Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By John Joss

Thursday is not a high-tension race day and a dozen or so top riders faced the Press with an attitude of relaxation, except for Miguel Duhamel (see below). There were no startling revelations, but at mid-season none is expected. Few questions were asked in the general session with the Press.

Points leader Neil Hodgson was exuberant: “I love this track. This and Brands Hatch are my favorites. It’s not flat and featureless. It has hills and stuff. It has real character. And it has perfect weather for riding. Warm enough, but not too hot. I expect to do well.”

Troy Corser was cool, as usual. His mellowness bespeaks years of this sort of thing. He talked candidly about the Petronas and some of the difficulties he has had. It’s not the frame or suspension, which he called ‘excellent:’ “We can pretty much make any changes we need, and you can feel them immediately. Since we (Petronas, not Corser) haven’t had a bike at Laguna before, we are starting with our Misano set-up, but the bike responds well to any changes we make. The bike handles really well.” It’s not tires, either: “We started this season with tires not as good as the top teams, because they (Michelin) said they didn’t have enough made yet. Now we’re getting the same [top level] tires and you can tell the difference. They’re much better.”

So where’s the rub, beyond being a brand new bike no one expects to see on the box right away? “The biggest problem with the bike is throttle connection. Off a closed throttle, it doesn’t pick up cleanly. There’s this slight hesitation, and it’s very difficult to adapt to even when you know to expect it. It’s not just accelerating out of corners. It has the same hesitation any time you roll off, even for an instant, and then get back into it. It’s not good for the confidence knowing that the throttle connection isn’t quite right. It stops me from riding the bike to its limit.

“The problem is quite complicated and it can’t be fixed just with timing and [fuel injection] mapping changes. We need a new [cylinder] head and that won’t come quickly. The engines are all built in Switzerland and frankly we [riders] don’t have enough direct contact. After every race we send the motors back to Switzerland and they rebuild and dyno them, and send them back to us. The changes we need [will come later] and will involve cutting metal.

“We’re making good progress. Really getting there. You maybe can’t see it in the points but you can in the lap times. We started out 2-3 seconds off the pace in the early races. Now that’s half-a-second.” He grins: “Of course, that’s a critical half-second, vs. all those factory bikes.”

Aaron Yates was his usual easy-going self, very different from the go-for-broke charger on the track: “When the bike’s right, any track and any race is OK. We know enough about [our bike by this stage of the season] and the set-up for Laguna that we can do good here.

“We don’t expect tire trouble here, or anywhere else this season. At Brainerd, you will recall, I got vibration early on, around Lap 13, and I could see that Mat was starting to have a tire problem. My bike started vibrating, and the vibration got worse, lap by lap, but the tire still worked well. Turned out that it had rotated on the rim and gone out of balance. It wasn’t chunking. I had enough of a cushion at the end that I could ease off a little, anyway.

“I ride entirely different from Mat. He likes to square off the corners and whack the throttle on the exit when he gets the bike straight up. I tend to ease into the throttle sooner and smoother, and I guess that’s the difference [vs. tire trouble].

“You might think that my sliding the way I do might be pushing the tire, but I don’t think so. It’s my momentum coming into the corner that pushes the rear out when I turn in, and I manage that with throttle on the exit.” He grins—-you can’t keep this man down: “Looks kinda interesting, though, doesn’t it?” Yes, Aa-Ron. It does. Will he consider emulating his spectacular off-track excursion at Turn 10 on the 600 two years ago. Another big grin: “Nah. I don’t think I wanna do that again.”

Frankie Chili modestly refused to be drawn into a debate on age and experience (he admits to 38) trumping youth and enthusiasm. His spirit of attack is ageless, anyway. But he did comment on the fact that he is racing last year’s machine: “I am very ‘appy on the bike, very comfortable. Here at Laguna it doesn’t matter that we don’t have so much power [because it’s not a power circuit.]” He’s the youngest 38 (?) in the saddle today.

Eric Bostrom put on a fashion show with his new, special-for-Laguna leathers, complete with ‘bow tie.’ “I thought I should show them off to you,” he said, grinning hugely, as the cameras took it all in. Reminiscent of brother Ben’s fashion show at an earlier Laguna race. The Boss seemed unfazed by his 750-vs.-1000 and 798-vs.-1000 displacement disadvantage on his two Kawasakis, either in the AMA or WSB wild-card situations in which he will race this weekend. No one asked him about 2004, and the possibility of a competitive 1000-cc bike. Asked at Brainerd, he just said “That would be nice.”

