From a press release issued by Team Suzuki:

Team Suzuki riders Kenny Roberts Jr. and John Hopkins face next Sunday’s start of the most competitive ever GP season with mixed feelings.

The excitement of the all-new GSV-R racer, which arrived in January, measured a big step forward from last year’s first machine, and offers new levels of potential from a much improved motorcycle.

Since then, testing performances have reminded the team that in practical terms, for a second year in succession, they are starting a new season with a motorcycle that is still at the beginning of its development path.

Once again, at the first race the GP Suzuki is only a few months old. It is a significant improvement on its predecessor, but it is up against a field of bikes that are similarly improved. A field of unprecedented strength. Never before in GP history have so many different marques (eight) and so many former World Champions (nine) battled for the ultimate prize in motorcycle racing.

So far, the XRE1 version of the Suzuki GSV-R 990cc V4 prototype has not achieved the balance that will unlock its obvious potential. What is not lacking is the will and the commitment to achieve a competitive level as soon as possible.

One aspect of this comes from the factory racing department, for whom this is the first of two home GPs. After a massive effort to produce the new motorcycle, a complete redesign on the four-cam four-valves-per-cylinder V4 theme of last year’s machine, they have continued to work flat out to get the first prototype ready to race. The first round of the 16-race season sees another round of major engine improvements, following on a major change at the final pre-season tests.

Another comes from the team, one of the most experienced in the pits. “The factory’s big effort with the new bike had an equivalent effect on the team,” explained manager Garry Taylor.

“We know two things. The first is that we have a bike that should be capable of winning races and challenging for the championship. The second is that there is still a lot of work to do before it is ready for that performance,” continued Taylor.

“Suzuka has been a great track for us in the past, with five race wins over the years. It’s also a difficult and challenging circuit, that often throws in some dirty weather to complicate matters still further.

“These quirks might work in our favour. But our main target is to go for a pair of strong finishes, and to take advantage of the presence of top factory engineers to work on what we need to gain strength in the season to come.”

Kenny Roberts Jr, who won the 500cc championship in his second season with Suzuki in 2000, is a former winner of the Japanese GP – but that was in 1999, when the race moved to the Twin-Ring Motegi circuit for a year before returning to the classic figure-eight circuit. His best result at Suzuka is second, in 2000.

New Suzuki rider John Hopkins made his debut at the track last year, riding a 500cc two-stroke in the streaming rain. It was a dramatic start to the American rookie’s GP career – in spite of falling twice and pitting for new bodywork, “Hopper” finished 12th, in the points at his first GP.

After the opening round in Japan, the MotoGP teams and riders take a two-weekend break before resuming business at the second round, at Welkom in South Africa.


ABOUT THIS TRACK

The unique and historic figure-of-eight Suzuka circuit has been changed for a second year in succession, as part of a continuing programme to keep Japan’s oldest and most famous circuit up to date with modern safety standards. This year the infamous 130R curve at the end of the back straight has been turned into a double-apex corner, and the chicane at the end of the lap gained another zig-zag to become a “bus stop”. Riders will have a chance to familiarise themselves with the changes with pre-race tests. Suzuka remains a formidable challenge to riders and engineers, with complex sets of corners, rising and falling terrain, and the daunting Degner Curves (named after Suzuki’s first World Champion Ernst Degner) leading to the underpass and the notorious very slow hairpin. It’s a flowing circuit, putting as much emphasis on riding finesse as sheer horsepower. As a result, Suzuka has often hosted epically close racing over the past 16 years.


ABOUT THIS RACE

Held in the backyard of the giants of the world motorcycle industry, the Japanese GP has a significance beyond that of being the opening round of the most competitive ever season of motorcycle GP racing. Under the gaze of senior Japanese industry figures, everyone involves seems to try that much harder. The first GPs in Japan ran at Suzuka from 1965 for five years, for the smaller classes. The series proper started in the Eighties, again at Suzuka. The race has been there ever since, except for one trip to Motegi in 1999.


RACE DATA

Suzuka

Circuit Length: 3.617 miles / 5.821 km (2002)

MotoGP Lap Record: 2:19.105 –93.606 mph / 150.645 km/h. Valentino Rossi (Honda 2002) (old circuit/wet race)

2002 Race Winner: Valentino Rossi (Honda)

2002 Race Distance: 21 laps, 75.957 miles / 122.241 km

2002 Race Average: 49:32.766 – 91.938 mph / 148.033 km/h

2002 Fastest Race Lap: see lap record

2002 Pole Position: Rossi (Honda), 2:04.226

2002 Suzuki – Kenny Roberts: DNF, qualified Tenth (Telefónica MoviStar Suzuki) Akira Ryo: Second, qualified Seventh (Team Suzuki)

2002 John Hopkins: 12th, qualified 18th (Yamaha)