Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

II. Jakub Smrz (2;06.950); 12. Chaz D,..", (2;07.322); 13. Yuknakahashl (2007.410); Ii. Steve Jenkne' (2;07.523); 15. Mirka Giansanti (2:07.614); 16. Alex Baldolini (2:07.634); 17. 5ytva;n Guinto'l (2;07.756); 18. Dick Heidolf(2;07.85 I); 19. Andrea Ballerini (2:07.854); 20. Roberto Locatelli (2;07.976); 21. Alex Debon (2;08.'112); 22. G,.g0'Y Le81anc (2;08.952); 23. Anthony W",t (2;09.1'19); 2'1. Arnaud Vincent (2:09,568); 1S. Martin Cardenas (2: I a.lIB); 26. Michele Danese (2:10.331); 27. Randy Gevers (2;10.627); 28. Han' Smee> (2; 10.692); 29. Gabo, Riunayer (2; I 1.20'1). 2SOcc GRAND PRIX: I. Seb"';an Porto (Ap,); 2. Daniel Pedrosa (Hon); 3. Jorge Lorenzo (Hon); 4. Hiroshi Aoyam, (Hon); S. Alex de Angel;' (Apr); 6. c..ey Stoner (Ap,); 7. Dov;zio>o (Hon); 8. Randy de Puniet (Apr); 9. Hector Barbera (Hoo); 10. Simone Corsi (Apr); II. Roberto Locatelli (Apr); 12. Sylvain Guintoli (Apr); 13. Alex Debon (Hon); 1-4. Chaz Davies (Apr); 15. Yuki Takahashi (Hon); 16. Jakub Smrz (Hon); 17. And,.. 8a1lerini (Apr); 18. Mirka Giansanti (Apr); 19. Dirk Heidotr (Hon); 20. Gregory LeBlanc (Apr); 21. Martin Cardenas (Apr); n. Michele Danese (Apr); 23. Hans Smees (Apr); li. Arnaud Vincent (Fan); 25. G,bo, Rizmayer (Yam). Time: 38 min., 02.148 sec. Distance: 18 laps, 66.926 miles Average speed: 105.573 mph Margin of victory: .381 sec. 2SOcc WORLD C'SHIP SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 7 of 16 rounds): I. Daniel Pedrosa (143/4 wins); 2. Casey Stoner (106/2 wins); 3. Andrea Dovizioso (102); 4. Sebastian Porto (74/1 win); 5. Hiroshi Aoyama And,., (71); 6. Jorge Locenzo (70); 7. Alex de Angel;' (67); 8. Randy de Puniet (5"'); 9. Hector Barbera (51); 10. Simone C"",i (44); II. Alex Debon (32); 12. (TIE) Yuki Takah.,hi (3l)1Sylvain Guintoli (31); , .... Roberto Locatelli (20); IS. Mirko Giansanti (19). 125cc GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING: L Mika Kallio (2:11.855); 2. Gabor Talmacsi (2:11.915); 3. Mattia Pasini (2: 12.300): 4. Marco Simoncelli (2: 12.729): 5. Thomas Luthi (2;12.911); 6. Serg;o Gadea (2;12.170); 7. Manuel Poggiali (2: 13.217); 8. Alexis Masbou (2: 13.357); 9. Hector Faubel (2;13.370); 10. Julian Simon (2;13.'103); II. Tomoy",hi Koyama(2;IH03); 12. Luka> Pe>ek (2;13.'165); 13. Mike di Megllo (2;13.52'1); Ii. Alvaro Sauti,,. (2;13.631); 15. Manuel Hernandez (2:13.646); 16. Joan Olive (2:13.973): 17. Michael Ranseder (2:13.991); 18. Fabrizio Lai (2:14.272); 19. Raffaele de Rosa (2:14.363); 20. Aleix Espargaro (2: 1.... 389): 21. Andrea Iannone (2: 14..433); 22. Nk"" Terol (2;1"-"63); 23. Pablo Nieto (2;1'1.596); 2'1. Sandro Conese (2:14.716); 25. Raymond Schouten (2:14.975); 26. Lorenzo Zanetti (2:15.150); 27. Toshihisa Kuzulwa (2; IS.250); 28. Angel Rodriguez (2; IS.370); 29. Kan!1 Abooham (2; IS.399); 30. 1m,. Toth (2; 15.457); 31. Federico Sandi (2: I5.666): 32. Michele Pirro (2: 15.95 I): 33. Oario Giuseppetti (2:15.965): H. Jordi Carchano (2: 16.1"'6); 35. Vincent Braillard (2: 16.150): 36. Gioele Peltino (2:16.321); 37. Mateo Tunez (2:16,427); 38. Joey Utjens (2: 16.918); 39. Hugo van den Berg (2: 17.682): 40. Ge"-Jan Kok (2;18.113). 