Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

World Supersport Race Results:

1. Karl Muggeridge, Honda CBR600RR, 16 laps, 34:14.542
2. Sebastien Charpentier, Honda CBR600RR, -0.157 second
3. Andrew Pitt, Yamaha YZF-R6, -6.004 seconds
4. Broc Parkes, Honda CBR600RR, -7.499 seconds
5. Jurgen Vd Goorbergh, Yamaha YZF-R6, -7.822 seconds
6. Jam Hanson, Honda CBR600RR
7. Max Neukirchner, Honda CBR600RR
8. Arie Vos, Kawasaki ZX-6RR
9. Christian Kellner, Yamaha YZF-R6
10. Barry Veneman, Suzuki GSX-R600
11. Kai Borre Andersen Kai, Kawasaki ZX-6RR
12. Stefano Cruciani, Kawasaki ZX-6RR
13. Stephane Chambon, Suzuki GSX-R600
14. Matthieu Lagrive, Suzuki GSX-R600
15. Matteo Baiocco, Yamaha YZF-R6
16. Iain MacPherson, Ducati 749R
17. Denis Sacchetti, Honda CBR600RR
18. Roman Stamm, Suzuki GSX-R600
19. Sebastien Le Grelle, Honda CBR600RR, -1 lap
20. Lorenzo Lanzi, Ducati 749R, -2 laps
21. Kevin Curtain, Yamaha YZF-R6, -1 lap, DNF
22. Fabien Foret, Yamaha YZF-R6, -5 laps, DNF

26. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki GSX-R600, -10 laps, DNF

Fastest Lap: Andrew Pitt, 2:07.430


More, from a press release issued by Ten Kate Honda:

Assen: Muggeridge Takes Fifth Win

Karl Muggeridge (Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) romped to his fifth win of the season at Assen, his Ten Kate Team’s home circuit. With over 400 guests in tow this weekend, it was a special result for all concerned, and the 25 points gained for Muggeridge’s win extends his championship lead still further, to a massive 38 points, with only two rounds remaining.

Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) did not find his machine set-up a perfect match for the exceptionally hot track conditions, but fought all the way to a fourth place finish, keeping him third in the overall championship fight.

After his fifth win and his sixth podium finish in a row, Muggeridge stated, “There were a lot of guest of the team here this weekend, which added a little something to it all. I was happy just to win the race and make my team happy. Maybe I’ll get a job for next year! I’m going to keep pushing until the end, even though our points position is pretty good now. Charpentier is always there now but on the day we’ll see who can win the next races. Today Sebastien and the rest did not give me any breaks. I was desperate for them to slow down a bit and give me a break but they kept pushing all the way, With the temperature being so high it was very slippery out there. This morning we could set better times in the lower temperatures.”

Parkes felt compromised in his race pace by a not quite perfect set-up for the conditions. “I just couldn’t stay on the back of the main group and that was the problem. I lost the front a few times when I was trying to stick with them, but I tried as much as I could but couldn’t catch them again. I think it was the bike set-up so I have to do that a little bit better.”

Team Manager Ronald Ten Kate was delighted to win, but knows the job is not complete yet. “We could not ask for more from Karl today, taking such a strong win after a great period of qualifying. It is not over yet and we will keep on working hard at the next two races. But we will be waiting for the fat lady to sing. Broc had some problems in the race with grip, so he couldn’t do any better than fourth. Luckily for us he was in front of Karl’s main championship rival Jurgen van den Goorbergh so I am happy with the job he did today.”

World Supersport Championship
Round Eight – Assen, Netherlands
3 – 5 September 2004
Race Report
1. K. Muggeridge, AUS, Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR,
2. S. Charpentier, FRA, Honda CBR600RR, 0.157
3. A. Pitt, AUS, Yamaha YZF R6, 6.004
4. B. Parkes, AUS, Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR, 7.499
5. J. Vd Goorbergh, NED, Yamaha YZF R6, 7.822
6. J. Hanson, SWE, Honda CBR600RR, 23.817
7. M. Neukirchner, GER, Honda CBR600RR, 24.757
8. A. Vos, NED, Kawasaki ZX6 RR, 26.405
9. C. Kellner, GER, Yamaha YZF R6, 28.450
10. B. Veneman, NED, Suzuki GSX-R 600, 36.504


More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing Information:

Track: Dry, 35°C
Air: Warm, Sunny 27°C
Attendance: 76,000 (three days)

World Supersport Championship 2004 – Round 8
Assen Race Report
3 – 5 SEPTEMBER 2004


MUGGERIDGE TAKES FIFTH WIN IN COMMANDING STYLE

Karl Muggeridge called on every bit of experience and all his Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR’s speed to hold off a quality field of Supersport entrants at hot and sunny Assen circuit, in front of a large and enthusiastic Dutch crowd of 76,000.

His fifth win of the year came after a peerless display of front running, with both regular riders and wildcards not quite able to match his pace throughout. Controlling things from the front, Muggeridge rode perfectly in the final corners and eventually won by a small but safe margin of 0.157 seconds, from fast Klaffi Honda rider Sebastien Charpentier, with wild card Yamaha rider Andrew Pitt in a distant third.

An imperfect set-up and high tarmac temperatures put Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) in fourth position, seven seconds from the leading pace. Swede Jan Hanson took his private Honda CBR600RR to a fine sixth while regular Klaffi Honda Team rider Max Neukirchner once more belied his age and limited Supersport experience to fight his way through to seventh.

With Alessio Corradi out of the race, thanks to a broken wrist sustained in a Saturday qualifying crash on oil, Denis Sacchetti was the lone Team Italia Megabike Honda rider in residence, and he took 17th place, just out of the points.

For Muggeridge, who extended his championship lead to 38 points as his main rival Jurgen van den Goorbergh, could only finish fifth, Assen was an important race. “There were a lot of guests of the team here this weekend, which added a little something to it all. I was happy just to win the race and make my team happy. Maybe I’ll get a job for next year! I’m going to keep pushing until the end, even though our points position is pretty good now. Charpentier is always there but on the day we’ll see who can win the next races. Today Sebastien and the rest did not give me any breaks. I was desperate for them to slow down a bit and give me a break but they kept pushing all the way, With the temperature being so high it was very slippery out there. This morning we could set better times in the lower temperatures.”

Charpentier’s race was a tough one, although he did not give up the fight until the chequered flag was unfurled. “It is very hard to pass Karl. He is a very experienced rider, he and his team have many wins and it is still only the third year of existence for our team. I pushed Karl as much as I could but it was not possible to pass him. He was riding at a very high speed and always had good lines in the corners. I feel good for the next races, so we will try our best there. We also have a good position in the championship now.” Charpentier is fourth in the title fight.

Parkes was disappointed to be only fourth after such hard work in hot conditions, but gave it his all and is third in the championship. “I just couldn’t stay on the back of the main group and that was the problem. I lost the front a few times when I was trying to stick with them, but I tried as much as I could but couldn’t catch them again. I think it was the bike set-up so I have to do that a little bit better.”

Rookie Neukirchner, rode with the exuberance of youth but finished his race with a cool head to conquer the overheated asphalt. “It was a very tough race for me today, because I had some big slides from the rear as the race went on. I have experience of this track from my European championship days and that helped. I lost contact with the group at the front after I had a big front end slide and that stopped me running with them. I was pleased with seventh, in the circumstances it was a good result for us so I am satisfied.” He ended his weekend tenth in the title fight.

Sacchetti stated, “I started not so well and I ran the first laps of the race in the final positions of the group. After three laps I got a tow from the group in front of me and then I passed many riders. I’m not completely satisfied for the race: I know that if I start better I can to run for better positions. My target for this race was to take points for the championship. The target is missed and I’m not happy.”

World Superbike Championship – Round 9
The first of two Assen World Superbike races was taken by the works Ducati of James Toseland, the Briton enjoying his second race win of the year. He was followed home at 1.2 seconds distant by Superpole winner Pierfrancesco Chili (Ducati) and Regis Laconi (Ducati), with Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) fourth and Chris Vermeulen, on a Ten Kate prepared CBR1000RR Fireblade, fifth.

In the second race Vermeulen took a popular win for the Ten Kate squad, getting the better of a classic battle between himself and Toseland, with Haga a close and threatening third. Chili dropped to fourth and Laconi was fifth. In the championship Vermeulen remains second, now on 252 points, but Toseland is the new championship leader, with 255. Fourteen points separate the leading four riders.

The championship now moves to the penultimate round at Imola, on September 26.


