Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I Briefly... Con tinued from page 17 Hopk ins, though the tires have distinct pers o nalities. "The durability o n th e m are re ally nice ," Hop kins said. "This is pretty much only Bridgestone's secon d year on th is trac k in th e premier class. Sure, they do n't have the know ledge and the experience of other tire manufactu re rs. Basically, it's worki ng o ut great. T his is o ne of the places they 're going to struggle the most beca use of lack of knowledge . Right now the durability and the grip of the th ings are excellent. I can't com plain." O ne of the d ifferences is th e way it tu rns in, but it also has d ura bility and feed back. "Wit h th e Michelins, there's good points, and there's bad points. In a way it almost equals o ut for bot h of them . Right now the durability of them are the best thing, and the initial grip, the initial bite is good." Rossi's podi um broke a tie with Randy Mamola for fifth o n the all-time list. He now has 55, with Wayne Rainey next on the list with 64 . Among Rossi's podiums are 33 wins, 13 seconds, 8 thirds . Valentino Rossi set a new consecutive podium st re a k at 23, breaking a tie with fellow Italian Giacomo Agostini, who achieved his mark over the course of the 1967, '68, '69 seasons. But there was a significant difference. All of Agost ini's pod iums were wins , and he ended the streak voluntarily, sitting out the final two 500cc races of the 1969 season, in Italy and Yugoslavia, after having already clinched the 500cc World Championship. Loca telli (20); 3. Casey Stoner ( 16): 4. Pablo N ieto ( 13): 5. Mike Di MegH ( I I): 6. Gino Borsoi ( 10); 7. Mirko Giansant i o (9); 8. Steve Jen kne r (8): 9. Alvaro Bautista. (7): 10. Hector Barbera (6); II . Julian Simon (5); 12. Mika Kallio (4); 13. Mattia Pasini ( 3); 14. Simone Corsi (2); IS. YOllichi Ui ( I). UPCOMING ROUNDS R 2 -Jerez, Spain, M 2 ound ay R 3 - Le Mons, France, May 16 ound (Bel o w) Doni Ped ros a (2 6 ) held off Randy de Puniet (7) to win the 250cc Africa G ra nd Prix in w hat was h is d eb ut ra ce in the class. W ith hi s win, Pedrosa became the you ngest rider ever to wi n a 250cc GP. The podium also ended the longest podium drought for Yamaha since it joined the premier class with a factory-supported team in 1973. last on the box was AJex Barros in last year 's wet/dry French GP at Le Mans. The active rider with the most podiums is Max Biaggi with 98 , tied with jim Redman. The last win for Yamaha in the premier class was Max Biaggi at Malaysia in 2002 . The 18-race period without a win was the second longest for Yamaha since it entered the premier class. The longest drought of 22 races ended with 5imon Crafar winning at Donington in 1998. That w in also marked Dunlop 's last win in the premier class. Rossi has the highest podium appearance percentage of any premier class rider. His 55 pod iums in 65 starts gives him an 84.6 mark. 5econd is Wayne Rainey, with 64 podiums in 83 starts - good for 77.1 percent. The d'Antin Ducatis of Neil Hodgson and Ruben Xaus showed up in Welkom without sponsorship, but their paint scheme suggested one might be imminent. Horizontal blue, white and yellow stripes suggested a possib le link-up with credit card issue r Visa. Had Ruben Xaus finished on the podium, he would have been the first rider with a surname with an X ever to score points in GP racing. Instead , he failed to finish, dropping out on the fifth lap with bike problems . Repso l Honda's Nic ky Ha yden had the fastest motorcycle on the not-very-fast Phakisa Raceway. The Hon da RC-21IV to pped out at 174.799 mph during Saturday qua lifying Came l Honda's Max . Biaggi was next, followed by two more Hondas, Colin Edwards and Makoto Tamada. Then a surprise ... je remy McW illiams o n the MS Aprilia. Gauloises Fo rt una Yamaha's Valent ino Rossi was sixth faste st, his YZR-MI ru nning to 173.371 mph. www.cy denews.com Antonio Cobas, te chnical director of the Camel Honda team and o ne of the most recognized and res pected e ngineers in the MotoGP paddoc k, died fro m brain cance r in 8arc elona on the Wednesday before the race . He was 52. All of the padd oc k gr ieved for the los s, no ne mo re so than the Spanish contingent, many of w ho m he fostered to greatness. ' ~ to n i o is no longe r with us, and his loss is har d to acce pt," Cam e l Ho nda team own er Sito Pons said. "The worl d of motorcycling has lost a great technician, a gre at man. Antonio was a true innovator. a pre cursor, a tec hnician who fo r 25 years gave an enormous contribution to the technology of motorcycling competitions." Cobas is res ponsible for creating the multitu bular fram e , rigid box section frame, and the integral body that is still used o n today's moto rcycles. Pons perso nally raced his Kobas 2S0 to victory a num ber of times and won two 250cc Wo rld Championships with the Campsa Ho nda team directed by Cobas in 1988 and '8 9, whi le fellow Spaniard Alex C riville was World Champion with the JJ Cobas 125. The 1999 500cc World Champion enjoyed a close rela tions hip with his fellow Spaniard ever since riding his jj Co bas machine to the I25cc World Championship title in 1989 and won his first premier-class race, at Assen in 1992, under Cobas' close guidance. "It is a great loss - both on a pers o nal level and for what he meant to the world of motorcycling," Crivtlle said. "He basically won me my first title in 125cc. The thing that stood out most about Antonio was his talent - he was an inventor. He was always coming up with new and imaginative things, and best of all, they would always work. I had blind faith in him. He was a great eng ineer on e of the most highly respected technicians in the world, although maybe the japanese at times didn't quite catch on to his genius because they are so regimented in the way they work. I worked with him for a second time in 500cc as part of Sito 's team, and I learned so much from him - things that I would use to my advantage late r in my career." He is survived by his wife, Tere , and his children, Patricia and jorge. The Camel Hond a team held a one-minute silence in honor of their Cobas, in front of their garage in Pit Lane on Sunday morning at Welkom. All four Yamaha riders had the new, d ist inctsounding motor in Welkom . Carlos Checa and Valentino Rossi had two each , with Marco Melandri and Norick Abe having one apiec e. The motor has a flatter, droning sound, somewhat akin to the Suzuki. How it came to that sound was the subject of some conjecture. A senior Honda engineer speculated that it may be crank timing, which would require a balance shaft. Whatever the cause, Yamaha wasn't saying. The results spoke for themselves. Jeremy Bu rgess, Rossi's crew chief, d idn't think the Yamaha YZR-MI was as bad as it was made out to be. "I think Yamaha had gone through a period of getting a little bit off the track in the way they set the bikes, but that's not a great surprise, bearing in mind that three of the ir riders last year were top 250 riders," he said, re ferring to Marco Melandri , Shinya Nakano and Olivier jacque. "T he people that pe rhaps should have do ne a little bit mo re, probably Alex [Barros ] and Carlos [Checa]. Poor o ld Alex go t injured last year and really everything just seemed to be so far out of whack. I d idn't th ink it co uld really be that bad." In Welkom , it was n't . CYCLE NEWS • APRil 28, 2004 19

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