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/128382
MotoGP To 800cc I t's official: Beginning in 2007, the MotoGP machines will lose 190cc. The 800cc proposal favored especially by Honda was finally agreed on at the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello. This was the most significant of several rule changes agreed by the Grand Prix Commission, composed of Dorna, the FIM, IRTA and manufacturers' association "It's okay," said Max Biaggi. we cannot use the horsepower in the first three gears - we have to find ways to reduce power. If we go to less cc, automatically there will be less power. Maybe they will be a little bit slower." MSMA. The decisions were unanimous. sure, it will not have the same taste as Iooocc. We are lucky maybe these bikes we are riding now will go into legend. But these bikes are starting to go too fast, so for me it's okay." Sete Gibernau made a noncommittal stab at a joke, saying, "By 2007, I will be older, so maybe less power will be good for me." "Reducing fuel capacity [this year] was a tentative move to control the power, but not enough," Yamaha team manager Davide Brivio said. "I think 800cc will be a good way. We need to reduce power somehow, and if this doesn't work, then we have to try something else." Asked if changing the rules after only six years was not a bit hasty, he said: "We are in a special time. The class is very young. When we started in 2002, the concern was if 990cc would be fast enough to beat the 500 twostrokes. We found out that it was, and now we are adjusting the regulations. Yes, we As well as reducing the capacity of the MotoGP class, the commission agreed to the following: a further reduction in fuel capacity, from 22 to 21 liters (from 2007); to ban two-way radio communication between riders and pits (a system nobody has so far used successfully); to prevent riders from stopping in the pits during a ridethrough penalty; and to delete the rule requiring all GPs to host all three classes (already suspended in the case of the MotoGP-only U.S. Grand Prix). The news of the reduced engine capacity was met with mixed reactions but main- ly acceptance of what many fear will be a Honda charter, jacking up the technology and especially electronics. Smaller engines will have higher tuning than the 990s, suggesting they will be much more peaky and as a result harder to ride. The three fastest qualifiers at the Italian GP were prepared to take what comes. '~Iready Valentino Rossi said: IIFor need stability, but it may take a few more years to get that stability." The change will require all teams to make new engines - 190cc is too big a reduction to be achieved simply by modifying existing engines. But, as Brivio said, "in motorsport it is normal to make new engines from time to time. Already this year we have a new engine, without changing the capacity. By 2007, it may be time for another new engine in any case." This aspect impacted badly on the smaller teams, however. Team KR owner Kenny Roberts was resigned. "We kinda knew it was coming, but I'm surprised that Carmelo [Ezpeleta, the CEO of Dorna] is wearing it," he said. "It's the end Childress and McCoy Take Over Baja Steve Childress (pictured) teamed with Mouse McCoy and beat the factory-team eHorts at the Baja 500. Of the hundreds of vehicles that covered the 419-mile Baja 500 racecourse on Saturday, June 4, the fastest three were motorcycles. And, of those three, the privateer team of Mike Childress and Mike "Mouse" McCoy was the fastest, beating three factory teams in the process. Riding a Honda XR650R, the privateer duo completed the race in a time of 8 hours, 40 minutes and 25 seconds, averaging 48.31 mph. All four top-finishing motorcycle teams were in Class 22. Second among the motorcycles was the American Honda A team, made up of Steve Hengeveld and Johnny Campbell, with an 8:49:45 time on a Honda XR650R, while third was the Honda B team of Robby Bell and Kendall Norman, completing the course in 9:08: 16 on another Honda XR650R. The fourth motorcycle finisher was the factory KTM team of Chris Blais and Andy Grider, running the route in 9: I0:48 on a KTM 660 Rally motorcycle. "It was amazing - I loved it," the 21year-old Childress said. "It's my first time ever to win a SCORE race. I've been doing this since I was 14, and it was a dream to win a race, and now I did it. We were in fourth early on. Mike's Sky loop was the hardest part. I passed johnny [Campbell] at Santa Tomas