Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Valentino Rossi was the fastest in the first qualifying session for the Czech Republic Grand Prix, at Brno on Friday afternoon. Americans John Hopkins and Kenny Roberts were 14th and 15th fastest. Times follow:

1. Valentino Rossi, Honda RC211V, 2:00.161
2. Max Biaggi, Yamaha YZR-M1, 2:00.340
3. Daijiro Kato, Honda RC211V, 2:00.390
4. Sete Gibernau, Suzuki GSV-R, 2:00.567
5. Alex Barros, Honda NSR500, 2:00.619
6. Jeremy McWilliams, Proton KR3, 2:00.724
7. Garry McCoy, Yamaha YZR500, 2:00.968
8. Tohru Ukawa, Honda RC211V, 2:01.023
9. Carlos Checa, Yamaha YZR-M1, 2:01.030
10. Loris Capirossi, Honda NSR500, 2:01.038
11. Norick Abe, Yamaha YZR500, 2:01.239
12. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha YZR500, 2:01.399
13. Tetsuya Harada, Honda NSR500, 2:01.435
14. John Hopkins, Yamaha YZR500, 2:01.498
15. Kenny Roberts, Suzuki GSV-R, 2:01.582
16. Nobuatsu Aoki, Proton KR3, 2:01.720
17. Regis Laconi, Aprilia RS3, 2:01.726
18. Jurgen v.d. Goorbergh, Honda NSR500, 2:02.025
19. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha YZR500, 2:02.435
20. Akira Ryo, Suzuki GSV-R, 2:02.870
21. Sylvain Guintoli, Yamaha YZR500, 2:03.941
22. Pere Riba, Yamaha YZR500, 2:04.808


More, from a press release issued by Team Red Bull Yamaha:

CZECH REPUBLIC GRAND PRIX

After a four week summer break, Red Bull Yamaha riders Garry McCoy and John Hopkins return fit and focused to the second-half of the MotoGP calender. This weekend in Brno in the Czech Republic the duo feel refreshed and ready to race on the fast flowing 5.4km circuit.

Hopkin’s left hand now bears the scar from his recent surgery in the United States. The operation repaired his middle finger – metacarpal bone that he fractured in the final qualifying session at German GP. Hopkins now has 3 permanent pin-size screws in his left hand. Dr. Arthur Ting (John’s Surgeon) is in the Czech Republic for the Grand Prix and visited John today in the Red Bull garage. Immediately after the operation John resumed light aerobic training and built up to endurance level training and strength training two weeks before the Grand Prix.

McCoy enjoyed the summer break at his home in Andorra and spent his “time-off” working on his physical fitness. McCoy’s daily physical training program is extensive (to say the least) and combines a minimum of 3 hours on the stationery cycle each morning with upper body strength training in the afternoon. “I’m feeling strong and fit after pushing to new levels in the training sessions and the gym assessment shows I’ve really climbed the ladder in terms of fitness. I’ve got a couple of trailbikes in the garage in Andorra so Dad and I have been up in the mountains doing a lot of riding together, it’s great and a good test for my ankle and leg. I can now put pressure on it and push off the rocks and there have been no problems, it’s been a good strength test” he said.

Both riders were welcomed to Brno by the Czech Republic Media in a special Red Bull event staged on top of the International Business Centre in the heart of Brno on Wednesday evening.

Garry McCoy: 7th ­ 2:00.968
“This morning my bike felt like it was a bit down on power but this afternoon after some changes it felt better. I’m a bit surprised because I didn’t think the two strokes would be this competitive here against the four strokes. I did my fastest lap on the final run, right at the end (lap 21/21) We just have to wait and see what happens on Sunday.”


Christophe Bourguignon (Race Engineer ­ Garry McCoy)
“We have improved the bike from this morning’s session and we tried a different front tyre this afternoon and we are very happy with the results. I really think this morning we made it difficult for Garry in the Free Practice Session with too many different settings so we made the decision to keep it simple this afternoon and now we have a good result.”


John Hopkins: 14th ­ 2:01.498
“I’m happy with my ride today and I was on the pace early on. We began the session with a race tyre and tried a bunch of Dunlops throughout the session. The first tyre we had for qualifying was really good but unfortunately I made a few little mistakes toward the end of the lap and that cost me today. So we will work on that for tomorrow.”


Colin Davies ­ Race Engineer for John Hopkins
“We need to do some work tonight to get the right race set-up and we have already found a decent race tyre for Sunday.”


Peter Clifford ­ Director of Racing
” It’s great to see Garry back in the groove and I think that there is every chance that John will join him tomorrow.”



