Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Tamada and the 13 Makoto Tamada's name was at the top of the qualifying list, but it didn't mean a lot. Hisgap on Camel Honda teammate Max Biaggi was .016 of a second, then another .082 to Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha's Valentino Rossi in third. The front row was likely the closest ever, and the top 13were alion the same second. The stop-and-start nature of Valencia's RicardoTOI1l1O Circuit provided a tight pack and the forecast of a close race. Itwas onlythe second time this year that the pole time had been slower than last year's. Biaggi was the fastest on race tires and the most consistent. AmongTamada's22 laps in the finalsession were six in the 34s on race tires and two in the 315that were produced by qualifiers. Biaggi strung together four 33s and had a few other scattered throughout his 30 laps. His best time of 1:32.831 came on his penultimate lap. "I think will be as a the last few: You see very hard and competitive race, you're going to see on thistrack it's very difficult to overtake, so for to morrow you 're not go ing to see so many overtakingmaneuvers, but I think you're goingto see for a lot of the distance of the race a group together and goingfor the firstposition and battling, but not so manyspectacularshow as last few races," Biaggi said. The Italian, who will move to the factory Repsol Honda team, was confidentthat his effort wasn't a one-Iap wonder "We can be kind of optimistic for tomo rrow, Sure some things must be adjust, but we are at a good level ' Biaggisaid. : Rossi had won the keys to a new BMWM-5 by winning the BMWAward as the fastqualifierin the 16 GPsand the preseason Catalunyatest. The aggregategap was only .963 of a second on Sete Gibemau, but none of that helped him in Valencia, where his struggles with the M-I were clear. The culmination of hisfrustration was an off-track excur- sionon a qualifying tire that ended with a low-speed tip-over. "I expect M-I is good on thistrack because the track isquite slow, but we have more problems than we expect, for sure: ' Rossi said. ' ~ d, for us, is hard work between yesterday and today. TIle feelingcome better. We have a lot of problem with setting. We need to work very much on the bike." Uke Biaggi, Rossi was able to string together a number of I:33s, three in hiscase, and they came just before he concentrated on hisqualifiers. "I try hard, but isnot possible to make better than 32.9 ( I:32.913): ' he said. "We have anyway some small problem this point. We try tomorrow mom ing to make some small modifyfor fix this problems and we hope that we havegood weather like this - isfor sure better than yesterday." Telef6nica MoviS Honda's Sete Gibemau tar carne fourth, .023 of a second offthe front row. Gibemau's pace was more in the 34s than 33s, and he hoped to fi nd more traction for the race. "We've arrived at our home Grand Prix in optimistic mood and we have started well," the Spaniardsaid. "Ineed a bit more gripwhen the bike is leaned over, and my feeling is not yet perfect." Next to Gibemau was Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden. Hayden was to announce after Sunday's race that he'd re-upped with Repsol Honda for two more years, the future clearlyin his hands. But his concem on Saturday was improving on his Friday debacle, and he did. Fourteenth on Friday, Hayden knocked nearly two seconds offhistime and jumped to fifth, . 184 of Continued from poge 14 already one of the better ones for sure. There's some tracks that are working to make the improveme nts that we need. It's encouraging to see that start to happen." a second offpole. "Last night... it was a long night," he said. "It was lik laying there and wanting to go back out immee diatelybecause I know Icould do better." Inthe morning's free practice, Hayden was fastest, the first encouraging sign. "It givesyou a bit of confidence: ' he said. Later in the session, he ran his best stringof laps. "1did one run on a race tire which I liked and was able to do some 33s. After being 14th yesterday, second row ain't too bad." Mariboro Ducati's Troy Bayliss put the Desmosedici GP4 six in his lastride for the team. th His times were consistent, a result he attributed to new Ohlinsfront forks. "That was a perfect day, as good as it's goingto get," Bayliss said. The forks, he said, have a "lot more feelingcoming into the turns. so the bikefeels better than it's felt for a while." As for leaving the team, he said, "It's my last race for Ducati and Iwant to give them a good result." John Hopkins celebrated his 2005 signing with Suzuki by comingseventh, nearlya second faster than he'd gone on Fri ay. d "It's not exactly the time we wanted, but I did some good runs on race tires:' Hopkins said. Telef6nica MoviStar Honda's Colin Edwards was also ridingthe last race for histeam. He is moving to the Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha team and would be testing later in the week. But for the time being, he was concentratingon settlingon a setup for the race. "We suffered in the moming free practice and in the first part of qualifying trying to find the right setup for this circuit:' he said. "Inthe end we found the way forward , and that givesme confidence for tomorrow." Fortuna GauloisesYamaha's Carlos Checa filled out the third row. The Spaniard had hit his head in a morningcrash and sat out much of the session. "1didn't lose consciousnessor anything, but it was a good idea to take a little bit of a rest before the afternoon: ' he said. Checa moves to the Mariboro Ducati squad next year. The Fuchs Kawasakis of ShinyaNakano and Alex Hofmann, two riders who are expected to stay in place, led offrow four, with Repsol Honda's Alex Barros on the end of it. Barros remains on a Honda for 2005 but now is replacing Colin Edwards on the Telef6nicaMoviStar Honda team. Neither of the Roberts brothers would take part in the race, both still sufferingthe long-term affects of injuries. KennyRobertsJr. withdrew after setting fast time in Friday morning's