More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing:

SUPERB PODIUM FOR PITT ON HIS DEBUT

Yamaha Racing Italia rider Andrew Pitt took a superb third place in a hotly-contested race at Assen today in front of over seventy-thousand sun-baked fans. The Australian was racing a Yamaha R6 for the first time, but even though he was not used to the bike or the Pirelli tyres, he was a podium contender right from the start. He and fellow countryman Kevin Curtain – also on a Yamaha – clashed at the final chicane as they both chased third spot, but Pitt managed to keep the bike upright and ride through the gravel to take the chequered flag, behind Honda riders Karl Muggeridge and Sebastien Charpentier. Jurgen van den Goorbergh lost touch with the leaders early on in the race and finished fifth. Fabien Foret shouldn’t even have been riding (thanks to a broken ankle) but he got up to fifth before losing the front and crashing out – fortunately without any further injury.

ANDREW PITT – 3rd

Third today was better then I expected before the weekend, but I’m very happy. This was my first race on a Yamaha R6 and also the first time on Pirellis, but I got on with both pretty well. With more experience of both, I think I could have beaten Muggeridge. My only regret this weekend is my contact with my friend Kevin Curtain on the last lap. We were both chasing the same piece of tarmac and as there wasn’t space for both of us, one of us had top lose out. We made contact and he went down, but I managed to keep the bike upright and ride through the gravel trap and then rejoin the track to take the chequered flag and third place. The team have asked me to ride in the last two rounds and I’m really looking forward to that.

JURGEN VD GOORBERGH – 5th

The bike was OK today, though I needed a little bit more acceleration to be able to overtake. I think I lost the race at the start because I didn’t have a clean track in front of me. If there had been a clear track ahead, I’m sure I could’ve been right with the leaders and better placed to make a move on them. It’s a tough task to catch Muggeridge in the points standing, but I’ll try my best in the last two races.

FABIEN FORET – DNF

I pushed very hard not to lose contact with the leading bunch, but it wasn’t so easy riding with a broken ankle. I crashed when I lost the front – similar to the crash I had in practice – but luckily I didn’t do any further damage. Now, i’ve got three weeks to improve my condition and get fit to race. I want to end the season by doing something special.


More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki:

NO ASSEN JOY FOR ALSTARE TEAM
Team Suzuki Press Office – September 5, 2004.

Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra left Assen bitterly disappointed at their results in today’s 16-lap Supersport World Championship race after only Stephane Chambon finished the race in a disappointing 13th position.

Katsuaki Fujiwara was forced to pull out with a clutch problem and Vittorio Iannuzzo had another crash.

Series leader Karl Muggeridge (Honda) won after a race-long battle with fellow Honda rider Sebastien Charpentier with former Supersport World Champion Andrew Pitt third.

STEPHANE CHAMBON – 13th:

“It’s no pleasure finishing 13th when you know that you are capable of much more. Thanks to my lowly grid position, I was only 17th at the start but I tried to move up the order as the race went on, but it was not to be.”

KATSUAKI FUJIWARA – DNF:

“After one lap, I was in fourth place and happy. But after two more laps, the clutch felt a bit funny and, three laps later, it became a serious problem and I had to pull in. It was a big disappointment to me and the team.”

VITTORIO IANNUZZO – DNF:

“Another loss of front end, another crash and no points! I find it hard to believe what has happened to me this season and I cannot really explain many of the things that have gone on. Imola is next and I feel it is a ‘home’ race, so I have to do well.”


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

NO LUCK FOR LANZI (DUCATI BREIL) IN ASSEN SUPERSPORT

Assen (Netherlands), 5 September 2004: Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Breil) completed a disappointing Assen weekend with 20th place in the Dutch Round of the World Supersport championship.

The 22-year-old Italian rider, starting 22nd on the grid, pitted half-way through the race with a front tyre problem and was classified twentieth, two laps adrift of the winner Muggeridge (Honda).

“I did quite a good start to get into the first corner well but on the opening lap I went wide onto the dirt to avoid another rider and finished lap 1 in 22nd position” declared Lanzi.

“I was recovering well but after four laps I began to have a problem with the front tyre and the steering was feeling strange, I almost fell a few times so I decided to come into the pits to change the tyre.

“We put a harder tyre on and I went back out again but by then I couldn’t do much. With the new tyre I was lapping slower than usual because we didn’t have the right set-up, but at least I wasn’t crashing out at every corner. It was a disappointing weekend all round.”

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

MotoGP:

1. Valentino ROSSI, Yamaha, 1:38.695
2. Kenny ROBERTS, Suzuki, 1:38.917
3. Sete GIBERNAU, Honda, 1:38.961
4. Max BIAGGI, Honda, 1:39.146
5. John HOPKINS, Suzuki, 1:39.164
6. Loris CAPIROSSI, Ducati, 1:39.418
7. Makoto TAMADA, Honda, 1:39.427
8. Colin EDWARDS, Honda, 1:39.436
9. Alex BARROS, Honda, 1:39.447
10. Carlos CHECA, Yamaha, 1:39.519
11. Norick ABE, Yamaha, 1:39.731
12. Troy BAYLISS, Ducati, 1:40.023
13. Marco MELANDRI, Yamaha, 1:40.036
14. Neil HODGSON, Ducati, 1:40.064
15. Shinya NAKANO, Kawasaki, 1:40.821
16. Alex HOFMANN, Kawasaki, 1:40.824
17. Jeremy McWILLIAMS, Aprilia, 1:41.225
18. Ruben XAUS, Ducati, 1:41.355
19. Michel FABRIZIO, Aprilia, 1:41.567
20. Nobuatsu AOKI, Proton, 1:42.058
21. James ELLISON, Harris WCM, 1:42.773
22. Chris BURNS, Harris WCM, no time


250cc:

1. Toni ELIAS, Honda, 1:42.170
2. Sebastian PORTO, Aprilia, 1:42.546
3. Alex DE ANGELIS, Aprilia, 1:42.700
4. Daniel PEDROSA, Honda, 1:43.096
5. Randy DE PUNIET, Aprilia, 1:43.206
6. Manuel POGGIALI, Aprilia, 1:43.517
7. Franco BATTAINI, Aprilia, 1:43.539
8. Anthony WEST, Aprilia, 1:43.683
9. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Honda, 1:43.729
10. Alex DEBON, Honda, 1:44.231
11. Roberto ROLFO, Honda, 1:44.270
12. Naoki MATSUDO, Yamaha, 1:44.367
13. Fonsi NIETO, Aprilia, 1:44.439
14. Jakub SMRZ, Honda, 1:44.543
15. Hugo MARCHAND, Aprilia, 1:44.571
16. Chaz DAVIES, Aprilia, 1:44.584
17. Joan OLIVE, Aprilia, 1:44.706
18. Alex BALDOLINI, Aprilia, 1:44.886
19. Taro SEKIGUCHI, Yamaha, 1:44.890
20. Sylvain GUINTOLI, Aprilia, 1:45.059


125cc:

1. Casey STONER, KTM, 1:46.037
2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Honda, 1:46.210
3. Hector BARBERA, Aprilia, 1:46.261
4. Simone CORSI, Honda, 1:46.599
5. Marco SIMONCELLI, Aprilia, 1:46.706
6. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Aprilia, 1:46.817
7. Mirko GIANSANTI, Aprilia, 1:46.872
8. Steve JENKNER, Aprilia, 1:46.977
9. Pablo NIETO, Aprilia, 1:47.030
10. Roberto LOCATELLI, Aprilia, 1:47.167
11. Mika KALLIO, KTM, 1:47.194
12. Gabor TALMACSI, Malaguti, 1:47.302
13. Jorge LORENZO, Derbi, 1:47.324
14. Andrea BALLERINI, Aprilia, 1:47.335
15. Sergio GADEA, Aprilia, 1:47.592

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin completed a sweep of the Suzuki Superbike Showdown AMA Superbike double-header event with a win Sunday at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia.

Mladin followed American Honda’s Ben Bostrom and Miguel Duhamel from the start and around for a few laps, but the four-time AMA Superbike Champion took the lead on lap six of 25 and was never headed again.

Duhamel didn’t get through slower traffic as well as Mladin but did get through it better than Bostrom and finished second, nearly four seconds behind Mladin. Bostrom came home a lonely third, 10 seconds behind the winner.

After a few strong laps early on, Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke faded to a lonely fourth. He now sits 42 points behind Mladin in the Championship with two races and 75 points remaining.

