Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Friday MotoGP Qualifying Results:

1. Alex Barros, Honda NSR500, 1:40.112
2. Daijiro Kato, Honda RC211V, 1:40.119
3. Valentino Rossi, Honda RC211V, 1:40.413
4. Loris Capirossi, Honda NSR500, 1:40.441
5. Carlos Checa, Yamaha YZR-M1, 1:40.488
6. Tohru Ukawa, Honda RC211V, 1:40.509
7. Max Biaggi, Yamaha YZR-M1, 1:40.608
8. Sete Gibernau, Suzuki GSV-R, 1:40.747
9. Jurgen vd Goorbergh, Honda NSR500, 1:40.771
10. Norick Abe, Yamaha YZR500, 1:40.969
11. Regis Laconi, Aprilia RS3, 1:41.159
12. Kenny Roberts, Suzuki GSV-R, 1:41.203
13. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha YZR500, 1:41.231
14. Jeremy McWilliams, Proton KR3, 1:41.237
15. John Hopkins, Yamaha YZR500, 1:41.474
16. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha YZR500, 1:41.535
17. Garry McCoy, Yamaha YZR500, 1:41.568
18. Tetsuya Harada, Honda NSR500, 1:41.856
19. Nobuatsu Aoki, Proton KR3, 1:41.863
20. Pere Riba, Yamaha YZR500, 1:43.782


More, from Desiree Crossman, with John Hopkins:

Well, we are here in Portugal where it’s nice weather but the wind is a pain in the ass! If anyone knows Willow Springs…yup, it’s like that!

John crashed in the morning session, but it was in the beginning so he had plenty of time to finish riding. He also went off the track–but alot of the riders have been doing so, including Mr. Rossi a couple of times. Alex Barros is on pole at the moment but we’ll have to see what will happen tommorrow. Reception sucks here. The power goes on and off about every 15 minutes and the only channel that we don’t get in the motorhome is Eurosport so that’s another bummer. Oh, well.

John q’ed 15th which sounds like a disappointment but really isn’t compared to all the times, they are extremely close. Getting ready for the fly-away races so things are pretty hectic during this race for everyone.


More, from a Red Bull Yamaha press release:

PORTUGESE GRAND PRIX

FRIDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER 2002
Qualifying No. 1

Red Bull Yamaha teammates John Hopkins and Garry McCoy finished the first qualifying session today at Estoril, Portugal searching for more from their Yamaha YZR 500s. Hopkins finished 15th-fastest in today’s first practice session, ahead of his Australian teammate McCoy in 17th place.

McCoy’s record at this track is nothing short of impressive. He was the winner here in 2000 after starting on pole and in 2001, the Australian finished third behind Rossi and Capirossi. During the IRTA test in February 2002, the Slide King was impressive again, setting an attention-grabbing time of 1:40.16 before a nasty crash in which he fractured his left leg. McCoy’s crew will spend tonight solving technical problems, which resulted in McCoy not being able to extract 100% from his bike in the last lap of this afternoon’s windy session.

For the young American, John “Hopper” Hopkins, this is his first race at the dusty, and bumpy 4.182km track. He is looking forward to moving up the grid tomorrow after setting his fastest time today on the last of his 25 laps. Hopkins, who had never competed in a Moto GP until round 1 of the 2002 Season in Suzuka, Japan, continues to improve, shaving 0.76-second off his test time set at the IRTA test in February this year.

John Hopkins ,­ 15th, ­ 1:41.474
“Overall the session was OK but we¹ve got a some more work to do on our set-up tonight. We’ll try a few different qualifiers tomorrow to try to get a tire, which handles the bumps a bit better. It¹s a dusty surface out there and the grip’s generally not that good. The wind really picked up this afternoon especially toward the end of the session, but I guess everyone has to deal with that.

“In the practice session this morning, I got the bike a bit too hot going into one of the bottom corners and I just ran onto the gravel and out of somewhere to go, so I had no choice but to put the bike down, nothing big at all, no damage to me and only some scuffing to the fairing.”


Garry McCoy, 17th, ­ 1:41.568
“On the final few laps with the qualifying tire on I followed out Barros and I was set for a hot lap, but my bike had a rear brake problem and it forced me to run wide a couple of times. It felt like the bike was braking without me even touching the brakes at all. When I put my foot on the pedal, it felt like it was hitting the exhaust and there was no choice to do a quick lap. Some of the tires today weren’t really hooking up although there are some good choices available to us and I will try some laps on them tomorrow.”


Peter Clifford,­ Director of Racing
“It’s terribly disappointing to be so much slower than we were in pre-season testing. Garry had a technical problem which ruined his final run so let’s hope things can be a whole lot better tomorrow.”

