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road race
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World Championship Road Racing Series
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Round 3: Spanish Gran,
rix
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BRIEFLY•••
The WCM team was disqualified for a second successive race
before practice began at Jerez - and now the matter will go
before the International Disciplinary Court. whiCh Will decide the
short-term and possibly long-term future of the independent
team, The controversy was sparked because of the team's use
of production Yarnaha R1 parts for their home-brewed MotoGP
racer, According to team manager Peter Clifford. this was a stopgap measure while awaiting their own cast crankcases and cylinder heads, According to the AM technical commission - and now.
at Jerez, also Race Direction - this was a direct contravention of
the rules (no matter how vaguely worded). The FIM technical
commission came to the last round in South Africa to Inspect the
machine and disqualified It from that race. The WCM team anived
in Jerez With the same motorcycles. and this time GP technical
dinactor Mike Webb felt obliged by that precedent to decline
even to tech the machine, WCM embariinly be classed as "industrial production." In spite of
all this. the Case made by WCM for the legality of running a supposed prototype wouid seem to founder on their admitted use of
production parts. This will be decided the week after the Spanish
GP at the FIM headquarters in Switzerland. when WCM's appeal
against the original disqualification comes before the International Disciplinary Court on May 16. If the decision goes against
WCM, they have recourse to one more level of legal consideration. in front of an independent sporting disciplinary court.
22
speed so that tires and brakes would not get up to temperature.
before dashing into the first comer. Now they will start from the
grid after a sighting lap and a warm-up lap. or two for the
MotoGP class. The only aspect that remains is the abandonment
of the aggregate times for overall results. Now positions in ttll!
first pert of the race Will count only for grid positions on the
restert, and time intervals will not be taken into account. Order
on the race track Will be the finishing order of the race. With a
minimum of three laps even If less are required to compete full
race distance.
s
Ducatl'. o.smo..cItcl has amazed the GP world with its
•speed. horsepower and general capability. But it seems this performance comes at a cost· the machine generates extreme levels of heat. One result is that it cooks the riders. Troy Bayliss'
forearms were still red and painful the day after the Welkom GP.
while there were stories that the machine was destroying certain
rubber components in the rear suspension unit. The best story is
what happened toone of Dorna's on-board cameras, mounted
on the rear of the bike. With the. lens connected to the transmitter by a fiber optic cable. On the Ducati. it melted.
Michelin threw an exemplary party at Jerez. attended by
bevies of pressmen as well as most of their top riders. One was
conspicuous by his absence - the increasingly remote Valentino
Rossi did not put in an appearance.
