Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

M OT OGP : 1. Max Biaggi ( Hon ); 2 . Valentino Ross i (Ha n); 3 . Nick y Ha yd en ( Ho n); 4 . Sete Gibemau (Han) : 5. Ma rco Melandri (Ya m) : 6 . Alex Ba rros ( Yam) : 7 . Tohru Ukewe ( Ha n ); 8 . Loris Cepl rossl (Due) ; 9. Shinya Nakano (Yam ); 10. Akira Ryo (Suz}: 11. Ryuichi Kiyonari ( Hen) : 12. Noriyuki Haqe (A pr): 13 . Olivier Jacque (Vam); 14. Nobuatsu Aoki (Pro): 15. Kenny Roberts Jr. (Sua): 16. And rew Pitt (Kaw); 17. Colin Ed wards ( Apr): 18. Tama ki Se rizewa (Mar); 19. David De Gea (WCM) . Time: 43 min.. 57.590 sec. Distance: 24 laps. 7 1.43 miles Average speed: 9 1.50 mph Margin of vietory: 3 .754 sec. Fastest lap: 1:48. 885, lap 16 , Valentino Rossi 125 WORLD C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 13 of 16 rounds): 1. Daniel Pedrosa ( 198/ 4 wins); 2, Stefano Perugini ( 159/2 wins); 3. Alex De Angelis 14 7 ) ; 4 . Andrea Dovlzlcso ( 14 6 ); 5 . Pablo Nie to 132/1 win ) ; 6 . Hector Bar bera ( 130/2 wins) ; 7. Steve Jen kner (115 /1 win) ; 8 . Lucio Cecchine llo ( 10 5/2 wins); 9 . Ca sey Stoner ( 100 ) ; 10 . Mi rko Glansentl (73); 11. Youich l Ui (7 1); 12. Mika: Kallio (6 8); 13. Gabor Talmacsi (5 7 ) ; 14 , Thoma s Luthi (55 ); 15. Jorge Lorenzo (55/1 win). l 250 WORLD C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 13 of 16 rounds): I. Manuel Poggiali (206/4 wins); BRIEFLY••• J oh n Hopkins has been di squ alified fro m next weekend ' s M alay sian G P as punis hment fo r the first -corner acc ident that eliminated hi m . Bay liss and Checa from t he race . Hop ki ns acknowledged respon sibility for the accident. admitting he had " gOI into the first turn way too hot " and apologizing humbly to the other riders. Mo st thought it a typ ical racing inciden t - but on a wee kend when safety wa s much to the fore and alter Tamada had already been di squalified . Hopki ns wa s also singled out as an example. He had ridden "in an irresponsible manner. causing danger to other riders," said an official statement. and race director Paul Butler decided on the disqualification as a punishmen t. A s in the case of Tamada, "We want to make a point to the riders that these bikes are fast. heavy and dangerou s," But ler said. Hopk ins' Suzuki team p rot ested the decision . but the ste war ds rejected the protes t. An angry Hopkins left the track wi tho ul making any further comment. Suzuki team manager Garry Taylor said: "In our opinion, the punishment is overly severe. There have been many simi lar inc ident s in th e pas t that have gone com ple te ly unpunished. In our view, it was a normal racing incident, but we have to accept the authon ty of the FIM . " V a lentino Rossi is keeping Honda - and every body else · hanging on while he makes up his mind whether he wi ll stay w ith HRC next j 'P ;t.;" o r rnake a move to Yam aha instead . Rumors of the move surfaced two wee ks ago at the Rio G P, and since that time Rossi's management team is reported in the Italian press to have had several meetings with Yamaha' s racing company boss. Lin J arv is. Some papers even report ed tha t the dea l had alrea dy been signed. Ro ssi himself is keeping mum. only sayi ng ; " W e wait. I have nothing new since the last race . But Yamaha's Jarvis poured scorn on the reports. saying: ..Last week, one paper confirmed that he had signed for Du catl, with an F1 contract added o n; anothe r said I hat he had agreed to stay w ith Ho nda ; and another thai he had already signed for Yamaha. In Italian news papers . these stories come up on a daily basis . with not much reality involve d." Jarvis stuck to the co mpany line; that Yamaha had indicated its interest to Rossi. but that he must fir st decide whether he wants to stay with Honda or not. Jarvis smiled at suggestions that l erms had already been agreed. and when asked if he had already had formal meetings . he said ; "Let' s say that