Miguel DuHamel was one unhappy guy, not just because he wouldn’t get to mix it with the WSB bunch when Honda decided not to have its AMA racers in the wild-card mix (“I was not involved in that decision,” he explained in answer to questions). He was unhappy about not having enough time for practice and set-up: “We’re struggling, I gotta tell you, even though we know a lot about set-up [here at Laguna]. We got the short end of the stick. We didn’t get enough set-up time, and [this race weekend] needs a better format. It’s hard to do testing and qualifying at the same time.”

Miguel reported that his body was still not 100%, which is not reflected in his track performance since his broken collarbone at Sears in May-—this is the man who won the hotly contested 600 race at Brainerd on his 600RR, pursued by a horde of Yamaha R-6s. “This rod [holding my collarbone] sticks out and it’s not comfortable. But I’m pretty much OK.”

Valvoline Suzuki rider Steve Rapp tumbled heavily from his GSX-R1000 on the exit of high-speed Turn 10 on Thursday and limped back to the pits, clearly in pain as he wriggled out of his leathers. X-rays at the track revealed no broken bones, but he had—as his crew pointed out—aggravated an old [right shoulder] injury.

So why are Dunlop tires seemingly so much better at Laguna than Michelin? Listen to Troy Corser, the voice of experience: “Michelin comes here once a year. Dunlop is top of the heap [in AMA Superbike] and comes here much more often. On top of that, the Dunlops seem to give better front-end feel, and they spin up a little easier, so [on a tight track like Laguna] they’re probably a bit easier to ride, more rider friendly.”

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

MotoGP:

1. Valentino Rossi, Honda, 1:32.129
2. Troy Bayliss, Ducati, 1:32.159
3. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha, 1:32.466
4. Carlos Checa, Yamaha, 1:32.512
5. Colin Edwards, Aprilia, 1:32.524
6. Max Biaggi, Honda, 1:32.789
7. Nicky Hayden, Honda, 1:32.899
8. Marco Melandri, Yamaha, 1:32.930
9. Loris Capirossi, Ducati, 1:32.952
10. Alex Barros, Yamaha, 1:32.959
11. Sete Gibernau, Honda, 1:32.993
12. John Hopkins, Suzuki, 1:33.078
13. Noriyuki Haga, Aprilia, 1:33.189
14. Tohru Ukawa, Honda, 1:33.308
15. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha, 1:33.428
16. Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, 1:34.085
17. Makoto Tamada, Honda, 1:34.413
18. Jeremy McWilliams, Proton, 1:34.610
19. Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda, 1:35.526
20. Nobuatsu Aoki, Proton, 1:35.895
21. Andrew Pitt, Kawasaki, 1:36.115
22. Chris Burns, ROC Yamaha, 1:36.435
23. Garry McCoy, Kawasaki, 1:36.675
24. David De Gea, Sabre, 1:46.889


250cc:

1. Fonsi Nieto, Aprilia, 1:34.584
2. Toni Elias, Aprilia, 1:35.263
3. Manuel Poggiali, Aprilia, 1:35.345
4. Franco Battaini, Aprilia, 1:35.588
5. Roberto Rolfo, Honda, 1:35.696
6. Randy DePuniet, Aprilia, 1:35.779
7. Naoki Matsudo, Yamaha, 1:36.094
8. Sebastian Porto, Honda, 1:36.139
9. Sylvain Guintoli, Aprilia, 1:36.545
10. Anthony West, Aprilia, 1:37.151
11. Erwan Nigon, Aprilia, 1:37.262
12. Jay Vincent, Aprilia, 1:37.442
13. Joan Olive, Aprilia, 1:37.558
14. Chaz Davies, Aprilia, 1:37.740
15. Johan Stigefelt, Aprilia, 1:37.906


125cc:

1. Andrea Dovizioso, Honda, 1:38.761
2. Pablo Nieto, Aprilia, 1:39.094
3. Stefano Perugini, Aprilia, 1:39.163
4. Steve Jenkner, Aprilia, 1:39.217
5. Casey Stoner, Aprilia, 1:39.611
6. Youichi Ui, Aprilia, 1:39.762
7. Hector Barbera, Aprilia, 1:39.773
8. Mirko Giansanti, Aprilia, 1:39.823
9. Daniel Pedrosa, Honda, 1:39.899
10. Lucio Cecchinello, Aprilia, 1:40.165
11. Alex De Angelis, Aprilia, 1:40.189
12. Gabor Talmasci, Aprilia, 1:40.201
13. Simone Corsi, Honda, 1:40.252
14. Arnaud Vincent, KTM, 1:40.329
15. Mika Kallio, Honda, 1:40.410

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Friday Morning AMA 250cc Grand Prix Practice:

1. Rich Oliver, Yamaha, 1:31.011
2. Chuck Sorensen, Aprilia, 1:32.049
3. Perry Melneciuc, Yamaha, 1:34.671
4. Ed Sorbo, Yamaha, 1:35.017
5. Colin Jensen, Aprilia, 1:35.302
6. Simon Turner, TSR Honda, 1:35.986
7. Ed Marchini, Yamaha, 1:37.825
8. Greg Esser, Honda, 1:37.969
9. Michael Montoya, Yamaha, 1:38.271
10. Mark Watts, Honda, 1:39.418
11. Barrett Long, Yamaha, 1:40.061
12. Wes Totsubo, Honda, 1:40.388
13. John France, Honda, 1:40.438
14. M. Ben Welch, Yamaha, 1:40.872
15. Sean McNew, Honda, 1:41.179
16. Darren Fulce, Yamaha, 1:41.315
17. Richard Snowden, Honda, 1:41.669
18. Chris Pyles, Honda, 1:41.884
19. S. Denman, Honda, 1:42.273
20. Michael Aron, Yamaha, 1:42.509

From a press release issued by FGSport Group:

FGSPORT GROUP ANNOUNCE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA PLANS

FGSPORT GROUP has today reached an important pre-agreement with the Zhuhai New Century International Management Company Ltd to stage a round of the FIM Endurance World Championship in the People’s Republic of China in 2004.

FGSPORT Group, the official worldwide rights holders of the FIM Endurance World Championship and the Zhuhai New Century International Management Company Ltd, will organise the “Zhuhai 6 hours” in the People’s Republic of China on 1st /2nd May 2004.

The “Zhuhai 6 hours” event will be the first time that any FIM Road Racing World Championship will be organised in the People’s Republic of China. It marks an important and historic step in the development of motorcycling and was greatly facilitated by the Zhuhai Municipal Sports Bureau and the CMSA (Chinese Motor Sports Association.) The Zhuhai circuit is situated in the Guangdong Province near to Hong Kong; it was constructed in 1996 and upgraded in 1998 to the highest international standards. The Zhuhai circuit will be easily accessible, by direct flight, from Europe from January 2003, with the completion of the new international airport of the Guangdong Province, New Bayun International Airport of Canton, close to the circuit.

Mayor of ZHUHAI CITY Mr. Wang Shun Sheng, declared: “Zhuhai is one of the most beautiful tourism cities in China. It will be wonderful for Zhuhai to host the 2004 Chinese leg of the World Endurance Championship. Zhuhai Government promises full support on this event. All departments will do their maximum to collaborate and make sure of the success of this event.” FGSPORT Managing Director, Vincenzo Lamaro, said “FGSPORT GROUP are proud to see the growth of the FIM Endurance World Championship confirmed by the staging of the first FIM World Road Racing Championship event in the People’s Republic of China. We have been working closely with the Zhuhai New Century International Management Company, Zhuhai Municipal Sports Bureau, CMSA (Chinese Motor Sports Association) and FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme) to reach this exciting result. The official FIM Endurance World Championship 2004 calendar will be announced at the FIM Congress in October. The pre-agreement clearly demonstrates the interest and value of Endurance and will provide a major commercial opportunity to enter the significant Chinese market.”

About FIM Endurance World Championship

The FIM Endurance World Championship is a unique and gruelling test of power and long distance motorcycle racing encapsulated in an outdoor festival. It is one of only three world road racing Championships sanctioned by the FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme) the sports official governing body.

The Championship comprises of 8 motorsport weekends in 8 different top circuits and is experiencing the third season of growth since its re-launch by FGSPORT in 2001.

In 2003 the events are being broadcast globally to over 246 million potential homes across 5 continents via some of the world’s leading broadcasters including, Eurosport (Official Championship broadcast partner), ESPN Star Sports (Pan-Asia), Teledeporte (Spain), AB Moteur (France), Fox Sports (Australia), Rai (Italy), Telenova (Italy), RTVCM Castilla La Mancha (Spain) and Viasat (Scandinavia.) In addition, worldwide deals with motorsport magazine programmes, Motorsport Mundial and Max Power via some of the worlds’ primary broadcasters such as Speedvision (USA) and Channel 5 (UK). China Television Broadcasters will also broadcast extensive coverage of the FIM Endurance World Championship including; Guangdong TV, Bejing TV, Fujian TV, Sichuan TV, Hebei TV, Hunan TV and Guangxi TV; and Central Channel Television, CCTV which has been broadcasting regular programs about World Endurance Championship for 3 years, making this event the most popular motorsport event in China.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking extended his AMA Supersport Championship points lead with a come-from-behind race win Friday at Laguna Seca.

Hacking passed both Jake Zemke and teammate Damon Buckmaster on consecutive laps in turn nine to take the lead in the early going. From there, Hacking pulled away to take his fourth win of the season.

