Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

W orld C h a mpions h ip Road R a c e Series Round 8 : Out;ch TT B i agg i w as a b o u t two seconds beh ind Capiross i and 2.5 in front of t eammat e Ch eca and happy t o be there. "I had a couple of hairy moments as th e tra ck dr ied and the fron t started push ing ," Biaggi sai d . " O n the whole, though , I'm satisfied ." Che ca wa s less satisfied after choosing soft slicks front and rear. "I chose soft slicks front and rear so I was f ai r ly caut iou s at fir st , " Ch e ca sa id. " I saw Gi bernau and Laconi ahead so I c aught and passed th em. I thought maybe I was fourth . But fifth is good anyway, especia lly bec ause we 've recovered som e of th e po int s we lost to Roberts a t Bar cel on a." Next c a m e Rossi , then Gibernau and Laconi , with loca l hero Jurgen van den Goorbergh ninth on the Rizla Honda V -tw in 500 . Van den Goorbergh ve ry briefly ran at the front of T h e 1 25c c Grand Prix was w on by Y olch l UI o n t h e f actol')' Derb l. Repsol YPF Honda' s A l e x C r i ville has bee n using the 1999 chas sis for his NSR500. but that' s likely to change soon. " Next wee k I go to Japan to try a new cha ssis , now we'll see . Right now it' s quite diff ic ult to push . " The 500cc W orl d C hamp ion ad ded, " We 're tryin g to im pr ov e everythi ng . We need mo re power . We need to imp rove this bike . But , we co uldn't improve this bike this yea r and we go to last year's bike . " Repsol YPF Honda was the only team tes ti ng du rin q the interlud e betw een A ssen and Doningt on Park. The Marlb oro Yamaha team was on its way to Brn o to tes t . Nastro Azz ur ro Honda' s V alentino Ross i was phi losop hical after f inishing six th in A s sen . " To d ay we have nothing to regret abou t our tire choice because two minutes after the end of the race it started to rain again . For sure it has been raining too much this season. For the nex t 10 years we will have only dry races . " Erv K anemoto re turned to the GP padd ock for the first time this season as he co ntinues to make preparations to return fuJI ti me in 200 1. The S an J o se native visited his race s hop in A alst , Bel gium , about a three·hour drive from A s sen. t hen drove up to th e D utc h n . " I' m try ing to organize something fo r next year." Kane moto said on a rainy Friday morning standing outside the Repsol YPF Honda pits . " I've been watching it on TV at home . This is my first race . " Kaneomoto acknowledged that he ' d been in contact with his former rider Max Biaggi. the Italian who 's struggling on the M arl b o ro Yamaha . " W e' v e talked a few times. He probably just needed someone to talk to . He' s sort of been struggling . He hasn 't been able to sho w what he really can do. " Biaggi is one ride r that Kane moto wo uld co nsider for next yea r and he also said that he may have to approach a m an ufact ure r other t han Hond a for machi nery. • Every year the mach ines are becomi ng more diffi cult to ge t. M ore tea ms want to move to 500 ' s. The availability is qu e sti on ab le. " Kan em ot o said th at , before aba ndon ing th is season, he 'd had talks over the wi nt er w ith po tential spo nso rs about employing a varie ty of riders and mac hinery . Kanem o to said he 'd made a men tal dead line to make a decision by the end of Se pte mber . " If I'm no t in discussion wi th a spons or I'd have to see wha t el se is o ut th er e . " he said. If a d eal co uld come to gether , it wo uld allow him to get a large amou nt of te sting do ne in Europ e in N ovem ber. 10 J ULvS ,2000' c ue I EO n e VIl's Dutch TT Assen, Holland Results: June 24, 2000 [ Round 8 of 161 125« QOAUFYING: J. Youichi a; (2:18.942': 2. No bb y (l e d a ( 2 :2 0. 6 2 3 ); 3 . Em ili o Alza mo ra (2:20.706); 4 . Simo ne Senna (2:22 .305) ; 5 . .Jerosta v Hules (2:22.355): 6. Steve Jenkner (2:22.696): 7. Randy De Punie t (2:23.3 41) ; 8. Robe rto Locatelli (2:23.574): 9. Ivan Goi (2:23.988 ): 10. Alex de Angeli. (2:24.278): II. Arnaud Vincent (2:24.490): 12 . Max Sa bbatani ( 2 :2 4. 