atOP racing's liddler classes from 1962 up to the present day so, the two-stroke era - in which Derbi's rotary-valve red bullets played such a crucial part In fact. Derbi's success story embraces three distinct chapters - the first from 1962-1974, when the legendary Angel Nieto, GP raclng's second-mast-successful rider of all time after Giacomo Agostini, dominated the smaller capacity classes with the Spanish bikes. Most notably. he defeated the young Barry Sheene on his ex-works Suzuki to win the 125 World Championship in 1971, the same year in which Sheene debuted Oerbj's own 250cc twin in GPs - until he realised he was racing against his teammate for the 125 title on a different bike. so it might be a good idea to leave the Derbi team! The second era of Oerbi dominance spanned 1984-1991, when, after a decade away from the race tracks, the Spanish firm returned to win a succession of world titles with its new young star. Jorge Martinez, better known under the sobriquet of "Aspar.· While much was deservedly made both then and since of Freddie Spencer's achievement in winning two World titles in the same year - in the 250/500 classes in 1985 - the fact is that Aspar was the most recent (and probably, the Iastever) rider to register this monumental feat. when he scored no less than 14 Grand Prix race victories in a single season in 1988, to win both 80cc and 125cc World Championships, conVincingly defeating Honda's RS125 to do so with the brand-new Oerbi In the bigger class's first year as a single-cylinder category. The most recent chapter in Oerbi's success story covers 1999-2002, when, thanks to the genius of Austrian engineer Harbld Bartol, Oerbi repeated the medicine by defeating both Honda and Aprilia to win the World title - even if the name on the tank said differently. Garriga's history is both readable and instructive and includes an excellent technical appraisal of each of the Oerbi GP racers. It has a foreword In Spanish. by Andreu Rabasa, son of the company's founder and the man whose enthusiasm for racing, coupled with a strong commercial appreciation of Its bottom-line benefits, underwrote Oerbi's road racing involvement. Another forward is Induded in English by Aussle Barry Smith, Nieto's teammate in the late '60s and, most notably. winner of the Isle at Man TT aboard a Oerbi In 1968. This is a fine addition to the GP enthusiast's library. Recommended. Even though ilia motorqcle uIcI ......... on Its ...... 2001 12Scc WorIcI CMmplon ....... Pa.1 r .... IMIbcII • ......,. to gIIaIy far tile SpanIlIb DtwbI - . DtwbI built Paool s II U U ... ~ to _ It rd • lI.sd .... dubious buslne.. W decision. Now, • book Is IIWIIIaIIIe that clll'anlcies DedIt.. trt.-phs In QP ....... InciucIIng Paea' "s tIIIe. To cast your vote, log on to _---dlttp:/ /www.cyclenews.com. Sean Hamblin Danny Smith ... 16.63% Steve: ll!lmsan .... 1.lI6% .. , ..B.60% Ja.h Wood•.•.... l.q6% Michael Byrne ....B.03% Billy laninavlch .•.B.03% Ivan Tedesco Of those who have already won a round, who will be the first rider to win two MA Supen:rassu this yenr? ..JANUARY 29, 2003' None or the.e [Illig q.1 q% Tyler Evan• . . . . . .0.97% Daryl Hurley 0.57% .••3.00% Shl!lne: Besl ...•..D.l:I9 a,4 ....•..2.03% Brett Metcalfe ...•o.q I % Anderson Eric Sarby A. Ricky Carmichael B. Ezra Lusk C. Chad Reed 6 6.q9% ..... 1.30% 7.B7% Andrew Short Josh Han.en Ryan Mill• . . . . . , .1.22% ~eve Boniface .... I .6 2 % iiliiiiiliiiiiliiijiiiiii!ii!i!!i!iiiiiii 1i!33 cue I e nevvs