Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

MotoGP Final Qualifying Results:

1. Max Biaggi, Honda, 1:30.740
2. Sete Gibernau, Honda, 1:30.862
3. Marco Melandri, Yamaha, 1:30.926
4. Valentino Rossi, Honda, 1:30.938
5. Carlos Checa, Yamaha, 1:31.035
6. Troy Bayliss, Ducati, 1:31.036
7. Loris Capirossi, Ducati, 1:31.067
8. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha, 1:31.241
9. Colin Edwards, Aprilia, 1:31.354
10. Tohru Ukawa, Honda, 1:31.385
11. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha, 1:31.614
12. Alex Barros, Yamaha, 1:31.776
13. Nicky Hayden, Honda, 1:31.779
14. Noriyuki Haga, Aprilia, 1:31.877
15. John Hopkins, Suzuki, 1:31.962
16. Makoto Tamada, Honda, 1:32.526
17. Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, 1:32.573
18. Garry McCoy, Kawasaki, 1:32.793
19. Jeremy McWilliams, Proton, 1:32.802
20. Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda, 1:33.288
21. Andrew Pitt, Kawasaki, 1:33.705
22. Nobuatsu Aoki, Proton, 1:34.364
23. Chris Burns, ROC Yamaha, 1:34.400
24. David De Gea, Sabre, 1:36.851


Final 250cc Grand Prix Qualifying Results:

1. Fonsi Nieto, Aprilia, 1:33.859
2. Manuel Poggiali, Aprilia, 1:34.215
3. Toni Elias, Aprilia, 1:34.386
4. Naoki Matsudo, Yamaha, 1:34.398
5. Randy De Puniet, Aprilia, 1:34.572
6. Franco Battaini, Aprilia, 1:34.743
7. Roberto Rolfo, Honda, 1:34.781
8. Sebastian Porto, Honda, 1:34.856
9. Sylvain Guintoli, Aprilia, 1:34.995
10. Anthony West, Aprilia, 1:35.182
11. Jay Vincent, Aprilia, 1:35.591
12. Alex Debon, Honda, 1:35.730
13. Eric Bataille, Honda, 1:35.833
14. Johan Stigefelt, Aprilia, 1:35.937
15. Erwan Nigon, Aprilia, 1:36.193
16. Hector Faubel, Aprilia, 1:36.249
17. Chaz Davies, Aprilia, 1:36.290
18. Joan Olive, Aprilia, 1:36.390
19. Hugo Marchand, Aprilia, 1:36.411
20. Alex Baldolini, Aprilia, 1:37.000

27. Katja Poensgen, Honda, 1:40.088


Final 125cc Grand Prix Qualifying Results:

1. Stefano Perugini, Aprilia, 1:37.984
2. Daniel Pedrosa, Honda, 1:38.078
3. Andrea Dovizioso, Honda, 1:38.143
4. Simone Corsi, Honda, 1:38.370
5. Mika Kallio, Honda, 1:38.386
6. Hector Barbera, Aprilia, 1:38.417
7. Steve Jenkner, Aprilia, 1:38.609
8. Lucio Cecchinello, Aprilia, 1:38.652
9. Casey Stoner, Aprilia, 1:38.680
10. Pablo Nieto, Aprilia, 1:38.754
11. Gino Borsoi, Aprilia, 1:38.792
12. Thomas Luthi, Honda, 1:38.845
13. Alex De Angelis, Aprilia, 1:38.943
14. Gabor Talmacsi, Aprilia, 1:38.960
15. Gioele Pellino, Aprilia, 1:38.999
16. Youichi Ui, Aprilia, 1:39.003
17. Arnaud Vincent, KTM, 1:39.012
18. Alvaro Bautista, Aprilia, 1:39.037
19. Jorge Lorenzo, Derbi, 1:39.053
20. Mirko Giansanti, Aprilia, 1:39.100


More, from a press release issued by John Hopkins’ publicist:

HOPKINS FEELING AT HOME, QUALIFIES 15TH FOR BRITISH MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX

DONINGTON PARK, England (July 12, 2003) – John Hopkins felt welcomed at his home away from home as he qualified his factory Suzuki GSV-R Grand Prix machine 15th at Donington Park in preparation for Sunday’s British Motorcycle Grand Prix. Hopkins, whose parents were born in England, felt encouraged about the way his high-tech Suzuki GSV-R Grand Prix machine was performing in the cooler temperatures of Saturday morning’s practice session. The tracked heated up in the afternoon and many of the same issues he’s been challenged by all season cropped up again in qualifying.

