Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Continued from page 21 must look at what Ferrari used to do in FI, racing a V-six at Monaco and a V-12 at other circuits." Carlos Checa (6); II. Alex Hofmann (5); t 2. Toni Elias (4); 13. Loris Capirossi (3); 14. John Hopkins (2); 15. Roberto Rolfo(I). 250 QUAliFYING: I. Daniel Pedrosa (I :42.868); 2. Sebastian Porto (I :43.195); 3. Casey Stoner (I :43.212); 4. Randy De Puniet (1:43.444); 5. Alex De Angelis (1:43.744); 6. Hiroshi Aoyama (I :43.813); 7. Hector Barbera (1:44.038); 8. Roberto Locatelli (1:44.]30); 9. Jorge Lorenzo (1:44.345); 10. Andrea Dovizioso (1:44.426); II. Yuki Takahashi (1:44.462); 12. Simone Corsi (1:44.706); 13. Steve Jenkner (I :44.764); 14. Alex Debon (I :45.267); 15. Jakub Smn. (I :45.364); 16. Sytvain Guintoli (I :45.374); 17. Alvaro Molina (I :45.648); 18. Alex Baldolini (I :45.734); 19. Chaz Davies (1:45.988); 20. Radomil Rous (1:46.007): 21. Mirko Giansanti (I :46.090); 22. Dirk Heidolf (1:46.256): 23. Andrea Ballerini (1:46.881): 24. Martin Cardenas (1:47.103); 25. Gregory LeBlanc (1:47.183); 26. Hugo Marchand (I :47.5 I5): 27. Gabor Rizmayer (I :48.(03); 28. Arnaud Vincent (I :48.262). 250 GP: I. Daniel Pedrosa (Hon); 2. Sebastian Porto (Apr); 3. Alex De Angelis (Apr); 4. Andrea Dovizioso (Hon); 5. Hector Barbera (Hen); 6. Jorge Lorenzo (Hon): 7. Roberto Locatelli (Apr); 8. Alex Debon (Hon); 9. Simone Corsi (Apr); 10. Mirko Giansanti (Apr); II. Chaz Davies (Apr); 12. Radomil Rous (Hen); 13. Alex Baldolini (Apr); 14. Andrea Ballerini (Apr); 15. Gregory Leblanc (Apr); 16. Gabor Ri2mayer (Yam). Time: 45 min., 36.679 sec. Distance: 26 laps. 71.298 miles Average speed: 93.79 mph Margin of victory: 2.136 sec. Fastest lap: Randy De Puniet. lap 5. I :44A59 250 WORLD C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After I of 16 rounds): I. Daniel Pedrosa (2S); 2. Sebastian PortO (20): 3. Alex De Angelts (16); 4. Andrea Dovizk>so (13); 5. Hector Barbera (II); 6. Jorge Lorenzo (10); 7. Roberto Locatelli (9); 8. Alex Deben (8); 9. Simone Corsi (7); 10. Mirko Giansanti (6); II. Chaz Davies (5); 12. Radomi! Rous (4); 13. Alex Baldo/ini (3); 14. Andrea Ballerini (2); 15. Gregory Leblanc (I). 125 GP: I. Marco Simoncelli (Apr); 2. Mika Kallio (KTM); 3. Fabrizio LaJ (Hon); 4. Mattia Pasini (Apr); 5. Gabor TaJmacsi (KTM): 6. Manuel Poggiali (Gil); 7. Hector Faubel (Apr): 8. Joan Olive (Apr); 9. Julian Simon (KTM): 10. Manuel Hernandez (Apr); II. Mike De Meglio (Hon); 12. Pablo Nieto (Der); 13. jordi Carchano (Apr): 14. A1eix Espargaro (Hon); 15. Nicolas Terol (Der); 16. Imre Toth (Apr); 17. Mateo Tunez (Apr); 18. Federico Sandi (Hon): 19. Juhan Miralles (Apr); 20. Sandro Cortese (Hon); 21. Andrea Iannone (Apr); 22. Karel Abraham (Apr); 23. Raymond Schouten (Han); 24. Sascha Hommel (Mal): 25. Vincent Braillard (Apr). Time: 42 min., 27.960 sec. Distance: 23 laps, 63.07 miles Average speed: 89.11 mph Margin of victory: IAI8 sec. Fastest lap: Pablo Nieto, lap 7. 1:49.176 125 WORLD C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After I of 16 rounds): I. Marco Simoncelli (25); 2. Mika Kalho (20); 3. Fabrizio LaJ (16); 4. Mattia Pasini (13); 5. Gabor Talmacsi (I I); 6. Manuel Poggiali (10); 7. Hector Faubel (9): 8. Joan Olive (8); 9. Julian Simon (7); 10. Manuel Hernandez (6); II. Mike De Meglio (5); 12. Pablo Nieto (1); 13. Jordi Carchano (3); 14. A1eix Espargaro (2); 15. Nicolas Terol (I). UPCOMING ROUNDS Round 2: Estoril, Portugol, April 17 Round 3: Shanghoi, Chino, Moy 1 Honda, currently dominating the grid with seven machines, would be happy to cut numbers back to four - if only rival manufacturers would join in to fill the gaps. "This year you can see that there are some one-rider teams (Team Roberts and Team d'Antin]," he said. "If there were only a few bikes fighting in MotoGp, it would not be good for the spectacle - as it was at one stage in the SOOcc class. That is why we have seven bikes now. When the four-stroke class was planned, we expected more manufacturers would come into MotoGp, but at the moment, it is almost the same as the SOOcc class. In the near future, maybe more factories will enter. We would welcome them. And if the number of machines is enough, then we will reduce to perhaps four Hondas." HRC would be willing to supply V-fIVe engines to chassis manufacturers if they were of sufficient status, he said, "as we did with Moriwaki last year." But he ruled out production/privateer versions of the V-fIVe RCY. "It would be too expensive to sell the machine," he said. The average age of the 12Scc class has dropped radically, from 21,1 last year to 18,9 in 200S, with this year's new regulations of a maximum age limit of 28. With the likes of Steve jenkner and former champion Roberto Locatelli gone to 2S0s, the oldest rider in the smallest class is now 26-year-old Italian Fabrizio Lai. At the other end of the scale, there are fIVe new IS-year-olds - Germans Sascha Hommel and Sandro Cortese, Italians Federico Sandi and Andrea Iannone, and Czech Karel Abraham, with Malaguti rider Hommel the youngest, having tumed IS in February. The MotoGP average is 28.1 , compared with last year's 27.8; the age profile in the 2SOcc class has dropped from 23.4 to 22.7. Valentino Rossi expressed amazement at the revelation in British magazine MeN Sport that he uses the technique of keeping the power on under braking for the corners. "That is a secret that even I didn't know about," he quipped. Trackside observation at Jerez suggested that he still doesn't know about it, since he was clearly entering the corners on a trailing throttle - just like all the other riders. Ducati's secret new uengine-braking system" continued to cause puzzlement, not least to their own riders, both of who have now crashed with the new system: Cartos Checa in tests at Catalunya, and Loris Capirossi heavily on Saturday morning in practice at Jerez. This system was first seen in public at the Catalunya tests and is distinguished by the way the clutch disengages completely and the engine revs die on comer entry, sounding as though the rider has done a plug chop. The regular riders only had brief rides on it there, with factory tester Vittoriano Guareschi spending the whole weekend on the bike, but all the machines at jerez had what team manager Livio Suppo described as "an evolution of the system." Neither of the riders like the system, with Capirossi on record in Italy as saying "because I am an employee of Ducati, I must ride what they want me to ride." At Jerez, some changes were obvious - including a puzzling inconsistency. The cutout only seemed to work on slower corners under hard braking. with the bike entering faster comers with the clutch still at least semi-engaged. There were other inconsistencies as well. I watched the clutch disengage completely on Checa's bike entering the tight turn two on a slow out lap, but it did not disengage in the same way on his subsequent two fast laps. "It is how the rider decides," technical director Filippo Prezioso said. remaining mysterious on the details. He did reveal that the program is selected in the pits and that the rider can switch the system out. makes no sense for us to outsource everything. We do not do that with our production machines, and we do not intend to do that in the racing department." The Blata factory, not far from Brno, currently produces a range of minibikes, with full-size scooters planned for the future. WCM team manager Peter Clifford confinned they would continue to run their R I-based inline four-cylinder Harris-framed machines for the first half of the season. At Catalunya, Ducati Corse boss Claudio Domenicali admitted that the system dispenses with the slipper clutch, with "some magic" doing the same job, or better. This appears to be a combination of electronics and hydrauliCS disengaging the clutch under braking, then feeding it in gently mid corner. One advantage and important issue this season (see separate Briefly), according to Suppo, is in cutting fuel consumption; another is that dropping the engine to idle reduces the gyroscopic effect of the spinning crankshaft. It is programmed to operate differently at different corners on a bike that always knows exactly where it is. The disadvant:age is that as yet the system