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/128325
Briefly.•• never to relin q uish. At th e e nd o f the same 12th lap, Biaggi ha d caught r ight up to Rossi and had lined him up to surge past on th e front stra ight . The pa ir of th e m started to close on Checa , the gap les s th an two seco nds o n lap 15 an d s hrinking . N o w Rossi made a lunge past Biagg i, only to be repassed o n t he com e r exit. At t he end of the back stra ig ht, Rossi m ade his first error, running wide a nd letting Biaggi go again. The Honda man was closing fast on Ch eca, now a se cond ad rift of Gibe m au, a nd sta rting to lean on him until he ran ove r t he c ur bs at t he Dunlop chicane , almost hitting Checa as he regained the t rack. This gave Rossi ano th e r sniff, now once again just a second adri ft. T he n came his second error, straight-lining t he le ft-ri g ht at the end of the back straig ht . W ith his usual luck, thi s worked in his favor, and he was once again right on Biaggi's tail, the pair closing up again on Checa. said. "By the end, I just C heca o nly got some breathing space Hayden was eigh~ o n lap 26 , when Rossi again briefly got Roberts well behind . ahead o f Biaggi. Then Biaggi set the fastest Je re my McWilliams lap as he clos ed aga in, his final attack im pro ve d "heavy-cl'3n " foiled by the three backmarkers in the of having to call 'n (.Ii'!' corners. penalty after jumping the Ross i hadn 't been c1ose e- - -ugh fo - any - - Xaus lia a en ea y m e race an - no - - - r - attack o f his o wn, and he crosse d t he line remounted, an d on t he last lap he ca ug ht 2.3 seco nd s behind Biagg i. an d passed Kurtis Roberts and his ra celong shadow , WCM's Fabrizio. This was Edwards was comfortably three secthe battle t hat bal ked the le ade rs, and onds ahead of Meland ri, Barro s alone they finished a lap down . be hind . Then came Bayliss, who managed Kurtis Roberts, riding the ne w lo ngto pull almost two seconds on the persiststroke Proton, co m plaine d afterward of e nt Tamada in the closing stages. pain from his previously d islo c at e d Capirossi had been dropped by th is pair. shoulder. "Things weren't perfect ," Capirossi "T his is th e most laps I've done. But The Ducatis showed signs improvement at Le Mans, Troy Bayliss carding an place finish . Continued from poge 33 some guidelines on the problems we have been having. I hope this will take us to increased power and better gas mileage. We're looking fo r more reliability and more even power. We have a lot more engine stuff coming over the next weeks." Th is was the second innovation within a fortnight. At tests after Jerez they tried a motor with a revised firing order for the first time . This was achieved using the same cran kshaft. but with cams and ignition retimed to reshuffle the firing order and inte rvals. The aim was to reduce engine braking, and both Nobu Aoki and Kurtis Roberts reported a big improvement in that area. One the other hand , according to Aoki: "Th ere is a hole in the power curve - though they improved that a lot by Le Mans." Roberts explained: "O ur o riginal motor was Big Bang, but I think it was the wrong kind of Big Bang. The new one is also Big Bang, but different. It's not up to power yet , but that may be something to do w ith the exhausts." In its first form. the new motor has five sep ara te big-bore pipes, two at high level under the seat, two at low level o n the right, and the fifth low-leve l on the left. The no ise is prodigious , but less entertaining than before. The mournful howl has been replaced with a bass drone so und that hurts the ears. The public suck-it-and -see approach echoed the VS's deb ut du ring practice for last year's Le Mans race. The machine had run only on an airstri p prior to firing up for its first o uting w ith corners. It races for the first time at the next ro und, the Italian GP. Proton may suspend furt her deve lopment of its VS and look for an alternative motor for next year because of fears that next year's reduced maximum fuel capacity (from 24 liters to 22 liters) may leave the England-built multicylinder moto r short of gas. Kurtis Roberts had planned a revised motor for late r this year, but said at Le Mans: "If we redesigned the crankcase now, we wo uld o nly get it at the end of the season , 'round about the Portuguese GP (in September). With the new gas regulatio ns coming next year, it's a bit risky to start redesigning a five-cyltnder that may have to be detuned to make the gas mileage ." Kenny Rob e rts Jr, racked up his I20th start at the French Gp, joining a select top nine riders with unparalleled experience although stillsome way short of the longest-servi ng GP rider in history, Alex Barros , who was lining up for his 197th start in France . The other ton -plus men are Jack Findlay ( 16S), Randy Mamo la (144) , Alex Criville (139), Mick Doo han (137), Norick Abe ( I3 1), Edd ie Lawso n and Carlos Checa ( 127). A major blow-up and oil spill in the final pract ice se ssion raised questions as to whe ther oil control is sufficient in the MotoGP class. The oil came from Alex Hofmann's Kawasaki, which blew up comprehensively at the e nd of the pit straight, leaving a generous oil slick on the e ntry to Tum On e , the fastest comer on the track . The Continued on page 37 CYC LE N EWS • MAY 26, 2004 35