free practice, tile lack of mobility in his left elbow ending his weeke nd. Kurtis Roberts made it through Saturday's free practice before li ngeringwrist injuries ended his finalGp. Ne il Hodgson won't be sad to see this season and this phase of his caree r come to an end. The 2003 World 5uperbike Champion has had a nightmarishseason with the underfinanced d'Antin Ducati team. "I just want to go home after this round and burn my shirt: ' he said. "Less than 12 months ago, Iwas enjoyingracing." Hodgson said that it should have been a good exper ience but that he hadn't enjoyed any of it. "It's been awful, it's been awful. But it happens. Ifyou loo k at my career path it's not gone straight up. It can be hard work . To me, it shows how important the team and the bike is. You do need the right team . At this level,you need a fantastic team and a fantasticbike, and if not, you'll battle for 15thallday long. And some riders are happy to do that. That's another thing I've learned this year. A lot of the GP riders that have been GP riders for the last 10years - I don't mean any disrespect - they don't know any different; they're happy to battle for 15th, they're happy to get a wage. Thankfully, I've seen the light. I've stood on that rostrum, I've shaken champagne on lots of occasions, and to me that's what it's about . To me, that's what racing's about - having fun, being patted on the back at the end while you squirt your champagne. Everyone's happy. I won't fee l sad to leave this paddock at alland I won't feel like I'm a loser. It's very political this paddock, and ifyour face doesn't fit, ifyou don't get on the right team and ifyou're not Spanish, it's pretty difficult." Hodgson was also surprised by the se riou sne ss in the atmosphere. "The first sort of few rounds it didn't seem too bad, but it slowlywore me down, and now it reallyis no fun at all. Igo for a massage at the end of every day. You go in the mobile clinic,which they have at World Superbikes,and they had the equivalent in British Superbikes, and that was always a nice place to be. Dead relaxed atmosphere, all the riders chatting, bit of a joke, bit of piss taking and all that sort of stuff. Here, it's put your head down, don't look at anyone. Trya bit of small talkand they sort of lookat you, and it's yes - no answers. Hey, you get paida lot and you can enjoy racing you know." , Kurti s Roberts' rookie MotoGP season ended prematurely when he realized he wasn't completely healed from the wrist injuries suffered in Bmo in August. Roberts ran the first day of practice and qualifying, and Saturday morning's practice, before decidingthe wrist wasn't responding. "For two days two sessions we weren't going , to have enough time to sort it out ," Roberts said during Saturday's lunch break. '~d I'm not going to make it through 30 laps." Roberts said the nerve sensations were n't right. "It's better, but like I had this problem on the minibikeweeks ago. I got www.cyclenEWs.com through that. Now it's doing it on this bike , but it's almost like it's going to slee p a bit." Roberts said he could ride his Honda XR100 dirt tracker for an hour at a time without pain but begins to notice the injury after flve laps on the Proton KR. "It's not like we're even close to the championship or a point, so might as well go back to the drawing board:' he said. Who he'll be ridingfor next year is up in the air. Hisfather said that the Proto n KR team was in jeopardy of closingshop and that there was no point in contin uingunless the team could sec ure com petitive tires. "1don't know. No idea:' was Kurtis's answer when asked what hisfuture held. "I haven't bee n in the most honest of situations I feel with my management company. As far as I knew, we signed a two-year, but all I've seen is my contracts in handwriting. I think it's going to be a decision that we haveto sort out, and if I can't sort it out, I'll have people that can - no problem. I feel comfortable with Chuck [Aksland], of course, and my dad - everyone here isfine, but my man- agement company was supposed to do some thingsthat never materialized." Roberts said he had talked to other people, including some in the AMA paddock, but that his position was difficult because of the unresolved nature of his management contract. "I've talked to other people and stuff, but it's hard when you can't talk to anybody untilafter you get rid of some people: ' he said. It was unclear when the ties willbe officiallysevered . "By some time in December; it'llbe within that time slot:' he said. Among the rumors surrounding Roberts' future was one that put him on a Yamaha supe rb ike in the United States. "I've heard a lot of rumors . There's nothing true yet, but I'm not turninganythingdown yet because I don't know." Though he left the United States with nothinggood to say about AMAPro Racing, he said he wasn't averse to retuming. "If it's a job," he said, before lashing out at his management com pany. "So I'm not against doing anything. Uke Isay,if this team folds, the n I've got to do something, so we'll see ." Kenn y Roberts said his future was equally unclear but that the first order of priority was a tire deal. "Running last and next to last probably isn'tgoing to tum anybody on:' Roberts said. ' ~d when you ask what the problems are with the bike, they just say no grip, no grip, no grip. 50 we're ina very difficult position." Two weeks before the start of the season, Roberts found out he wouldn't have access to Michelin tires. "It hurt us a lot. It actuallyput us out of business." Bridgestone, which he'd used in 2003, had already been ruled out . That left him with Dunlop, not a force in the premier classfor a number of years. Rider Nobu Aokisaid the Dunlops were 1.5 seconds offthe Bridgestones, which were 1.5 seconds off the Michelins. "There's two [tire companies] that are competitive.I sure wish that Dunlop was one of them . And it's unfair for Dunlop to be with a Contjnued on page J9 CYCLE NEWS • NOVEMBER 10 2004 17

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