From a press release issued by Team Suzuki:

SUZUKI SET FOR RAPID MUGELLO
World MotoGP Preview. Round 4, Mugello, Italy – June 6, 2004.


MotoGP racing resumes at speed after a brief Spring break at the two tracks with the fastest straights in motorcycle racing.

At Mugello in 2002 – the first year of the new 990cc MotoGP machines – just two bikes nudged through the 200mph barrier (321.8 km/h). Last year, Suzuki joined the 200mph club along with 14 other machines.

Speeds have continued to rise as the big four-stroke prototypes move into their third year – 215mph was recorded at Catalunya in windy pre-season tests – and this year’s visit to Italy is expected to yield the fastest racing speeds so far. If conditions are against this, then the honour might as easily fall to Catalunya, one week later.

The breathtaking speed is all part of the character of the classic 3.26-mile Mugello switchback, which packs in capacity crowds of partisan Italians. Using the steep sides of an Apennine valley amid picturesque Tuscan scenery, this is the race of the year for a nation whose historic contribution to motorcycle racing continues to this day. Partisan fans of racing stars like Valentino Rossi, Max Biaggi and Loris Capirossi paint the hillsides in swathes of colour.

For the Suzuki pair, 2000 World Champion Kenny Roberts Jr. and rising star John Hopkins, the race is also important … the next step in the machine’s own renaissance.

Significant technical refinements to the 2004 version of the Suzuki GSV-R V4 racer have already seen improved lap times, prospects and results. Tests of new developments promise more to come in the future. Mugello and equally-fast Catalunya one week later are two more steps in the progress towards the goal of regaining the winner’s laurels.

Hopkins has another concern: whether his injured left hand will be strong enough to handle the brute power and high speed of the circuit outside Florence. The Anglo-American – who celebrated his 21st birthday with friends and relatives in Britain during the break – was an innocent victim in a three-bike first-lap pile-up at the French GP and broke his thumb.

One week before the start of the Italian GP, he had the plaster cast removed and began laser treatment to repair the injury as fast as possible.

During the break, Suzuki’s official test rider Gregorio Lavilla has been continuing development work with the factory team’s new-this-year tyre suppliers Bridgestone.

“It’s all part of an on-going programme – with the tyres, and with the machine itself,” said team manager Garry Taylor.

“The machine at Mugello and Catalunya will be substantially as before, but refinements, improvements and other changes take place all the time in racing, and as always we’ll be aiming at making the best bike possible for the particular demands of the tracks,” he continued.

“Our morale and expectations are still very high after our clear steps forward, but we’re still very aware that there is still a long way to go,” said Taylor.

KENNY ROBERTS: Making the most of it:

“We’re back to the fast tracks now and at this point they’re going to be tough. Like at the other tracks, we’ll work to get the bike the best it can be. It’s another race where we’ll go faster than last year – but so will all the others. We’re at a higher level than last year, but everybody has progressed and we need to keep making big steps if we are going to catch up.”


JOHN HOPKINS: Holding thumbs for the race:

“I’ve been enjoying myself in the break – visited a few clubs in London for my 21st birthday and caught a 50-plus pound conger eel on a deep-sea fishing trip. Pulling that in gave my fingers a good workout, but my thumb has been motionless in a cast for two weeks. Now it’s out and I’m getting laser treatment to get strength and movement. You need some strength to hang on tight going down that front str aight at Mugello.”

ABOUT THIS RACE:

The Italian GP is one of the classic events held ever since the foundation of the championships in 1949. This year’s race is the 55th in a series named until 1990 “The GP of the Nations,” and held almost every year at the classic Monza circuit. Imola, Misano and the old Mugello also occasionally hosted the race. In 1992, the Italian GP returned to the rebuilt and modernised Mugello facility – now part of the Ferrari Empire – and since 1994 it has been a fixture at the beautiful Tuscan circuit. Steeped in history and mystique, the Italian GP has always been both glamorous and prestigious.

ABOUT THIS TRACK:

Overlooked by the old Mille Miglia route, Mugello lies on both sides of a valley, with the pit straight and paddock complex at the lowest point. The track climbs sharply up one hillside, runs a fast switchback across the top, then plunges steeply down to soar up the opposite side where more of the same ends up in a dramatic last downhill U-bend back to the long, long straight which ends in a flat-out kink and a heart-in-the-mouth hump that lifts the front wheels at top speed, just before hard braking for the first turn. The sweeping, spacious layout marks it as a classic rather than a modern circuit, but a thorough remake ten years ago brought the facilities, surface and safety bang up to date. The pit-lane complex is superb, spectator viewing excellent, and safety standards among the highest. Average speeds are high, but overtaking difficult in the fast one-line ess-bends that mark out much of the unfashionably-long lap of 3.26 miles; while the direction changes and continuous climbs and drops are technically challenging both for riders and for team technicians. The result is often very close racing, further reinforcing the circuit’s status as a modern classic.

GP DATA:

Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello.

Circuit Length: 3.259 miles / 5.245 km

Lap Record: 1:52.601 – 104.197 mph / 167.656 km/h. T Ukawa (Honda) 2001

2003 Results:

Race Winner: Valentino Rossi (Honda)

Race Average: 43:28.008 – 103.471 mph / 166.520 km/h.

Fastest Race Lap: 1:52.623 Loris Capirossi (Ducati)

Pole Position: Rossi 1:51.927

Kenny Roberts: DNF, qualified 18th 1:53.399 (Suzuki)
Fastest Race Lap: 1:54.502

John Hopkins: DNF, qualified 19th 1:54.626 (Suzuki)
Fastest Race Lap: 1:52.969