“The team received some new parts for the bike,” Hopkins said. “It seemed to make it a little more natural to ride. In the morning practice I was encouraged after being seventh fastest and clicking off an easy string of 1:32 lap times. By qualifying the track temperature came up and we struggled a bit. It’s the same issues of the front end pushing and not being able to make the turns and the rear end locking up entering corners. Still, this is the best I’ve felt on the bike in a while.”

Hopkins qualified at a time of 1:31.962 on the four-kilometer (2.5-mile) Donington Park circuit. It was a very competitive session with the top 17 qualifiers bunched within two seconds of one another. Italian GP veteran Max Biaggi was the leading qualifier with a time of 1:30.740. Hopkins’ teammate Yukio Kagayama, filling in for the injured Kenny Roberts Jr., qualified 17th.

“I think when the track temperature comes up the lack of grip hurts us more than most of the other teams,” Hopkins theorized. “So I’m hoping for a cool, overcast day. Those would probably be ideal conditions for our bike.

“I have a lot of support here with friends and family. The fans seem to have adopted me and it feels good to have support like that. I want to go out on Sunday and get a good start and do the best I can. The team has found some improvement, and I’d love for them more than anything else, to get a good result.”



More, from a press release issued by WCM:

BRITISH GP – DONINGTON

Final Qualifying
Saturday, July 12th 2003

In warm and breezy conditions in the British Midlands, WCM rider Chris Burns enjoyed his first ever Saturday qualifying session of the Season.

The superbly fit, 23 year old from Newcastle was delighted with how he qualified for his home GP after clocking up only 240 km in total on the ROC two stroke Yamaha.

It will be a memorable day for Chris in his Saturday debut performance in the Moto GP class and his time of 1:34.400 makes his ride today the quickest ever that a 500cc, 4-cylinder, two-stroke private machine has recorded at the Donington track.

Team-mate to Burns, the 25 year old Spaniard, David De Gea, had a spectacular highside crash in free practice this morning and was eager to get back on the track for the final qualifying session. Unfortunately the ROC Yamaha could not be repaired in time for the final session so David reluctantly watched his mechanics strip and rebuild his bike.

CHRIS BURNS: 23rd, 1:34.400, Saturday Qualifying Time
“Well it was hard work out there today and I guess I got something out of it, with setting the non-factory team two-stroke, four-cylinder lap record here. I’ve got a pretty good set-up for tomorrow and the first qualifier tyre was really good.

“I was disappointed that I had a stupid crash this morning in practice, I wheelied out of the hairpin and the front just folded underneath me. I lost about 25 minutes practice because of that.

“So we have to make the best of what we have got and I am really looking forward to tomorrow.”

DAVID DE GEA: 24th, 1:36.851, Friday Qualifying Time
“Well I am having lots of problems with the engine and I really have not had enough time on the bike to get the feel for it at all. I’ll see how I go in the warm up tomorrow but I really feel ready to race, I’m hungry for it. In the crash, I only hurt my lower back, but it feels okay and Dr. Costa has given me the okay to ride”

PETER CLIFFORD ­ (Team Manager)
“Today did not start well as David made an appearance on East Midlands Airport radar and gave us a huge fright, but very luckily although extremely sore, he did not break anything.

“There was enough damage to the bike to prevent him from riding in the afternoon but as a team we are thrilled by what Chris has achieved. A big thanks to Dunlop for the tyres that enabled him to do that and we are confident we can give him a stronger engine for the race.”



More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service:

SUZUKI RIDERS CUT TIMES FOR BRITISH GP

Team Suzuki Press Office Saturday, July 12, 2003.

Team Suzuki riders John Hopkins and Yukio Kagayama will start tomorrow’s British GP from the fourth and fifth rows of the grid, after both riders cut their previous best lap times round the sun-soaked 4.023km parkland circuit outside Derby.

Hopkins slashed almost a full second off his qualifying time yesterday, and had gone even quicker in free training in the morning. The Anglo-American racer ended up 15th in a very close bunch of times, just over a second off pole position. Kagayama, in his first ride on the full Donington Park circuit and his second on the 990cc Suzuki GSV-R prototype, shaved three tenths off his time, but blamed his own excessive enthusiasm and consequent errors for not making an even bigger improvement.

Both riders were making the most of new engine and chassis parts, which have taken the all-new 2003 version of the factory’s four-stroke GP racer another step towards the target – of unleashing the 200-plus horsepower racing machine’s full potential, and regaining a position to challenge for race wins.

Donington Park applies an extra pressure. It is the home race for the team, based in Kent south of London, and also the closest it comes for Hopkins. The 20-year-old was born in the USA, but to an all-English family, and he is entertaining a large contingent of relatives at this race.

Kagayama is currently also a resident of England – based here to race a Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the British Superbike series. Kagayama is having a second GP as substitute for the injured Kenny Roberts Junior, who is expected back for the German GP in two weeks. The Japanese Suzuki factory rider claimed a double win at last weekend’s BSB round on the Rizla Crescent Suzuki; the British GP is the fifth of nine consecutive weekends of racing for the popular 29-year-old.

Today’s practice took place in warm sunshine, with track temperatures rising to 31 degrees in the afternoon. Similar conditions are predicted for tomorrow’s race.


JOHN HOPKINS – 15th Position, 1:31.962
We’re not as close as I’d like to be, and we were running stronger and in a better position this morning. All year we’ve been struggling with the fact that when the temperature goes up, our machine performance drops. We have the same problems, but they get worse when it’s hot. All the same, we’ve worked with different gearing and a few small changes, and we found almost a second. The new engine and chassis parts make it easier to ride at the limit, but the limit is still more or less the same as before. I’ll be looking for a good start then hang with the pack and see what happens. I really want to get the best possible result, with my Mom and all my relations here.


YUKIO KAGAYAMA – 17th Position, 1:32.573
At Assen last week, I didn’t think the top ten was possible in qualifying. Now we have some new parts and the bike has a much better feel, so I thought it was possible I made that my target in the last session, but I think I was aiming too high. I was riding too hard, and making many little mistakes, and that spoiled my lap time. So my qualifying position is the same as in Assen, and I am a little unhappy. But it was my mistake. We have a few small changes to try tomorrow, and I believe we can have a good race.


GARRY TAYLOR – Team Manager
A sniff of some progress has increased everyone’s motivation even more than usual, and both riders tried very hard today. They’d have done better, except for some reason our bike seems to go off the boil as the temperature rises. It’s another part of a rich puzzle, and we’re working towards the final solution.



More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Yamaha:

British Grand Prix
Saturday, 12 July 2003
Donington Park, UK

FORTUNA YAMAHA TEAM-MATES FIGHT FOR DONINGTON FRONT ROW START

Fortuna Yamaha Team riders Marco Melandri and Carlos Checa produced a brilliant performance aboard their Factory Yamaha YZR-M1s during the final qualifying session for the British Grand Prix today at the historical Donington Park circuit. Both riders rode strongly during the hour-long session before finally fighting it out for a front row start with only minutes remaining.

As the competition made a last effort to secure their grid positions for tomorrow’s 30-lap race, the talented Melandri produced a sensational flying-lap around the 4023m venue. The 20-year-old Italian, who won the 250cc race at Donington last year, placed himself on the front row for a second time today but this time it was a laptime of 1;30.926, which secured third place for the MotoGP rookie. The result came after the 250cc World Champion steadily improved the overall balance of his M1, increasing both drive off the turns and feel from the front-end, to close the day only 0.186 seconds shy of pole position.

