Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Briefly... Rizla Sr.zuki's Hopkins lost any chance of a podi- um in dle early stages. And any chance of a decent finish when he couldn't get ry Edwards. lAnd therl \r'abntino lFossi] had come by me instandy into turn I I and puslEd rne out omo the paint and realy screwed up my lap," Hopkins said oft}rc I lthJap pass. 'rqnd then Colin and Valertino got by me again. After that I lost about a second ard a half, two seconds to Colin on that lap." Rossi was l0$ for a ferrv laps, then nin$ until the llth when he passed Hopkins and Edwards. Hayden was 7.8 seconds behind and gaining. Rossi picked up a spot with Stoner's hll, and anottrcr when he paased Robers on hp 19. Now he was in lifth, btn only for a lap; Melandri was next on the next lap. Rossi closed to within 7.536 seconds of Hayden, and 4.5 of Pedrosa when the left side of his tire p€eled off- His hp times soarcd, as did the ternper- arure on his engine when the cooling qrstem failed- Huge puft ofsmoke signaled the end of his day, and likely his championship. "l think I am happy because from now to the end for the first tirne I don't race with the pressure of the chamFionship because with a 5 I -point gap it is very dimcuk," Rosli said. 'At this point it is very diflicult. Our performance at the moment is not enough to win." Checa didn't do much racin8- He settled into a position which mostly changd when others faltered. He picked up two spots on the l5th l+, once by passing Nakano and another when Stoner fell. The Stoner fall moti\rated Edwards to continue. The Texan was on the verge of pasring out wtrcn Stoner went tumbling, and he couldn't resist the Con inued lron page zt er to change direat on, rnaybe we go. I'm thinking the styl€ for 8(x) is more close to 250 because we need more comer speed for to go quicker, becals€ w6 have a little bit less power and \ re need comer spe€d for to go hster," wlri.h, he said. "l think for me is bener." Team mana€er Livio Suppo conlirmed that both Capirossi and teammate Sete Gibernau would test the 800. "We stay Monday and Tuesday after the race wlren everybody tests," he said, adding that the public debut wat inevitable. "Sooner or later we have to do it- Wbuld the 800cc rnachines be better lor Brklg€stone? "l dont know, I don\ know," Capirossi said. "This is a realt,, difllcuh ques tion. I'm thinking it depen* on wha you h6/e to do ftext year. Wh need, sure, tire compethive e.rery race. Bpecially last year ard also thb year we have a lot of up and down 6nd wfien yotr want to fidt tor the title. $re dont need that. We have to have constant tire for all seasoi- Anyway we're talkint a lot widr Bridgedone ard sure Mdgestone rirke tood Fb this year, is much better compared to lagt year, but is not enough. Sonretime \ae make one step, but always w€ ha/e to make two step to follo/, Mkhelin. Becauie when we make one step we go tl€ s,rme level of Michelin from last year, but Mi$elin make one step more, ls not easy, not easy.that." Bridgestone, like Michelin and Dunlop, had n data on the repaved Laguna road course. Eve4/one brought extra 6rgr, but it was still very much a Euessing game. "The problem is we dwelop the tire com- pared to lait year track, because last year normally we have some problem with the aear and not too bad front and this year is realt opposite," Cipirossi said ol the Bridgestones. "We have many problem with the front tire and not too bad whh the r€ari Butthis is the problem, I think is the $Jdace b€cause it's new and it's not really cleen and this is why the tjre is not working so well. But I'm thinking tomor- row maybe coming better alld the race too. We don't care about that. We want iusr to put allour concentration to have good settin8, because normally our bike is still riding this kind of track is not so easy when you have a lot of bumping, our bike moving more," C+irossi won d|e 250cc U.S. GP in I 993 ridlnS a Honda. (Kehry Rob€rts Jr. finished loth). He said the track layout ls the same, but the nfety is b€tter. And that the world of Grand Prix racing had become more corpoiate - maybe too much so. 'Ah,vays to come drere B so nice - for rne to come to America - but the world inside is changed a lot," he said. "Every year I think is not changed in the best way. Because I think when we talking about more than l0 years aeo. it'r more friendlythir world. Now it's comint alweys more professional. It stans to go close to Formula One, it's dilferert." Capirossi said he lovEd America, the land of big cars. Among the cars in his colle.