From a press release issued by Proton Team KR:

AOKI SLASHES LAP TIME FOR FIRST RACE OF THE YEAR

Round 1: Africa’s GP, Welkom Final Qualifying: Saturday, April 17, 2004

Nobuatsu Aoki: 20th, 1:34.845

Team Proton KR rider Nobuatsu Aoki slashed more than two seconds off his previous best lap time in today’s final qualifying session for tomorrow’s Africa’s GP, opening round of the 2004 MotoGP season at Welkom’s Phakisa Freeway.

It was the result of small but significant machine improvements, and a consistently heroic effort by the Japanese rider. But it yielded an improvement of only one place on the grid, on a day when all riders closed up on pole qualifier Valentino Rossi, promising an exciting start to the season under the blazing African sun.

Aoki had three bikes at his disposal, after new team-mate Kurtis Roberts withdrew yesterday, troubled by a shoulder injury incurred in pre-season testing.

They are variations on a theme, of the new 2004 Proton KR V5, which includes engine changes in a chassis package that advances the state of the art in design, construction, materials and overall integration. But, as even team principal Kenny Roberts admits, this race is too early for the new bike. The team is still awaiting final parts for the engine before the package is complete.

The team is also facing a first race on Dunlop tyres, and these too are at an early stage. New construction tyres that were made ready for Welkom are just the first stage in a programme of joint development between the tyre company and the England-based Proton Team KR.

Today’s final day of qualifying took placed in ideal sunny and windless conditions, with only the power-sapping altitude of about 1,500 metres hampering overall performance for all the 990cc MotoGP machines. Tomorrow’s race is the first of 16 rounds in the 2004 MotoGP World Championship.


NOBUATSU AOKI
I knew today that for sure I had to do something big to improve the lap time. I am happy that we have bettered the time set on Dunlop tyres here last year, although that was on a different motorcycle. At least there is that improvement. Today I saw little improvements both in the bike and the tyres, and we have a couple of things to change for tomorrow. One is to use different steering triple clamps to change the geometry, and to improve the overall balance of the bike. I might have gone faster today, but I had problems on my last fast lap on the soft qualifying tyres. I got a big head-shake over the bumps of the first section of the track, and it must have spread the brake calipers. When I went for the brakes the lever came back almost to the bar, and I ran off the track. Luckily I didn’t fall.


KENNY ROBERTS – TEAM PRINCIPAL
We knew this would be our worst race, because we’re not ready yet – and considering that,we are sort of upbeat. I thought we would be way off, but in fact we’re not that far. Nobu really put it all together, and today wasn’t nearly as bad as yesterday. We expect to go forward from this point on, so we’re not committing hara-kiri yet.