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/128387
MOTOGP Round 8 July 10, 2005 ~ MotoGP World Championship Briefly... Continued from page 25 another three years. As of the Laguna Sea round he had yet to put pen to paper. "I've had quite a few offers," Hopkins said. "Right now were in the process of looking around. You know I like Suzuki, I like my crew, I like the team manager and the bike seems to be coming along well, but at the end of the day I do have to look after the rest of my career. That's alii can say right now though." The works Honda teams will have a new chassis and new motor, possibly as soon as the Czech GP at Bmo, according to HRC Sporting Manager Carlo Fiorani. The engine will remain a flVe-cylinder but with some changes. "These motorcycles are so high performance that they're not easy to improve," he said, without revealing specifics. "Easily, you can improve the power, but the handling, the power is not enough. So we need to increase power but also traction, balance. So this is the main problem. So the goal is to improve the time. This is the goal. Nothing else. When you say you increase the performance S percent, it doesn't matter that the power is increasing S percent. Five percent means the timing. So, at the moment, still they are working." With Max Biaggi and Nicky Hayden on the Repsol Honda team, and with Sete Gibernau getting works parts for his MoviStar Honda MotoGP machine, HRC may find itself having to make tough choices. "So if we have one bike, only one rider - if we have two, and so on," Fiorani said, "and of course HRC rider, always they get the first stuff. HRC rider, as usual, they have the priority. This is something that never changes. This is like etched in stone." The motorcycle is currently being tested by former GP rider Tohru Ukawa and others. Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden was aware that the first-timers were hoping to learn his lines. He was having none of it. "Those guys that would never let me follow them anywhere were the ones waiting on me," he said. "I tried not to let anybody [follow] too much. But you get too caught up in it, especially when it's so small here. 1mean, you're running into guys all the time, so it's not really anything I can do. I tried to show a few guys some bad lines in a few places." One of them was Sete Gibernau. "I mean Sete never let me follow him anywhere, so I'm not going to try to let him follow me." Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano was open about his lack of local knowledge and the need for help. "Hayden I couldn't follow. He was too fast," the Japanese rider said. "John [Hopkins) I saw a little bit, but they are confident and it's normal, beawse I only know three hours and they know more." The Corkscrew, the daunting, drop-away, left-right combo, was most problematic for the track rookie. TryIng to catch a ride with the Americans wasn't possible. "They are like, how do you say? Ninja." Proton KR's Shayne Byrne had a similar experience. "I tried to [follow locals), but they kept clearing off. They have no consideration for the slower guys at all," the 19thfastest qualifier said. Kenny Roberts Jr. gave fanner teammate Sete Gibernau a different view of Laguna Seca. "I went with Junior with his plane around, and we saw the racetrack from the top, and it looks flat," Gibernau said. Roberts is a licensed pilot whose home is a three-hour drive, but a 35-minute flight away. "I've got a machine gun on it, too," he joked. Roberts owns a Piper 6X PA 32 six-seater, sing~ine airplane. He took off from the nearby Monterey airport for a quick tour of the central coast before doing a few laps over the track. The extra air time caused him to be taken out of the landing sequence, and his landing clearance was revoked. "Call back when you're on your way back in," he was told. "I followed a United flight in," Roberts said. Laguna first-timer Shayne Byrne got a lastminute piece of advice from the bike's former rider. "Jeremy [McWilliams] texted me funnily enough earlier on this morning before I rode, and he said, 'It's just like f ing Cadwell Park in reverse. Get out there and let them have it.' So I said 'No problem Belfast. I'll do just that,'" he replied to the Ulsterman. More useful advice carne from Kurtis Roberts, son of the team owner. "I spoke to Kurtis before I rode, and he told me whatever you do, don't try to ride this place 100 percent, because you just go slower. But the problem you've got is when you're dawdling around in 20th place the last thing you want to do is think about backing off to try to go faster. If anything, I'll probably tie myself in knots a little bit trying too hard." The KTM-powered Proton KR was little changed from Assen. "Our biggest problem is still acceleration really. We need the thing to fire off the turn faster. It's all well and good it being fast at the end of the straight at Mugello or Barcelona, but unfortunately there's no straights here, and we need rt to run between one turn and the next, not down a mile -long straight. I kind of know exactly what I want to do and how fast I want to go but know only too well how fast I can go and what I've got to do. Unfortunately, they're two different things. So when Kenny [Roberts Sr.] would give some advice, 'Look you've got to do this or you've got to do that,' and I think to myself, 'Yeah, you don't need to tell me, I know. F - if you can do it, be my guest' sort of thing. It's obviously frustrating; wobbling around at the back is not what we need at all." The victims of last week's terrorist attack in London were honored with a minute of silence prior to the 2 p.m. local start of the MotoGP race. Fortuna Yamaha's Ruben Xaus admitted that he isn't adapting well to the M I aher years on Ducatis. "I'm not getting used to it. Being really hard for me," the tall Spaniard said. "I try every day little things, new things. I'm more like a stepping out guy, more like coming from four-strokes. And this bike is being developed for two-stroke riders. That's my real problem right now. I've got not so much Continued on page 29 26 JULY 20, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS