Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

The race turned Into an Int ra -t ea m battle w ith Nakano (56) ultimately beating his Chesterfield Yamaha Tech 3 teammate Jacque. BRIEFLY••• The 125cc Grand Prix pack swarms Int o the first comer at Valencia. The race was won by Roberto Locatelli. relatively poor seaso n for last year' s Valencia GP winner. But until the major positions are settled. nobody can be sure what will hap- mum numbe r of cylinde rs for the minimum amou nt of weight : another is from S wissA uto . manufac turers of the V -four two - pen. Honda has settled three of their pro mised six facto ry bikes (Alex C riville, Tohru Ukawa and Valentino Rossil , with two more expecte d to go to Alex Barros and Loris Capirossi. Competition for the last bike is intense. with candidate s including Jurgen van den Goorbergh. Anot her rumor brings former to p crew chief Erv Kanemoto back. with his former rider Max Biaggi on the bike. with Marlboro money. Another approach to Honda has come from former 125cc World Champion Fausto Gresmi, who has run Barros in the past , and now seeks a bike for the Brazilian, or possibly fo r Laconi or Jeremy M cW illiams. The Biaggi/Marlboro scenario is not co nside red like ly, and Max himsel f put furth er doubt on it stroke that ended up last year racing under the MuZ name, who when he said: '" have not decided yet. but whe re I am is not so are said to have a V -four engine already built. M eanw hile another indepe ndent twin-cylinder engine is said to be under way in G ermany. The Saube r motor is scheduled for bench testing before bad, so I will probably stay." The four-stroke Grand Prix racing revolution is gaining momen - tum . In the wake of Honda' s confirma tion two weeks ago that they will have a machine ready for 2002 , the first year that the 500c c class will be opened to 990cc four -strokes , more news is leading out of oth er projects in progre ss. One propo sal is from F1 team owner S a uber. who has confirmed it plans to build a three- cylinder motor with a balance shaft, taking advantage of the maxi- the end of the year . It is the product of their engineering wing , Petronas Sauber Engineering, in Switzerland, which includes fo rmer Honda F1 engineer and Ferrari employee Osamu Goto . There Tw o 125cc competitors , Em il io Al zamora , the defe nding champio n. and Roberto Locatelli . the current points leade r. are both likely to move to the 250cc class next year , on facto ry NSR Hondas. is a connection to their Fl work - the te am curren tly uses (and has some rights to) VI 0 Ferrari motors with 300cc cylinders : the bike motor wo uld use 330cc cylinders , near enough to be a close relation . Acco rding to Sauber ow ner Pe ter S auber . they are cur- rently looking for custome rs - one of whom might be Red Bull, who part ow n and spo nso r the F1 team. Anoth er candidate is Gilera, who want to make a racing return in 2003 or 2004 . Th e Swi s sAu t o two -s troke V -fo ur may also return to racing next seaso n, if a plan by former BSL team manager Dave Stewart comes to fruition. The N e w Z ealander is currently negotiation for a main sponsor for a plan to buy out the project. · We have secondary sponsors already, and we're hopeful that we can take the next step," said St ewart, who attempted a similar move for this year. V a le n t ino Ros si 's groWing stat us within Honda wa s confirmed yet again at Valencia, when. the 500cc-class roo kie was the only rider to ge t the lates t chassis. w ith revised we ight distribution. Both Rossi and defending champion Alex Criville tested the new chassis at Barcelona afte r the last round at Estoril. It is believed to be yet another interpr etat ion offe ring bett er traction, though less ame nable sliding characteristics. and bec ause of a revised engine mounting position it requires different crankcases . Engine performa nce is barely changed, however. Alth ough bot h liked the new chassis , only Rossi race d it at Va lenc ia. This was partl y because he is more adve nturous than the older ride r. but also because Honda clearly relies more on him than Criville. Mick Doohan . who was scheduled for a demon stration ride on race day at V alencia . wa s further honored at the two-ye ar-old track whe n a comer was named after him. Curve D oohan is the seco nd and tig htest corn er on the tight track . The o nly other named co rner is Curva Nieto, in honor of