In the final rush to the flag it was Max Biaggi (Honda) who claimed the number one slot with a 1:30.740, relegating Sete Gibernau (Honda) to second place – the Spaniard posting a 1;30.862 to be a mere 0.064 seconds ahead of Melandri. Provisional pole sitter and defending MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi (Honda, 1:30.938) completed the front row, with Checa set to lead the second row charge in fifth position on the grid.

Melandri was delighted to take his second front row start of the season for tomorrow’s race. “I’m really happy,” beamed the young Italian. “When I saw my lap time I was quite surprised because the start of my final lap was quite slow as Sete was in front of me for a moment. My bike was so good today though; it felt much better than ever before – a big thanks to my team because they worked so well. They changed the set-up again slightly since yesterday and it really worked. It will be very difficult tomorrow but I’ll do my best. Physically I feel in the best condition since my accident in Suzuka. My arms have ached a bit after the end of each qualifying session since then until now but they don’t at all today. It’s really good to feel normal at the end of the session, and now of course to be starting from the front row!”

Checa, who produced a ‘text book’ performance during today’s session in an effort to defend the provisional front row start he achieved yesterday, was eventually dislodged from the top four despite repeatedly producing the times needed. The UK resident, who enjoys racing at the Donington circuit, eventually set a best time of 1:31.035 to head the second row of the Donington Grand Prix starting grid. Although Checa still needs to finalise his choice of race tyres, and despite the closeness of the qualifying times – one second covering the top 13 – the 30-year-old is confident about the main event.

“All the riders have been very close during this qualifying session, so I think the race tomorrow will be very good, but quite difficult because it is a 30 lap race” said the Catalan. “We have worked so hard all weekend and the results have been consistent. I feel confident for the race tomorrow and hopefully the weather will be OK again! We’ve been keeping a good pace during the day. The only thing we are not sure about is the tyres so we will decide about them for sure in the morning.”

“This is a great way to start the race,” said Fortuna Yamaha Team Director Davide rivio. “Both riders and their teams have been working incredibly hard and we have a lot to prove. Marco’s second front row start of the season is just what he needs to increase his confidence as he has had some difficulties at the last few races, especially at the last race in Assen. He deserves to do well and now he’s in a position to get a great start and hopefully keep the momentum during the whole race.

“Carlos has worked equally hard this weekend; he is showing the consistency that he has craved so much and says he feels good on the bike. He needs to check which tyres to use for the race and will use the morning warm-up tomorrow to do so. The usual suspects are up at the front and there is not much time between them, so I hope it’s going to be a great race tomorrow, for everybody in the team.”


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

British GP, Donington Park
Final Qualifying
Saturday, July 12 2003

DUCATI MARLBORO MEN ON ROW TWO & RACE READY

Ducati Marlboro Team riders Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi ended up on the second row of the grid in today’s final Donington Park qualifier, just three tenths off pole position and confident that they have the right set-up for tomorrow’s British Grand Prix. Donington is one of the slipperiest GP tracks, so this afternoon the Australian and Italian focused on choosing Michelin race tyres that will offer them the best race-long traction, rather than using softer rubber for quicker one-off qualifying laps.

“I think we have found the right tyre choice,” said Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli. “We tried several different options this afternoon which took more or less all the time we had, so we had no time to go for the fastest-possible laps, but we’d decided that it was better to be sure about our race-tyre choice. We haven’t made many other changes today, because we wanted our riders to get a many laps as possible to help us choose the best tyres.”

Lap times were tantalisingly close in today’s warm, sunny conditions, with the fastest 15 riders covered by just 1.2 seconds. Pole position was an impressive 0.8 seconds inside last year’s pole time.

BAYLISS SCORES BEST GRID SLOT SINCE JEREZ
Ducati Marlboro Team rider Troy Bayliss, who tore a muscle in his left arm when he fell at Melbourne hairpin yesterday, ended qualifying in sixth spot for his best grid position since May’s Spanish GP. The Aussie was just 0.098 seconds off a front-row start.