For team information visit www.redbull-yamaha.com


More, from Yamaha:

After a high-speed crash during the early stages of the Portuguese MotoGP free practice session, held September 6, Carlos Checa (Marlboro Yamaha Team) bounced back to post the fifth fastest time in the opening qualifier. The Spaniard, who topped the time sheets in the closing stages, ended day one with a 1’40.488 – a mere 0.376 seconds off provisional pole man Alex Barros (Honda, 1’40.112). The Brazilian was closely followed by Daijiro Kato (Honda, 1’40.119), defending MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi (Honda, 1’40.413) and Loris Capirossi (Honda, 1’40.441).

Checa leads the second row charge ahead of Tohru Ukawa (Honda, 1’40.509), with Max Biaggi (Marlboro Yamaha Team) placing his Brno MotoGP winning YZR-M1 seventh on the grid. The Italian lapped the 4182m Estoril circuit in 1’40.608 to be 0.496 seconds behind the pole time.

Norick Abe (Antena 3 Yamaha d’Antin), who initially set the pace in the morning session, eventually finished the first qualifying day tenth fastest with a 1’40.969. Shinya Nakano (Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3, 1’41.231) stopped the clock in 13th with young American rookie John Hopkins (Red Bull Yamaha WCM, 1’41.474) completing the top 15.

Marlboro Yamaha Team
Carlos Checa 5th, 1’40.488: “Unfortunately I was wearing a brand-new set of leathers, but you could say I gave them a good test, along with a new Alpinestars back protector I’m wearing here. I was a little stiff before the start of the afternoon session, but otherwise no real pain. This track isn’t easy because there are some very, very slow corners and we have so much horsepower, so we’re focusing on getting that power to the asphalt as smoothly as possible. This afternoon I mostly used the newer chassis, because I think this is the direction we want to take.”

Max Biaggi 7th, 1’40.608: “As usual we fitted a new rear Michelin with a few minutes to go, but I only had time for one flying lap before the chequered flag came out, instead of the usual two. During both sessions we tried a lot of different tyres and tried many different suspension settings with both chassis, but we still need to do more work on set-up. I’ll decide sometime tomorrow which chassis I want to use for the race, then we can focus all our attentions on just one chassis.”

Antena 3 Yamaha d’Antin
Norick Abe 10th, 1’40.969: “This track is always the same, so windy when it’s time to qualify. This morning was not so much of a problem, but the afternoon the wind just came up out of nowhere, like it does every year. In the morning session I felt quite confident, but this afternoon the wind made it very difficult to feel the front-end while braking. The issue comes from trying to brake so hard from a very high speed while the wind is getting under the bike, making it feel unstable. But I guess everyone is in the same situation.”

Pere Riba 20th, 1’43.782: “My leg is much better than before, I have a lot more strength in my leg to move the bike around, but this is my first time at this track, and the wind does not make learning it easy. What I really need is a lot more confidence in myself. Sure the track is a little slippery, but I’m not going fast enough, yet, for that to be a concern for me. This has been a very tough year for me and I don’t want to make it worse by crashing again.”

Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3
Shinya Nakano 13th, 1’41.231: “I didn’t have such a good time that session, sure we improved from this morning but not enough, not enough at all. We did make some progress about three-quarters of the way through the session when we changed the chassis and suspension balance, which really helped. We then took that a step further but it turns out that we overstepped the boundary for that chassis set-up.”

Olivier Jacque 16th, 1’41.535: “It wasn’t a very good day today; lots of wheel chatter, lots of wind and very little fun to be had. I hope it is a different story tomorrow.”

Red Bull Yamaha WCM
John Hopkins 15th, 1’41.474: “We’re pretty happy with that; running a good pace on what could be our race tyres. Sure we tried a set of qualifiers in that session but it didn’t seem to offer that much more at this track. For this reason we spent today focusing on a good race set-up, and I think we’re looking pretty good in that respect. We still have a few tyres to get through tomorrow, and some suspension ideas to try to help the bike over the bumps, but overall I’m happy.

“My morning session ‘oopsy’ happened because I was still in Brno mode, where you ride the corners at a much higher speed. I just realised that I wasn’t going to make that corner and stood the bike up, but the tyre wall came at me much quicker than I thought it would and I had to put the bike down in the gravel before I hit it.”

Garry McCoy 17th, 1’41.568: “I was hoping to get in behind Barros for my fast lap, I’d just put on a qualifier and we were both exiting the pits at the same time, but a couple of corners in I noticed there was something weird with my rear brake. It felt like it was binding, even when I wasn’t using it. And when I went to use it there was nothing there. We’re not sure, yet, what it was but I wasn’t going to risk a fast lap with the bike like that.”