7 2 1); 13. Pabl o Niet o (2:24.814); 14. Antonio EH (2:25.098): 15, Gino a. Borsoi (2:25.212): 16. Angel Nieto Jr. (2:25.300): 17. Masao Azuma (2:25.274 ); 18 . Gianluigi Scelvini (2:26.041 ): 19. Re inhard Stolz (2:26.146): 20. Leon Ha slam (2:26 .372) ; 21 . Wilh elm va n Le eu wen (2:27.169); 22. William de Angell. (2:27.336): 23. foer -str oke issue. is limiting the displacement to 500 cc . The state ment, whic h was parsed to death in the G P pressroom, said that four -strokes would be allowed in the 500cc class, not a new class where l000cc four-stro kes would be allowe d to run with 500cc tw o-strokes. If that we re implemented . it would mean the end of the initiative since a 500cc four-stroke wou ld have little chance against the current tw o-strokes. The relea se may be a pre-emptive strike against any possible litigation . Ever since the FIM gave rise to four -stroke s in G P's , the W orld S uperbike crowd has been vigilant in making sure their series isn't compromised. and that the machinery won 't be made obsolete. Choosing not to be specific on a timetable allows the two series to continue their fragile co-existen ce until the AM can figure a way out of the mess. BRIEFLY••• Telefonica MoviStar Suzuki' s Kenny Roberts Jr. came into the Dutch n . the halfway point in the 16-race season . with a 25 · po int lead . But in the front row press conference he wa sn't willing to take any comfort in it and his comments would prove prophetic . "The mistake I made in France. falling down. didn 't help, But we won the two bigge st races of the year. which is Spa in [Barcel ona and Jerezl. it see ms like ," Roberts Jr. said. "We just need to start to capitalize on other people's mistakes. Barcelona wa s the first time we 've been able to do that more or less. The point s are sti ll ze ro -zero and nobody's lead ing anything . If it stopped to morrow it' s goi ng to be over. U nle ss there ' s war, that's not going to happen. " Roberts J r. cras hed on the opening lap. letting Marlboro Yamaha's Carlos Checa back into the cham pions hip. the field , send ing th e c r o wd into a frenzy . Then he began to get passed by the stronger V-fours and fell back to ninth , a few seconds in f ro nt of Abe , and mor e on Repsol YPF Honda 's T ad ay u k i Okada , who, like so many others, made the wrong ti re choice. " It' s as simple as that. I had int ermediates on ," Okada said. "We chose them because some parts of the track still looked quite wet when the race was restarted ." ' CN Asked during the front row press conference on Friday whether lap record holder Kevin S c hwantz co uld help him in Sat urday' s Dutch Kenny Robert s J r . replied, " I've got a spa re set o f leathers and if he can help me in tomorrow 's race, that' d be great. Othe r than that I'm on my own. It's a diffe rent sit uatio n and Kevin strugg led with the same things more o'r les s, but it was a different time and sometime s he' s laughing and othe r times he 's feeling the same things I' m feel ing · whi ch is w hen you struggle , yo u struggle and whe n you're happy. yo u're happy. I think days like today when it was raining he' s happy he 's not riding. " Schwantz served as the umbrella boy fo r Roberts Jr. on the starting grid . n. Prot on Team KR team ow ner K enny Roberts said that his team may have a secon d rider for the British GP at Donington Park. the next round of the 500cc W orld Championship, provi ded they have the machinery. "vve' re try ing to make enough bikes for two riders, " Robert s said in Holland, tho ugh who the secon d rider wo uld be was undecided. O ne obv ious choice is Luca C adalora . the former Robe rt s' rider who rec ent ly te sted t he M o d enas M k3 . " W e're doing some testing wi th Luca (Cedaloral ." Robert s said . " W e're not in a position wi th parts to run a guy like Luca. So mewhere we 're going to have to get someone wi th more experience than [current rider! David [de Geal to help set the bike up. Around England , we might be able to do it. We 're day to day on engine parts. " The team unveiled the newly completed companion to the with rider David de Gea getting pro totype Mk3 at the D utch his first laps in on the bike. " I rode the new bike in the aftemoon. only for a short time. " de Gea said afte r setting 17th fastest time for Saturday ' s Dutch n . " It should help us to have two bikes. since we are still working on