Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Cha m p io n s h ip R o ad R a c e S erie s R o u n d 1 2: Portuguese G r an Prix (1:42.506); 2. Daijiro Ketch (1:42.700); 3. Shinya Nakano (1:42.709); 4. Tohru Ukawa (1:42.892); 5. 16. Julien Allemand (Yam) ; 17. Lucas Oliver (Yam) ; 18. Felisberto Teixeria (Yam) ; 19 . Alva ro Mo lina Phil Giles ( 1:46 .601); 22. Paolo Tessari ( 1:46. 63 1). Ralf Wa ldma nn ( 1:42 .9 92); 6 . Ma rco M ela ndri (Hon). 250cc WORLD C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS (After Kenny Roberts (Suz); 3. Valentino Rossi (Han); 4. Max Siaggi (Yam); 5. Regis Lac on! ( Yam ); 6. Alex Criville (Hen): 7. Tadayuki Okada (Hon); 8. Jurgen vd Goorbergh (Hon) ; 9. Norick Abe (Yam); 10 . Alex Barros (Han) ; 11. Jerem y McWilli ams ( A pr); 12. Carlos Checa (Yam); 13. Loris Capirossi (Hon); 14. Tets uye Harada (A pr); 15. Ma rk Willis (Mod); 16 . Jose Luis Cardoso (Hon) ; 17. Yoshiteru Konishi (Han); 18 . Sebastien Legrelle (Hon); 19 . Phil Giles (1:43.211): 7. David Chece (1:43.254); 8. Klaus Nobles (1:43.629); 9. Alex Debon (1:43.68 1); 10. Seb astia n Po rt o ( 1: 43. 7 15 ) ; I I . Fo nsi N ie to 12 of 16 rounds): 1. Olivier Jacque (22 1); 2. Shinya Nakan o ( 19 4) ; 3 . Tohru Uka wa ( 185) 4 . Daiji ro ( 1:43 .825) ; 12. Antho ny West ( 1:43.914) ; 13. Katoh (182); 5. Ralf Waldmann (108); 6. Anthony F ra nco Batt a in i ( 1:4 4. 0 4 8 ) ; 14 . Jason Vi nce nt West (l07 ) ; 7 . Ma rco Melandri ( 100); 8. Franco (1:44.25 8) ; 15. Naoki Matsuda ( 1:44.285) ; 16. Bet talnl (77); 9 . Necll Matsuda (70); 10. Sebastian Vincent Phili ppe ( 1:4 4. 3 85); 17 . Jarn o Ja nssen Porto (6 2); 11. Klaus Nohles (45 ); 12. Jason Vincent (35 ); 13. Luca Boscoscu rc (3 1); 14 . Johan Stigefelt (26 ); 15. Alex Debon (24); 16. Jamie Robinson (23 ); (1:44.686): 18. Sebastien Gimbert (1:44.844); 19. I van Clem ent i (t :44 .9 5 0 ); 20 . Lu ca s O liv er ( 1:44.972); 21. Jeronimo Vidal ( I :45.0 18); 22. 17. Alfonso Nieto (21); 18. Roberto Rolfo (20); 19. Adria n Coa tes ( 1:4 5 .0 3 2 ) ; 2 3 . J uli en Alle ma nd Shahrol Yuzy (18) ; 20. David Checa ( 17). (1:45.159); 24. Luca Bosccscurc ( 1:45.165); 25. 500cc QUAUFYING: 1. Gary McCoy (1:40.736); Al e x Hofm ann (1 :4 5 .2 36 ) ; 26 . Sh ahrol Yuzy 2 . N ob u at su Ao ki ( 1:4 1. 1 11 ) ; 3 . Ju rgen vd (1:45.509); 27. Johan Stigefelt ( 1:45.953) ; 28. Goorbergh (1:41.1 45); 4. Kenny Roberts (1:41.150); 5. Max Biaggi ( 1:4 1.366); 6. Tadayuk i Okada (1:4 1.396); 7. Alex Barros ( 1:4 1.520); 8. Carlos Checa (1:41.596); 9. Alex Criville (1:41.907); 10. Jam ie Robinson (1 :4 5 .96 8 ) ; 29. Al varo Molin a (I ;47.216); 30. Felisberto Teixeira (1:47.603). 25 0cc GRAND PRIX: 1. Daijiro Katoh (Han) ; 2. Olivier Jacque (Yam); 3 . Marco Melandri (Ap r); 4. Anthony West (Han); 5. Klaus Nobles (Apr); 6 . Fonsi N ie to ( Yam ) : 7 . J a son V inc ent (Ap r) ; 8 . I van Clemen ti (A pr) ; 9 . Sebastie n Gimbe rt (Hon ); 10 . Shahrol Yuzy ( Yam); 11. Alex Hofmann (Apr); 12. Franco Battatnl (Apr); 13. Vincent Philippe (Han); 14. Luca Boscoscur o (A pr); 15. Jamie Robinson (Ap r); Regi s Laconi ( 1:41 .9 16) ; 1 1. Se te G ibern au ( 1:4 1.957) ; 12. Valentino Rossi ( 1:42.02 1); 13. Nark 500cc GRAND PRIX: 1. Garry McCoy (Yam); 2. (Han). 500cc WORLD C'SHIP POIN STANDINGS (After T 12 of 16 rounds ) : 1. Kenny Roberts (1 9 4) ; 2 . Valentino Rossi (1 48) ; 3 . Ca rlos Checa ( 13 2) ; 4 . Loris Capirossi (1 26) ; 5. Norlck Abe (1 13); 6. Alex Barr (110); 7. Garry McCoy (109); 8. Alex Criville os (107); 9. Max Biaggi (102); 10. Ncbuatsu Aoki (86); 11. Tadayuki Okada (80); 12. Regis Leccnl (78); 13. Luis Cardoso ( 1:4 3. 2 5 7 ) ; 19 . Yoshite ru Konishi Jurgen vd Goorbergh (68); 14. Jeremy McWilliams (66 ) ; 15. Sete Gibernau (5 1); 16. Tetsuya Harada (30) ; 17. David De Gea ( 18 ); 18. Jose Luis Cardoso (15 ); 19. Yoshiteru Konishi (13 ); 20 . Sebastien Le (1:44.966); 20. Sebastien Legrelle (1:46.159); 21. Grelle (7). Abe (1:42.187); 14. Loris Capirossi (1;42.251); 15. Je rmany McWilli am s ( 1:42 .4 72 ); 16 . Mark Willis (1:42.677); 17. Tetsuya Har ada (1:43.156); 18. Jose World Champion Emilio Alzamora (1 ) ba gge d his second w in of th e season at Estori l. BRIEFLY••• practice session, as is nece ssary the re . " he sa id . lke noya it' s just that now I' m at ho me ." His major inte rest now is the acknowledged that cos ts wo uld be high at first , especially for the first year, w