Attack Kawasaki’s Josh Hayes bounced back from his crash in Saturday’s race to bring his ZX-10R Superbike home fifth Sunday. Hooters Suzuki’s John Haner recovered from a bad start to finish sixth, one spot better than Triangle Cycles Yamaha’s Larry Pegram. Corona Extra Suzuki’s Marty Craggill (eighth) came out on top of a five-way fight with Haner’s teammate Eric Wood (ninth), Prieto Racing’s Geoff May (10th), KWS Millennium Suzuki’s Shawn Higbee (11th) and NASTI Motorsports’ Lee Acree (12th).

Provisional AMA Superbike Race Two Results:

1. Mat Mladin, Suz GSX-R1000, 25 laps
2. Miguel Duhamel, Hon CBR1000RR, -3.953 seconds
3. Ben Bostrom, Hon CBR1000RR, -10.610 seconds
4. Jake Zemke, Hon CBR1000RR, -23.813 seconds
5. Josh Hayes, Kaw ZX-10R, -57.838 seconds
6. John Haner, Suz GSX-R1000, -79.303 seconds
7. Larry Pegram, Yam YZF-R1, -83.753 seconds
8. Marty Craggill, Suz GSX-R1000, -85.535 seconds
9. Eric Wood, Suz GSX-R1000, -85.655 seconds
10. Geoff May, Suz GSX-R1000, -87.286 seconds
11. Shawn Higbee, Suz GSX-R1000, -87.430 seconds
12. Lee Acree, Suz GSX-R1000, -87.440 seconds
13. Mike Smith, Yam YZF-R1, -1 lap
14. Jesse Janisch, Suz GSX-R1000, -1 lap
15. Chris Caylor, Suz GSX-R1000, -1 lap
16. Brian Stokes, Suz GSX-R1000, -1 lap
17. Byron Barbour, Suz GSX-R1000, -1 lap
18. Andrew Deatherage, Suz GSX-R1000, -1 lap
19. Chuck Sorensen, Yam YZF-R1, -1 lap
20. Jeremy Toye, Yam YZF-R1, -1 lap
21. Jeff Tigert, Hon CBR1000RR, -1 lap
22. Roger Bell, Suz GSX-R1000, -1 lap
23. Cory West, Suz GSX-R1000, -1 lap
24. Dean Mizdal, Suz GSX-R1000, -1 lap
25. Matt Lynn, Suz GSX-R1000, -1 lap
26. Jason Curtis, Suz GSX-R1000, -1 lap
27. Reuben Frankenfield, Suz GSX-R1000, -1 lap
28. Mark Ledesma, Hon CBR1000RR, -2 laps
29. J.J. Roetlin, Suz GSX-R1000, -2 laps
30. Scott Greenwood, Suz GSX-R1000, -11 laps, DNF
31. C.R. Cittere, Suz GSX-R1000, -16 laps, DNF
32. Jake Holden, Suz GSX-R1000, -19 laps, DNF, mechanical
33. Dave Weber, Suz GSX-R1000, -22 laps, DNF, mechanical
34. Aaron Yates, Suz GSX-R1000, -23 laps, DNF, mechanical
35. Chris Ulrich, Suz GSX-R1000, DNS
36. Eric Bostrom, Duc 999F04, DNS
37. Jason Pridmore, Suz GSX-R1000, DNS
38. Heath Small, Yam YZF-R1, DNS


AMA Superbike Championship Point Standings (After 16 of 18 races):

1. Mladin, 532 points
2. Zemke, 490 points
3. Duhamel, 477 points
4. Ben Bostrom, 364 points
5. May, 344 points
6. Eric Bostrom, 336 points
7. Haner, 312 points
8. Yates, 298 points
9. Wood, 284 points
10. Hayes, 267 points
11. Pegram, 256 points
12. Higbee, 236 points
13. Acree, 224 points
14. West, 218 points
15. Caylor, 201 points
16. Roetlin, 177 points
17. Toye, 171 points
18. Mizdal, 131 points
19. Steve Crevier, 124 points
20. Scott Jensen, 113 points


More, from a press release issued by Mat Mladin Motorsports:

MLADIN COMPLETES AMERICAN SUPERBIKE WINNING DOUBLE AT ROAD ATLANTA – CLOSES IN ON FIFTH CHAMPIONSHIP

Braselton, Georgia, USA (Sunday, 5 September) – Australia’s Mat Mladin completed a winning double at the penultimate round of this year’s American AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship after taking victory in the second of the weekend’s Superbike nationals being at the Road Atlanta circuit in Braselton Georgia.

The win took Mladin’s rally of AMA career wins to 32 (an all time record) and was his 8th win from the 16 races run to date in this year’s championship.

More importantly, the weekend’s haul of maximum points, has given him a 42-point margin over nearest rival Jake Zemke (Honda) 532 – 490, as the series heads to its final weekend of racing for the year at Virginia International Raceway on September 18 & 19.

The 32-year-old who hails from Camden, south west of Sydney, has led the championship since the opening race of the season, taking his third Daytona 200 victory and is just two races away from claiming an unprecedented fifth American Superbike crown, in an AMA career that has spanned nine years.

Mladin and his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 have been the combination to beat all weekend, topping the time sheets in every practice and qualifying session before taking the all-important race wins in each of the 25-lap Superbike nationals.

Aiming to repeat yesterday’s opening race win, Mladin made a steady start to today’s event, sitting in third place behind early race leaders Ben Bostrom and Miguel DuHamel. Mladin’s early race pace was highlighted as he posted the fastest lap of the race with a 1-min 23.156-sec lap as he made his move past DuHamel for second, before slipping by Bostrom a lap later to take the lead.

From that point on experience showed, as he was able to dictate and control the pace from the front steadily working his way through lapped traffic and establishing his lead. By the conclusion of the 25th lap, Mladin has worked his lead out to 3.953 secs over DuHamel. Bostrom held a comfortable third, one place ahead of Zemke on the third of the factory Honda’s.

“The race obviously went well for us today, but I did push hard in the early laps and made a couple of little mistakes before it all started to fall into place,” said Mladin. “Once I was able to pass Miguel and then Ben, I settled in and put about a second gap on them. We kept it stable for a while before we got to the traffic and I did a really good job in being able to get past the backmarkers which allowed us to increase the size of the gap. It all worked out well as I was able to control the pace from about mid-race holding the gap in the three to four second mark and it all worked out.”

“I didn’t really need to race against Miguel today, as I felt that we had a motorcycle, that if we pushed hard I was confident of what it could do for 25-laps and I didn’t want to give away a race while I was thinking about the championship when we could do it without taking any serious risks. The bike was too good to settle for anything less than a win.”

The bike itself today was as we ran in yesterday’s opener and it performed equally as well.”

“We’re in a good position now for the last round at Virginia. That 42-point cushion will mean that we can play the first there as it comes, see what the conditions are like when we get there and go from there. If we can finish either right behind, or even in front of Jake in the first race there then the championship should be done and that would be nice.”


More, from a press release issued by Proforma:

GOOD SUNDAY FOR ACREE AND CAYLOR AT ROAD ATLANTA

Lee Acree and Opie Caylor had good results on Sunday at round ten of the Chevrolet Superbike Series at Road Atlanta. Lee started the day with a race-long battle with young-guns Danny Eslick and Tony Meiring to finish twelfth in Supersport. Both riders had a good day in the Superbike race, with Lee racing to another twelfth place and Opie finishing 15th.

Lee Acree
Sunday’s Pro Honda Oils Supersport – 12th Place
“Well, in my career of bad starts, that was clear and away, no contest, absolutely, positively the worst start I’ve ever gotten,” joked Lee after the race. “I made up a bunch of ground around turn one. Danny (Eslick) was up ahead of us a ways. Tony (Meiring) would come by on the back straightaway anytime I tried to get by him. Tony and I reeled in Danny, and once we got there Danny wasn’t going to have any part of letting anyone by. The two places he was strongest out of all of us were the two places that counted for the finish line. Danny rode really, really well. I have to give him credit, he kept his composure because it looked to me like Tony was getting a bit nasty with him. I just tried to play it cool. If I dropped off of them, I could run them back down, but I just didn’t have the steam down the back straightaway.”

Sunday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 12th Place
“Yeah, I just didn’t have the grip,” said Lee after running in a pack of riders that included Marty Cragill, Shawn Higbee, Geoff May and Eric Wood. “The bike ran good, the motor seemed good. Geoff (May) was in the same boat I was, we just didn’t have the side grip. I spent a long time behind (Shawn) Higbee, watching his tire paint black stripes and be out of line, but at the same time knowing mine was spinning, and he was making a gap while his was doing it, instead of me matching it.”