Buckmaster and Erion Honda’s Zemke battled for most of the race, which allowed Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies to catch the pair. Buckmaster was passed for second late in the race by Zemke, and Spies demoted Buckmaster to fourth on the final lap.

Zemke’s teammate Roger Lee Hayden fought over fifth with brother Tommy until the elder Hayden’s Kawasaki suffered troubles in the second half of the contest. Roger Lee Hayden finished alone in fifth.

Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts dove inside Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo going into turn five on lap five, but Roberts lost the front at the apex, crashed and took DiSalvo out with him. Both riders were seen walking away from the incident.

Provisional AMA Supersport Race Results:

1. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha, 17 laps
2. Jake Zemke, Honda, -7.377 seconds
3. Ben Spies, Suzuki, -7.793 seconds
4. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha, -8.454 seconds
5. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda, -16.076 seconds
6. Ben Bostrom, Honda, -17.422 seconds
7. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, -22.338 seconds
8. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki, -22.619 seconds
9. Jamie Stauffer, Suzuki, -24.093 seconds
10. Alex Gobert, Honda, -28.329 seconds
11. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha, -31.535 seconds
12. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, -35.473 seconds
13. Lance Isaacs, Honda, -47.353 seconds
14. Jason Perez, Yamaha, -60.038 seconds
15. Chris Peris, Honda, -60.559 seconds
16. Jason Curtis, Honda
17. Marty Craggill, Honda
18. Dirk Sanchez, Kawasaki
19. Giovanni Rojas, Yamaha
20. Matt Zurbuchen

33. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki, DNF, mechanical

36. Chris Rankin, Honda, DNF, crash

38. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha, DNF, crash
39. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, DNF, crash


Provisional AMA Supersport Point Standings:

1. Hacking, 252 points
2. Buckmaster, 226 points
3. Alex Gobert, 178 points
4. Spies, 175 points
5. Roger Lee Hayden/Meiring, TIE, 165 points
7. Aaron Gobert, 162 points
8. Zemke, 161 points
9. Tommy Hayden, 160 points
10. DiSalvo, 155 points


More, from a press release issued by AMA Pro Racing, posted verbatim:

On lap two of the Pro Honda Oils Supersports race rider #41 Shaun Summers of Sacramento, CA and rider of the #185 Matt Hartlieb of Mesa, AZ went down on the front grid.

#41 Shaun Summers was treated by Dr. Gary Zoellner and has been transported to Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula (CHOMP). “Shaun was is stable condition but was complaining of spinal pain” Said Dr. Zoellner. “So he was transported by ground to CHOMP.”

#185 Matt Hartlieb was treated by Dr. Gary Zoellner and has been transported to Salinas Hospital. “He was attended here at the infield center and was transported to the hospital to be treatment of a fractured leg.” Said, Dr. Zollner.

The following press release from FGSport Group was distributed in the media center at Laguna Seca Friday morning.

Ambitious Goals for the FIM Superbike World Championship

On the 9th July, the FIM–Federation Internationale Motorcicliste and FGSPORT decided to adopt a new set of rules for the FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, rules that have been harmonized with the AMA and British Superbike Championships and that are in the course to be adopted by:

–The FIM Superbike World Championship;
–The FIM Endurance World Championship;
–The AMA Superbike Championship;
–The British Superbike Championship;
–The Italian Superbike Champiosnhip

Among the others, most probably, also DMSB will use them for the German National Motorcycle Top Series.

In consideration of all the above, we are glad to communicate the targets that we wish to achieve with those decisions:

–GLOBALIZATION: the great consensus achieved from so many partners of different countries is the best demonstration that the new rules are well designed and will therefore accelerate the development of the SUPERBIKE class, Worldwide. One of the most important advantages generated with this situation is the possibility for the Teams to buy and sell their equipment in a huge market.

–AFFORDABLE COSTS: the current World economic situation suggested to create a regulation which makes easier for the participants to buy the necessary technology at an affordable price and with a high level availability.

This means to obtain “FULLGRID”.

Furthermore, such a regulation will create great opportunities for the “AFTERMARKET”.

–FAIR CONDITIONS FOR EVERYBODY: one of the most important goals of this regulation is to balance the performances among PRIVATE and OFFICAL TEAMS.

The SUPERBIKE CLASS philosphy has been since the beginning: “Great Show and Controlled Costs”, something that offers to everybody the possibility to be competitive.

—LONG TERM VALIDITY OF THE RULES: in order to stabilize the SUPERBIKE CLASS the rules will be valid in the long term.

PS
–The AIR RESTRICTOR RULES: in order to maintain a sufficient level of performances, notwithstanding the limitation of the air-intake, the air-restrictor rules requested from the Manufacturers, need much freedom in the engine tuning.

This gives green light to the use of sophisticated technologies which cause high costs to the participants and diminishes the availability of tuned motorcycles in the market.