the 13·time Spani sh World Champion. There are also corners named after Doohan at Phillip Island and Jerez . Oliv ier J acque has not only put his record of frequent injuries A forest fi re , one of many that have plagued Spain this summer, scatt ered the track with a dusting of snow -like white ash on the second day of qualifying, and a pall of black smoke hung over the tra ck. H owever . it wa s not close eno ugh to jeo par dize the race . The M ode nas tr iple had a revised chassis at Valencia, and with the original rider David de Gea back in the saddle for just one race (replacement M ark Wi llis was rac ing in the Bol d'Or for Yamaha France), it showed a clear step forward for the still-young Mk3 version of the nearly-there lightw eight V-three. The revisions had been suggested by team owne r Kenny Roberts, in conjunction with test riders Ant hony Gobert , Luca Cadalora, Jurgen van den Goorbergh and Mark W illis, after tracksid e observ ations at Brno. " I notic ed it had a problem with the cente r of qravity, and the guys changed the engine position, " said Roberts , Although de Gea still qualified in the bike's usual 15th spot , he was less than a second off pole position, and ahead of one V -four - Japanese GP winner Norick Abe's Yamaha. "The bike holds the line much better now . he said. R Aprilia has suspended their fuel injection project afte r just three race s, afte r Jeremy McWilli ams had another troubled race on the 500 V -twin, crashing while trying to make up ground aft er the mot or too k five laps to clear. " One probl em is the motor has too much torque , and it really wheelies a lot ," he said. The injected motor finished eighth in its first atte mpt at Brno. and seemed at first to offer a bett er rev range and a greater over-rev facility. But difficultie s in trying to ref ine the new sys tem mid -season mean it has now been put on the backb urner. The V-twin is itself under threat. and the injection was som e thing of a last -ditch attempt to get it back on track. The first -ever Day of Champions outsi de England pulled a crowd of more than 6000 people and earned more than $20,000 for chanty at Valencia, the day before the Spanish GP. The proceeds go to GP racing's charity Riders for Health, taking medical behind him this season . He has also become a mode l of consistency . Over the last 16 race s. starting with the Australian GP late aid to remote districts in Africa. last year, Jacque has never been lower than fourt h, with 12 podi- O n-b ike camera technology, already the envy of ot her forms um finishe s. and eight consecutive podiums. plus three wins and o f bike racing . is se t for anoth er jump forward ne xt season, accord ing to D om e TV staff. Improving miniaturization of cameras . plus growing tolerance by the riders. means they expect to be able to mount cameras even more creatively next seaso n than five pole positions, including the last four races. These statistics do not include the Valencia GP . Alth ough the seco nd ride at Suzuki has now been allocat ed to Sete G ibe r nau , the rider line-up for 2001 remai ns far fr om clear, wit h major team s and riders ye t to put ink on their con tracts. G ibernau signed for the Telefonica M oviStar tea m befo re the Portu guese GP, but the news was not reieased until the followi ng week. The Spani sh rider not only fu lfills the sponsor's desire to have a home rider. he also rejoins Roberts. with whom he was teammates when both were learning their craft in the 250 Ducados Open series in Spain. This leaves Nobuatsu Aoki apparently without a ride for next year . He may not be the only one. Regis l.aconis position at Red Bull Yamaha is under threat after a Important moves within racing are redrawing the battle lines and redefining the power equation. O n the one side. the manufacturers have reconstituted the forme r GP M anufacturers Associa- tion (GPMAl to include two new members not currently involved in GPs - Kawasaki and Ducati. On another, Dorna and IRTA (GP rights holders and teams associat ion), who se cont ract for the latter to provide teams for the former' s serie s runs out at the end of 200 1, are exploring a new F1 style system of "franchising " 500class te ams . And in anot her corne r, not only W orld S uperhike series promoter M aurizio Flammini, but also the holding company O c tago n and their owners lnterpublic , w ho are persis te ntly rumored to be on the verge