Opie Caylor
Sunday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 15th Place
“I got a really good start,” said Opie. “Got off the line really good initially, got into turn one and got bunched up a little bit, nothing major. After six or seven laps, the front end started moving around a bit. I didn’t want to slow it down, but at the same time, I didn’t want to push, push, push and take myself out of the race. Mike Smith got around me, and at first had a notion of going with him, but I just didn’t get that good of a feel from the front tire.”


More, from a press release issued by Proforma:

HEATH SMALL SITS OUT SUPERBIKE #2 AT ROAD ATLANTA

Sunday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – DNS
Heath Small and the HAS/Shogun team chose to sit out today’s Chevrolet Superbike final after they were unable to repair the Yamaha R1 that overheated and lost water in Saturday’s Superbike final. The team will rectify the problem and Heath will ride the bike at the Chevrolet Superbike Series season finale at Virginia International Raceway in two weeks.


More, from a press release issued by Proforma:

HANER IMPRESSES AT ROAD ATLANTA

John Haner had a great set of finishes Sunday at round ten of the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship at Road Atlanta. John ran with the established factory stars in the talent-heavy Repsol Superstock race before finishing seventh, and ran down all but the factory bikes in the Chevrolet Superbike final to finish sixth on his Superstock-spec Hooters Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Sunday’s Repsol Superstock Final – 7th Place
“I had a really good start,” said John. “I came up out of (turn) one and dang-near pitched myself to the moon. Probably almost kicked Ben (Spies) in the head, because he came by on the left side as I came back down on the bike. It was in a false neutral, and I was hitting the rev limiter trying to get on the throttle. I actually broke the throttle housing. It was spinning on the handlebar. I think I came around in twelfth or something. I worked really hard to get back to where I was, I got by some really fast guys.”

Sunday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 6th Place
“I thought I got a good start!,” joked John. “But everyone went around me on the outside of one, and I thought, ‘I’ll just run my own race’. I knew I was faster than a lot of those guys in certain places, and I thought I’d see if I could get by them. I went by a bunch of guys, then I saw Larry (Pegram) up there, and said, ‘Well, I’ll go catch Larry’, and I caught him. The next thing you know I had a four second lead, and with four or five laps to go I just started maintaining.”


More, from a press release issued by Proforma:

DANNY ESLICK AND SHAWN HIGBEE RACE TO STRONG FINISHES AT ROAD ATLANTA

Danny Eslick and Shawn Higbee of the Millennium Technologies Suzuki team each had good results in today’s races at round ten of the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship at Road Atlanta. Danny Eslick raced to a season-best tenth place in the Supersport final after holding off Tony Meiring and Lee Acree. Shawn had a race-long battle with four other riders to finish eleventh at the end.

Danny Eslick
Sunday’s Pro Honda Oils Supersport Final – 10th Place
“Wow, that was a great race,” said Danny, who moved up into tenth in season points with the finish. “I got a good start and just put my head down as hard as I could. I guess it took a few laps but I ended up with Tony (Meiring) and Lee (Acree) behind me. Tony went around me once and I went back by kind of sideways. I was getting a way better drive over the top of the hill and down into (turn) 12, so I wasn’t too worried whenever Tony would get ahead. My tires hung in there better than I thought they would for the pace we were going. I’m just really stoked, I’ve been working hard all year to get here, plus now I’m in the top ten.”

Shawn Higbee
Sunday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 11th Place
“That was probably one of the best head-to-head battle races I’ve had all year, a pretty good group of us swapping back and forth,” said Higbee. “I was trying to run a clean line and those guys were taking advantage of the space I was leaving underneath. I think our set-up changes helped a bit, it seemed like I could transition through the esses a lot better, picking up some time there. Overall, I’m happy with the work that the team accomplished.”


More, from a press release issued by Proforma:

GEOFF MAY FINISHES TENTH IN SUPERBIKE #2 AT ROAD ATLANTA

Geoff May finished tenth in Sunday’s Superbike race at Road Atlanta, battling with Lee Acree, Marty Craggill, Shawn Higbee and Eric Wood. Geoff moved back up to fifth place in season Superbike points with today’s finish.

Sunday’s Chevrolet Superbike Final – 10th Place
“I made the wrong tire choice,” said Geoff. “I went with a harder one and it was worse, it just didn’t have the side grip. Lee and I were just riding sideways and not going forward. I thought I was racing with Marty the whole way. I looked one time and didn’t see anything. On the last lap, Eric came up the inside of me in (turn) six, and blew way wide and almost ran me off the track. It allowed Higbee to come up the inside of me in seven, and I saw him there and just leaned on into his bike, got on the gas hard. I was in the middle of a fight and I wasn’t worried about anything else but beating everyone there.”

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Kawasaki’s Roger Lee Hayden came out on top of a close AMA Supersport battle Sunday at Road Atlanta, beating his brother and teammate Tommy Hayden and Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo to the line by a fraction of a second.

It was Roger Lee Hayden’s third straight Supersport race win and his fourth victory of the season.

DiSalvo’s teammate Aaron Gobert contested the lead early before slipping back to fourth. Saying he was down on top speed, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies took fifth. Back from injury, Damon Buckmaster finished sixth, after running the first half of the race with the lead group.

Corona Extra Suzuki’s Ben Attard placed seventh, after a race-long fight with Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki’s Steve Rapp (eighth) and Championsonline.com’s Michael Barnes (ninth). KWS Millennium Suzuki’s Danny Eslick rounded out the top 10.

Tommy Hayden now leads the AMA Supersport Championship by 11 points over Roger Lee Hayden, heading into the final round at Virginia International Raceway in two weeks.

Provisional AMA Supersport Race Results:

1. Roger Lee Hayden, Kaw, 15 laps
2. Tommy Hayden, Kaw, -0.103 second
3. Jason DiSalvo, Yam, -0.413 second
4. Aaron Gobert, Yam, -2.005 seconds
5. Ben Spies, Suz, -10.354 seconds
6. Damon Buckmaster, Yam, -17.175 seconds
7. Ben Attard, Suz, -23.858 seconds
8. Steve Rapp, Suz, -24.428 seconds
9. Michael Barnes, Yam, -24.728 seconds
10. Danny Eslick, Suz, -29.250 seconds
11. Tony Meiring, Kaw, -29.483 seconds
12. Lee Acree, Suz, -30.000 seconds
13. Chris Peris, Suz, -39.399 seconds
14. Blake Young, Suz, -50.109 seconds
15. Jason Perez, Yam, -50.314 seconds
16. Darren Luck, Suz, -50.920 seconds
17. Chris Ulrich, Suz, -51.420 seconds
18. William Meyers, III, Yam, -55.278 seconds
19. Darin Eli Edwards, Suz, -55.571 seconds
20. Giovanni Rojas, Yam, -57.951 seconds
21. Jason Farrell, Kaw, -67.721 seconds
22. Ben Carlson, Suz, -57.952 seconds
23. Nicky Moore, Hon, -85.380 seconds
24. Taylor Knapp, Yam, -90.733 seconds
25. Chris Siebenhaar, Hon, -1 lap
26. Daniel Doty, Yam, -1 lap
27. Montez Stewart, Yam, -1 lap
28. Daniel Ortega, Yam, -1 lap
29. Jason Moss, Yam, -1 lap
30. Joseph Ford, Yam, -1 lap
31. Scott Beckley, Yam, -1 lap
32. Ryan Andrews, Tri, -1 lap
33. Jim Wood, Suz, -1 lap
34. Stacy Summers, Kaw, -1 lap
35. Robert Ternado, Kaw, -2 laps, DNF
36. Martin Cardenas, Yam, -3 laps, DNF
37. Nathan Hester, Yam, DNF
38. Chad Simons, Yam, DNS


Provisional AMA Supersport Championship Standings:

1. Tommy Hayden, 327 points
2. Roger Lee Hayden, 316 points
3. TIE, Spies/Aaron Gobert, 255 points
5. DiSalvo, 236 points
6. Rapp, 229 points
7. Barnes, 226 points
8. Jamie Hacking, 201 points
9. Attard, 167 points
10. Eslick, 156 points
11. Peris, 151 points
12. Meiring, 150 points
13. Aaron Yates, 141 points
14. Luck, 137 points
15. Acree, 133 points
16. Perez, 127 points
17. Rojas, 103 points
18. Moore, 100 points
19. Blake Young, 97 points
20. Bukcmaster, 91 points


More, from a press release issued by Proforma:

STRONG RESULTS FOR BLAKE YOUNG AT ROAD ATLANTA

Sixteen-year-old Blake Young had two strong finishes in his first trip to Road Atlanta for round ten of the Chevrolet Superbike Series. He held off a late race charge from Heath Small to finish eighth in Saturday’s Formula Xtreme final, and had a race-long battle with three other riders to finish fourteenth in the very competitive Supersport class on Sunday.