More, from MS Aprilia:

Eleventh quickest time – Régis Laconi on provisional third row

Leaving most of the difficulties of the first sorties behind him, Régis Laconi is now making good use of the results of the recent tests at Mugello, and has taken the Cube to eleventh place, making the third provisional row for Sunday’s line-up. He made his time, 1’41.159, in the closing stages of the session using qualifying tyres.

# 55 Régis Laconi – (MS APRILIA RACING) – 11th – 1’41.159

“A good lap towards the end of the session and I got a time which puts me in eleventh provisional place. Even so, I’ve got lots more work to do: the bike’s still a bit too aggressive and I’ve got some problems of wheeling – the bike comes up a bit too much when I open the throttle. We’ve also got to improve the front end, as the bike vibrates and it’s hard to get it onto the right trajectory. I’ve tried a number of different tyres and initial results are good. It was only at the end of the tests that I found I was losing grip on the corner of the tyre. Good handling’s essential here at Estoril. You’ve also got to cope with countless little bumps which disorient the bike when you deliver full power to the ground. We’ve still got tomorrow’s session to work out the final set-up of the Cube and then, on the circuit where I came in fifth in 2000, I feel I’ve just got to put up a really good fight.”


More, from Suzuki:

NEW SLIPPER CLUTCH SYSTEM TAKES SUZUKI ANOTHER STEP FORWARD

MotoGP, Round 11, Estoril – Friday, September 6, 2002:
Team Telefónica MoviStar Suzuki riders Sete Gibernau and Kenny Roberts Jr. placed eighth and 12th in today’s first timed practice for Sunday’s Portuguese GP – both making use of the latest step forward in the fast-developing new Suzuki GSV-R four-stroke racer.

Gibernau was barely half-a-second off provisional pole time, on the second row, with Roberts a similar distance behind, but confident because his time had been set on race tyres well into an endurance run.

The improvement has come with a revised Suzuki-designed slipper clutch system. This has given the riders the opportunity for easier braking and backshifting, and faster, smoother corner entry with less risk of rear-wheel hop or slide.

The 990cc V4 was brought to the tracks a year earlier than originally planned, to be developed out in the open, while running a full GP season. All season the team has been getting, testing and racing new parts.

The new Suzuki slipper clutch arrived in time for first practice for the Portuguese GP, and won approval from the start.

“All this season, the factory has been bringing the design forward, with a constant supply of new ideas and revised parts,” said team manager Garry Taylor.

“We get them as soon as possible, after basic safety and reliability testing in Japan – and it’s the same with the clutch.

“The design is different from our previous system, and is a refinement to the type of clutch used by other machines. But the Suzuki version is very much more compact. It’s exactly what we’ve been asking for, and more,” said Taylor.

“It’s an impressive and welcome response to the requests from our riders and our team” he concluded.

SETE GIBERNAU – Eight Position, 1:40.747

“Today we were fighting gearbox and chassis settings, in our first time at this track with the new bike. We had good points in the morning, changed the bike, and had different good points in the afternoon. We need to combine those settings for tomorrow. It’s really good to have the new clutch, because it is something important to try, and shows that Suzuki is continuing to work very hard to try to step the bike up to the next level. It’s a good direction, but of course this is the first time of using it, and we’re still working on basic set-up before we can really feel the advantage.”

KENNY ROBERTS – 12th Position, 1:41.203

“To me, the new clutch is a big step, right away. It gives a whole different feeling to how you ride the bike, and we’re working on getting the right settings for that feeling, and then we can start to go forward from that point. There are areas we can improve, and that’s what we’ll be doing. Today I had some good settings, but then I switched to the other bike and that felt better, but it took time to get my primary bike set the same way. Then we made another change that was in the wrong direction. But having said that, I’m not too worried. My guys are in control of what’s happening with the bike, compared with the last race at Brno, where we were struggling. And I set my best time on race tyres. We’re better off in terms of race-time than qualifying time.”

WARREN WILLING – Technical Advisor

“The new clutch is definitely a step in the right direction. We have two bikes fitted with it, one for each rider. The initial results are promising. The bike is more consistent on corner entry, which is a crucial phase for the new four-strokes, which have to try to beat the two-strokes in an area where the older bikes excel. Compared with the previous type of slipper clutch, this different system is self-compensating, rather than being pre-set to a fixed value. The degree of slip is different under different circumstances. The new clutch units also have a limited range of adjustment, and we will be exploring that during the weekend. It might be that we will ask the factory to revise this range after these first tests. So far, it’s a good development.”