setting up a new bike . " n The AM appears to be moving farther away from bringing f o u r· s t rok e s into the GP fold, at least that' s how it appea rs give n their most recent press release on the matter. In a co mmunique issued out of their Swi ss headquarters, the FIM said that during it' s meeting, J une 17· 18. " the FIM Management Cou ncil accepted the principle of intro duc ing 4· stroke engine s in the 50 0cc Grand Prix class on an experimental basis . following the request of the Manufacturers and of the Grand Prix commissio n duri ng its meet ing in Catalunya J une 8 last. For this purpose, the Management C ouncil gave mandate to FIM President Francesco Zerbi to finalize the complete text of the technical reg ulatio ns in co llabo ration with th e Internat ion al Technical Panel and the Grand Prix Co mmission. and to establish the mo st co nvenient dat e for it s applicatio n." Wh at' s significant in that last sentence is the lack of spec ificity on a timetable. Four-strokes co uld co me in, but no one is saying whe n. The other significant mention is that it wo uld be introd uced " on an experi mental basis. " It' s highly unlikely that a manufact urer would sink millions of dollars into a project with a limited shelf life . What has also been discussed, relative to the The 7 0 t h Dut c h TT was sponsored this year, and through 2006 , by Hizla- , the leading Dutch producer o f cigarette papers in a co untry where a large prop ortion of people roll their own. And not jus t wi th tobacco. Ca nnabis product s suc h as marijuana and hashish are legal and openly available in "coffee shops " throughout the co untry. K evin Schwantz atte nded the Du tch n at A ssen to take part in a two -day auction to benefi t Riders for Health , the British cha rtty w hich helps people in remote areas of developing countries obtain medical trea tment. A mong the top money-earners was a set of leathers , which went for 3000 Du tch guilders , about $1300. Schw antz also auction ed off a hel met with scrape marks fro m a crash in Au stralia, along w ith various other items. The to tal for the second day of the auctio n was 14000 guilders , about $6090 and the take for t he first day was nearly as much . The charity holds its largest auct ion durinq the annual Day of Ch ampions just prior to the Briti sh GP at Donington Park, but this year the race falls on the same weekend as the Laguna Seca AMAlWSB double-head er . whe re Schwantz w ill be wo rking in his capac ity as an advisor to the Yoshi mura Su zuki team. That doe sn't mean the DoC will be lacking for auctionables. Randy Mam ola secured the leathers and helme t of SOOcc Dutch winner Alex Barros as we ll as the helme t o f 125 cc winner You chi Ui. Tohru U kawa, who won the 250cc GP didn 't give his helmet. He'd thrown it to the cr owd after his victory. M amola said the scoo ter tha t M ic k Dooh an used aro und the paddock dunnq his final cham pionshi p year had been dona ted by the five-time 500c c W orld Champion. Marlbor o Ya rnaha's Carlo s Checa has also donated a helme t and there's more Schwantz memorabilia to sell. n The B lu Aprilia Racing team had a rough weekend. Tet suya Harada was eighth, slowed by tires that hadn't been scru bbed in. Teammate J eremy M cWill iams seized the mot or on his RSW·2 500 on the firs t lap. " The engine locked up at the end o f the straight: he said. " The tra ck was pretty dirty out the re and there was a lot of deb ris. so maybe my Ap rilia sucked some of it up." n was down The cro wd of 92,000 for the 70th Rizla+ Dutch from last year's 98 ,OOO. as was the three -day total of 125,600 . The 1999 total was 145 .000 . It' s hard to blame the wea ther since it always rains in Assen and people plan we ll in advance to atte nd. Proton Team KR' s David de Gea finished 14th on the all-new M k3 Moden as KR3 after his intermediate tires started go ing off as the trac k dried . " He was go ing real good for a few laps in the rain, and we 'd hoped to get so me more. W e cou ld have had a very intere sting result. Then , as it go t dryer and dryer, he got less eage r, w hich is understandable on the wrong tires . " tea m manaqer Chuck Aksl and said.

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