the racing community is small and that we are based in Italy [as is Rossi's managementl. W e have had purely casual chats, when we let it be known that we wou ld be interesled in talking to him. " Pressed furt her on ti mes and dates of meet ings. J arvis said ; "I'm not prepared to give any de tai ls abo ut ou r p riva te discus sions ." N or would he say when Yamaha had first communicated its interest. The reasons for wanting Rossi were obvious. "The championship is very competitive now. and to win, you need exceptional hardware , an exceptional team. and an excep tional rider. We have severa! good riders in our squad, including two ex·2 50 champions [O livier Jacque and M arco M elandriJ. If we were able to build an exceptional motorcycle, several of our riders could win. Technically, we a re not in a pos ition to w in the cha mpionship at the moment." He ageed it wo uld be help develop ment to have a rider of Ro ssi' s stature but would not admit Ihat dispensing w ith Biaggi last year had been costly. " I don 't think it was a mistake , " he said . If Ro ssi do es move . wh o wou ld Yamaha dispense w ith ? " That's nol a quest ion I wo uld care to answer . It is purely hypo th etical. Let' s wait and see what Valen tino decides ," he said. ft Not only Honda and Yamaha are wa iting for Rossi's decision . W here he goes affec ts almost every team. and a large number of riders. Almost everyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop. One rider no t in that position is S e t e Gibernau , who has signed with Telefon ica MoviStar for a further two years with the Gresini-run sate llite Honda team . Ot her ride rs already contrac te d inc lude Biaggi and N icky Hayden. wit h Honda; Ch eca , Me landri and Alex Ba rros . w ith Yamah a; Lo ris Ca pi rossi and Tro y B ayliss. wi th Du cati ; and Kenny Robert s J r. and Jo hn Hopkins. with Suzuk i. But some of these are in danger of losing their rides anyway. esp ecially the Yamaha riders . if Rossi makes the move . while both Suzuki riders are said to be looking for other options alter a disappointing season. If Rossi does go . current Aprilia ride r C olin Ed w a rds is co nsidered the prim e cand idate to ta ke over the factory Honda. The double World Superbike C hampio n has also had a disappointing season, on the Aprilia. and his renewal clause depends on finishing in the l op 10 th is year . He currently lies 13t h and may be glad of the chance to move . He split wi th Hon da at the end of last year in so me dudgeon. alter they failed to reward his Superbi ke vic tory wit h any reaso nable offer. The w ho -qoes -where speculation is almost endless, but until Rossi makes up his mind, it is not worth very much. Va lentino Ro ssi has a sec rel we apon . made available to him by HRC alter the summer break and not given to the ot her Honda riders. giving him more power. It is a hundred or so rpm. This was (90) ; 10 . Shinya Nakano (84) ; 11. Makoto Tamada (69 ) : 12. Oli vier Jacque (61) : 13. Colin Edwards 2. Roberto Rolfo (188/1 win): 3. Toni Elias ( 176 / 4 wins) ; 4 . Randy De Punlet (1 72 /2 wins); 5. Fonsi Nieto ( 15 1/1 win): 6. Anthony West (11811 win); 7. Franco Battaini ( 117) ; 8. Sebastian Porto (109) ; 9. Naok i Matsuda (95 ): 10. Sylvain Guintoli (88 ); 11. Alex Debon (64 ): 12, Joan O live (36) ; 13. Hector Fa ubel (3 4): 14 . Hiro shi Aoya ma (3 1): 15 . Yuki Takaha shi (2: ). 