It is also important to underline that already during his press conference on the 21st of May, the FIM President, Francesco Zerbi, at the presence of the MSMA Representatives and the Promoters Representatives, announced the need to adopt different rules in order to safeguard the interest of the sport.

The new set of rules that will be adopted, by allowing an easier and wide access to the Superbike class, which will be nearer to the production motorcycles, will certainly represent a major step forward in the development of the motorcycle sport worldwide and in the general interest of all parties involved.

The release was distributed with the FIM’s July 10 release and AMA Pro Racing’s July 9 release.



See related posts:

7/9 Unified Rules For AMA And World Superbike To Be Discussed At Laguna Seca

7/10 It Sounds Like World Superbike Is Considering Spec Tires

7/10 World Superbike Spec Tire Announcement A Surprise To Dunlop, Michelin

7/10 Manufacturers Quit World Superbike Over Spec Tire Plan

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin earned the provisional World Superbike pole position Friday at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California with a lap of 1:25.608 on his GSX-R1000. Mladin did his fastest time on his third flying lap and spent the rest of the 60-minute session working on his set up and following Neil Hodgson whenever possible.

Regis Laconi turned a 1:26.017 late in the first qualifying session on his Team Caracchi NCR Nortel Network Ducati 998RS to be second-fastest.

Mladin’s teammate Aaron Yates was second-fastest for most of the timed period but ended up third with a 1:26.045.

Ducati Austin’s Giovanni Bussei was not in the top 15 times until the closing minutes when he posted a pair of 1:26 laps. Bussei’s fastest, a 1:26.061, was good enough for the last spot on the provisional front row.

Pierfrancesco Chili ran as high as second before being shuffled back to fifth-fastest.

World Superbike Championship point leader Neil Hodgson was near the top of the order through most of the session, but crashed in turn three with 4:30 remaining and finished with the sixth-fastest time.

Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom came to life late in the session and came away with a best of 1:26.461 on his Kawasaki ZX-7RR.

Kawasaki’s engine development specialist Theo Lockwood estimates that Bostrom’s 750cc Kawasaki ZX-7RR makes 10 percent less horsepower and 15 percent less torque than his 788cc AMA Superbike. And although the Kawasaki can weigh as little as 350 pounds according to World Superbike rules, Bostrom’s crew cannot get the bike close to the minimum weight limit.

HM Plant Ducati’s James Toseland qualified on the provisional second row with a 1:26.591 on his Ducati 998F02.

Ruben Xaus floundered during the session and finished 11th-fastest.

Toseland’s teammate Chris Walker crashed unhurt in turn three during the session, lost 12 minutes and ended up 12th-fastest with a 1:27.075.

Ten of the top 12 riders in Friday’s World Superbike qualifying session used Dunlop tires.

In addition to having the fastest lap time, Mladin also had the fastest trap speed at 155.62 mph. The next fastest machines of Hodgson and Toseland recorded 151.28 mph.

Friday’s World Superbike Qualifying Results:

1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:25.608
2. Regis Laconi, Ducati 998RS, 1:26.017
3. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:26.045
4. Giovanni Bussei, Ducati 998RS, 1:26.061
5. Pierfrancesco Chili, Ducati 998RS, 1:26.138
6. Neil Hodgson, Ducati 999F03, 1:26.294
7. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:26.461
8. James Toseland, Ducati 998F02, 1:26.591
9. Lucio Pederchini, Ductai 998RS, 1:26.695
10. Gregorio Lavilla, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:26.734
11. Ruben Xaus, Ducati 999F03, 1:26.986
12. Chris Walker, Ducati 998F02, 1:27.075
13. Steve Martin, Ductai 998RS, 1:27.098
14. Troy Corser, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:27.373
15. Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:27.720
16. Marco Borciani, Ducati 998RS, 1:27.904
17. Juan Borja, Ducati 998RS, 1:28.025
18. David Garcia, Ducati 998RS, 1:28.194
19. Ivan Clementi, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:28.232
20. Walyter Tortoroglio, Honda RC51, 1:28.232
21. Luca Pedersoli, Ducati 998RS, 1:29.880
22. James Haydon, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:30.558
23. Jiri Mrkyvka, Ducati 998RS, 1:30.569


More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing:

Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders battle against illness and injury in USA

Foggy PETRONAS Racing’s Troy Corser was struck by chronic food poisoning on the first day of action of round eight of the World Superbike championship at Laguna Seca.

And with team-mate James Haydon still struggling with the injuries that had ruled him out of the previous two rounds, it was an uphill battle for the team’s debut in the United States.

