Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Championship Road Race Series Round 1 : .Japanese Gra d Prix wards I think it's possible to go a little Rossi Does It bit faster." Having simulated five GPs during The schedule showed two hours of qualifying, an hour on Friday and another on Saturday. But the reality was that there was about a 20-minute window of mostly dry track in Fri· day's qualifying hour when the riders had to be at their best. Those who were best prepared prospered, while others, notably Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden, got caught out and suffered. Hayden qualified 23rd, with rain in Saturday's session preventing him from improving his lot. To the back row he'd go. The Friday afternoon session was begun on a damp but drying track, with rain beginning to fall about halfway in. RepsoJ Honda's Valentino Rossi's best, turned on the 10th of 11 laps around the recently altered 3.62·mile track, was a 2:06.838, more than two seconds slower than the lap Marlboro Ducati's Loris Capirossi turned in the morning's dry free practice session. On Saturday, the session was begun on a partially wet track with a light rain making the surface more treacherous as the hour went on. "Yesterday we had 20 minutes when the conditions of the asphalt was not bad, and it was possible to make a six,' Rossi said of his 2:06 lap time. It took the MotoGP Champion three or four laps to understand the conditions; then he was able to push for the pole. "After two more laps the rain came, and we are finished." Rival Max Biaggi was second in his debut on the Camel Honda Pons, teammate Tohru Ukawa third best riding with a cracked knee cap. "I am satisfied with my second position on the grid since the track conditions were very difficult, and it was easy to make a mistake," Biaggi said of his lap of 2:07.092. "Today the track was neither wet nor dry, but the important thing was to put in a good performance and make the most of the difficult conditions and circumstances.' Riding in his home Grand PriX, Ukawa said that qualifying was difficult due to the weather. "There were five or six minutes of dry, but I did pretty [well] to do a 2:07 and finish third," the Japanese rider said. Ukawa had cracked his knee cap during the Suzuka test the previous weekend, but he wasn't going to blame his race performance on it. "It was a small crack, but I'm feeling well, and it's not an excuse for the race tomorrow," he said. The first non·Honda was Fortuna Yamaha's Carlos Checa; the Spaniard made his debut with his new Spanish tobacco sponsor. Checa said one of his Yamaha YZR-MJ s was set up for wet conditions and one for dry, and he didn't know which combination to use in the race. The conditions were so iffy on Saturday that Checa never left the garage. "I wonder if I'll get paid less because I haven't ridden very much," Checa said. "We decided not to test much because of the conditions today, as it wasn't worth risking a fall." "We work very much during the winter for the rhythm of the race: he said. recent tests, Rossi knew what to The only glitch in his weekend was expect when his tires started to wear running out of fuel on the final lap. and his fuel load went down. Rossi hitched a ride back to the pits The Anterican Way Team Suzuki's Kenny Roberts Jr. was the flTst American in qualifying, working in concert with his team to be ready when the track was at its best, and clocking the seventh best time. "We were out there at the right time with the right tires," Roberts said. "We were lucky the rain started again because you could see that everybody started coming. As far as that goes, we just continued as I would come in. I said, 'Let's go out on wets.' I said, 'I don't think it's going to stop.' Of course it stopped, and when I came in they had the spare bike started and ready to go with intermediates. Went out on that and did two or three laps, and then it was like, 'I better go in and get some slicks.' When I went in, they had the other bike started and ready to go with slicks. So it was all because of them I was able to get out at the right time on the right tires." Roberts said the team had struggled with a motor problem that forced them to change engines prior to the session. Going into the turns, comer to comer, it never acted the same. "They made some changes during the session and just made it not any better," he said. "So I kind of just rode around worried about falling down. When I did want to push going into the comer, it was accelerating, and when I would get on the brakes, it would accelerate, and when I'm off the brakes, it would lock up the rear. It's nothing they could say, 'Okay, well try this.' They do it, it doesn't change it." Nice Aprilia's Colin Edwards had a different set of problems on his way to the ninthfastest qualifying time. Edwards had the use of only one machine during the constantly changing conditions, which meant he spent more time in the pits than he might have had both machines been at his disposal. "I've got one bike that's got a different particular chassis component than the one I'm riding, and we wanted to test it accurately, and our feel for it's not great at the moment," he said. "We just need some track time to test it. Our two bikes [are] a little bit different." Edwards went out on intermediates at the start of the session, hoping to check out the track. He stayed out a lap too long, because when he came in, he had to change not only the tires, but the steel brakes as well. But time constraints forced him to stick with the steels, rather than changing to the carbons, so he re-joined the session with an intermediate front and a slick rear and steel brakes. "We should have gone slick, slick, with carbon brakes, but you know, we're learning all this crap," Edward said. "I didn't really take into consideration that we might have to change brakes halfway through this sess.ion. We just thought it would get worse and worse," He won by 6.445 