Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1400350
an older design, less 'stacked' than current designs. That meant we couldn't get the chassis per- formance we wanted." And how: 1999 was the worst season yet. Junior and Warren Willing had both gone to Suzuki, Bayle was hurt and retired mid- year; several riders including David de Gea, James Whitham and Mike Hale faced all sorts of problems. But Mk2 bought the team time to design and build the ultimate KR3. British engineer John Mc- Gee was a crucial addition. He designed a compact and well-balanced bike, which rider McWilliams describes as "the most beautiful bike I ever rode… the bike I felt more at home on than anything else. "The thing was like a little toy—so easy to flick, to steer. You could put it wherever you wanted, and it delivered the power so smoothly and seemed to get a lot of grip from the tire. By the end of 2002 we were pretty much on equal footing with the V4s. Lacked a little bit of top speed, but you'd make it up on the brakes and in the corners." At the same time, "it was such a clean, efficient little motor, you could literally put lights on it and ride it to the shops—it would tick over at the lights. "I think dropping two-strokes was a mistake. A 500cc two- stroke went 202 mph way back in 1993. Had we continued with development, with the current injection technology, I reckon two-strokes would be going quite a bit faster than the current four-strokes, and they would be incredible to watch." KTM's development of off- road two-strokes, in which McWilliams played a role, proved them cleaner than four-strokes as well. "And nothing beats the sound a two-stroke," he added. Sadly, in GP racing, they culminated with the KR3, the fastest two-stroke racing bike ever built. And a tribute to the only British team to make a seri- ous GP bike since Norton and Matchless in the distant past. CN FEATURE I PROTON KR3 P96 On a windy weekend in late October, the Australian GP was the second-last race of the 2002 season, and the last real chance for two- strokes to challenge the new MotoGP order. Phillip Island is fast and rhythmic, and most importantly had only two slow corners, neither leading onto straights, so the acceleration ad- vantage of the big bikes was offset by the better braking and higher corners speed of the 500s. McWilliams's sleek little silver triple was slowest down the straight, at 186.6 mph. Rossi's Honda was fastest at 201.01. Yet the Proton was on pole, a first for the little gem. The achievement was underlined by his companions on what was then a four- strong front row, uniquely all two-stroke: Garry McCoy's Yamaha YZR, Nobu Aoki's second Proton and Jurgen van den Goor- bergh's Honda NSR. There was a trick to it. For the first time in memory, there was not a single Michelin tire. The Protons and the Honda were on Bridges- tones, McCoy on Dunlops. And Michelin had not brought super-soft qualifying tires. As Alex Barros, leading row two, said: "The front row is a mirage… they all used chewing-gum tires." Sunday proved him right. Those 990s are THE TWO-STROKES' LAST (MUTED) HURRAH McWilliams (right) and Aoki were the toast of Phillip Island in 2002 after qualifying first and third.