“Everything’s good but everyone’s going so quick,” said Bayliss, who is undergoing extensive physio on his arm injury. “We’re fast but you’re never happy until you’re fastest or you’re winning, you always want more. This place is always a bit of a compromise because there’s some real fast corners and some real slow turns. And the gearing’s so low that the bike wheelies a lot. How do we fix that? By leaning over the front and by putting your foot on the rear brake – we do that a lot now because these bikes have got so much horsepower! The arm should be okay for the race, it’s a bit weaker than usual but it won’t effect me.”


CAPIROSSI SEVENTH AND FOCUSING ON THE RACE
Loris Capirossi will start tomorrow’s British GP from seventh on the grid, his first non-front-row start since the season-opening Japanese GP. But the Ducati Marlboro Team man is happy enough because he’s been putting all his effort into race set-up at this tricky, tortuous circuit.

“We’re all very close and we’re all very fast,” said the little Italian. “I’m very quick in the first and second sections but I’m losing time in the final part of the track – I’m not 100 per cent happy with braking and turning into the hairpin corners when I’m on the limit. Today we worked towards the race – running a very fast rhythm for many laps. But maybe we will try some small adjustments to improve things in the final section. It’s going to be a long and hard race, but I like this track and I’m getting fantastic support from everyone around me.”



More, from a press release issued by Pramac Honda Team:

Donington Park
(Great Britain) Round 8
11/12/13 July 2003

Saturday – Qualifying

Makoto Tamada improves lap time but will be starting from fourth row tomorrow

A slight improvement on yesterday’s lap time, but not enough to give Makoto Tamada a good starting position. So it’s going to be an uphill race tomorrow, starting out from the fourth row of the grid. Makoto still has difficulty getting the right feeling for the Donington circuit, and reports a lack of grip on the front wheel of his RC211V. His inability to maintain good contact with the ground, and especially on the front wheel, certainly did not help him build up the right level of confidence in some of the more technical sections of the circuit.

The way things are at the moment means it is difficult to know which frame to use for the race, so Tamada has opted for a somewhat conservative choice and has agreed with his technicians to race tomorrow on the “old” frame – if that is what it can be called. The solution he knows best should actually put him in the best position, from a psychological point of view too, to attempt to make one of his customary dramatic comebacks.

Cheering him on will be a special guest at the Pramac pits, Fabrizio Ravanelli, one of the great aces of Italian football, who has been in the Derby County first-division English team for a couple of years and who is a great motorcycling fan.

Makoto Tamada (Pramac Honda Team): 16th – 1:32.526
“The main problem is the lack of grip at the front of the bike. And lack of grip means lack of confidence. We worked really hard, trying out all the best possible solutions but we still haven’t achieved the results we were expecting. So I didn’t get the lap time I was hoping for and I’ll be starting out from a not exactly brilliant position. I’ve decided to go onto the grid tomorrow with the frame I used in previous races and I’ll leave all the comparative tests on the new-configuration frame till we try it out next week in Brno.”



More, from a press release issued by Fuchs Kawasaki:

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2003
ROUND 8 – CINZANO BRITISH GRAND PRIX
12TH JULY 2003 – QUALIFYING PRACTICE 2

MIXED FORTUNES FOR FUCHS KAWASAKI’S MCCOY AND PITT

It was a day of mixed fortunes for Fuchs Kawasaki ZX-RR riders Garry McCoy and Andrew Pitt at Donington Park, with the Australian duo qualifying in 18th and 21st places respectively for tomorrow’s 30-lap British Grand Prix.

McCoy made a dramatic improvement to slash 1.6s from his first qualifying time, while Pitt’s bid to move up the grid was hampered when a technical problem with his number one bike saw the radiator drained of coolant during this afternoon’s hour long final qualifying session.