of buying Doma. The reformation of the GPMA comes hot on the heels of the assoc iation's success - ful promotion of the switch to allow four-strokes into the 500cc class . At a special press conference a fortni ght ago, Honda confirmed that they wou ld build a four-str oke, and HRC presi dent Vasuo Ikenoya added that in his opinion S uperbike racing should be downg raded to be closer to prod uction level. to make roo m for fo ur -cylinde r pro totype GP raci ng . The new assoc ia t ion, announced in Milan on September 8, is the MSMA (Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers Association) , with the statement: "For the first time all the manufacture rs involved in the GP and SBK will be given a chance to offe r strong, positive support to the development of mot orcycle spo rts , taking an active part in all fo rums where decisions on reg ulations concerning motorcycle sports are made." The statement continued: • MSMA will do its utmost to coo perate with all the other members of the motorcycle wo rld, in order to develop new technologies, to increase safety and to promot e road-racing compe titions across the globe . " Prophet s of doom, however, said this did not go far enough - that it is nothing short of an atte mpt to take over racing. Others pointed out that in effect the manufactur ers control racing already: both Superbike and G P series depend on the factories for ent ries. and in both cases have tailored rules and regulations for their convenience in the recent past. For mer GPMA member C agiva has left the orga nization , with Ducati and Kawasaki jo ining in. The membership list is: Aprilia , Ducati , Honda, Kawasaki , Suzuki and Yamaha, which excl udes not only Modenas, but also 125 stars Derbi. Dorna boss Carmelo Espeleta laughingly denied fres h rumors that the company is currently considering offers for a buy-out. The rumor mill suggested that Superb ike owners lnterpubhc were trying for a buy-out , as the status of the Superbikes comes under ever-grea ter threat. "It is not true. The situation has not changed . No offers are being co nside red. " said Espelet a. H e co nfirmed th at CVC Ca pit al Hold ing s, wh o owns 75 per cen t of D orna shares . would be open to ofte rs. "Their business is to buy com panies. and to sell the m. This is as normal. In this way . Doma acquired control of motocross earher this year. But there is no question of CVC doing anything without our knowledge - we are partners, with Dorna management holding the remaining shares," he said. "There is no sale being discussed at this time ." Major changes planned at the British GP venue of Donin gton P ark may force a change of venue for the race next year to the all-new Rockingha m ve nue . In a knock-on move afte r Brands the current forward -looking and rear-facing units. On-bike footage is already one of the TV package 's strongest suits. N ext year . came ras will be able to zoom in on such new targe ts as rider s' faces or hands on the controls. Hatch was refu sed planning permission for changes that wo uld make the Kenti sh track fit to host the Fl car GP. Now the car race is expe cted to move to D onington. which will also require subs tantial changes. The fir st half of the lap is expected to re main. but from M acleans the new track will join a much-exten ded main straight. eliminating the unpopular chicane and two hair- pins at the end of the lap. At the same time, a new pit com plex will be crea ted alongside the straight, with the start- finish area relocated there. Although as yet not con firmed by circuit operators , who said that works wou ld begin only afte r next year's bike GP . negotiations are currently under way to move the race to the From next season " ship -t a -shore" communications will be allowed in bike racing . Pre viously ban ned . the main va lue is expected to be that riders can talk to engineer s in the case of a change of weather cond itions mid-race . espec ially if race .stoppages are banned and pit stops introduced . which is a curren t all-new Rockingham track for just one year to allow Donington to begin t he modificat ions sooner. Rockingham, near Co rby in Northamptonshire, will be com pleted in April next year.. The complex includes a Nascar-style banked oval, as well as a wide choice possibility . of road-race layouts. co y co I e n e vv s S EPTEM BER 27 . 2000 11

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