Countdown
to South Africa
Testing for 2000 began just weeks
after the final race in Buenos Aires
and will continue right into March as
we count down to the opener in Welcom, South Africa on March 19.
After his successful pre-season
winter tests at Malaysia a couple
of weeks ago,
Roberts said: "I
beat myself last
yea r. Th is year
I'm not thinking
about beating
anybody in particular.
We
know that if I
ride like I know
I can and if the
bike a nd the
tires work for us, we
should win the title. Last year I was
focused on beating Mick, and we
were off to a good start when he
crashed, but this year I'm just trying
to make sure I don't beat myself."
Criville, after lapping at a recordbreaking time in HRC tests at Valencia, sounded composed and self-contained.
"Last year the home-track advantage became something of a disadvantage for me when I let the pressure to ride well in front of the fans in
Valencia take me out of my race
plan, and I made a mistake that I
shouldn't have made," he said. "Now
I am ready to go out and defend my
title, and, so far, I like this year's
bike. I guess our lap times have been
good in the pre-season, but the times
are not so important. Breaking lap
records makes new,s, but it doesn't
mean that much. We can always put
on some soft tires and do some fast
laps, but the important thing is that
we work to get this year's NSR working the way I
want it to work.
So fa r things
are going fine
and I'm happy.
I'm not really
focusing
on
any
of
my
rivals. I'm just
worrying about
myself and my
bike. The Honda
has been the best bike for a long
time, and I trust that this year's bike
will be better than last year's
machine. The rest is up to me."
With Doohan now retired, Criville's
total of 14 wins in 500 is easily the
,
Top 500cc riders 1999
l
Criville
Roberts
Okada
Biaggi
Gibernau
Abe
Checa
Kocinski
Barros
Harada
Laconi
Doohan
6
4
3
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
10
8
6
7
4
4
1
1
1
2
2
1
9
12
5
9
3
1
5
5
4
3
2
1
2
5
3
1
0
0
0
1
0
1
1
0
2
5
2
1
2
0
0
0
2
0
0
2
101
164
43
64
0
12
0
2
0
0
30
0
0
3
0
0
1
0
0
0
2
0
0
2
267
220
211
194
165
136
125
115
110
104
103
33
",,-
--J
most by any current rider, and he is
also the rider with the most experience on the Honda NSR. This will be
his ninth season on the powerful single-crank V-four, but if Criville is the
man to beat then Roberts, who will
have to wait until the North American
Grand Prix of 2001 to finally ride a
500 at a home GP, has to be the rider
most likely to do it.
eN
cue. e
n
e
_
os
FEBRUARY
23,
2000
31