is not very friendly to the riders. Team Roberts rider Shakey Byrne will have the benefit of new-generation KTM engines from the fourth round, the French GP on May IS - with the V-four both lighter and more powerful than before. "We are testing some new parts here, working on the character of the power, but we're trying not to overlap too much with the new motor," team manager Chuck Aksland said. The new 22-liter maximum fuel capacity, down by two liters from last year, has exercised the minds of most engineers, it seems, except those from HRC, who insist that it is "no problem." But with mixtures now set leaner than ever, the riders certainly notice. Valentino Rossi explained. "It has brought some problems for us - there was a little delay in Yamaha's response, and the bike is more difficult to use. The M I has become more aggressive on the throttle, with more lean carburetion. They want to limit speeds and performance for safety, but maybe this is more unsafe." Sete Gibernau concurred. "They try to make things go slower, and we end up going faster. The bike settings are more crucial now. Overall perfonnance is not reduced, but it makes the MotoGP bikes feel more like a two-stroke. The acceleration is in any case becoming more and more aggressive, and the bikes more difficult to ride. It's easier now to spin and slide, and throttle control is more crucial. That's okay for me. It makes them more fun to ride." Blata's proposed V-six will not appear until the second half of the season, making its debut at its home GP at Brno at the end of August. Factory chief Pavel Blata said: "This represents a considerable delay from our earlier hopes, but we have realized that bowing to the pressure of being at the opening rounds of the season makes no sense in the longer run." Delays had come in setting up their own race department and because of a reluctance to source components from outside. "It is our intention to have a great deal of the engineering capability within our own company," Blata said. "It Kawasaki had gone all big-bang for the start of the season, with both Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann riding the revised-firing-order machine. "I've liked it from the start - but we still have work to do," Nakano said. The team was working on its own engine-braking system throughout qualifying. Assen, the cathedral of motorcycle racing, is due for the long-awaited (and long-dreaded) downsizing from next year, losing more than I kilometer (0.62 miles) and the entire first loop through the countryside. Where the current S.997-km (3.73mile) circuit runs through a fast kink after the start-finish straight, then out through the fields before turning back to the Strubben horseshoe curve, the 2006 version takes a long loop through almost 360 degrees, back to the Strubben. The length is cut to 4.720 km (2.93 miles), while passing opportunities on that section will be all but nonexistent. Other changes introduced this year slow the approach to the Stekkenwal corner, at the end of the old back straight, and also slow the exit. One advantage will be to reduce average speeds and make the races last longer; other advantages will be more laps per race and more chance for fans to see the bikes. Currently, the race is the only one with less than 20 laps. The loss, on the other hand, will be a great deal of the awesome circuit's special character. The "cathedral" title may now have to be awarded to Phillip Island, while Assen becomes a mere chapel. Yamaha racing staff wore black armbands on race day in memory of long-standing team engineer Ken Suzuki. The japanese engineer was taken ill suddenly at Catalunya tests and has since passed away. An enigmatic emblem on the front of new factory Aprilia rider Simone Corsi's 250cc machine had an unexpected explanation. The team is sponsored by MS cigarettes, and while top rider Alex de Angelis' machine has the MS logo on the nose, ex-12Scc rider Corsi was still 17 at the start of the year, making him too young to be associated with tobacco sponsorship. Thus, his bike carried a capital I (for !talia). CYCLE NEWS. APRIL 20,2005 25

• Cover