Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Brief'Y··· Sete Gibernau (1 S) and Max Biaggi (3) had oH weekends, the pair finishin!f fourth an fifth, respectIVely. liibernau on Pole A brand-new track with no previous data posed the same problems for everybody - just three hours of free practice to find gearing and other settings, and one more hour for qualifying. But erratic weather conditions cut the time down still further, with heavy rain spoiling Friday afternoon's hour and iffy conditions threatening on Saturday as well. Not surprisingly, some riders were still somewhat at sea for the final session. It was surprising that one of them was Valentino Rossi, having major problems chasing front-.>nd grip and ending up on the far end of the second row, more than a second down on deadly rival Sete Gibemau's Honda, on pole poSition. In fact, honors had been disputed between the Spaniard and his teammate Marco Melandri, the Honda pair the only two to get inside two minutes. The younger rider had been set for his first pole as the qUalifying session drew to a close, but Gibernau pipped him by .163 of a second in the very closing stages. "It's always difficult to set the bike in such a short time," Gibemau said. "I threw a qualifying tire on halfway through to make sure of a lap time, then used the other one at the end of the session. But still now we don't know which race tires to use." The track was punishing on front tires, a problem everybody had - including Melandri, who was philosophical about losing pole. "Sure I was thinking about it," he said, "but when I put on my last qualifying tire, I made a little mistake. But the front row is good. My biggest worry for the race is the weather." The two Gresini Hondas had found a significant margin, with third-placed Loris Capirossi alongside but fully six-tenths slower. Capirossi is gaining strength since his ankle injury at Jerez, but he said; "It's still a worry over race distance - it'll be along race. But the bike seems to like the trap." Two-tenths slower and spitting because he'd been slowed on his fast lap was the increasingly impressive Hopkins, over-riding the Suzuki to very good effect and just missing the front row. Hopkins is clearly hungry this season, employing extraordinary lean angles to make up for his speed and horsepower deficit. "We needed more time to practice, get the setup right and run more race tires, but I'm almost sure what tires to run for the race," Hopkins said. With times now close, Nicky Hayden was a tenth down, again handsomely ahead of his still-troubled factory Honda teammate Max Biaggi, but saying; "It hasn't been easy here. The surface has been changing so much, and we're not fully sorted yet on tire choice." Sixth place? It was Valentino Rossi, who complained about losing 7 mph in top speed, but complained more about handling problems on the delicate-to-set Yamaha. "We had the same speed difference last year, and I was able to win. We have problems with the tires and the front end [as opposed to his Estoril rear-grip difficulties] more on the right than the left. I hope the others are having trouble too." Being Rossi, he was still aiming for the podium, and this ambition was very plausible. "But it will be very difficult to stay with the Gresini Hondas," Rossi added. "I have a points advantage, and I need to use this advantage to sort out our problems." Rossi was 1.1 seconds off pole and less than a tenth ahead of Carlos Checa, who led row three from Toni Elias and Kenny Roberts Jr. Shinya Nakano headed the fourth rank, with Estoril winner Alex Barros next and Troy Bayliss alongside. Colin Edwards led the fifth row from Max Biaggi and Olivier Jacque, former World Champions all. Asked if he had the same front-.>nd problems as Rossi, Edwards said; "I've lost the front more times these two days of practice than I did all last year and the first part of this year." Continued from page 37 to deal with incoming helicopters. "It's so huge I thought we were coming to an aircraft hangar," quipped Colin Edwards at the pre-race press conference. Viewed from overhead, the layout is reminiscent of the Chinese symbol "Shang" (apparently), which translates as "high" or "above." Another unique feature is the design of the team buildings - a very far cry from the prefab sheds and converted containers used at some flyaway GPs. At Shanghai, they comprise a village of chalets, with an artificial lake winding in and out among them... "an island of peace and meditation in the fast world of motorcycle racing," according to the pre-race press handout. The track has 16 corners, a straight of more than half a mile, covered or semicovered grandstand seating for some 100,000, and it sets new world standards in terms of facilities. However, it is hard to assess its local importance, when most Shanghai taxi drivers don't even know where it is. A delay of 2 1/2 hours marred the opening day of MotoGP racing at Shanghai - caused by a technical problem with the med-evac helicopter. The 125s had already been out at