McCoy responded to a run of disappointing qualifying performances to move up three places on the grid – just two seconds off pole, in what was a record breaking qualifying session. Meanwhile his Australian team-mate Pitt was forced to make up for lost time adjusting to the set-up of his spare Ninja ZX-RR, which left just enough time for a last lap qualifying burst.

The front end ‘wheelie’ problem which affected the Fuchs Kawasaki pair yesterday was improved overnight, with both riders reporting that front end lift, while still present, was more manageable in final qualifying.

Today McCoy concentrated on fine tuning the earlier, more flexible and longer version of the ZX-RR chassis, which he will race for first time this season tomorrow. McCoy’s technicians used a combination of revised engine mapping settings to alter power characteristics and taller gear ratios to reduce the front end lift around the tight Melbourne Loop.

The 30 laps of the compact and physically demanding Donington circuit in predicted warm and sunny conditions are expected to make the British GP a tough mid-season test for riders.

Garry McCoy – 18th – 1:32.793
‘I haven’t seen the first page of the timing computer for a while, so that was a good feeling at the end of the session. The taller gearing helped the wheelie problem and I felt a lot more comfortable on the bike today, using the softer frame specification. We made a good step forward in the morning session, so I decided just to stick with one bike and concentrate on that set-up and just go for it. The warmer track has probably opened up our options for a race tyre, so we’ve still got some thinking to do before making a final choice.’

Andrew Pitt – 21st – 1:33.705
‘I spent most of the session getting the feel of my spare bike, which definitely didn’t feel the same as the one that stopped, and so it took a while for me to get back up to speed. Then right at the end I had a good lap going but ran wide on the second last corner and that cost me some time. The wheelie thing was more manageable today, but it’s still a problem. I think we have a good race tyre choice here, so hopefully things will run a bit smoother tomorrow.’

Harald Eckl – Team Manager
‘Garry made a very good step forward with the different chassis set-up we have for him at Donington and this is a positive result for both him and team. Doing a lot of laps has helped Garry understand the ZX-RR a little better and adjust to the bike. Andrew’s problems came at the worst time for qualifying, but even so we have an opportunity here for both riders to challenge to be in the points in the race; our Dunlop race tyres are consistent and performing as we expected they would here.’


More, from a press release issued by Alice Aprilia Racing Press Information:

BRITISH GP / SECOND QUALIFYING SESSION

Donington – The race tomorrow will be hard fought cause the gap amongst the firsts is very low. The Alice Aprilia Racing Team will start with two different bikes: Colin will ride a RS Cube with a new chassis already tested in Clemont Ferrand whist Haga will use the “old” setting. This choice has been made to avoid too many rebus. Anyway the real problem is the choice of the tyres: today the Aprilia riders made a lot of laps trying to find the right solution but the temperature can easily rise and it’s not so easy.

COLIN EDWARDS: “I am very close to the pole and I feel rather satisfied. Anyway the race will be hard-closed like in the Supersport Championship. Moreover the laps are 30 and the stage tricks won’t miss. Today I used the new chassis: it’s not a revolution project just an evolution of the old one. For me it’s better cause I feel more comfortable. The bike is easier to ride and the performance is still the same. The electronic work we made improved as well. The pace of the race will be 1’32 but it depends also on the tyres and the temperature of the asphalt. Today I also made some good starts”.

NORIYUKI HAGA: “I still think that the bike is to “nervous” in the second part of the track but it’s not a big problem. I was surprised about the difference between the medium and soft tyres: the bike is completely different. So we must choose the right tyres and set up the bike in order to be fast. Today I made many laps with the same tyres to understand the duration. The most important thing is a good start to avoid the traffic of the big group”.

GIGI DALL’IGNA (Project Leader): “Unfortunately we did not test enough the new chassis in France: a couple of laps are not sufficient. So we took the risk to give Colin the new chassis whilst Haga will used the “old” one. The geometry is different in order to have more nimbleness. We will use it tomorrow but we are going to test it also in Brno. If both riders are happy we will keep on using it in Sachsenring as well. The pace for the race will be 1’32 more or less but I think someone will be at 100% becoming more competitive. Anyway the tyres are going to make the difference: tomorrow the temperature will rise about 20 degrees more than yesterday. We worked hard to find the right solution”.


