Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Championship Road Race Series Round 1 : .Japanese Grand Prix BRIEFLY••• Colin Edwards (45) rode to sixth In his MotoGP debut after getting the better of his battle with Nicky Hayden (69). Jenkner and Giansanti came together in the final left, just before Fortuna Yamaha's Marco Melandri was the first casualty of the GP season. The reigning 250cc World Champion fractured his right ankle in two places and chipped his right femur in the very first practice session of the new season. The 20-year·old Italian crashed in a fast right-hand comer 29 minutes into the first official practice session. "Marco's injury is not as bad as we had initially thought." Fortuna Yamaha team director David Brivio said. "The data shows he was traveling at just under 125 mph. and he was hit by the bike after he highsided, so it could have been a lot worse," He was fiown by helicopter to the Mie Medical Centre in nearby Yokkaichi, where he remained under observation throughout the weekend. The reigning 250cc World Champion was fully conscious after the accident and expiained that the bike had hit him after the fall. "I only had about one hour's sleep last night.· Melandri said after retumlng to the track on Saturday. "I've had some serious painkillers, so things are a little better today. I am looking forward to heading home on Monday." Melandri was replaced by wild card rider Norick Abe for the Suzuka weekend and likely beyond. according to Brivio. "After consultation with our title sponsor. Fortuna, and with Yamaha's motorsport management, we have decided to replace Marco with Norick Abe for this race." Brivio said. "After the weekend, we shall assess Marco's condition before making any final decision about the South African GP." Abe, who has a long history with the Yamaha factory, was competing in the Japanese Grand Prix as a wild card aboard a radical new VZR-M1. The latest prototype of the M1 has a different chassis, engine position. and twin-shock suspension. Since he's tested it over the winter. including the pre-Suzuka test at the Suzuka Circuit, he'll continue to ride it instead of Melandri's Fortuna Yamaha, "It may look a little strange that he will ride in different leathers and livery to Carlos [Checal, but we fell that this is the most sensible solution," Brivio said. "He has more experience with Yamaha's test bike than the 2003 race-spec M1." The chances of Melandri's being fit in time for the Aprii 26 South African GP at Welkom seem slim. It's likely Abe will be on the machine for the foreseeable future. Get well messages can be sent to Melandri at marco@yamahamotogp.com. the right leading onto the front stretch, Giansanti recovered to take the lead in the final laps, Cecchinello the runner-up spot in front of Jenkn- taking it in the Spoon on the final lap, er. Perugini taking it right back. The win gives Perugini the cham- On the run to the final fast corner, pionship points lead' with 25, five the left before the final chicane, more than Giansanti and nine ahead Cecchinello moved to his right and of Jenkner. collided with Perugini, running off the CN Suzuk. Circuit track and onto the grass, yet some- Suzuk. City, J.PlIn how staying upright. Jenkner briefly Resuhs:ApriI6,2003IRoundlJ took the lead, but Perugini was back 12S QOALIFYING: 1. Alex De Angelis (2:15.417); 2, Daniel Pedrosa (2:15,881); 3, Lucio in front before the final chicane Cecchinello (2:16.732); 4. Mirko Gians8nti sequence. (2:16,894); 5, Stefano Perugini (2:16,918); 6. Max Sabbatani (2:16,959); 7. Casey Stoner (2:16.961): 8. As Cecchinello tried to make a Andre8 Dovizioso (2:16.975); 9. Hector Barbera (2:17.224); 10. Stefano Bianco (2:17.308); 11. Pablo Nieto (2:17.569); 12. Shuhei Aoyama (2:17.804); move back to the front, he ran straight in the final chicane, his front 13. Steve Jenkner (2:17.990); 14. Emilio AIUlmora (2: 18,126); 15. Marco Simoncelli (2: 18.428); 16. brake lever having been ripped off in Arnaud Vincent (2: 18.710); 17. Thomas Luthi (2:19.062); 18. Youichi Oi (2:19.308); 19. Alvaro Bautista (2:19.646); 20. Gino Borsoi (2:19.711); 21. the earlier collision, The Italian bounded through the run-off and Fabrizio Llii (2:19.766); 22. Gioele Pellino (2:20.130); 23. Gabor Talmacsi (2:20.253); 24. crossed the line in first, knowing full Repsol Honda's Valentino Rossi said he was going to take a letter to the Suzuka Circuit track management asking that they alter the comer where Melandri crashed before next year's race. "They need to change the comer where Marco [Melandri] crashed yesterday.· Rossi said. "That point is dangerous." Rossi said the comer, a fast right after the hairpin. was a problem when he raced the 500cc two·stroke. Last year he crashed about five meters from Melandri's crash and said he was lucky to survive unscathed. "Marco [Melandri] was not as lucky," Rossi said. Rossi said he was going to muster support among his fellow riders but ended up going to see IRTA rider safety rep Franco Uncini by himself. • Following his 14th place finish in Sunday's GP, Team Suzuki's Kenny Roberts ..Jr. lashed out at the track.• Basically somebody needs to get fired over this, or somebody needs to get their ass kicked, because everybody that's crashed this weekend has hit a wall," Roberts said. "And you can't say any particular place. You just say everywhere.