Saturday’s Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Final – 8th Place
“Heath Small and I passed each other two or three times in the race,” said Blake. “He passed me going into turn 10A and I got him back in 10B, then he passed me in turn one, and I ended up getting him back going into ten again.”

Sunday’s Pro Honda Oils Supersport Final – 14th Place
“Off the start, the guys kind of got away from me,” said Blake. “I tried to hang with (Chris) Peris, and he was running a little bit faster than I could. I stayed in front of those guys (Darren Luck, Jason Perez and Chris Ulrich) until about halfway through, and we came down through the esses and there was little bit of contact between me and (Jason) Perez. He went around me and another guy came into me and I got into the grass, and rolled the grass. By that time, Darren Luck and Chris Ulrich went by me. I passed Ulrich the same lap he went by me, and the rest of the guys through the rest of the race. It was a pretty good race, I’m happy overall.”

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The Roadracing World Action Fund brokered a deal that allowed AMA Pro Racing to have inflatable safety devices at both the AMA Superbike event at Road Atlanta as well as the AMA Flattrack event at the Springfield Mile this weekend.

The Fund organized 20 sections of inflatable safety devices normally deployed with Formula USA/CCS to be transported, set up and maintained at the Road Atlanta by F-USA’s Eric Kelcher, which freed some of AMA Pro Racing’s inventory of Airfence, 45 sections of which were originally supplied by the Fund, to be deployed at the Springfield Mile.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Saturday’s 125cc GP Qualifying Results:

1. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Honda, 1:46.301
2. Casey STONER, KTM, 1:46.380
3. Mirko GIANSANTI, Aprilia, 1:46.691
4. Steve JENKNER, Aprilia, 1:46.851
5. Mika KALLIO, KTM, 1:46.877
6. Hector BARBERA, Aprilia, 1:46.965
7. Simone CORSI, Honda, 1:47.105
8. Fabrizio LAI, Gilera, 1:47.402
9. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Aprilia, 1:47.452
10. Lukas PESEK, Honda, 1:47.487
11. Gabor TALMACSI, Malaguti, 1:47.499
12. Roberto LOCATELLI, Aprilia, 1:47.771
13. Marco SIMONCELLI, Aprilia, 1:47.965
14. Jorge LORENZO, Derbi, 1:48.092
15. Andrea BALLERINI, Aprilia, 1:48.135


Final Combined 125cc GP Qualifying Results:

1. DOVIZIOSO, 1:46.280
2. CORSI, 1:46.338
3. STONER, 1:46.380
4. LOCATELLI, 1:46.496
5. SIMONCELLI, 1:46.572
6. GIANSANTI, 1:46.691
7. LORENZO, 1:46.735
8. JENKNER, 1:46.851
9. KALLIO, 1:46.877
10. BARBERA, 1:46.965
11. Pablo NIETO, Aprilia, 1:47.111
12. LAI, 1:47.132
13. PESEK, 1:47.251
14. Stefano PERUGINI, Gilera, 1:47.270
15. TALMACSI, 1:47.320 13

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Final 250cc Grand Prix Qualifying Results:

1. Daniel PEDROSA, Honda, 1:41.417
2. Sebastien PORTO, Aprilia, 1:41.638
3. Toni ELIAS, Honda, 1:41.645
4. Randy DE PUNIET, Aprilia, 1:41.814
5. Alex DE ANGELIS, Aprilia, 1:42.226
6. Fonsi NIETO, Aprilia, 1:42.488
7. Alex DEBON, Honda, 1:42.516
8. Manuel POGGIALI, Aprilia, 1:42.520
9. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Honda, 1:42.709
10. Franco BATTAINI, Aprilia, 1:42.769
11. Anthony WEST, Aprilia, 1:42.781
12. Alex BALDOLINI, Aprilia, 1:43.171
13. Naoki MATSUDO, Yamaha, 1:43.191
14. Roberto ROLFO, Honda, 1:43.298
15. Sylvain GUINTOLI, Aprilia, 1:43.491
16. Chaz DAVIES, Aprilia, 1:43.507
17. Dirk HEIDOLF, Aprilia, 1:43.803
18. Joan OLIVE, Aprilia, 1:43.810
19. Hector FAUBEL, Aprilia, 1:44.039
20. Hugo MARCHAND, Aprilia, 1:44.088 19

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Saturday Morning 125cc GP Practice Times:

1. Casey STONER, KTM, 2:02.540
2. Mika KALLIO, KTM, 2:02.553
3. Marco SIMONCELLI, Aprilia, 2:03.753
4. Lukas PESEK, Honda, 2:03.756
5. Andrea BALLERINI, Aprilia, 2:03.827
6. Hector BARBERA, Aprilia, 2:04.053
7. Roberto LOCATELLI, Aprilia, 2:04.239
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Honda, 2:04.244
9. Vesa KALLIO, Aprilia, 2:04.552
10. Steve JENKNER, Aprilia, 2:04.593
11. Mirko GIANSANTI, Aprilia, 2:04.616
12. Sergio GADEA, Aprilia, 2:04.734
13. Pablo NIETO, Aprilia, 2:04.795
14. Simone CORSI, Honda, 2:04.810
15. Thomas LUTHI, Honda, 2:05.555

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

World Superbike Qualifying Results Heading Into Superpole:

1. Pierfrancesco Chili, Ducati 998RS, 2:03.953
2. James Toseland, Ducati 999F04, 2:04.080
3. Chris Vermeulen, Honda CBR1000RR, 2:04.292
4. Gianluca Nannelli, Ducati 998RS, 2:04.314
5. Giovanni Bussei, Ducati 998RS, 2:04.394
6. Regis Laconi, Ducati 999F04, 2:04.544
7. Garry McCoy, Ducati 999RS, 2:04.769
8. Marco Borciani, Ducati 999RS, 2:04.783
9. Troy Corser, Foggy Petronas FP1, 2:04.998
10. Noriyuki Haga, Ducati 999RS, 2:05.110
11. Lucio Pedercini, Ducati 998RS, 2:05.226
12. Ivan Clementi, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 2:05.382
13. Chris Walker, Foggy Petronas FP1, 2:05.395
14. Leon Haslam, Ducati 999RS, 2:05.410
15. Steve Martin, Ducati 999RS, 2:05.552
16. Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 2:05.652
17. Piergiorgio Bontempi, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:05.889
18. Sergio Fuertes, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:06.244
19. Warwick Nowland, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:07.777
20. Alessio Velini, Yamaha YZF-R1, 2:08.361

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Saturday MotoGP Qualifying Results:

1. Makoto TAMADA, Honda, 1:37.933
2. Max BIAGGI, Honda, 1:38.069
3. John HOPKINS, Suzuki, 1:38.323
4. Marco MELANDRI, Yamaha, 1:38.367
5. Colin EDWARDS, Honda, 1:38.438
6. Valentino ROSSI, Yamaha, 1:38.479
7. Sete GIBERNAU, Honda, 1:38.588
8. Kenny ROBERTS, Suzuki, 1:38.740
9. Alex BARROS, Honda, 1:38.824
10. Carlos CHECA, Yamaha, 1:38.862
11. Shinya NAKANO, Kawasaki, 1:39.157
12. Loris CAPIROSSI, Ducati, 1:39.392
13. Norick ABE, Yamaha, 1:39.635
14. Jeremy McWILLIAMS, Aprilia, 1:39.815
15. Troy BAYLISS, Ducati, 1:39.836
16. Alex HOFMANN, Kawasaki, 1:39.852
17. Neil HODGSON, Ducati, 1:40.202
18. Ruben XAUS, Ducati, 1:40.466
19. Michel FABRIZIO, Aprilia, 1:40.896
20. Nobuatsu AOKI, Proton, 1:41.279
21. James ELLISON, Harris WCM, 1:42.284

Not qualified (Out 107%) 1:44.788

22. Chris BURNS, Harris WCM, 1:48.817



Combined Final MotoGP Qualifying Results:

1. TAMADA, 1:37.933
2. ROSSI, 1:38.036
3. GIBERNAU, 1:38.067
4. BIAGGI, 1:38.069
5. BARROS, 1:38.215
6. HOPKINS, 1:38.323
7. MELANDRI, 1:38.367
8. EDWARDS, 1:38.438
9. ROBERTS, 1:38.740
10. CHECA, 1:38.862
11. CAPIROSSI, 1:39.071
12. NAKANO, 1:39.157
13. BAYLISS, 1:39.279
14. ABE, 1:39.635
15. HODGSON, 1:39.677
16. McWILLIAMS, 1:39.815
17. HOFMANN, 1:39.852
18. XAUS, 1:40.259
19. FABRIZIO, 1:40.586
20. AOKI, 1:41.279
21. ELLISON, 1:42.284
22. BURNS, 1:43.293


More, from a press release issued by Dorna:

Tamada takes debut pole at Estoril

Makoto Tamada took pole position for the first time in his career in a dramatic end to the final qualifying session for the Grande Premio Marlboro de Portugal today. With a wet morning practice limiting grip on the Estoril track surface despite sunny and warm conditions in the afternoon there were barely any changes to the provisional grid as the riders struggled to lower their times from yesterday. However, a stunning last lap from Tamada saw him snatch pole position from Valentino Rossi with a record time of 1’37.933.