Corser, who blamed seafood eaten at a local restaurant the previous night, was placed on a glucose drip after the first hour-long practice session at the physically demanding Californian circuit. Yet he still managed the 10th fastest time of the morning, of 1:28.207, before the local American wild card riders dominated the afternoon qualifying session when they joined the action after their own AMA practice had been held yesterday. Consequently, Corser was pushed down to 14th, despite having shaved 0.9 of a second off his best time.

Troy said: “I was feeling very weak and dehydrated this morning but the doctors gave me 1.5 litres of fluid after the practice session and I felt better in the afternoon. But I was never really feeling right on the bike all day. I didn’t feel strong and wasn’t muscling the bike into the corners. I had a few ground clearance problems, due to the nature of the circuit, and have been changing the suspension setting. The bike is not handling too bad but any set-up changes seem critical to the tyre selection. So I have been concentrating on tyres and have found a front Michelin which felt much better and a rear which felt more stable. I changed the gearing but it is still not right, so I will also be trying another setting tomorrow.”

James, who had limited knowledge of the circuit following a 250cc Grand Prix appearance in 1993 and a World Superbike outing dogged by mechanical failure in 1997, was also forced to feel his way back into action on the FP1 – the Malaysian superbike.

James said: “I am not feeling terrible, but I am not feeling great either. My neck is still sore but I have not been able to do any upper body work for the last few weeks, so I do not feel as strong as normal. I feel stiff and not relaxed on the bike but I knew this would be the case. I have had to get to know the circuit again today but felt I was making good progress this morning and I knew where I could take more time off my laps. But we really lost ourselves during the afternoon, both with set-up work and tyre selection.”


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

MLADIN BLASTS TO WORLD SUPERBIKE PROVISIONAL POLE POSITION AT LAGUNA SECA

Monterey, California, USA (Friday, 11 July) – Australia’s Mat Mladin has made an immediate impact on this weekend’s American round of the Superbike World Championship, by blasting his way to provisional pole position aboard his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Mladin created havoc for the international riders from the start of the one-hour session recording his fastest on only his third full flying lap on the Laguna Seca circuit, in Monterey, California. His time of 1:25.608 stood for the remainder of the session and left his as the only rider to drop into the 1:25 bracket.

His time was made all the more impressive as it was the first time that he had ridden the SWC-spec Suzuki GSX-R1000. The technical rule differences between the two championships means that his Yoshimura Suzuki team have prepared two machines for him to use this weekend.

“We didn’t have any real game plan for when we went out there for that session,” said Mladin. “The bike felt good from the start and the tyres suited the conditions well, so we just rolled off a few quick laps. The SWC spec bike does have some different engine characteristics due to the rule differences, but generally it feels quite similar to the bike that I run in the AMA.”

“It was nice to come away with the fastest time of the session today, but tomorrow is when it will count a lot more with Superpole. We did a lot of laps out there on the same tyre to try and give us some indications of how it will last in the race. There’s still a fair bit to be done with the bike to get it dialled in a bit more, so I think for sure the times will drop lower than today.”

Second fastest in today’s opening qualifying session was Frenchman Regis Laconi (NCR Ducati) who reeled off a 1:26.017 in the final minutes of the session to push Mladin’s teammate Aaron Yates to third after he set a best lap of 1:26.045. Italian Giovanni Bussai (Ducati Austin) rounds out the provisional front row after he moved up the leaderboard with a 1:26.061.

Current World Championship points leader Neil Hodgson slipped from third to sixth on the time sheets after he parted company with his Fila Ducati with just under five minutes remaining in the session.

SWC qualifying continues tomorrow morning, before the top sixteen riders prepare for the grid determining Superpole session later in the afternoon.

Earlier in the day, Mladin had posted the quickest time of the AMA Superbike competitors as they prepare for the 12th round of the AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship race which is scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

Mladin’s time of 1:25.393 was quicker than his pole position winning time set yesterday afternoon (1:25.549) and was under the existing AMA Superbike lap record of 1:25.507.

“This is the race I want to win. This is way more important for the team and myself.”


More, from a press release issued by Scuderia Caracchi NCR Nortel Networks:

Regis Laconi second fastest at Laguna Seca in the first qualifying

Only the local hero Mladin has been able to be faster as Regis Laconi and his Ducati 998RS Caracchi NCR Nortel Network in the debut qualifying day on the 2.24 miles of the twisted Californian track of Laguna Seca. Laconi, who has been the fastest in the morning’s free practice session, made a long work looking for the best set up right for the difficult Californian circuit and looks satisfied at the end of the day, also if a little bit disappointed as a group of slower riders damaged him in a fast lap with soft tyres.