125cc GRAND PRIX: I. Gabor Talmacsi (KTM); 2. Hector Faubel (Apr): 3. Mattia Pasini (Apr); 4. Alvaro Bautista (Hon); 5. Alexis Masbou (Hon); 6. Julian Simon Late l!i fireat for RO!i!ii Assen's first taste of one-hour-only qualifying led to the usual hightension climax in the closing minutes of the session, as first one then another rider fitted the last of their qualifying tires and went for a run. It continued right to the finish, when Valentino Rossi was on top. But Sete Gibernau was still out as the checkered flag fell, and he came flying past to slot in ahead of his rival. But no. Rossi had one tire left, and after dawdling out on the track to shake off any followers, he crossed the line with just 15 seconds to spare for another lap. And it was the best ever, firmly putting Rossi under the 1;59 mark, three-tenths ahead of Gibernau, for his fourth pole of the year. "It's a fantastic emotion to do a whole lap on a qualifying tire on this track. The bikes are so fast, and also the track," Rossi glowed after. "But tomorrow will be a tough race - for the tires and the riders." How close was he now to getting 100 percent from the machine, after complaining of imperfect settings at early rounds? Crew chief Jeremy Burgess just smiled, and said: "The test is how well you can still go on worn tires at the end of the race." We would see. Practice was run in baking 35-degree-Celsius (95 F) heat, but Gibernau had other problems. His crew chief Juan Martinez suffered a mystery attack (probably a severe migraine) on the first day and was rushed to hospital. "I had to be my own crew chief and rider," he said on day one, definitely nonplussed. Martinez was back the next day, however, much to the relief of all. "The important thing is he is recovered, and we were able to make some improvements today," Gibernau said. Alongside him once again was teammate Marco Melandri, almost four-tenths down on this long lap but full of confidence, in spite of his tangle with Max Biaggi. "I only want to think about the race, and we are good for that. This is a special track," Melandri said. Shinya Nakano once again reinforced his reputation as a fine rider, putting the otherwise not especially well-favored Kawasaki in fourth after heading the tables midsession. Obviously, the Bridgestone qualifiers helped, but he also cited "very good balance for the bike today, which meant I could hold high corner speeds." And how. It was enough to put him ahead of a hard-charging Nicky Hayden, the American pushing hard but having trouble unlocking the final subtleties of the circuit. "Fifth again," he said. "Seems like I'm stuck in fifth, and it's getting kind of old. "We just need to find something big tomorrow morning," he added hopefully. (KTM); 7. Tomoyoshi Koyama (Hon); 8. Manuel PoggiaJi (Gil); 9. Sergio Gadea (Hon); 10. Thomas Luthi (Hon); II. Pablo Nieto (Oer): 12. Michael Ranseder (KTM); 13. Joan Olive (Apr); 14. Mike de Meglio (Hon); 15. Lukas Pesek (Oer); 16. Nicholas Terol (Oer); 17. Manuel Hernandez (Apr): 18. Fabrizio Lai (Hon); 19. Lorenzo Zaneltti (Apr); 20. Marco Simoncelli (Apr); 21. Gioele PeUino (Mal); 22. Angel Rodriguez (Hon): 23. Dario Giuseppetti (Apr); 24. Sandro Conese (Hon); 25. Imre Toth (Apr); 26. Andrea Iannone (Apr): 27. Vincent Braltlard (Apr); 28. Jordi Carchano (Apr); 29.jan·Gert Kok (Hon); 30. Joey Utjens (Hon); 31. Hugo van den Berg (Apr). Time: 38 min., 09.487 se<:. Distance: 17 laps, 63.20 miles Average speed: 99.389 mph Margin of victory: 0.657 se<:. 125cc WORLD C'SHIP SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 6 of 16 rounds): I. (fIE) Mattia Pasini (loon wins)lGabor Talmacsi (100/2 wins); 3. Thomas Luthi (8911 win): 4. Mika Kallio (82/1 win); 5. Marco Simoneelli (12/1 win): 6. Fabrizio Lai (6): 7. Manuel Poggiali (59); 8. Julian 5imon (55); 9. Tomoyoshi Koyama (52): 10. Hector Faubel (50); II. (TIE) Sergio G,d.. (30)/Pablo Nieto (30); 13. Joan Olive (290; Ii. Aival"o 8.""',. (28); IS. Mike di Magin (25). UPCOMING ROUNDS Round 8: Monterey, Colifornia, Ju~ 10 Round 9: Doninglon Pork, Englond, July 24 Alongside, Colin Edwards was two-tenths slower and still just over a second down on teammate Rossi after showing strongly throughout at a track where his smooth press-on pays dividends. "This moming, we fixed the rear-traction problems I'd been having, and we're starting to understand the differences between Valentino's riding style and mine," he said. "It seems he can ride pretty much anything. My style is ingrained in me, and I need a bit of help to load up the rear, which is what we've done here." Loris Capirossi had led one of the free sessions but ended up seventh after a hard second day. "We're better than in Barcelona, but not much better," Capirossi said. "It seems the high-speed changes of direction make the rear tire move around. I wouldn't mind if it rains tomorrow." Alex Barros was alongside, wondering where his previous Assen form had gone, as was Max Biaggi. Hofmann led row four from Makoto Tamada and John Hopkins. Carlos Checa's best efforts on the slide-prone second Ducati netted him no better than 13th, heading Troy Bayliss and Kenny Roberts Jr. Practice crasher Ruben Xaus led row four from David Checa and Roberto Rolfo, with Shane Byrne, James Ellison and Franco Battaini completing the grid. than the Gauloises Yamaha Team. Director Lin JarviS admitted that there were plans to use the race for something special, though he did not reveal details. In a written response to a press question, Jarvis said: "On July I this year, Yamaha celebrates its 50th anniversary. The date more or less coincides with the U.S. GP - we will use the U.S. GP as part of our company's celebration activities." The livery would revive memories of America's first 500cc World Champion, but it is not the only option. Liver was on the menu at the Konika Minolta pit, where the new Batmaninspired paintjob was unveiled on Makoto Tamada's fairing. Actually, the invitation should have read "livery," but the spelling error was too good to be ignored. The paintjob, however, proved rather halfhearted, with the Honda still predominately white but with black fairing lowers bearing Batmanlike hieroglyphics and Tamada's leathers with a vaguely caped pattern. The Fortuna team's new Miro-inspired livery made only a slightly better fist of breaking out of the shell-suit graphics to which many teams stilt seem wedded. Some surrealist symbols enliven the jagged yellow and red on the fairings, and the Yamahas of Ruben Xaus and David Checa do at least look a little different. HRC introduced its new hospitality unit at Assen, marking the end of an era of racing. Gauloises/Fortuna Yamaha aside, HRC was the last of the factory teams to entertain riders, VIPs, press and guests in an opensided tent. The new design craftily replicates the good old days and retains at least a semblance of openness. The unit cleverly folds out of a trailer, but it is glass-sided, so people can at least stilt see in. Also, there is no door closing it off and making it look inhospitable - though, to be honest, a bigscreen TV fills a similar function. Thus, pit lane now even more resembles a new town full of insurance company head offices, inmates screened from the cruel world by mirrored glass and hissing sliding doors. CYCLE NEWS. JULY 6,2005 23

• Cover