More, from a Marlboro Yamaha press release:

CZECH REPUBLIC GP, BRNO
First Qualifying, Friday August 23 2002

NEW PARTS GIVE MARLBORO YAMAHA NEW SPEED
Marlboro Yamaha Team star Max Biaggi took advantage of a raft of new parts for his YZR-M1 to come within 0.179 seconds of provisional pole position at baking-hot Brno this afternoon. Team-mate Carlos Checa is taking a little longer to adjust the modified chassis to his liking; he ended the session ninth quickest and is confident of better tomorrow.

Both men have one modified chassis apiece, to allow them to compare the different rear-shock pivot and revised geometry against the older chassis. They also have a new, sleeker fairing and new radiator, to improve straight-line speed (by around 2kmh) and engine cooling.

“Max rode all this afternoon’s session with the new chassis, while Carlos switched between the new and the old,” explained YZR-M1 project leader Ichiro Yoda. “We changed the chassis to improve front traction. The weight transfer is different, which improves grip and feel as the riders brake into corners and let off the brake. Max already likes the changes, though Carlos had some front-end push which his crew aim to dial out for tomorrow. This evening both riders will make adjustments, to suspension and maybe also geometry.”

BIAGGI LIKES NEW M1 CHASSIS
Max Biaggi didn’t take long to prove the efficacy of Yamaha’s latest engineering efforts, challenging for provisional pole position during the final moments of this afternoon’s opening qualifier on his upgraded M1. The Marlboro Yamaha Team man concentrated on his modified chassis and is delighted with the improvements.

“We’ve been experimenting quite a bit and I think this revised chassis brings us many possibilities,” said the Italian. “It doesn’t feel so different when you’re riding, but it’s much better for attacking the corners. We found a better set-up after this morning’s session and I felt much faster this afternoon. I’m trying very hard out there, and I think we can make some small adjustments to help me go even quicker tomorrow, when I hope to make pole.”

During GP racing’s midsummer break Biaggi took a boating holiday around Sardinia, also attending the Marlboro Masters event at Zandvoort earlier this month.


CHECA TESTS BACK-TO-BACK
Carlos Checa spent much of today swapping back and forth between his new and older M1 chassis, proclaiming the revisions a success, though he wasn’t able to extract the best out of the bike this afternoon. The Marlboro Yamaha Team ace ended the session ninth, just 0.869 seconds off provisional pole sitter Valentino Rossi (Honda).

“We made some changes to the modified chassis at the end of the session and it felt better, though I was still getting some front-end push which was losing me time,” said the Spaniard. “We’ll make some adjustments to the base set-up for tomorrow and with those settings I think this chassis will give me a better feeling, so I should be able to push harder. For sure, we’ll concentrate on the new chassis from now on, I just wanted to do some back-to-back testing today.”

Like Biaggi, Checa performed at the Marlboro Masters during his midseason vacation, then kicked back with a brief holiday in the Pyrenees.


ROSSI ON TOP BUT UNDER PRESSURE
World Championship leader Valentino Rossi started the second phase of the 2002 MotoGP season as he ended the first phase last month, out front. But this time it took the Italian until the very last lap to topple Daijiro Kato from provisional pole. Kato rode the first nine races of the year aboard an NSR500 but has now been equipped with RCVs. He ended the outing third quickest.

“We had some rear traction problems but we fixed that and my last lap was very, very fast,” said Rossi, who expects a strong challenge from his new RCV rival.

Kato said: “I was really fast when I tested my 500 here in June, but the RCV feels easier to ride.”




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

FRONT-ROW RESTART PROMISES STRONG RACE FOR SUZUKI

MotoGP – Round 10, Brno, Czech Republic, Friday August 23, 2002.

Team Telefónica MoviStar Suzuki riders Sete Gibernau and Kenny Roberts Jr claimed fourth and 15th places respectively in today’s first qualifying session for Sunday’s Czech Republic GP at Brno, the race that marks the start of the second part of the season after the long summer break.

Kenny’s relatively low position was the result of a minor tumble at the end of the hour-long session, preventing him from joining the final scramble for lap times. But Sete’s fourth place, on the provisional front row, reflected a mood of optimism throughout the team, with confidence buoyed up not only by a refreshing holiday but also by continuing improvements to GSV-R V4 four-stroke prototype, introduced a full year earlier than planned at the beginning of this year.

It came in spite of a glitch in delivery of a redesigned chassis – one for each Suzuki rider – which should have been at Brno in good time for today’s restart to the MGP season. Instead they were held up in customs at Prague, and arrived after practice had already begun. Today’s times were set using the old chassis, which performed well enough to leave both riders expecting even more progress tomorrow, when they will try the latest version for the first time.

Today’s first practice was especially significant for Roberts, who skipped the last round before the break for corrective surgery on his right arm, which had been suffering “pump-up” problems all season. During testing at home, he had already established “it feels better than ever before.” Today was his first chance to test the improvement on a 200-horsepower GP machine.