that stage, and questions over whether they did not also merit an operational helicopter were met with the response that the helicopter was available and close at hand, and did not necessarily need to be on site. '~ injured rider is always taken first to resuscitation at the medical center, so there is time for the helicopter to arrive," said IRTA boss Mike Trimby. Race director Paul Butler confirmed that the helicopter had been available during the I25cc practice but that it had been spooled up after that session for a routine check, when a technical problem emerged. At that point, practice had been suspended until they could be sure a working helicopter was available. Close to a major airport, there are restrictions on the air space, and the Doma filming helicopter only had permission to fly after 2 p.m. This was hurriedly rearranged, and the helicopter flew in, only for a somewhat farcical display as officials tried to work out how to fit a stretcher into a machine not designed to take one. MotoGP's first free training scheduled for 10 a.m. finally got under way at 12;30 p.m. Max Biaggi was lining up for his 200th GP start, after a career including four 250cc World Championships, and 42 race wins. "The team had to tell me - I haven't been counting," said Biaggi, who named his first 500-c1ass GP at Suzuka in 1998 as his best race. Biaggi qualified on pole and won that race, after Mick Doohan's factory Honda broke down trying to catch him. Other riders to set career milestones were Kenny Roberts Jr., in his ISOth GP start, and Shinya Nakano and Randy de Puniet, both starting their 100th race. Both factory Yamaha riders had new parts to test after Estoril - but Valentino Rossi preferred to leave them in the back of the truck and work instead on chassis set- tings. "For me. it was necessary to work on settings. The bike was very nervous in Estoril. and we needed to underscand that," Rossi said. The quest, he added, had been successful. "Now we need to see if the modifications will also work well here," he said. Teammate Colin Edwards did try the parts and reported a big improvement. Asked for details, he uncharacteristically clammed up. "We found the nitrous button," was all he would say. The gravel traps at Shanghai were a cause for concern and an important harbinger for the future. Built for F I, the runoff areas were hard-paved; for the motorcycles they gained a layer of gravel. "It is an experiment - the first time we have used this," Rossi said. " We will have to see what happens when somebody goes off into the gravel. I hope it is not me!" Instead. it turned out to be Sete Gibernau, who ran off the track, still on the bike, bounced across the gravel barely slowing, and was obliged to stamp on the back brake and crash deliberately before hitting the barrier. This seemed to be the worst of both worlds - the gravel not deep enough to slow the bike, but not firm enough to allow him to brake. He'd have been better off on plain tarmac. Gibernau explained that things were not quite that simple. "That was the second time I ran on - both times because of brake problems. The first time I had some front brake and I was able to stop. The second time I had no brake at all, and that's why I had to jump off, to avoid hitting the wall and injuring my... parts. If it had been a hard surface, it would have made no difference. I would still have had no brake. It depends on what your problem is, but at 300 kph [186 mph] if you slid on tar, your leathers would not last very long. But overall 1think I would prefer deeper gravel." FIM safety officer Claude Danis said that the Shanghai gravel was exactly as had been requested, but they were still learning. "It's not 100 percent satisfactory. but it's working. We have to improve, but we have no real experience with this. and we are learning," he said. "We have to find the best compromise. Right now, we are discussing the possibility of having part asphalt and part gravel." They had also agreed that the gravel should be deeper than at China, becoming increasingly thick toward the outer part of the trap to avoid any ramp effect. "Really, it depends on the turn," Danis said. "For example. a very slow corner might not need a gravel trap at ail. We have to decide the procedure track by track, and turn by tum." A couple of years ago, said Danis, Brno had asked if it could have a paved runoff area outside the first corner, as the track wished to apply to be used as an F I test circuit. "We told them no, or that if they did, they would have to put gravel on top for the motorcycles," he said. The final safety inspection of Laguna Seca will take place on June 15, directly after the Catalunya Gp, and all safety modifications will have to be in place by then, said Claude Danis, in his capacity as FIM safety officer and circuit inspector. He denied that there had been any compromise on safety in order for the U.S. GP to go ahead. "We have discussed Continued on page 40 CYCLE NEWS • MAY 11, 2005 39

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