“I am very, very happy and I would like to give my thanks to Bridgestone, who came up with a great tyre,” said Tamada, who gave the Japanese rubber manufacturer their first win at Rio three races ago. “I am still a little bit worried about the weather but it should be okay and I am hopeful of a good race tomorrow.”

Rossi and Sete Gibernau both start from the front row despite failing to improve their times, Gibernau lapping over half a second off his pace from yesterday. Max Biaggi came up with a lap which threatened to dislodge his team-mate Tamada from pole position at the very last breath but fell short in the final section and the Italian had to settle for a second row start in fourth place.

Biaggi is joined on the second row by Honda colleague Alex Barros, who was fastest in the morning free practice despite crashing for the second time this weekend, and John Hopkins. Sixth place for the American youngster represents his best grid position for Suzuki since signing at the start of the 2003 season and equals the previous best grid of his career riding a Yamaha in 2002.

Marco Melandri climbed to seventh on the grid after surprising the large Portuguese crowd with a new colour scheme. The flamboyant Italian youngster appeared in ‘Spiderman’ style leathers, boots and helmet, with his Yamaha M1 also decorated in the colours of the comic book hero. Melandri is planning to auction off all the gear, including the fairing of the bike, in aid of the ‘Emergency’ charity, who provide medical relief to war and landmine victims around the world.

Melandri is joined on the third row of the grid by American pair Colin Edwards and Kenny Roberts on a Honda and Suzuki respectively, whilst his Yamaha colleague Carlos Checa completes the top ten. Ducati rider Loris Capirossi, set to make his 100th premier-class start, was another rider unable to improve his provisional time and he starts alongside Checa on the fourth row in eleventh place, just ahead of Shinya Nakano on the Kawasaki.

Dani Pedrosa upstaged his title rivals with a stunning performance in the final qualifying session for the 250cc race, clocking a record lap as both provisional pole holder Sebastian Porto and second placed Toni Elías failed to improve their times from yesterday. Pedrosa’s time of 1’41.417 was 0.221 seconds quicker than the previous record set by Porto and moved him from provisional third to the front of the grid for just the second time this season. Whilst Porto was relegated to second place and Elías third, Randy de Puniet hung on to the remaining front row spot, as fifth placed Alex de Angelis failed to improve his provisional time. De Angelis therefore remains at the head of the second row, where he is joined by Fonsi Nieto, Alex Debon and Manuel Poggiali.

Andrea Dovizioso remained untouched on pole position for the 125cc race and was the fastest rider in the final qualifying session despite failing to improve his provisional time. Casey Stoner was the only rider on the front row to do so and moved up one place to third, relegating Roberto Locatelli to fourth but failing to break up a first ever qualifying one-two for Kopron Team Scot Honda in Dovizioso and Simone Corsi. The main mover further down the grid was Mirko Giansanti, who moved up from thirteenth to sixth to join Marco Simoncelli, Jorge Lorenzo and Steve Jenkner on the second row.


More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team:

NAKANO LEADS FUCHS KAWASAKI SQUAD AT ESTORIL

Fuchs Kawasaki rider, Shinya Nakano, qualified his Ninja ZX-RR in twelfth place for tomorrow’s Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril.

Nakano improved his best time by more than half second this afternoon, to secure a start from the fourth row of the grid tomorrow. Nakano’s Fuchs Kawasaki team-mate, Alex Hofmann, will start the 28-lap Portuguese Grand Prix from 17th position, after carving three-quarters of a second off his previous best time.

Final qualifying was run on a dry and warm track, which was a dramatic contrast to the rain-hit morning free practice session that reduced today’s dry track time to just one hour.

This left Hofmann and his hard working Kawasaki crew little time to solve the front-end set-up problems which had troubled the 24-year-old German yesterday during his first appearance on a four-stroke MotoGP bike at Estoril.

However, by the end of the session, Hofmann was much happier with his ZX-RR set-up for the race on the twisting and technical Estoril circuit. Despite the unsettling process of many pit stops for set-up changes, Hofmann’s efforts took him to within 0.5s of 13th on the grid.

Both Nakano and Hofmann recovered strongly after a troubled first day of qualifying, that had seen Nakano restricted to just one bike after exhaust problems sidelined his preferred ZX-RR machine.

Tomorrow’s race is the 11th round of the MotoGP World Championship, with both Nakano and Hofmann hoping for a repeat of this afternoon’s warm track conditions.

Shinya Nakano: 12th (1’39.157)
“I pushed really hard to get into the top ten, but just missed out in the end. It’s not ideal, but I guess a fourth row start is okay for tomorrow’s race. The front end braking stability is improved from yesterday, although today I lacked some control at the rear. It’s not such a big thing, but I will try to make further improvements with some slightly different engine and suspension settings in warm up tomorrow. After the rain the track felt like it had a little less grip, but I improved my time from yesterday, so I can’t complain. I think we have an excellent race tyre choice for this track tomorrow, as long as conditions stay dry.”

Alex Hofmann: 17th (1’39.852)
“I’m not exactly happy to be back in 17th position on the grid, but with only one hour of dry track time in which to overcome many set-up problems, it could have been a lot worse. At least it was dry this afternoon; if the rain had persisted into qualifying we’d have had some serious problems. It was a tough session, and we had to make a lot of big changes to solve the lack of front end feel I experienced yesterday. But, overall, I made good progress with the settings today, although my final fast lap was not perfect. The times around me on the grid are close, so this gives me some incentive for a competitive race and some points.”

Harald Eckl: Team Manager
“This was a productive day in terms of race set-up and tyre choice, and I think we have the race speed for Shinya to be challenging for a top ten finish. I’m also confident that Alex’s crew have found a set-up on the bike that will allow him to finish in the points tomorrow. Overall, today’s results show the potential of the ZX-RR at this time, and our development focus must continue to be on engine performance and power delivery. I’m hoping for a sunny day tomorrow, because our wet set-up, both bike and tyres, definitely needs more work.”


More, from a press release issued by Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha:

ROSSI ON FRONT ROW FOR PENULTIMATE EUROPEAN ROUND

Valentino Rossi will start from second position on the grid for tomorrow’s Portuguese Grand Prix, after being edged off pole position in the last minute of final qualifying in Estoril. His Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha team-mate Carlos Checa improved his grid position slightly and will start from 10th position tomorrow, at the head of the fourth row.

Checa was one of the first riders to better yesterday’s time, moving from 11th to ninth position with nine minutes left on the clock. As the session drew to a close Rossi still held onto pole position, but then Honda rider Makota Tamada stormed into the top slot with a lap of 1’37.933. Rossi made a small mistake on his flying lap shortly after and could not beat the Japanese rider’s time, leaving him in second place with yesterday’s lap of 1’38.036 still his fastest. Sete Gibernau (Honda) makes up the front row in third position after also failing to improve on yesterday’s time of 1’38.067. Meanwhile Checa was pushed back down one place to 10th, with a final fastest time of 1’38.862.

VALENTINO ROSSI (2nd, 1’38.036)

“The track is a little bit worse than yesterday because last night and this morning it was raining. The surface was dry this afternoon but it wasn’t the same as yesterday. I made a mistake with my qualifying tyre and I couldn’t improve the time from yesterday. However I’m in second position for the start and I’m fairly happy. We had a few problems with the tyres; the rear moves too much after a few laps, so I hope we can improve this for the race.”