9 (51); 14. (TIE) Marco Melandri (40)/ Noriyuki Haga (40); 16. Norick Abe (24); 17 . John Hopkins (22); 18. Ryuichi Kiyonari (20 ); 19. Nobuatsu Aoki (19 ); 20. Jeremy McWilliams ( 18 ). MOTOGP WORLD C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 13 of 16 rounds): 1. Valentino Rossi (282 /6 Upc oming rou nds : Round 14: Sepa ng. Mal aysia, Octob er 12 Rou nd 15: Phillip Island. Aust ralia . October 19 Round 16: Valencia. Spain. November 2 wins); 2. Sete Gibemau (224/4 wins); 3 . Max Biaggi ( 199/2 wins): 4 . Loris Ceplrossi ( 13 1/1 win); 5 . Troy Ba yl iss ( 112 ) ; 6 . Tohru Ukawa ( 10 3 ); 7 . Nick y Hayden ( 10 1); 8. Carlos Ch ece (9 3); 9 . Alex Barros re ve ale d at M ot eg i by t he RC V M ot oGP mac hine ' s pr oj ec t leader. S hogo Kanaumi . But while it wa s an exclusive advantage for th e defending champion. Ihe differe nce was very small... " perhaps less than one percent " of the tota l rev ceiling. If that made his bike appea r significantly faster than tho se of Biaggi and Gibem au, it was because "his team has one year more experience in sett ings and data . The difference in the engine is really very small. " M ore ominous to the opposition was the affirmation that there is more to come from the Honda V -five engine from the same simple means - raising the rev ceiling by adjusting the ECU mapping and rev limiter. The rev ceiling is secret, but is believed to be abo ut 14.500rpm . The adju stment w ould give Rossi less t han 145 ex tra rp m , a m inuscu le increas e in horsepowe r. Onboard camera equipment records revs, and at M otegi Rossi's engine went fleet ingly over 15,OOOrpm on some gears. However, the accuracy of this readout is open to question. The original ceil· ing had no t been se t by fact o rs such as valve floal or pi st on acceleration, but only in the interests of giving the engine a better service life. said Kanaumi. So far, there was no indication that Rossi's setting damaged service life. This means that there is a great deal more power and development left in the RC V engine in its current form. simply by raising revs and reducing service life. new. The GSV-R has been languishing all season while o ther machines have improved. with electronic problems among difficultie s that hindered progre ss and meant the bike was in some cases slower than last year . "I think this is the best race of the year fo r having new stuff to try . and actual ly quite big st uff in terms of engine spec . It definitely see ms a bett er way - if not for lap l imes. at least for understanding what the bike need s to do to go faste r. I'm happy with the initial feel and the way it co mes off the corner. " said Robert s. Bo th full -time ride rs also had a new exhaust sys tem. improving tuned length of the newly silenced sys tem. wi th the silencer mount ed on a dogleg at th e end of a gen tly tapered megaphone on the right -hand sid e o f the bik e . Hyos development bike was significantly different. not only in engine specification but also wi th a radically different rear suspension, and the exhaust on the left of the bike. The suspension is like that used by Honda and Prot on - squeezed by linkage s bo th top and bottom · and for the same reason: to make more space . This has been used to increase length of the exhaust to l ake it closer to the ideal luned lenglh . Apparent ly this is nol necessarily next year's suspension, and doesn't perform as well as the stock system - but gains in engine performance from the longer exhaust outweigh any sacrifices in suspension. Honda clea red the confusion about its new-t his -yea r engine brakin g syste m. whi ch was some what less than fully described at thei r press briefi ng in Portugal. Details released th en descri bed only part of th e sys te m th at uses a so lenoi d -operated valve to bleed air from Ihe airbox 10 the throttle body , dow nst ream of the butterfly valve . This cut s the vacuum. bul on the othe r hand doe s give the pistons some air to compress, increasing the drag of compre ssion . Wha t was not revealed wa s that th e ECU also injects a little fuel. to raise the idling speed without actually driving the bike forward . " The EC U detects the air com ing in. and supplies fuel. " explained Kanaumi. " It is a lillie bit like an automatic cho ke system. giVing a variable idle speed ." The RCV has always had two injec lors. with one dow nsl ream of the throttle for lowspeed ru nn in g . Sl