Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

W o r ld Championsh ip R o a d R a c in g S erie s Fi n a l R o u n d : Au str a lian Gra n d P r ix The Qantas girls were a hit at P h illip Island. h igh s pe ed. Sanna co uldn't avoi d th e fallen b ike , and le a pe d ove r it to ru n off the track at h ig h sp eed lu c k y to save it to rejo in furth er b a c k , b u t a c o n vi n c in g b id for a nother vic tory now at an e nd . Vince nt lasted onl y two more laps, t hen sl o we d sudde n ly with a failed s park pl ug . Now Ui led fo r the first tim e , a nd he and Azu ma battled it o ut for the last s ix laps, with Honda m an gett ing ah ead with three la ps rema ining , and re s is tin g Ui's la st de spe rate a ttem pt into the hai rp in on th e fina l la p. All of th is h and e d th ird p la c e to No b bi e Ued a (Gi vi Ho nd a ) , in ch e s ahead of Em ilio Alza m o ra (Telefonica Ho n d a ) aft e r a r a c e - lo ng b at t le . Manuel Poggiali ( De rbi) had bee n with them , but lost touch a t th e e nd to finish fifth. Alex de Angelis managed to bea t Ste ve Jenkner after th e ir ow n private tussl e for sixth ; S an na re joined fo r ten th , behind Ivan Go i and Gino Bo rso t. Front-ro w s tarter G ianluig i S calvini retired on the seco n d lap after getti ng off th e line las t. Lo ca t ell i's 230 p o ints m e a n t h e wa s in v ul ne ra ble in spit e o f n ot sco ri ng . Ui wa s seco nd wit h 2 17, wit h Alzam o ra ne xt with 203, a nd Azum a ( 174) fo u rt h a head o f Ueda eN ( 152) . less cylinders - three or fo ur being thought the optimal choice BRIEFLY. •• Valentino Rossi rode an all-new Hond a NSR500 in the first day of prac tice. co nfirming his new status as Ho nda's mo st important 500-c1ass rider over ex-champion Alex Criville. The lat- given the sliding-scale w e ight re striction s that w ill make six o r more cy linde rs too heavy for their tires. Suzuki is the latest to reveal th at it is w orki ng o n a four -st rok e G P mach ine . w ith a senio r engineer telling an Au st rian reporter that they we re wo rk - ing on their design for a possible 2002 debut. off when wind got under the bikes as they leaned into the 130 mph Tum One. In the 500cc class. both ex-champion Alex Criville and three-ti me rac e w inner G arry M cC oy crashed at the sa me point; Australian 250 rider Anthony West fell for the same reason elsewhere on the track . skinning his hand so badly that he was taken to hospital for an emergency skin graft . New 125cc World Cham pion Robert o Locatelli w as anothe r to fall. without injury. Was it epile p s y that spoiled Alex Crivilles defense of his 500cc World Championship? News leaked out in Australia that the Span- whi le 250 rider Franco Batt aini sustained w ris t injurie s whe n he wa s blown o ff course and fell on the we t gra ss, and was out of than a fina l ve rsio n o f ish rider, who has won o nce this year . but has more often strug - the 2001 bike . It looks very different from the 2000 machine. with an gled or crashed out. has been suffe ring from Petit Mal epilepsy. and it was suggested that the drugs needed to control this had affec ted his performance. This was considered unlikely. however. by Suzuki team physiotherapist Dean Miller. experienced in a wide variet y of U .S. sports . who explained that this ailment is the race . Condit ions improved on day tw o. but the high-speed crashes cont inued - with Tetsuya Harada flown to hospital with est bike has an all-new chassis and some engine rev ision s. bu t is still a prototype rather air -intake in the nose. a low -level horizonta l radiator in the belly pan. and a revised tail co mmon among athletes, and easily co ntrolled by drugs that nor- mally have no deleterious effec t. Since C rrvllle's Repsol Honda teammat es Tadayuk i Ok ada and Sete Gibern au have had even wor se result s all season. some thought that the epilepsy yarn was unit. Honda is planning its fi r st fac t or y 12 5cc team for 35 years for > lucky to escape wit h broken bones in his left hand after a spectacular fall in which he was run over by his own bike. Max Biaggi. Tohru Ukawa and 250cc points leader Olivier Jacque were also among a total of 17 fallers on Saturday. escaping unhurt . just an excuse . next sea son , aft e r compla ining ab out a suspecte d inte rna l ln jurie s luc kil y not serio us . tho ug h he retu rned wearing a neck brace: whi le Briton Jamie Rob inson was t hrown team pl an s into con fusion wi th the news that he has British Superbike Championship runner up C hris Wa lker has decided to stay with Suzuki rather than take up an option to race a Vfour Honda NSR next year. In fact . the former 250c c team is still hunting for budget. to top up backing expected to come from Shell Advance. their current sponsor. while W alker was put under lack o f de vel opment feedback f rom t he essen tially pri va te tea m s in the s malles t pressure from Suzuki to make a deci sion. This situatio n wa s trig - c la ss . Rid e r s are expected to be Nobbie U ed a and M a sao Azuma. and the technica l s taff wi ll all be Japanese. K enny Roberts J r. was em broiled in a war of wo rds in A ustralia. after he'd desc ribed an anonymous former W orld Champion as being - so full of shit that his eyes must be brown ." The com ment came in response to a question at a press conference after his fourt h win of the year at Motegi a fortnight ago. Told that an un-named former champion had denigrated the fact that he hadn't wo n for many races and had tied up the title w ith an unglamorou s sixth place in Brazil. Roberts was merely amused. The Australian press is anxious to put a name to the matter - asking if he meant Australian resident and TV commentator Barry Sheene. or perhaps former five-time champion Mick Doohan. But Roberts would not be drawn. "I was asked the question without any name put to it. so I can't say who It referred to . But it's a way that ex-racers can get press cove raqe - by criticizing the new generation : he said. The situation grew more comp licated wi th Roberts comments published in A ustralian Motor Cycle News. in an interview before he won the title. Responding to Doohan's suggesti ons that Robert s' Suzuki w as a be tte r bike than the A merican was letting o n, Robert s said: " Mick wouldn't know . He never rode a real bike... or a differe nt bike. He lived in Honda Worl d." The com ment s made the main televi sion news . and th ough D ooha n' s response was relat ively muted. Sheene was voca l at a public GP stage show. " Kenny's only won one World C hampionship. He should win five before he shoots his mouth off." he to ld an appreciative crowd of fans. Australian designer Ian Drysdale publicly launched his V.eight GP bike project at Phillip Island. with an invitation for public subscri ption to fund a machine for the 2002 season. The Melbo urne-based engineer has already built a tw o-wh eel-drive mo tor- gered when Dorna put out a press release. saying that W alker was ..set to sign" to ride a GP Honda. This let the cat out of the bag on a proposal that had not yet crystallized. alerting the British Suzuki team to the fact that they might lose their prized rider . Walker was criticized in his absence in the GP paddock for turning down what seemed to be a golden opport unity. but the criticism changed when it emerged that the ride depended on sponsorship being found. At the same time. loyalty to Suzuki - he will race in the World Superbi ke Serie s next year - might well lead to a future GP rider for that factory . especially with the four-stroke GP bikes of the future. This leave s the proposed Honda team looking for a rider . with Do rna anxiou s tha t at least o ne Brit on sho uld have a facto ry 500cc ride . Jerem y McWilliams is the o bvio us ca ndidate , w ith Jurgen van den Goorbergh is ano ther rider w ho can have a 500 Honda - if he can find the money. HRC told him in Japan that they would make a bike available to him. but his current Rizlabacked team does not have sufficient budget to lease the $ 1.5million machine. the Ap rilia 500 team pulling out at the end of this year. The Ulster- The next member of the fo rmat ive Robe rts d y n a s t y vi sited Phillip Island. and said he was aiming to get to the 500cc GP man said : " I have several G P o ppo rtu nities. and this is where I class as soo n as po ssi ble . He is Ke nny Ro be rt s' second so n Kur- want to stay . I haven't had a win yet. and I'm not going until I do." ti s. f res h fr o m winning AMA 600 cc Supersport and Fo rmula Xtreme tit les at home in the USA . and signed up to HRC for tw o years. " Next year. I'll race in the U .S. Superbike series . Aft er that. it's up to what HRC want to do with me." Kurtis said. " My goal is the 500c c World Championship." One chance was a factory Ap rilia 250. w hile he wa s also under co nside ration by Modenas for the 500 cc class. French cigarett e brand Gauloises appear to have won a battle to sponsor this year's two top 250 riders as they move to the 500cc class next year. Olivier Jacque and Shinya Nakano currently ride C hesterfield Yamahas. sponsored by Phillip Morris. who also own the Marlboro brand. Phillip Morris was anxious to sponsor the pair when they move with their French-ow ned team to the 500cc class next year, but Gauloises has wo n the bidding war . The V -fou r Swissauto mot or is set to make a GP return next yea r. w ith a pro po sed new team run by N ew Z ealand er Dave Stewart. who managed the ill-founded BSL team last season. The Pulse team has put in an o rder fo r six new mo to rs fr om Swis- saute, with a chassis to be built by Team Roberts in England. One poss ible rider is A ustralian Mark W illls. who rode the BSLlast year. and finished up the season for the Modenas this year. The BSL . meanwhile. was back as a wild card entry at the Australian For the fir st ti me si nc e t he C zech Republic G P. 11th of 16 rounds. Michelin didn't bring any qualifying tires for the 500cc class. The reason was that the track was considered to be too abrasive. after resurfacing last year - but as it transpired a year's use and weathering had not only reduced grip levels but also cut tire we ar. Former 125cc World Champion Emilio Alzamora will switch to a factory Honda in the 250 class, as Daijiro Katoh's teammate in Faust o G resini' s Axe- spo nso red team. A lzamo ra had race d in the class fo r a se ason before w inn ing the 125cc title . w ith out co nspicuo us succ ess . Honda's manufacturers title win in the 125cc class saved the pre- cycle, and a V-eight road bike - now his sights are set on the new four -strok e GP class. with a 990cc V-eight. The target is more than 240 horsepower. fro m an engine revving to 22.00 0 rpm . G P for a seco nd race running - but as in Japan a w eek ago , rider Fans and wo uld -be privat e inves to rs ar e invi te d to log o n to Phillip Island's reputation as a beautiful. enjoyable but punishing www .22000rpm.com for more information. - track w as re inforced in qua lify ing , wi th a numbe r of injuries in Loris Capirossi has signed to stay with the Site Pons 500cc h igh·speed c r a s h e s . Conditions on the first day were dire. Honda satellite team for two more years. " I am very happy - for the last few years I have changed my team every year, and that is not good for you." he said. - M o re news leaking from so urces close to the Japanese factories sug gest th at th eir new -ge ne ratio n fou r-st ro k e race rs w ill have 12 NOV EM BER 8 ,2000' cue I e n e Stephen Briggs failed to qualify. with icy winds gusting up to 50 mph in unpredictable directions. and rainsqualls swee ping in from the sea. Several riders slipped vv s eminent racing factory fro m an embarrassing statistic . the first time since 1986 that they did not win a single titl e all season

• Cover