Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Puniet, came through to third early on only to crash out on the treacherously slippery and dust-strewn surface. This left Casey Stoner in a rostrum spot, until he followed suit. The position went to Alex de Angelis and his Aprilia, almost half a minute behind. Pole qualifier Marco Simoncelli made a dream start with a strong 12Scc Win, pulling clear of a fearsome sevenbike, midrace battle, along with Swiss rider Thomas Luthi. Then Luthi's Honda went sick, leaving the Italian comfortably clear of the remnants of the group. Finnish KTM rider Mika Kallio stole third on the last corner from long-term companion Fabrizio Lai. MOTOGP Gibernau got the jump, Rossi nosed ahead briefly at the first corner, but by the end of the lap, he was third with Hayden pushing past. The field still close, Melandri was fourth, then Nakano, fast away heading Bayliss, Capirossi and the rest. Ruben Xaus crashed on the first lap, rejoining only to pit for repairs, then later being called in for a ride-through penalty. No wonder he eventually finished last. The first four immediately started to open a gap on the green Kawasaki, holding their positions as they stretched away. On lap five, Rossi nipped under Hayden into the hairpin, with Melandri already starting to lose touch. Soon after, Gibernau embarked on an impressive escape attempt, the gap growing to ninetenths after eight laps. It wasn't to last, and now it was Hayden's turn to drop back slightly as Rossi put the hammer down and closed right up on his rival. This gap stretched to almost two seconds, but Hayden was shutting it down gradually when he fell on lap 20. The action up front was more familiar: Rossi hounded his Spanish rival without mercy, clearly waiting for his opportunity. It came at the final hairpin at the end of lap 25, though Gibernau later said he had deliberately left the door open. And maybe so, because Rossi didn't get away. He started his final lap three-tenths clear - not nearly enough of a cushion to save him when he ran wide into the hairpin at the end of the back straight. He tried to stop Gibernau's passing move, but without success. Rossi had another stab two corners later, only to be relegated once again. And on they went to their showdown at the final hairpin. Melandri was alone in third, but there was lots of action behind him. Nakano held his position longer than expected, while Checa was coming through steadily from eighth on lap one. Both he and fellow slow starter Makoto Tamada steamed past Bayliss on lap seven, and started to work on closing a two-second Briefly... Continued from poge J 9 injuries, Doohan managed to escape the dance routine. Sete Gibernau is as good as a factory Honda rider - even though he is in a satellite team - despite statements to the contrary made last year. This was confirmed at Jerez by HRC president Suguru Kanazawa in an exclusive press briefing. '1\t Motegi last year, we said that we would have two factory bikes, and the others would not be at the same level. At the start of this year, we changed our thinking because of the level of Sete Gibernau's riding. That's why we plan to supply him with the same development parts as the factory riders [Max Biaggi and Nicky Hayden]." Last year, the factory riders did not win a single race. Asked what their problem had been, Kanazawa blamed a mismatch between their development and that of Michelin. "Our development was in the wrong direction for the new tires, Honda's RC211 V, still the definitive MotoGP bike in spite of last year's defeat by Rossi and the Yamaha, will survive "for two more years, including this one," according to Kanazawa. The nature of the replacement is still a mystery, though Kanazawa did express a personal interest in the "very compact" W (or "broad arrow") engine format currently used by vw. This is like a vee engine, with an extra bank of cylinders in the middle of the vee. How to slow down MotoGP bikes remains one of the most vexing questions in the sport - with last year's plan to cut capacity from 990cc to 900cc under threat of further change, possibly to a maximum of 8oocc. Dropping the size of the 990cc MotoGP bikes would reduce the power "for one or two years, but it will increase again," said HRC president Suguru Kanazawa, adding that a smaller engine with the same power as a 2S0-plus horsepower 990cc motor would be more of a handful for the rider than the current machines but that "by that time, there may be some improved safety technology." He cited antilock braking as an example, a category that would also include improved traction-control mechanisms. Kanazawa is now also chairman of the manu- facturers' association, the MSMA, which is understood to be pushing for a further reduction in 2007 to 800cc. He would make no comment on the matter, saying. "You can expect an announcement shortly from the GP Commission." Wearing his HRC hat, however, he was more forthcoming. ''As a manufacturer, we want no limit to the machines - MotoGP is an experimental field, and displacement limits and minimum weight should be the only limits. The time might come when we decide to limit rpm or something, but Iwould not favor an rpm limit. If necessary, I would prefer air-intake restrictions." Asked what he thought would be the ideal capaCity for a racing motorcycle, if there were no limits on capaCity, he said: "You need different machines and capacities for different tracks. A bigger engine has more power and speed, but a smaller engine would be lighter with better handling. You Continued on poge 2S elf NEWS • APRIL 20,2005 21

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