More, from a press release issued by Team KR:

Donington Park Final Qualifying

Proton KR consider their options

Jeremy McWilliams: 19th, 1:32.802
Nobuatsu Aoki: 22nd, 1:34.364

Team Proton KR riders were considering their options, after both riders switched between the new 990cc four-stroke prototype and the old-model 500cc two-stroke today. The two-strokes were here only as back-up machines, but a combination of teething troubles and a shortage of spare parts for the new machines have left them with a dilemma.

The two-strokes set faster lap times, although an engine problem caused Aoki to crash without injury, but development of the four-stroke is a higher priority. They will decide overnight which machines to use in the home race.

This only the fourth race for the radical (and gloriously vocal) new V5 four-stroke, which is still in first prototype form. Step by step, and in full public view, Proton Team KR have been ticking off the inevitable teething problems, and they are currently awaiting a batch of redesigned crankshafts, to solve a string of earlier failures. At present the V5s are using the same first crankshafts, and are still prone to giving trouble in that area.

Development takes place on a day-to-day basis. Another spare engine arrived overnight, bringing overall strength up to four of the new machines at Donington Park, and giving McWilliams a spare bike. Yesterday, he had just one four-stroke.

“We’re still giving the bike its first tests. This isn’t the racer … it’s a test prototype,” said team owner Kenny Roberts.

Today’s practice took place in hot sunshine, with similar conditions forecast for tomorrow’s race, the eighth of 16 World Championship rounds. Pole position went to Max Biaggi (Honda).

Jeremy McWilliams
I’ve been riding everything today. We wanted to get the two-stroke set up in case we have to run it, because we haven’t had it out here yet, so the idea was to get that set up, then switch to the four-stroke. Unfortunately my first four-stroke engine is getting a little tired, and we had a little oiling problem with the other engine that arrived today, so I was back on the two-stroke again. And we were trying in vain to get it right. I’d imagined I could jump back on a bike that I know really well and start catching them up. The reality today shows that is not possible. I’d prefer to race the four-stroke, because we need the development and the data. The problem is that we haven’t really had enough time on either of the bikes – just not enough laps.

Nobuatsu Aoki
I started the afternoon with the two-stroke, and it was going pretty good. Then after a few laps the engine seized suddenly. That is why I fell. Then I had to go back to the four-stroke, but I am having many problems with it here, with the slipper clutch and the electronics. Finally, my time on the two-stroke was better. But the two-stroke is finished, and the four-stroke is the way forward, so I hope to race the four-stroke tomorrow even if it is more difficult to get a result.

Chuck Aksland – Team Manager
We’ve been going session to session, and we’ll sit down and discuss what we’re going to do tomorrow. We get a better lap time from the two-stroke, but our future is the four-stroke. But we still have some reliability issues, and though the problems aren’t serious, they are time consuming when you’re trying to get ready for a race. We have to look at the long-term and be patient, but it’s easy to understand that the riders can be impatient.


More, from a press release issued by Camel Pramac Pons:

A superb Max Biaggi on pole position at Donington Park

Max Biaggi produced a stunning performance on the second day of qualification for the eighth race of the season, the British Grand Prix taking place tomorrow at the Donington Park Circuit. The Italian rider sits on pole position after showing impressive form towards the latter stage of the session when he constantly improved on his fastest lap time. Biaggi, who was in pole position in the 2001 British Grand Prix and who has finished second in the last two seasons here, and who also won the 250cc race in 1995 and 1996, spent the whole day working on the set-up of the new chassis he used for the first time yesterday and the progress has been remarkable. Tohru Ukawa, meanwhile, steadily improved on his times from the first day of qualification, but will start the race tomorrow from the third row of the grid since the first thirteen riders are separated by only one second, thus demonstrating the competitiveness of the race which looks as though it will be run in fine weather.

1st Max Bi