“I’m actually satisfied about the work we have done today.” – confirms Regis at the end of the day – “Laguna Seca is a very difficult circuit and I haven’t been here since 2001’s World Superbike event. Moreover the presence of the AMA Championship riders and their knowledge of the track, with a lot of tests on this circuit, makes everything more and more difficult. Unfortunately in my fastest lap, when at the second split I were a whisker behind Mladin, as I was coming up to approach the Corkscrew a group of slow riders was just parked in front of me, damaging my laptime and so I preferred to join the pit, also if my tyres could allow me a second lap. The final minutes of the session have been ruined by the traffic that didn’t allow to upgrade my time. However I’m satisfied because I ran with a fast rhythm a 15 laps sequence to get good information for the Sunday’s race.”

After a hard recovering work in the last period David Garcia in Laguna Seca look to be in better conditions as the previous events and his confident to be able to finish the race: “This track is very exhausting, with a couple of hard braking points; today I rode for several laps with no stop and I’m satisfied of my result, but the race is long and I’ll have to suffer to end the two legs. Tomorrow we’ll plane with the Clinica Mobile staff a good solution for race day.”


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

Neil Hodgson and Ruben Xaus (Ducati Fila) recorded sixth and eleventh quickest times respectively at Laguna Seca as multiple AMA champion Mat Mladin set the pace in first qualifying for the U.S. round of the World Superbike Championship.

Hodgson was looking to improve on his third quickest time behind the two American Suzuki riders when he lost the front of his Ducati 999 at turn 3 minutes before the end of the session.

“I just lost the front, it was one of those things,” declared Neil. “I had a too hard front tyre. I need to find more grip, that’s the main problem because I’m a second off the pace I was doing last year. Tomorrow morning I’m going to concentrate on getting the bike set-up well and then in the afternoon I’ll do my long run. I don’t think pole position is going to be possible here so it’s not worth stressing myself over it.”

Ruben Xaus had a crash at turn 3 in the morning’s free practice session, but felt much happier with the set-up of his Ducati 999 later in the afternoon qualifying session.

“This morning I fell off on a new front tyre because I didn’t pay attention on my warm-up lap and crashed,” commented Ruben. “The feeling with the bike came better this afternoon when I put a new softer rear tyre towards the end. I just need more laps and time on the bike, because we lost some time with a technical problem this afternoon. My first split is the best but the first right corner here needs a good feeling in the front and we’re not there yet. We always find a good set-up on Sundays, but I’m not that far away from the guys at the front.”


More, from a press release issued by HM Plant Ducati:

HM Plant Ducatis prepare for race day

James Toseland and Chris Walker have qualified provisionally on the second and third rows of the grid respectively for the eighth round of the Superbike World Championship at Laguna Seca. However, both of the British HM Plant Ducati riders are confident that they can improve on their initial positions after an incident-packed first day at the 3.61km Californian circuit.

“After a break of three weeks since the last round of the series at Misano, I was eager to get back on the bike again,” said 22-year-old Toseland who currently lies third in the championship behind the factory Fila Ducati riders Neil Hodgson and Ruben Xaus. “I see this as a key race in the championship chase, and with this in mind, I am determined to get the best possible race set-up for Sunday.

“Therefore, I wouldn’t read too much in today’s times as the team has been concentrating on fine-tuning the HM Plant Ducati for one of the most demanding circuits we visit all year. I’m happy with the progress that we made today and there’s just a few things to try out on Saturday morning before we finalise the optimum settings.”

Team-mate Walker fell off in the afternoon session but was able to make it back to the pits to complete the first qualifying period one second in arrears of the provisional front row of Matt Mladin, Regis Laconi, Aaron Yates and Giovanni Bussei. “That was hard work out there, but I’ve only got myself to blame,” said the Nottingham star who is competing at Laguna Seca for the second time after his debut in 2002.

“I made some quite good progress in the free practice session, but managed to slip off in qualifying. Then, to make matters worse my spare HM Plant Ducati developed some technical problems which hampered my progress further still. However, we’ve already had tougher hurdles to overcome this season and therefore I am pretty sure that we’ll be OK for race day – when it matters most!”


More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist:

TROY 14TH DESPITE SICKNESS

Despite suffering the effects of diarrohrea and dehydration, Troy managed to complete 36 laps today and ended up fourteenth quickest. Something Troy had eaten the night before disagreed with Troy and spent most of the night back to and from the toilet. In between today’s two sessions, Troy went to the Clinica Mobile and to aid his recovery. Hopefully, Troy will get a good night’s sleep tonight and will be able to push a lot harder tomorrow.

Today’s qualifying session was dominated by local ‘wild card’ riders Mat Mladin and Aaron Yates. The two Suzuki Yoshimura riders finally ended up in first and third positions, split by Regis Laconi (Ducati) towards the end of the session. Fourth was another ‘wild card’ and former WSBK competitor Giovanni Bussei. Bussei replaced Anthony Gobert on the Austin Ducati and
has made an immediate impact on the AMA championship.