and never looked back. Mouse McCoy ran the 1000 all by himself [in 2004], and I thought what better guy to get than him to ride with." The Childress/McCoy victory snapped the five-year winning streak in this race by Hengeveld, who won with Campbell three of those years. Jim O'Neal led a team to victory in Class 40 (motorcycle riders over 40 years old) for the fifth consecutive year. Jarrett Tops the Moose Run Dubbed America's toughest off-road race, the I Ith running of the Moose Run in Morrison, Illinois, was held on June 5, and the three-hour race, round four of the Parts Unlimited Off-Road Motorcycle and ATV Series, came down to an exciting finish, involving three riders. But it was just one rider, Suzuki-mounted Jimmy Jarrett, who stood on the top step of the podium when all was said and done. Jarrett, KTM's Shane Watts and Suzuki rider Brian Garrahan battled back and forth the last few miles, and it was in the final corner that Jarrett made his move for the lead, once and for all. Watts ended up finishing second, while Garrahan finished third. The three riders finished well ahead of the unofficial fourth-place finisher, justin Williamson. 8 JUNE 15,2005 • CYCLE NEWS for this engine [the KTM Vfour]. We could make it 800cc, but it wouldn't be competitive. But that is the same for everyone." Peter Clifford, manager of the Blata WCM team, was another victim. The Czech firm Blata is making a V-six, expected to be ready for the Brno GP this year. "We always thought the Vsix would be a two-year engine," he said. "Now it will be a one-year engine." MSMA dealings are confidential, but some details of the discussion emerged. One bone of contention concerned the use of pneumatic valve springs that will allow higher rev ceilings to restore power levels in spite of a 180cc cut in swept volume. Ducati was keen for this system to be banned. In this way, it could take advantage of the higher revs enabled by its unique positive-closing desmodromic valves. But Ducati was overruled in the meeting, and there was no mention of pneumatics or any other technological or material limits in the new rules. But, as WCM's Clifford commented, "The MSMA might change their minds on that at any point - maybe even next Thursday." Michael Scott Lougher, McGuinness Win TIs Ian Lougher celebrated the 21 st anniversary of his first TT appearance by winning the Supersport Junior TT on the Isle of Man on June 6, the Honda rider beating John McGuinness and jason Griffiths. Lougher had battled for the lead early in the race with Ryan Farquhar, before the latter retired on the third lap of the four-lap race. It was Lougher's seventh win at the TT, and he averaged 120.928 mph in recording the victory. McGuinness, meanwhile, got his Isle of Man TT campaign off to the perfect start on Sunday, June 5, with a start-to-finish victory in the opening six-lap TT Superbike race. Postponed from Saturday, the race got under way with nearperfect track conditions all the way around the 37.75-mile course, with McGuinness putting in a brilliant performance. It was a smooth run to the nag for the AIM Racing rider, and he ran home a clear winner to take his seventh Tr win. His final winning margin over Adrian Archibald was 36.3 seconds, with McGuinness averaging a record 125.40 mph for the race - though his outright lap record of I27.68mph, set in 2004, remained intact. "I don't know what to say, it's just brilliant," McGuinness said in a release. "It's been quite a stressful week for one reason or another, but everything came together, and it was a good race. I struggled a bit after the first pit stop and got quite a bad weave down Bray Hill and another small moment at Glentramman, but apart from that, the race went to plan. Everyone has worked so hard this week, and it's an amazing feeling to take my seventh TT win. And after only being four laps last year, this feels like a proper Superbike TT win. The boys did a great job at the pit stops, so it's a big thanks to them, Yamaha, Alastair Flanagan, Dunlop and all of our other sponsors, and to get the win is absolutely terrific. It was a great race for the fans, and I have to say thank you to them as well for their support all the way 'round the course. It's the perfect start to the week - brilliant!" American Tom Montano rode his MV Agusta F4 1000 S to a 17th-place finish with an average speed of 116.S71 mph to earn a Bronze medal in the Superbike TT. Ian Laugher won the Supersport Junior TT on the Isle of Man.