artin g next year. Kanau m i ad de d. H ond a mechanics will regain a level of control they have currently been forced to cede 10 the facto ry. when t hey will be able to dial in thei r ow n changes to th e elec tronic con tro l programs. At present. he explained. teams choose what changes they want. but the ac tual reprogramming is done by HRC personnel. because of Ihe complexit ies of the system. "Next year. t hey will be able to insta ll their own setting files. " The Proton K R5 also arrived with a package of engine imp rov eme nts t hai had bo t h rid ers sm iling . Th e first was an en g ine upgrade. including new EC U mapping and revised intak es. as we ll (rathe r surprisingly) as a lowe r compression ratio. "It's really improved the way it drives off th e c orners," sai d J e re my McWilliams. "W e' re still short of top end, but we 're not the slowesl throu gh the speed traps any more ." No bu Aoki said. " They told me it had 20 more horsepower in the middle. and I can really fee l it . " But to him Ihe biggest improve ment was a new FCC slipper clutch . " Before. the back wheel was hopping into all the corners, but now it is much better. It's very important, especially at a stop-and -go circ uit like this. " Team owner Kenny Roberts said ; "W e're making baby steps . and we should have something more for M alaysia. and maybe also for th e last race in Spa in. Bul I here won 't be anything dras tic this year . and you won 't see any big improvements . Bac k at the plant. they're wo rking on nexl year' s bik e . W e missed the mark w it h some as pec ts of ou r engine desiqn, but we had to start some:where ." The late Daijir o Kato was triply honored at the Pacific GP . On Saturday. the form er 250cc W orld Champio n was inducted into the Hall of Fame; and on race day. a block of 1000 seat s in Ihe grandstands. the "Daijiro Sea ts," wer e given to invited guests , who had placard s to raise to mark the numbe r ' 74. " That number, Katos choice throughout his GP career , has been retired and will not be used again, excep t with the express pe rmission of Kate' s family. Kal o died seven months ago alter crashing heavily and stri king a trac ksi de barrier on th e Ihi rd lap o f th e openi ng round of the Japanese GP at Suzuka. One repercussion is that Suzuka has been drop ped from the calendar. pending safe ty alte rat ions that will not be co mplete d in time for next year . Insl ead, the Jap anese GP will be held at Mot egi. The Hall of Fame Legends induction ceremony was a muted and emotional affair, attended by a number of riders includin g Kat e's teammate Se te Giberna u, Rossi. Biaggi and Uk awa. as we ll as a phalanx o f top brass fro m HRC . On the stag e were multitime cham pio ns Mi ck D oohan. Kenny Robert s and Angel Nieto. already memb ers of Ihe Hall, as we ll as HRC presi de nt Suguru Kanezawa and Dorna boss Carme1 Ezpelet a. They we re joi ned by Kate's father Kashi. who made a 0 speech of gratitude and spoke of how his son's love for racing meant he had per sona lly created and supported the Daijiro Cup. a series for junior racers. The WCM te am hope s to retu rn next year wi th Ducati engines and their own chassis. Narrow survivors this year, after their own R1-based engine was disqualified from th e secon d race onwar ds . the independent team is on the brink of tying up spons ors hip and engine-s upply deals. according 10 manage r Peler Clifford . "We are talking to four companies . and all are close to making a final dec isio n." said Cl ifford at M otegi , "though. as everybody knows these things are very diff icult to be sure of until the final decision is made." The team had also been in contact with Aprilia . known to want to run a second team, and has a back-up plan to continue development of its own in-line four. which finally passed tech as gen uine prototypes for the Portuguese G P. W hether the engine is a V-four Ducati or