World Championship Road Race Series
Round 1 : Suzuka Circuit
Valentino Rossi wins and t'he rookies shine at Suzuka
By
went from sunny to wet to wetter to
sunny, windy, and cold. The lone
constant was Repsol Honda's Valentino
Rossi, the MotoGP World Champion
who began the defense of his title with
a resounding win on a briskly cold and
windy day before a crowd of 44,361 at
the foreboding Suzuka Circuit.
As impressive as Rossi's win was
the performance by Grand Prix rookies Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden.
HENNY RAY ABRAMS
PHOTOS BY GOLD
&
GOOSE
SUZUKA,JAPAN,APR.6
C
hange was the only constant during the SKYY Vodka Japanese
Grand Prix weekend, at least as far as
the weather and the fortune of a few
riders. There were too many horrific
crashes and too many severe injuries,
along with weather conditions that
10
APRIL 16. 2003'
cue
I
e
n
eVIl'S
Edwards rode his Alice Aprilia to a
sixth-place finish, one better than
Repsol Honda's Hayden, who'd started from the back row of the grid.
"We had a good time, and there
was nothing really too close,"
Edwards said.
"For the first race, I just wanted to
try to get a good result and finish,"
Hayden said. "I wanted to get the full
21 laps of experience. My first race
The 2003 MotoGP World Championship
gets under way at Suzuka with
Yamaha's Carlos Checa (7) leading the
way over Max Biaggi (3), loris
Capirossi (85), Shlnya Makana (58),
Valentino Rossi (48) and the rest of the
pack. American John Hopkins (211 can
be seen running up the Inside.
outside of America, basically, just,
you know, get it out of the way and
move on and everything."