hen HRC anticipated a two-man factory team only. to run along side the tw o-st roke s. But the inten tion was that costs powe rboat he keep s on Lake Tahoe. Yamaha teammates Shinya Nakano and Oliv ie r J a cq ue will w ould drop w hen more bikes were running with other teams. "I definitely move up to the SOOce class next season, according to am telling for the first time that the servi ce life of a crankshaft of a current NSR500 two -stro ke is 3000km U 860 rnilesl . W e aim to achieve the same for the fo ur-stro ke . With our Superbi ke the Chesterfield Tech 3 team boss Herve Poncheral. The two riders. currently disputing the quarter-liter title betw een themselves. w ill stick with Yamaha for the move . but sponsorship is still in doubt. Although Ch esterfield has a good relationship with the team. they are part of the Philip Morris empire. which also includes M arlboro . spo nsorship kings of the 500 class. which may result in some sort of clash . " We 're ve ry excited. and we know it is going to be tough," said Poncheral. "The only thing we don't know is what color the bikes will be. " Miche lin 's re t urn to F 1 car racing - for the first time since 1984 - will not affec t the French co mpany's supply of tir es t o motorcycle racing, said compe titions director Pierre Dupasquier. M eanw hile. Dunlop may make a full-sc ale retu rn to the 500 cc by the ir new Am eri can ow ne rs G oody ear . Michelin wo uld continue to supply tires to the 500 cc class. where they are currently the only suppliers for the major four-cylinder cla ss, revital ized > factory teams. confirmed Dupasquier. "Bikes are a very special challenge because every rider rides differen tly and in racing many different riders need different tires to suit their style." he said. "C ar racing is more straightforward in some ways · the drive r turns the stee ring w heel and the car goe s round the co mer. On two whe els. rider s actually use the front tire in a very special way and they mov e aro und th e mac hi ne t o c hange t he wa y it behaves. " he said. Dunlop currently dominates the 250cc class in the absence of Michelin. but may consider a retu rn to the 500cc cla ss. especi ally with the plan for four-strokes in the top class from 2002. " It's pos sible - under discussion at the moment. Our new owners have made it clear that any racing involvement must be of a big enough scale. and wit h enough backing so as to offe r a good chance of success . They want to do the job properly . " said Dunlop racing boss Je remy Ferguson. Dunlop has lost it s last non-privateer c ustomer in the 500cc class, with the M ode nas team owned by Kenny Robert s switching to Mi chelins for the last four races of the 2000 season. " M ichelin has such a heavy hand when it comes to development. " explained team bo ss Chu ck Ak sland. The Proton-backed team is developing the new Mk3 version of the lightw eight V-three M odenas, introduced after the start of this season. Au stra lian rider Mark W illis made a GP return at Estoril. beco ming the fourth rider to race the three-cylinder M ode nas aft er successful test s at Bmo . aft er the previous G P. Wi llis raced the New Zealand-built BS L last year until that machine was withdrawn. and switched to a M odenas for the rest of the year. He did not have a ride this year, and the former Superbike rider had filled-in, riding for the Yamaha France endurance team as well as testing for the Red Bull Yamaha GP team. and for Modenas. "I t' s goo d to be back ," he said. " Racing a tw o-str ok e is the bigg est challeng e there is. It' s not so much how quick they are. but how quickly they react. W hen it gets loo se. it gets loose real quick . A fourstroke is much more forgiving. but with the tw o-stroke you have to have it set up right before yo u can even start to go fast. I really enjoy two-strokes because of the mental challenge." H on da wi ll have a fou r -stroke GP bike on the trac ks in 2002. the year of the new regulations - and wi th strict co ntrols on cos t. they anticipate supplying an increased number of nonfactory "sa tellite " te am s w ith t he new bikes . Ho w ev er , th e engine configuration has not yet been sett led - wit h any number of cylinders from two to five. The co ntro ls on cost will be selfimposed . in accordance w ith the goodw ill of the manufacturers ~ rat her than by regulati on s. according to HRC c hairman Yasuo