Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128318
On the opening day Regis Laconi stamped his authority - and his knowledge from a preseason test of the 999 in Australia - into the results. He was fastest by a healthy margin. "That was not so bad, but it was very windyin the afternoon, and it was 50 hard to make the same lap time as this morning. but it's the same for everyone ," and Steve we nt a bit too wide. It was a fantast ic race . The last few laps were Speedway-style - but we like it close." Tose land had take n ad vant age of Mart in's small e rro r at Ho nda, an d he sneaked up the inside with firmness that som e othe r ride rs co uld have taken umbrage with . Not Mart in, who was gracio us in de feat, seei ng it as so me kind of victory in any case. He didn't see it as anything but a heartbreake r in race two, as his bike fizzled out just as a race win could have bee n in the cards. "That's Phillip Island," Martin said . "Y u can be lead ing and then be secon d o or thir d o r fifth . I just wanted to show t hat I could run at the full pace . O kay, forget Regis [Laconi), but to run with [jam es] Tose land and t hose guys and be the first privateer bike - be cause I don 't class the Ten Kate Honda a privateer bike - is good. I'm disappointed not to be on the po dium after be ing second for so long, but I'm just happy. It pro ves that Valencia wasn't a fluke. I used a B fro nt and a B rear. lam es was burning so much smoke because he was just nailing the throttle o n some corners. I was riding just to a point. I hit a neu tral on the entrance to Lukey, and th at let t he guys catch up. Hitt ing a neutral at Lukey is not a good idea - yo u don't want to crash t here." The seco nd 22-lap event was held in different conditions, overcast to some extent but still dry and warm, but each of the factory Ducati runners was to find ill fortune lurking malevolently in the gravel traps. First early lead er Laco ni fe ll, having do ne enough to win then ove rdoi ng it on the front to fail. Then Toseland fell, fast and finally, ending his day as the po ints leader all the same. And with three Phillip Island crashes under the Velcro belt of his back protector, once more pressed into unwanted Despite th e second-place finish enjoyed once more by Ve rmeulen, the second race itse lf proved to be a co mpletely different animal to the opener, as Chili ripped to t hird place , having jumped from his first- race 999 mach ine to his mo re familiar 998. His lack of feel from the 999 , even w ith a w ho le ne w 916 -style single-sided swingarm, was just another curiosity to look at in the refreshingly bizar re Wo rld Supe rb ike zoo. "I'm really not sliding too muc h," McCo y said . "That' s just the pace I run at . I'm looking for as much gr ip as po ssible , and fortunate ly enough I got a good start in race two and w on the race. The bike does fee l quite heavy co mp ared to a G P bike . The track was quite slippe ry t his afte rnoon, and I w as losing the fron t a lot. When that happens, you have to use your knee to keep it up, so it' s a lot hea vie r t han a GP bike . T here are two race s here, as we ll, and you definite ly have to have good cardio to do well in both races . I fe lt for anyone who crashes or has a mechanical pro blem . It was good fo r me , but it's never good for the sport." Eve n outside t he podium places, the Phillip Island races proved to be compelling, wit h many and vario us part icipan ts w riting t he ir names o n the scoreboard, in a num ber of tongues. The first race so rt -o ut for seco nd place saw Martin fourth and McCoy fifth, but the latter soon to be much better than that. The usual Aussie for the crowds in Phillip Island to cheer on is Troy Corser still t he lap record holder from his Ducati da ys in 1999 - and in race two he des erved a chee r for taking his active service . The battle for second be twe e n Martin and McCoy was eventually a battle for the w in when Laconi exited, but it was on ly decided in McCoy's favor when Martin's bike blew up. 16 APRIL7 ,2004 • CYCLE NEWS often recalc itrant FP-I trip le to fifth especially after his total exasperatio n with it in practice and race one, when he was o nly 13th. His first race was blighted by a surging power output, ove rheating and some kind of oil leak as w ell. "It was really good to be dicing again, and I en joyed tha t race," Corse r said. "We changed the engine from the morning race, w hich had overheating problems, and although it was still runni ng hot, it performed cons istently. At the start of t he race two bikes cam e together and forced a few riders o ut w ide, and I was ab le to dive t hro ugh the gap . For th e res t of the race the ot he r bikes passed me do w n t he st raight, but I was able to repass t hem t hroug h the corne rs at the back of the circu it. I t ho ught [Noriyuki) Haga w as go ing to pass me at t he end, but I was a lot quicker than he was through Hayshed, and I t ried to hold him up there and create as much of a gap as po ssible befo re the final secti on. We also bo th made the gea ring longer for the second race to maximize the tow down the straight, and although it made us slower com ing out of Sibe ria, it was better everyw here e lse." It was also a satisfying event for t he allnew Kawasaki Be rtocchi ZX- I0 of Mauro Sanchini, who held off the determined challenge of quality regulation qualifier Marco Borciani and Valencia race w inner Noriyuki Haga to take sixth . Bo rciani's own luck, tha nks to the crashes up the front in race two, just got better and better, and he finished race two in fo urt h place , an excellent result fo r a rider ma turing into a rea l fo rce to be reckoned with for any nonfactory bikes . Chili , r iding his 999 in race one, was a lowly nint h, wh ile Chris Wa lker on ce more was the fastest Petronas ride r in 10th. Fo ur nonfinishers included the flying Haslam , the early lap leader in the opener. The minor places in race two were as closely co ntested as 40th Anniversary declared Laconi. "We still have some wo rk to do because I'm not so happy with the feelingof the front of the bike. It was good to see [Garry) McCoy up there - he is at his home track - but I give my best to be stillat the front." James Toseland declared his first day of racingthe 999 factory bike in far from glowing terms. "Well, that was probably my worst day in quite a few years," he said. "I crashed twice. and both times I got up wondering what happened. I want it to be my fault when I crash 50 I can kick myself and find out why. I'm sure I'm not making any mistakes, but I'm finding myselfon the floor, 50 we've got to find out why and understand it, and then I can alter what I'm doing wrong. We've tried a few things on the bike, and that' s made it better, but there are a few places where I just don't have any feeling at all. I just want to be able to get rid of that and work on the bike and push again because there's no point in pushing ifthat happens. We' re not far away, but at the moment... I feel right on the limit doing slow times, and that's very frustrating." His second day was litt le better than the first, and he had to grit his teeth and go for it in Superpole, finishing sixth. The new Phillip Island owner will be Aussie millionaire Lindsay Fox, who has a diverse portfolio of business interests. The curr ent PI owner, Placetac Pty Ltd, has made an agree me nt to sell the circuit to moto rs port enthusiast and tru cking magnate Fox - but the figure remains undisclosed. The saie includes the venue, visitor center, approved hotel site and surrounding farmland. Fox owns what is said to be the most impressivecollectionof classic cars in Australia- plus two airports. The World Supersport grid was spiced up by some local talent in the form of Honda rider Josh Brookes. Normally running Michelin tires, he swapped to Pirellis for the weekend , qualifying well on an all-Aussie front row. The 20-year-old native of Bringelly, New South Wales. had a lot to say on the subject of tires and his efforts on Saturday. "My bike is a hybrid of the chassis I used in the opening round of the Australian championships a few weeks back and an enginesourced out of Japan." he said. "The setup of my bike just doesn't suit the Pirelli tires, as Honda uses Michelins in Australia. The Pirellis seem softer in the sidewalls, which I think is where our problems are emanating from. We 've spent heaps of time changing fo rk angles and internals, and we're slowlygetting there . The engine has a lot more bottom-end than