seconds and takes (Fortuna Yamaha), and Norick Abe, the championship lead with 25 points, to the 20 for Biaggi. riding in the place of the injured Marco Melandri on the second Fortu· Biaggi admitted that he wasn't up na Yamaha. Abe rode for Fortuna in to Rossi's pace once his tires went off. "I think it was a great fight," the Roman said. '" couldn't come close name only, opting to race the twinshock prototype Yamaha R-l he's been developing. Twelfth went to Alice Aprilia's to Rossi when my tires were going down." Noriyuki Haga, the Japanese rider remounting after crashing on the 10th Still, he was happy to leave Japan with 20 championship points for his of 21 laps. Team Suzuki didn't fare as well. new team. "Not bad," he said. races to go. The bike can improve, I John Hopkins just beat teammate Kenny Roberts Jr. for 13th as the two struggled on their new Suzuki GSV-Rs. hope. It's a good result." Capirossi felt the same way about the very new Ducati. The race began under cloudless blue skies, a chilling wind blowing through, yet another weather condi- "We have 15 "For sure I don't expect like this tion the riders had to deal with. There for the first race," Capirossi said. "All the people in Ducati do very hard working, and the bike we improve day by day. For sure I am happy to had been but one dry session, on Friday morning, with some degree of wet and wind afflicting the track thereafter. The result was a lack of finish in the top three the first race." Fourth went to Kato's teammate, Telefonica MoviStar Honda's Sete dry setup time. The more prepared the team, the better, and no one was better prepared than Rossi. Gibernau with Ducati's Bayliss fifth in The Italian took the lead from his first Grand Prix. "It wasn't a win, but we got a race Capirossi on the fifth of 21 laps, Biaggi sticking with him for a few laps before Rossi dropped the ham- under our belt, and we're happy: Bayliss said. "We've shown the mer and pulled way. At the halfway Ducati is competitive, and that's what it's all about.' Edwards and Hayden were next, mark he had nearly three seconds, which he more than doubled at the end. then the Yamahas of Alex Barros (Gauloises Yamaha), Shinya Nakano (d'Antin Yamaha), Carlos Checa "We fight with [Loris] Capirossi and [Max] Biaggi at the beginning,' Rossi said. "It was a good fight. After- 12 APRIL 16, 2003' cue • e neVIl'S It didn't, and he ended up a tenth of a second off the second row and fighting chatter at both ends. "We had a front and rear chatter this morning, and it just wouldn't tum," he said. "When both wheels are in the air, it just wouldn't tum. We were just trying to sort that out. I think the track, because it rained a couple of days ago, might be a bit green. Might not have as much rubber down as it did at the test. It'll be alright." Team Suzuki's John Hopkins went faster in Friday's dry moming session than he ever had, the 19-year-old the lucky recipient of a tow from Repsol Honda's Valentino Rossi. In the wet, the results were less satisfying - Hopkins ended up J 2th fastest after choosing the wrong tires at the start of the session. "Right away we went out with full wets, and the thing was like riding on butter," he said. "The crew chief said, 'A coupie of people went out on slicks. You want to go give that a run?' I don't know about slicks. It seems a bit iffy. Sure enough, I went out and started doing laps and ended up getting stuck behind [Troy] Bayliss. I figured it was going to stop raining so we could get some dry laps in. I started picking up and going faster and faster and finding the limits for the track conditions. I figured I'd just get behind Bayliss in case I got stuck behind him in the race, so I could figure out where we could pass him." Hopkins stayed out until the rain made it clear he wouldn't be imprOVing his time. Coming into the Spoon Curve on his in-lap, he was barely leaned over when all of the sudden the front wheel slid away. "Luckily I got it saved and ran off the track and brought it in and sat out the rest of the session pretty much," he said. Nicky Hayden's first day in MotoGP was one he'll remember, but not in a good way. There was a crash in the morning followed by a 23rd place qualifying position due to the rain and poor timing. "So the first day was not too good," Hayden said, "but I guess, dang, you got to start somewhere. Rain on the second day meant he'd start his Grand Prix career from the very back of the grid. "Everything that almost could have happened my first day did. Just rain, intermedi· ates, everything. At least I know the track. I can't imagine if this would be the first day of my practice." Unlike Hopkins, Hayden wasn't able to save his machine from crashing. The practice session spill came in a fast, fourth gear right-hander just before the Spoon Curve on his out lap. ""m really not exactly sure how," Hayden said. "I crashed in a real odd way. It was a crash I didn'tleam anything about. It was a dumb crash really." Hayden uses the same fiy·by-wire throttle system on his Honda RC-211 V that Daijiro Kato used last year. Hayden's throttle stuck open prior to the crash, with the only explanation being a foreign object getting caught in one of the throttle slides. Hayden said he was sore but hadn't hit his head. "I crashed hard. Slid a long way," he said. "My shoulder was pretty sore. My head and side, I just slid forever, it seemed like. I slid for so long. I didn't even realize it until I went back out and seen my marks. It was a long way - wasn't much fun_" Hayden went out in the afternoon on intermediates and chewed them up, staying out a lap too long. Not long after he fitted slicks, the rain began again. "I've ridden in the rain quite a bit, but never like this,' he said. "This is the first time I rode it in between. I went out on intermediates, and I'd never been on Michelin intermediates. Even though today was not so good, Ileamed a lot.'

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