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/128341
Rain w ill no longer interrupt any Moto GP races. afte r the GP Co mm issio n met at Estoril to discuss new rules. Starting next year, races will be ru n "flag to flag," and It will be up to the riders to respond however they like to change s in the weather. However, fears of mechanics' errors under pres- sure, as they change wheels and brakes (fro m carbon to steel) in the event of a dry race turning wet, have been ruled out. Instead , riders will be allowed to switch to a spare bike, already set up for the wet. The rumors for next year have started, with a strong link betw een Du cati a nd Sete Glbernau refusing to go away, in spite of fervent denials by the rider. Undaunted , the Spanish press even put a figure - $14 million for two years - on the offer. Gibernau's own comments were defi- nite enough: "I have had an approach, and it is flattering to be the subject of this specula. tion - but I have one more year of my con- tract wit h my team next year." Another rumor has Fonsl Nieto moving up to the big class, with a fistful of Spanish sponsorship money to pass o n to any tea m willing to hire him . "Like most of the teams, we've had an approac h," said Suzuki tea m manager Garry Taylor. Honda Motor Company president and CEO Takeo Fukui paid a rare GP visit to Estoril • in order, he said. "to energize all Honda riders - especially in Moto GP." He revealed that Sete Gibemau is high on his shopping list to ride a facto ry Honda next year, as are Max Biaggi and Makoto Tarnada, Asked if he wanted to keep Nicky Hayden on the team, he replied : "Yes.We will pick two riders from the six riders who are on Hondas at the moment." Fukui, who was president of HRC in the 1980., named Freddie Spencer as his favorite Honda rider of all time. "We need Freddie now," he said. This is the first year since the days of the four-stroke NRSOO that the official factory team might go a whole season without winning a race- so far this year all the Honda victories have come from satellite team riders. "I don't mind who wins, whether factory team or not," he said, "as long as it is a Hond a." But he would no t favor expa nding the facto ry team lor the future. "It is better to have two riders, and to concentrate . so they are the ones who develop the machine," he said. ';A.t this time, there is not so much dillere nce between the lactory machines and the satellite team machines. With the tw o -stroke, we had lour-cylinder machines lor lactory riders and three -cylinder lor the sate llite teams, but now the bikes are almost eq ual. The works team should be at the top level, but at this mo ment it is not that way for Honda. T his was not our inte ntion:' Asked if he missed Valentino Rossi , Fukui smiled and said: "Yes. But there was nothing more we could do to keep him. It was not our mistake . It was his decision ." The 1055 of Rossi's crew chief Jeny Burgess and also most of his staff (not to mention more than two decades of inside knowledge of Ho nda) had also been costly. "That was not good for us," he said. Fukui said he had expected that the competition this year to be tough, but noted that "The season is not ove r yet ." Asked if Honda had any technical surprises up its corporate sleeve . he said yes, but declined to elaborate. Fukui echoed the comments made by HRC staff at the last round that the reduction to 900cc fro m Continued o n page J 5