SETE GIBERNAU – Fourth Position, 2:00.567
“My time came at the end of the session when I was with Rossi. It shows what the bike is capable of, but I have to say I’m still not at a comfortable pace. We’re chipping away at things all the time. Suzuki have been working hard to try to give us what we think and what they think we need to take the next step. Tomorrow I’ll try the new chassis and see if that does the job. It’s not so much to improve the lap time, which is okay, but the overall pace for race distance. We’ll keep working, and hope to keep improving.”

KENNY ROBERTS – 15th Position, 2:01.582
“It’s good to be back. I feel strong physically, and so far the arm feels great. And this track is nice for these bikes – it’s big enough so you can really gas it up and use the power. We made a lot of setting changes this morning and this afternoon, and we have a new engine setting that feels better. I ended up using the other engine, because that bike had a front suspension that meant I could be more aggressive. I was running 2:01 laps that I imagine will be a pretty fair race pace, and I was feeling confident and comfortable on the bike, which hasn’t been the case for a while. I can obviously get higher on the grid, but there are a lot of bikes up there which have just done a one-off lap time that they won’t be able to keep up in the race, and I know I can start well and move through anyway. We’ll try the new chassis tomorrow, including some changes that we found today. In a way, we were just preparing for the new chassis. There’s not much to say about the crash. I was trying a narrower tyre, and I was probably ten or 15km/h slower into the last corner when I hit a bump and the front tucked. It wasn’t significant, except I missed the last few minutes of practice.”

GARRY TAYLOR – Team Manager
“Both riders are back and refreshed from the break. It’s a pity we had the hold-up with the new chassis, because these things seldom work perfectly out of the box, and we’ve lost half the time we had to get the settings right. It means our technicians will have to think hard and work hard to get the best out of the old or the new chassis tomorrow.”


More, from a press release issued by Proton Team KR:

McWILLIAMS WELL UP TO SPEED AT BRNO

Round 10: Czech Republic GP, Brno First Qualifying: Friday, August 23, 2002

Jeremy McWilliams: Sixth, 2:00.724
Nobuatsu Aoki: 16th, 2:01.720

Jeremy McWilliams was the second-fastest two-stroke in today’s first qualifying session for Sunday’s Czech Republic GP, claiming sixth-fastest time and a second-row provisional grid position to confirm the Proton Team KR hopes that the fast and sweeping Brno circuit will once again bring out the best in the sweet-handling KR3 lightweight triple.

Team-mate Nobuatsu Aoki was left struggling, searching for front-end grip to be able to exploit the machine’s high corner speed potential, and unable to put himself higher than the fourth row.

Brno is the fourth of a quartet of highly technical circuits, where the KR3’s strengths outweight a relative lack of top-end speed compared with the four-cylinder two-strokes, and more especially the new-generation 990cc four-stroke MGP machines.

McWilliams switched back to the standard chassis after testing the newer “wideline” version in the morning. The newer chassis offers several advantages, but the older version has not only an excellent record at Brno, but also offers better engine performance in certain areas because of better internal air flow through the highly-developed airbox.

As usual, the KR3 top speed times were relatively slow, with McWilliams more than 20km/h down on the fastest speed, 271.3km/h compared with Max Biaggi’s four-stroke Yamaha, at 293.6km/h.

Provisional pole went to championship leader Valentino Rossi’s V5 four-stroke Honda. There is one more day of qualifying tomorrow before Sunday’s race.

JEREMY McWILLIAMS
“It’s better than I expected. Being second-fastest two-stroke is like being second on the road to us. This is a good track for our bike – it hates the straights, but loves the bendy bits. I’m using the standard chassis because it gives the engine more punch onto the straights, and that makes more difference at this track than some others. But we’ve also fitted a new rear suspension link that makes it feel more like the new chassis. We haven’t really had any problems so far. We got to the settings quite quickly. I’ve gone quicker than the bike’s ever been here before, so I’m not exactly just sitting on it. But there is more to come by taking more risks, though I’d be happier if we could improve the front feeling so I could go into the corners harder.”

NOBUATSU AOKI
“I’ve been struggling for front grip, especially when the bike is right on the edge, even though I am using the softest tyre. It’s the same as at the last two races, only worse. It feels strange … as though it is chattering, but I think it’s not chatter, but just a shortage of grip. We’ll have to work again on the suspension and chassis side – try to figure it out. My team has been able to do that for me at the last races, and I hope we can do it again tomorrow.”

CHUCK AKSLAND – Team Manager
“I thought that the standard chassis might be better here, because we have a lot of data on it from the past, and it suits this circuit. Turned out to be right. Jeremy is going well as always, and we’ll do some thinking to try to improve Nobu’s situation.”