CARLOS CHECA (10th, 1’38.862)

“I was not able to use my qualifying tyre as I had expected, so my best lap was done with one of the two possible race tyres I have for tomorrow. I’m still not 100 percent comfortable and we need to try to use the warm-up session tomorrow to try to get a better feeling. My pace is good, but the only handicap is that I will start from the fourth row. This could make turn one a little bit difficult.”

DAVIDE BRIVIO, TEAM DIRECTOR

“A strange day; one session wet, one dry. For sure on positive thing is that we improved our rain settings a lot and had a good session this morning. Yamaha and the team worked very well on this. In the afternoon, despite Valentino not being able to use qualifying tyres in the best way, he stayed on the front row and this is very important for tomorrow. Carlos unfortunately couldn’t move up much from yesterday so will have a difficult race, but I’m sure he’ll try his best to be on top.”


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

Aoki cuts a second at Estoril

Nobuatsu Aoki: 20th, 1:41.279

Proton Team KR rider Nobuatsu Aoki made the biggest improvement of any MotoGP rider in today’s final qualifying session for tomorrow’s Portuguese GP, cutting more than a second off his previous best lap time. But the Japanese rider remained in 20th position on the grid.

With team-mate Kurtis Roberts out of the race, recuperating from wrist and shoulder fractures sustained at Brno two weeks ago, Aoki is riding alone at the Estoril circuit, the slowest track of the season.

Yesterday he suffered oil control problems with both bikes, but today these were all but solved, with only one bike suffering a slight leak. Unfortunately, it was the machine he preferred, a factor in being unable to improve his grid position.

Another was a near collision with Honda rider Alex Barros, when he was going for a fast lap at the end of the session. Aoki survived without falling, but his chance of further improvement had gone.

Today began with torrential rain, and the free training session took place on a streaming track. With dry weather forecast for tomorrow, this cost all riders set-up time. In Aoki’s case, it meant that while he was able to select a promising race tyre from among the promising new Dunlop developments, he was unable to peform endurance tests. He was hoping for dry weather in tomorrow morning’s race warm-up, to verify his choice.

Tomorrow’s race is the 11th of 16 rounds this season. On the days after the race, Proton Team KR will stay to test, and will run the hybrid KTM-engined Proton KR for the V4 motor’s first serious track tests.

Nobuatsu Aoki
I think I could have made a bigger improvement – a few tenths anyway, except on my last lap Alex Barros passed me on the straight and then he pushed me almost off the track at the first corner. I had some oil problems with the bike with the engine that pushes better, so I had to use the other one, which wasn’t running so well, but in the afternoon I did find a good rear tyre. It might be the race tyre – the grip is better, but I wasn’t able to do enough laps to check the durability. We’ll have to see about that tomorrow morning.

Kenny Roberts – Team Principal
We had a bit of trouble in the dry sessions, and with the rain this morning that has put us a bit behind. We are starting to show some improvement, and it’s even quite competitive in the wet … but everybody else has moved on too.


More, from a press release issued by Camel Honda Racing Informarion:

Makoto Tamada on pole in Estoril. Max Biaggi on second row.
The yellow Camel Honda bikes steal the limelight

It was pole today for Makoto Tamada, the only rider to break the one minute 38 second barrier on the Estoril circuit today. With the fantastic victory at Rio under his belt since July, today Makoto took his Honda onto the most sought after spot on the grid and with it his first ever pole position in the MotoGP World Championships. It was a great result for the entire Camel Honda team, with Max Biaggi fourth and just behind Tamada on the second row, and ready to get involved in the show for what should be a spectacular and hard-fought race tomorrow.

Sito Pons – Camel Honda (Team Principal)
“This is a good team result here at the GP of Portugal, where both our riders showed they have a good rhythm and have ended the session with the fastest and fourth fastest times. I’m very confident about the race therefore and I’m hoping for some stable weather which would allow for a fantastic battle which wouldn’t be affected by the rain. I think the yellow RC211Vs of our Camel Honda team could really shine tomorrow.”

Max Biaggi – Camel Honda (Michelin Tyres) – 4th – 1’38.069
“I’m quite satisfied with today’s practices, even though I missed out on the front row by a whisker. Today the team and Honda together helped us improve the bike’s handling and getting a faster and more efficient weight transfer from the rear to the front. Perhaps this means we lose a bit in the braking zone, because the bike is a little more sharp, but the overall feeling is undoubtedly better. That’s why we were able to ride at a higher pace than yesterday. There’s still a couple of places on the track where I’m losing time though, and in tomorrow’s warm-up we will try to fine-tune the set-up a bit more. Of course, the big thing will be the weather, which like today could change radically in an instant, from rain to sun or vice versa. In any case, as ever I’ll give my all to do a good race.”

Gianluca Montiron – Camel Honda – (Makoto Tamada Team Manager)
“We have worked a great deal on the bike’s set-up even during the morning rain. In the afternoon session we were then able to optimise these settings, and that allowed Makoto to take his first ever pole in his career, but not only that, also to a good pace which will see him as one of the leading lights tomorrow. After a series of races having to make up ground due to a less than ideal grid position, Makoto is right at the front tomorrow, and he can run the race as he likes best, up there fighting with the leaders.”

Makoto Tamada – Camel Honda (Bridgestone Tyres) – 1st – 1’37.933
“I had already made sure of a good grid position yesterday in case it rained today. So then today I concentrated on improving the bike for the race. After this morning’s rain, we did a huge amount of work this afternoon and the results came straight away. The tyres I used to get pole were fantastic but I’ve also tried some interesting tyres for the race tomorrow. With the weather unstable today we haven’t been able to do an endurance test on them, but I’m confident about the race, I think it will go well. I’m starting from the very front, and I’ll be able to get involved in the battle with the top guys straight away which will be fun and that’s how I love to race.”


More, from a press release issued by Telefonica Movistar Honda/Gresini Racing:

HOMEWORK STILL TO DO IN THE WARM-UP

Sete Gibernau kept his date with the front row of the grid (9 out of 11 so far) at the Portuguese Grand Prix, which was swamped by even more Spanish fans than ever today. However, the Telefónica MoviStar rider was unable to improve his best time from yesterday and tomorrow’s 20-minute warm up session will be important to the preparations for the race. The final qualifying practice was a complicated affair, with several changes to the setting of the bike not giving the expected results. The session was openly contested, with the first four riders within a tenth of a second. American rider Colin Edwards knocked three tenths of a second off his time from yesterday and lines up on the third row of the grid.


SETE GIBERNAU (3rd, 1’38″067): “We haven’t completed the job as we would have liked today – it was a tough session, a lot of things were done but we haven’t made the necessary steps forward to find a good rhythm. Now we have! to sit down with the team and find out why because I actually felt better yesterday than I did today. We will have to work hard tonight and decide what solution to go for tomorrow, and Michelin will have to help us as well with the tyres. It will be a hard race and I just need to improve on the rhythm I had yesterday.”


COLIN EDWARDS (7th, 1’38″738): “We have changed a few small things on the bike, working from the base we found yesterday. I feel better on the bike but we’ve still got chattering, especially on race tyres. We still haven’t chosen the tyre for the race but I think we’ll go soft. Even though there’s less grip, at least the chattering isn’t so bad. I think the race rhythm will be around 39″5 but it will be tough to stick with the pace from half distance.”


FAUSTO GRESINI (team manager): “We had a bit of everything today – rain in the morning and sun in the afternoon. Sete’s crash in the free practice was nothing really, but even though we tried to improve the setting of the bike, the times didn’t come. Hopefully tomorrow we can find that little bit we are missing to go into the race with the best possible chance. Colin improved his time and will start from eighth but we are looking for more improvements from him in the morning.”


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

Ducati Marlboro men ready for tough race

Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss completed this afternoon’s final qualifying session for the Marlboro Portuguese GP in 11th and 13th positions, suggesting that they have a tough day ahead of them tomorrow.
Yet again the weekend has been disrupted by changeable weather conditions which greatly complicate the art of achieving the best-possible bike set-up. Yesterday started damp and this morning’s session was run in pouring rain, the sun finally shining during final qualifying. Engineers reckon that this morning’s rain, which followed an overnight downpour, have robbed the track of some of its grip, which is why nine riders, almost half the grid, didn’t improve their Friday lap times this afternoon. Sixth of 11 races so far this year have been effected by rain.