- tion at home in Honaco are two hot rods, a l93l Fond and 1934 Ford, and a Cadil- lac from 1967, Valentino Rosri was upgraded to a yellow Hummer H3 to tool arolnd Monterey. l4arlboro Ducati's Sete Gibemau trelieves the team's fast start may have given a false impression. Teammate Loris C+irossi won dle first race in Jerez, "That was one of our toals, to be com- p€titive from the beginning," Gibema! sald, but after that the other teamr improved and Ducati didn't- "That was ou. level in the beginnint and it's what it is right now." h€ said. "l think on that side we haven't b€€n abl€ to improve enough. Apart from tMt, yot,] know sometimes the tircs, sometimes a mechanical fajlure and stulf, you can see that as a bad y€ar. But I think that, ifyou look at it as a big s.reen, the bike is working a lot better and last year also the tires. I look at it on that side and hopefully one day, I'm posi' tive that one day the resuks will come back and that will pay back all the work and suffering and the bad moments of the year-" Gibernau was looking to the upcoming summer break to recover the rtrength lost to the first turn accident in Catalun),a a month ago. "To tell you the truth, we're not treat," the Spaniard, who broke his Ieft collarbone in Cataluny4 said. The biS8er problers was tettint the Desmos€dici to 80 over the bumps. "lf I'm l4th and Loris I 3th , or whatever we ar€, which is horrible, it's not because of the shoulder lt will be after fwe l+s, but ,iBt if l'm competitive for five laps and then l80 back, I'llstillpoint at that. But right now we're l4th and Loris is lsthor l3th, whatever. lt's horrible. So you can- not iust say'your shoulder.'" There war an admission that the undulating Mon- terey circuit wasn't the bert place to be riding hurt. "No it's not, but that's how it is. Luckily enouth after this I'll have time to recover and l'll be atain 100 percent for Czecho." Marlboro Ducati's Supplo confirmed inter- €st In bo6 Ca.ay Stoner and Nicky Hayden, but added that he'd like to keep tfi€ cufierit ider'. "ln this part of the sea- son I think the right $ing is to check th€ market and s€€ around," he said while confirming that he'd spoken to represen- tatives ,or both Stoner and Hayden. "The priority is to keep Loris and Sete. But you have to look around and see what the other 8q/s are doint. So you arow, nothing is don€. I said before I think Loris and s€te is a very strong team. so the prioriq/ is to keep them on board. lf lor any rea- son, whatever happens, it's Sood to know about the market." Storer has also been linked to Yama. ha. A report last week ruggested that Valentino Rossi was qgainst having the younS Australian ioin his team. The fear was that he'd take some of the attention from fellow Aussie leremy Burgess, Rossi's crew chiel "No, is not true," he said. "l speak with Yamaha and \6maha say to me 6ley speak with Stofler. For me is okay. I say to Yamaha I don't have par- tkular problem to have Stooer on the team." What wis important for Rorsi was the continued developrient of fie t4- I . "l'ly teammate is not a bit problem. I'm ven/ happy with Colin lEdwards] and Colin have seven races to b€ more com- petitive beeuse is a difiicult year for us, but I think Colin is a ven/ good rider, so I think he have some chance to keep has place for next year. But if arive other rid- ers for me is okay." Suppo also said that Du€ati would supply enSines to C-arl Fogarty, if he could come uP with a HotoGP program. Fogar- q/ said ea.lier this yea. that this would be the last fo. the FogS/ Petronas proiect in World Superbike. "There'5 nothinS at the mornent that I know of ritht now" he said. And Suppo hinted that BridSestone mi8ht be willing to t ke a larger role in MotoGP Asked whether the team would use ttle Japanes€ rubber next y€ar, h€ said, "l think is early to take a decislon on what is in the tuture with the tires. Mo6t proba- bly, there will be a bi8 change ln dle rules. ln theory it should be good for Bridge- stone." Suppo was looking forw..d to the end of the summer break with visits to four pro-BrirJgestone tracl<5. 'ln theor), we shouH have four races in a row in which last year we were very good, Bmo, Moted, Halaysia, and Philip lsland. I think at the end of the season we will sit around the table and tr,, to understand what is the b€st strate8/." The reworked Corkscnew entrance and yarious other charges leveled tfie playinS field between the more exp€rienced Ameaicans and $eir European end Japan- ese visitors. "l mean, I still got the advan- tage, I know it so well dipping in the Corks(rew but also it's like I really had to reprogram my brain a bit faom the same line I've been using since I was 15 - ain't working no more in a few places," Nicky Hayden said at the end of day one. "lt's iust differert. They changed the pavement and it's delinitely sorne bumps and the camber's different." The dip in the Corkrcr€W "That was about my best place on the traak so it's gone," he lamented, Yet it was Kenny Roberts ,r. and Hayden setting the two fastest tinEs. "l rnean, it's still home," Hayden said. "lt's like you always lust, you know, I guess the crowd suppon. Some ways yau got a lot more pressure, a lot more people around, But in other ways you now it is... well, I m€n h's still our home track- We know this track, we Srew up on it, so I think we do have an advantage, but maybe not like Mutello ifthey chanted two or thre€ cor- ners dlere." CYCLE NEWS . AUGUST 2, 2006 27 Xenny RobGrt Sr. couldnt r6sist taking a swipe at the racetra.k to. wha! he fek conlinred on pr,ge 29 John Hopkins (21)didn'r do os well os he'd hoped, the Coliforniqn fin- ishing sixrh in his home roce. He hqd been

• Cover