not. the chas sis will be built by Harri s. as at present. Who will ride the machines? "Well have to wait and see who is left over ." said Clifford. S uz u ki finally seemed to find a way forwa rd. wi th a raft of del ail improvements and alte rnative s at Mo tegi that brought the semblance of a smile back to the riders' and team members' faces. With w ild card Akira Ryo bringing numbers to three. there were also three diffe rent engine variations out on the track. Factory tester Akira Ryo had one engine with more midrange power, while the GP riders cho se a higher-rev spec . At M oteqi, J ohn Hopkins st uck with the old engi ne. and Kenny Rob erts Jr. we nt wi th the cu e K a w as a ki took a step also, with a new-spec, power-up engine, with more revs and more top-end power. But it took time before the riders thought it might be in the right direction. because unfo rtunately it reverted to an old, heavier crankshaft that had been dispensed with earlier in the season . On the first day of practice. neit her Garry M cCoy nor Andrew Pitt were able to match Ak ira Yanaqawa's qualifying time set on the bike's debut last year. However. electronic adjustments ove rnight improved bottom-end respon se , and both improved lap time s radically . All the same . they we re still at the back of the grid. In any case. accord ing to M cC oy . engine perfo rm ance is no t the ZX- RR's w e ak poi nt ; " So me say the engine is 10 0 quick, bull don't agree. It' s just thai the chassis is not built for it. The D unlop tires were disastrous at the beginning of the year , and we 're sti ll having problems at so me track s. but we 've seen a big improvement. though they st ill need a big step to match M ichelin and even Br idgestone. " The pro blem was the chass is. he thought. "Basically. it's no t steering. It' s real heavy in changes of direction, and at a lot of comers you have to close the gas to make it turn . If you open it up. Ihe bike just wants to go straight. " They had reque sled changes. " but w e haven't seen anythin g big comi ng from the factory. " he said. Bridgestone tires are on the ascen dant. and may soon be posing a serious threat to the dominant Mi chelins. Honda-mounted M akot o Tamada ach ieve d Bridgestones' first podium w hen he finished third at Rio tw o wee ks ago . and at M ot egi he mounted a serious challenge for pole. finishing second. "just inches away." The difference was that the Mi chelin ride r w ho beat him . M ax Biaggi. was using super-soft qualifying tires only good for one or tw o fast laps. but the soft Bridgestone rubber is act ually a race tire , used in cold conditions. Thus Tamada was able to reel off tw o fas t laps in his bid for his first -ever pole position . Kawasaki l e ster Aki ra Yanagawa tested Bridgest ones sho rtly before t he M ot egi GP in a private l est at Aut opoli s. Not only was his lap lime better, according to sources close to the team. but the performance was more consistent than the D unlops '. Kawasaki is the only factory team 10 use the luckless Dunlops. and mighl now be considering a switch for next year. Honda also had improvements at M ot egi. wit h Nic k y Hayd e n joining Rossi. Gibernau . Ukawa and Biaggi in the Ihr ee-pipe symphony . the power-up exhaust system first used by Gibernau in Ge rmany. to beat Rossi. Biaggi was also talking of a significant improvement. now that his team had finally com e to terms with the obviously complex facto ry-leve l engine electro nics that he has been using since Brno. "At Brazil. the bike was continuously spinning - I couldn't ride properly and fast. Now HRC mod ified the electronic mapping [on lunchtime on Friday! with the sett ings Hay den used in the morning. I am surpri sed at how much the performance of the engine can change with just a few modifications to the electronics. ~ e n e _ s O CTO BER 15. 200 3 17

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