“It’s been a strange and difficult day,” said Ducati Marlboro Team director Livio Suppo. “And it’s a pity that at the moment we seem to have stopped making the positive trend we had made at the last few races. From Assen onward we had been making improvements but we’ve not been able to maintain that progress here. Neither of our riders improved their times from the first qualifying session and Loris wasn’t as quick as last year when he got pole. But it was a strange session because a lot of other riders also didn’t improve on yesterday’s pace, which is very unusual. Anyway we will now check our data and go from there. Thanks as always to our riders who are still giving us 100 per cent as always. And thanks too for the continued support of our technical partners Michelin and Shell Advance.”

Capirossi preparing for 100th premier-class GP
Loris Capirossi this afternoon qualified for his 100th premier-class GP on the fourth row of the grid after failing to improve on his Friday best. Like many other riders the Ducati Marlboro Team man found the track more slippery than yesterday.

“I think the lack of dry track time has caused us more difficulties than the others because our bike is a bit difficult to set up at the moment,” explained the Italian. “Also the track was more slippery than it was yesterday. We tried a different set-up today but it didn’t give us what we wanted, so we went back to yesterday’s settings. Thus we hope to exploit tomorrow’s morning warm-up. If we make some good adjustments I think we can run up front, so long as the pace isn’t much faster that high one minute 39s.”

Bayliss has plans for morning warm-up
Ducati Marlboro Team rider Troy Bayliss will start the Marlboro Portuguese from the fifth row of the grid. But Ducati’s former World Superbike champion does have a few ideas to improve things in morning warm-up. Bayliss escaped unscathed from a minor spill in this morning’s wet session.

“This afternoon was a strange session, we struggled a bit,” said the Australian. “The track seemed to be down a little on grip, but that was the same for everyone. Tomorrow morning we’ll make a few changes to see if we can make the bike a bit better. We’ll make a few suspension adjustments and make one bike a bit longer because this track has got a few fast, bumpy corners which make the bike shake its head, making it difficult to put a good lap together. If we don’t make it better, it’s going to be a hard day.”


More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki:

HOPKINS AIMS FOR ASSEN ROSTRUM
Team Suzuki Press Office, Estoril, Portugal – September 4, 2004.

Team Suzuki MotoGP rider John Hopkins put his head down and held his Suzuki GSV-R’s throttle wide to set third-fastest time in the final timed qualifying session for tomorrow’s Portuguese GP, making the most of the bright sunshine to slash half-a-second off his previous best lap time in a session when almost half the riders failed to improve.

Team-mate Kenny Roberts Jr. made an improvement of three tenths to place eighth in the session, but was left with more work to do after niggling problems spoiled his progress.

Hopkins ended up sixth overall, taking yesterday’s times into account and will start from the second row of the grid. This is a significant boost after he had been among the fastest riders in the dry at the previous round at Brno, but had to start from 21st position because of rain in the timed qualifying sessions.

The 21-year-old Anglo-American rider was highly satisfied with his position after spending time in the session circulating with the world championship leaders Gibernau and Rossi and finding no problems in matching their pace. Roberts still had work to do with machine settings with the wet morning session proving costly to progress in this respect.

Roberts was one row back, placing ninth overall, with a brainstorming technical session ahead to try to make up for lost time in his troubled practice sessions.

Tomorrow’s race, round the track with the slowest average speed of the year, is expected to take place in dry weather. The 11th of 16 World Championship rounds, the Portuguese GP, marks the end of the European season.

JOHN HOPKINS – Sixth position, 1:38.479:

“We put a good session together this afternoon. We made some changes from yesterday that definitely helped out and I’m definitely thankful it was dry in the afternoon so we could test them properly. I made two or three runs adding up to 18 or 20 laps on the race tyres we picked out yesterday to check them out and I was able to run low-end 39s and a couple of 40s consistently. On one of my runs I was following Rossi and had no problems to stay with him. Another time I caught and passed Gibernau. These are the guys I want to be racing with tomorrow. It’s nice to start on the second row instead of 21st. I’ll aim to get away with the lead group and see if I can end up on the podium.”

KENNY ROBERTS Jr. – Ninth position, 1:38.740:

“We’ve had a lot of problems with things this weekend that sneaked up and caught us off guard. Nobody’s to blame because that’s racing, but it meant I wasn’t able to put any runs together. I’m not happy with the bike on race tyres. We’ve had very little dry time and at one point I was down to one bike and we didn’t have things on that bike that we thought we had. We’re going to have a meeting right now to see what we can do. There were some issues with the ignition. It was doing some funny things that were really throwing me. I need the back wheel to turn at the same rate I am opening the throttle and at the moment it’s not doing that so I’m not happy with that.”

GARRY TAYLOR – Team Manager:

“John is finally putting his injuries behind him and showing the strong form and potential he did during winter testing. Kenny is very close behind in spite of having had a lot of frustration in his practice sessions. Both are starting a lot nearer the front than at Brno and I’m sure they can both build on that.”


More, from a press release issued by MS Aprilia:

McWilliams makes big strides in Portugal


MS Aprilia Racing’s Jeremy McWilliams is confident he can add to his 2004 MotoGP world championship points tally in tomorrow’s Estoril GP.

The British rider knocked 0.899s off his provisional time to end up in 16th position on the grid for tomorrow’s 28-lap clash at the 4.1km Portuguese venue. Only one other rider managed to slash more time from their provisional best, and McWilliams was much more upbeat after he’d struggled to qualify 19th yesterday. Today he was only denied a top 15 grid placing in the closing seconds.

McWilliams said: “That was more like it. I was so far off yesterday I thought there was no way we would be able to turn it around. I would not have believed we could have got so close to a decent set-up. At least I’m not praying for rain anymore like I was yesterday. We took it steady in the rain this morning and didn’t take any risks, and after this afternoon I’m happy that we’ve a set-up that will let me challenge for the points no matter what the conditions are like for the race. I’m still struggling with a bit of chatter in T3 and T4. It is particularly bad in the last section. I just get chatter in the middle of the corner, especially in the slower stuff.”

Speaking about an experimental Alpinestars leather suit, which McWilliams tested in both morning free practice sessions this weekend, he said: “It has lots of sensors that are designed to monitor body motion. They gauge how much force the body is under inside the leathers. There are also impact sensors at the crash points where you are most likely to hit the body in a crash. I can’t think why they gave it to me to test.”

Italian Aprilia debutant Michel Fabrizio is hoping he can claim a top 15 finish on his one-off RS3 Cube ride. This morning’s torrential downpours only served to steepen the learning curve for the 19-year-old, who had never ridden the Cube in wet conditions. He’s never used Michelin’s wet tyres before either, and in this afternoon’s dry final qualifying, he dropped down to 19th position. “It wasn’t a bad second day, “said the former European Superstock champion. “I missed the chance to better my time on the qualifying tyre and I lost the tow with some of the riders in front of me. I pushed to improve my time but I just couldn’t manage it. I am still satisfied and I’ll start the race in a positive frame of mind. I just hope to be able to learn a lot and that will be the end of my adventure – for the time being it will be anyway.”


More, from a press release issued by d’Antin Ducati:

A DIFFICULT DAY FOR HODGSON AND XAUS

Estoril (Portugal) – The d´Antin MotoGP riders were unable to improve their times as hoped in the second day of qualifying at the Portuguese Grand Prix today. Neil Hodgson ended up in fifteenth place with teammate Rubén Xaus eighteenth on the grid, meaning a fifth and sixth row start respectively for the duo.

The morning free practice session took place in the wet, when suddenly the climate changed completely for the afternoon qualifying session, with bright sunshine throughout, but the timesheets didn’t see many changes until the final few moments.

NEIL HODGSON only managed to improve his impressive Friday time by a few thousandths of a second, “We’ve tried many things and aimed to change the set-up, but we’ve gone in the wrong direction and we didn’t get the results we wanted to. I’m a little unhappy really because everything went well yesterday and I hoped to make more progress today, although I’m confident that tomorrow things will go right again.”

RUBEN XAUS meanwhile was unable to improve his qualifying time from Friday, “I’m a little frustrated because we had a few technical hitches and I spent a lot of time in the pit garage. I couldn’t do that much because you lose your concentration a bit after that and when I finally got out and tried to set a good time, there was a lot of traffic on the track, and it was impossible to get a good lap in. I was very hopeful before this session and that hope still remains for tomorrow.”


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

HOPKINS MATCHES CAREER-BEST QUALIFYING RESULT AT PORTUGUESE GP

ESTORIL, Portugal – Suzuki’s young gun John Hopkins matched his career-best MotoGP qualifying performance by earning a second row starting position for Sunday’s Portuguese Motorcycle Grand Prix at Estoril. Hopkins’ time of one minute, 38.323-seconds on the 4.2-kilometer Estoril c