Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Rodolphe Coiscaud

There is no wasted time in the MotoGP universe, and just two days after the Valencia GP many contenders tested their new bikes on the last track of the 2002 Championship. Three brands of bikes were on the track on the same time after a complete day spent, among other things, to change the colors of the fairings–except in the case of the Kawasakis.

Yamaha had four machines on track with Carlos Checa, Alex Barros, Shinya Nakano and Olivier Jacque, while Honda tested with two riders who have returned to Honda, Max Biaggi and Sete Giberneau.

Alex Barros had an impressive day on the ex-Biaggi M1, turning the same time he did on his RC211V in MotoGP qualifying three days earlier: 1:33.6. Yamaha officials were happy to get Barros on the M1 so soon after he beat Valentino Rossi on the 4-stroke Honda machine.

“I’m pretty impressed by the performance of Alex today,” said Herve Poncharal, Tech 3 team manager. “The bike was really good for him, but he wasn’t really sure before he would be comfortable on it. There’s a lot of work to do but the M1 is at the same level of the RCV, close in terms of performance and potential.”

Barros was quicker than everybody else on the 2.5-mile track Tuesday even though Max Biaggi rode his new weapon, the ex-Barros RC211V. Max was the only other rider to turn a time under 1:34, his best lap a 1:33.9.

“This is the first taste of a new machine for me and I’m very pleased with this opportunity. I have a personal idea of this bike now but I cannot say more because I have an agreement with Yamaha until the end of this year,” said Biaggi.

Max was smiling after his run and it was the same happy look on the face of Sete Giberneau, who also took his first ride on the V5 Honda. The new teammate of Daijiro Kato really liked his new machine. “The bike is a real racing bike, easy to ride,” commented Giberneau. “I don’t want to speak too much but prefer to prove my facts with the times on the track. I did a good year with the Suzuki on the begining of the 4-stroke era, but this bike and the team are really a good in my career stage.”

The Kawasaki team tested its new rider Garry McCoy, his contracting decided by the headquarters men in Japan even though team manager Harald Eckl prefered to test the Frenchman Regis Laconi, who does yet not have a ride for next year.

“I’m happy to ride a 4-stroke,” said McCoy. “I did nothing crazy during this first test, just wanted to feel 100% great on the bike and it’s more friendly to ride than the 2-stroke. Now I know I need to change my riding style and for this we will have a long test schedule, but before then I will go to Austria to have an operation on my leg and my left scaphoid.”

Australian McCoy will be running alongside the former Supersport rider Andrew Pitt and Alex Hoffman who is on the way to be the test rider for this project. The next test for the Ninja will be next week in Sepang with the Suzuki squad, which will test a new engine in the GSV-R. The times of the Kawasaki riders were 1:35.4 for Pitt and 1:36 for McCoy.


Honda also tested at Valencia with Roberto Rolfo, who finished third in the 2002 250cc Grand Prix season with a Honda NSR250.

Roberto Rolfo ended his season with a last ride on his works Honda NSR250, and compared it to the new RSW250 customer bike for sale to private teams and riders in 2003.

Rolfo compared the two bikes with the same number of laps on each, turning a 1:37.7 with the factory NSR250 and turning a 1:38.0 with the 2003 prototype RSW250.

“The bike is OK,” commented Rolfo, “the engine is quite different on the RSW but the potential is good. It’ll just require work on it and today was just a test to finish the year.”

Rolfo doesn’t know which bike he will be on next year and awaits the decision of Fortuna, his main sponsor, as to which solution they will offer to him. The matter may be settled by how much it costs to run a RSW250 versus an NSR250.