· Roberts said he and Telefonica MoviStar HDnda's Sete Gibemau had just rounded the final left befDre the chicane when he saw Daijiro KatD'S bike gD directly into the wall Dn the left Df the entrance tD the chicane, "Basically, when him and the bike hit the wall. they just started cDntinually like cartwheeling intD the wall. And then his f&%Sing bDdy came back across the track. mDre than three-quarters Df the way back onto the track. And I'm trying to brake as hard as I can and mDve tD the right. which is the inside of the chicane, to avoid his bDdy. And the race should've been stDpped. They just picked him up and threw him Dn a stretcher, which is typical around here. Today was a tDtal disgrace. TDday the last three days of us testing here and the guys getting hurt here is just wasting peDple. It's just a jDke. And that's all I gDt tD say." But it wasn't. "I'm just happy tD get Dut Df this f%#@lng place and hope that somebody learns by all this 1'&l\ing shit. This type of brutality, we're not here because of the fans - that's fDr sure. There are not many peDple here. We're here fDr a reason, and it seems like it's to hurt guys at the moment. ' Julien Simon (2:20.298); 25. Toshihisa Kuzuhara (2:20.452); 26. Sadahito Suma (2:20.487); 27. well that he hadn't won the race, Cut- Roberto Locatelli (2:20.572); 28. Simone Corsi (2:21.133); 29. Jorge Lorenzo (2:21.361); 30. Masao Azuma (2:21.446); 31. Imre Toth (2:21.730); 32. ting the chicane initially earned him a 30 second penalty, and he was Christopher Martin (2:21.920); 33. Mike Oi Meglio dropped to eighth place, and Perugi- (2:22,906); 34. Mlka Kallio (2:23.591); 35. Peter Lenart (2:24.088); 36. Leon Camier (2:24,229). ni, who crossed the line second, was 125 GP: 1. Stefano Perugini (Apr); 2. Mirko declared the winnei, But on further consideration, race Hayden, meanwhile, came from the back row of the grid to finish seventh, leading Edwards for a while before giving way to the World Superbike Champion. officials realized Cecchinello had cut the chicane because of the broken brake lever and restored him to fourth, It's pronDunced "a-Iee-CHAY," not Alice. That's in case YDU were wDndering abDut the spDnsDr of Colin Edwards' Aprilia MDtDGP squad. Alice is the largest provider Df DSL service in Italy. With the threat Df rain this weekend at Suzuka, including for Sunday's seasDn-Dpening race, the riders' meeting was dominated by talk of the new safety car rules and the need fDr change. Once the race is stopped, the riders will be aliDwed to pit for five minutes to change machines. They'll then be asked to line up in single file in the formation zone, just outside of the Pit Lane. The riders will follow the pace car for one lap before the car pulls in and the riders are greenflagged from a rolling start. The problem, according to some of the riders, is that they need more time behind the pace car. "To me, the safety car.is not a bad idea every time, but i say today is that we need one lap more behind the car fDr the temperature for the brakes and tires and to understand the conditions Df the track," MotoGP World Champion Valentino RDssi said. "Now the situatiDn is only one lap." Rossi said he'd like to see the rules changed, if all the riders can come tD an agreement. An IRTA official pointed out that the system had, in fact. been voted in by the riders and wouldn't be changing. Rossi said he didn't have much advice for teammate Nicky Hayden in his first Grand Prix. "Nicky [HaydenJ. for me, is a good rider. He is brave, and he's able to ride," Rossi said. "But for sure he needs time, because advice is important, but not very much. ':Ie needs time with the other riders and to learn the bike and to go with other riders." Rossi said he'd made his GP debut in a 125cc race in 1996 - a very different situation. The difference between the MotoGP Championship and all others is significant. Rossi said, "He [Hayden] needs SDme time to understand. " "Next week is the big week," Kenny Roberts said about the development of ~he Proton KR V" five four-stroke which has yet to be run on a racetrack. "You find a problem, and you do something to fix it. Right now, between America and England, there are things being manufactured. Next Wednesday and Thursday we'll find out Dne more step." Rob Muzzy is doing the development work in the U.S.A.. while the work in the UK is being done in-hcuse by the engineers in his Banbury headquarters. Roberts said the results of those projects will determine when the V-five hits the track for the first time and where it will make its GP debut. "I'm thinking possibly we could make South Africa [the Welkom GP on April 271." Roberts said, before adding that it wasn't likely. "We're probably so late that With no track testing it's not feasible. Jerez [the May 11 Spanish GPl is probably a more unrealistic target. That's more or less what we started out to do. "If we could get a month on it. I'd be fairly confident." A number Df engine pieces had to be redesigned and manufactured, Roberts said. including a balancer shaft. "The engine was behind when it hit town," Roberts said. "Every time the problems are figured out then we need time to build the engine." he said. "It's all step by step. We work out the problems with the motor and then we have to manufacture eight of them to go to the races." The problem from the start was that the schedule was tDO ambitious. "If we did what everybody else did, we'd have said that we're going to go racing in two years," instead of one, as they've done. Roberts said. "Hopeful· Iy, by Jerez it'll all be sorted out." he said. 16 APRIL 16. 2003' eye I e n e _ s

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