Ikenoya. He was confident that it would be possi ble to avoid an escalation of costs that many others see as inevitable. "We will not use exotic materials. including beryllium ~ w hich is expe nsive only maintenance at the track is changing the clutch. We aim for the same w ith the GP bike ," said Ikenoya. Ho nda 's other aim wa s to recognize again the purposes of racing · "for tec hnical development. to train staff. and to promote motorcycle racing in general." said a statement issued at the conference. adding that the new mach ine would be joi ntly developed betw een A saka R&D and the racing company HRC . " in order to feed back the tec hnology to produ ct ion moto rcycl es. and also to exc hange technical information and staff between R&D and HRC . " Ikenoya added that management of the project would be in the hands of HR C . A sked wh eth er proto ty pe fo ur-st ro ke rac ing was no t incompatible with keeping cos ts under co ntrol. he said that he and materials. The minimum weights range from 135kg for a two new pit and paddock facilities. Situated on the lower slopes of a rocky range of hills. it makes goo d use of a pair of narrow parallel valleys. and although it has some of the slowest co mers used all year. riders co mmented that it still had a good rhyth m, and that an epic fast long corner leading onto the downhill straight made up for it. Although the first GP in Portugal. this was not the first Portuguese GP. Two previou s races of that name we re held In Spain in the late ·80s. or three-cylinder des ign up to 155kg for six or more cylinders . "W hen the manufacturers discussed the switch to four-strokes in 1992. w ith suppo rt from Suzuki. Yamaha. Cagiva and Aprilia as w ell as D orna and IRTA. the aim was to increase the number of entries in the to p 500 class ." he said. H RC had started development of the new four-strok e in April. but we re st ill studying t he number of cy linde rs - tw o to six - and debating w hether or not to use oval pistons. " It' s still all on the drawing board. but we w ill decide by the end of the year so that we can announce the G P bike on January 15, along w ith our new produ cti on model s," Iken oya said . They wil l start te st ing this spring. and e nter one o r tw o rider s to mature the ma chine . Remin ded t hat in t he '60 s. w he n tec hnical pr olif erat ion li ke Honda's own five-cylinder 125 caused costs to esc alate . and that only new regulations co uld sto p this happening. he said: "The dif- u e I e n e M ax Siaggi's win at the last round at Brno set a new record for the number of differ ent SOOcc-class winners in a single seaso n. In 11 races. he was the eighth. wi th only Kenny Robert s Jr. (three) . Garry M cCoy (two) and Alex Barro s (two) havinq w on more than one GP . The previous record of seven different w inners in a single season was set in 1992 and equaled in 1993. The adve nt of qu alifying tires was not met wit h universal joy in the 500cc class. Depending on how much the tire s have or have not helped individual riders. co mments ranged from "at least it' s the same for every body " (beneficiary Garry M cC oy) to " they creContrary to popular belief, Honda had not bu lldozed the other ate a potenti ally dangerou s sit uatio n " (no n-fan Kenny Rob ert s manufac turers into the fou r-stro ke rules, said lkenoya: " If that J rJ . Commonly used in Superbik e racing for one-lap Superpole was the case , we w ould have pushed to have oval-piston engines contests . the ultra-soft tires have a strictly limited life. Until now on a par w ith standa rd engines . As it is. oval pistons have a they have made only spasmodic appearance s at GPs. but Micheweight penalty o f ten kilograms," he said. lin has brought them to the last two races. This is at least partly in respo nse to 16.5-inch pioneer M cC oy 's request fo r ever-softer Honda will produce NSRSOO two-strokes fo r six riders next tir es . but also to follow Sup erbike pra ctice and co ntinue t he year. says Ikenoya - and one of them will go to current 250 rider search for faste r lap times. acco rding to Michelin. Roberts and his Tohru Ukaw a. Other riders already contracted wer e Alex Crivi lle and Valentino Rossi. with the other three bikes up for grabs. This Suzuki team co hort s suspect some skullduggery - that in fact it leaves current fact ory Repsol team rider s Tadayuk i Ok ada and · was Biaggi who requ est ed the qualifying tires in an att em pt to Sete Gibern au in limbo, with the former likely to move to W orld capitalize on his advantage over Roberts, whose apparently less Sup er bik es and th e latter a ca ndidate to join the Tel ef oni ca amenable chassis needs harder tires than the Yamaha. "Because M oviStar Suzuki team. Satellite-team riders Alex Barros and Lori s they have nothing to do with race sett ings. they waste the last 10 Cap irossi are expected to continue w ith their current successful minutes of strictly limited set-up time. " said Taylor. But a greater Sito Pons team. leaving just one bike up for hopefuls. including problem was that they allowed riders w ho are otherwise not capaDutch V-twin rider Jurgen van den Goorbergh. among others. ble of top lap times to qualify on the front row s of the grid. creat- Valentino Ro ssi had exclusive use of new Honda engine parts in Estoril, after successfully testing them at Brno the day aft er the Czech Republic GP. This left off icial factory team riders Alex Criville and his Rep sol teammates to suck their teeth . and made a strong state ment abo ut how HRC see the status of their new rider compared with their old. Lori s C apirossi was set to celebrate a milestone at Estoril ~ his I 50th G P start. This makes four riders at more than a buck and a half - Alex Crlville and Alex Barros each arrived in Portu gal with 173 starts to their credit. while Ralf W aldmann had 165. G P races when I can. and I'm as busy now as w hen I was racing - c 1972 . has rece ntly been revised and res urfaced. with exte nsive ference between then and now is that now all the racing manufacturers have agreed to the new rules. " learn from Fl is that we do not want to change the engine every S EPTEM BER 1 3, 2 0 00' endar. won favor in the GP paddock in every respect except one ~ the co nstant high wind that continued even when conditions at t he nearby coas t were balmy and still. The trac k. first used in F1 tec hnology such as air (pneumatic) valves. The lesson we w ill 12 The Estoril circuit. the latest addition to the motorcycle 'G P cal- believed the minimum we ight regu lations alread y agree d were sufficient to prevent the use of exotic and expensive techniques Wayne Rainey is the latest superstar to join G P racinq' s Hall of Fame. and the triple 500cc W orld Cha mpion made his first G P visit of the year to be offici ally Inducted at Estoril. Looking fit and tanned. the w heelchair-bound Californian said; " I still follow the and may be dangerous to health. " he said. " And we will not use A fierce grudge match between M ax Biaggi and Jurgen van d e n G oorbergh in practice ended wi th a deliberate crash - and the wrong rider on the ground . Van den Goorbergh then stormed into the Czech GP win ner' s pit to remonst rate with the imperious Italian. It had started. he said. a co rner before the tight uphill hairpin, w here Blaggi had arrogantly swooped in on him and tak en away his front w heel. livid. he return ed the compliment at the next bend. the first-gear left -right . But instead of Biaggi falling off . it was the Dutchman w ho hil the gro und instead. Remounting hurriedly. he then repaired to Biaggi's pit. " I didn' t go there to att ack him. just to tell him never to do that to me again. He thinks he is god. " fumed van den Goo rberg h. _ s ing a pote ntially dangerous situation in the first corners as ..over- qualified and ov er-st imulated " riders get mixed up w ith be tte r riders. M cCoy' s view (from pole position) was more egalitarian. " I don't know if they're a goo d or bad thing in general, but they do give everybody a chance at the front row . " he said. M odenas is building a 125cc G P racer. and may build their ow n engine if there is sufficie nt interest. The project is being carried out by Pro ton Team KR . t he out fit owned by Kenny Robert s. w hic h bu ilds t he three-cy lin der 500cc rac er. The c has sis is alread y under co nstructio n. co nfirme d team ma nager Ch uck Ak sland. and is designed to take a Honda engine. " The project fits in well with M odenas' market . since they build smail-capacity machines. At this stage . it is not certain whet her or not we will build our ow n motor." This makes a second Honda 125 chassis coming from Britain. TSR announced its ow n adjustable chassis earlier this seaso n.

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