I was up for most of last night and it wasn’t very pleasant! It must have been something I ate, but I’m surprised because I had exactly the same meal in the same restaurant two nights OK and I was OK then. I couldn’t eat any breakfast this morning and I was obviously very dehydrated, so that’s why I went to the Clinica Mobile and was put on a drip today. I feel a bit better now and hopefully I’ll be OK tonight and get some decent sleep. Considering how I felt today, I’m not unhappy with how it’s gone today. We’re having
some ground clearance problems here today because of the nature of the circuit. But we’re pretty much as high as we can go on the bike and now
it’s not so easy to turn. Also, we have to change the gearbox internals because the gearing is not right and we still have to find a good tyre. I
didn’t race here last year of course, so I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Let’s hope I’m back to 100% tomorrow – you need to be here because it
is such a physical track.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Friday’s MotoGP Qualifying Results:

1. Valentino Rossi, Honda, 1:31.196
2. Troy Bayliss, Ducati, 1:31.278
3. Sete Gibernau, Honda, 1:31.527
4. Carlos Checa, Yamaha, 1:31.562
5. Loris Capirossi, Ducati, 1:31.583
6. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha, 1:31.655
7. Tohru Ukawa, Honda, 1:31.711
8. Colin Edwards, Aprilia, 1:31.820
9. Max Biaggi, Honda, 1:31.861
10. Alex Barros, Yamaha, 1:32.039
11. Noriyuki Haga, Aprilia, 1:32.175
12. Nicky Hayden, Honda, 1:32.199
13. Marco Melandri, Yamaha, 1:32.283
14. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha, 1:32.483
15. John Hopkins, Suzuki, 1:32.798
16. Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, 1:32.859
17. Makoto Tamada, Honda, 1:33.338
18. Jeremy McWilliams, Proton, 1:33.386
19. Andrew Pitt, Kawasaki, 1:34.028
20. Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda, 1:34.220
21. Garry McCoy, Kawasaki, 1:34.451
22. Nobuatsu Aoki, Proton, 1:35.203
23. Chris Burns, ROC Yamaha, 1:35.221
24. David De Gea, Sabre, 1:36.851

Friday’s 250cc Grand Prix Qualifying Results:

1. Fonsi Nieto, Aprilia, 1:33.859
2. Manuel Poggiali, Aprilia, 1:34.366
3. Randy De Puniet, Aprilia, 1:34.633
4. Roberto Rolfo, Honda, 1:34.789
5. Toni Elias, Aprilia, 1:34.814
6. Naoki Matsudo, Yamaha, 1:35.260
7. Franco Battaini, Aprilia, 1:35.589
8. Sylvain Guintoli, Aprilia, 1:35.670
9. Anthony West, Aprilia, 1:35.725
10. Sebastian Porto, Honda, 1:35.778
11. Erwan Nigon, Aprilia, 1:36.193
12. Johan Stigefelt, Aprilia, 1:36.323
13. Eric Bataille, Honda, 1:36.331
14. Jay Vincent, Aprilia, 1:36.487
15. Alex Debon, Honda, 1:36.553

Friday’s 125cc Grand Prix Qualifying Results:

1. Andrea Dovizioso, Honda, 1:38.297
2. Daniel Pedrosa, Honda, 1:38.328
3. Stefano Perugini, Aprilia, 1:38.622
4. Hector Barbera, Aprilia, 1:38.675
5. Steve Jenkner, Aprilia, 1:38.718
6. Alex De Angelis, Aprilia, 1:38.752
7. Youichi Ui, Aprilia, 1:38.889
8. Pablo Nieto, Aprilia, 1:39.020
9. Casey Stoner, Aprilia, 1:39.170
10. Masao Azuma, Honda, 1:39.408
11. Arnaud Vincent, KTM, 1:39.460
12. Mika Kallio, Honda, 1:39.465
13. Gabor Talmasci, Aprilia, 1:39.477
14. Lucio Cecchinello, Aprilia, 1:39.664
15. Mirko Giansanti, Aprilia, 1:39.951

More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Yamaha:

CHECA ON PROVISIONAL FRONT ROW AGAIN FOR FORTUNA YAMAHA TEAM

Carlos Checa continued his run of strong form today as he put his Fortuna Yamaha Team YZR-M1 on the front row of the provisional grid for Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Donington Park. Checa recorded the fourth fastest time with a 1:31.562, just inside the fastest ever lap of the famous circuit.

MotoGP class rookie Marco Melandri was set for a second row start before slipping to 13th on the provisional grid in the usual end of session reshuffle. Melandri’s time of 1:32.283 was only a fraction over a second slower than the pole time with the top 11 riders separated by only one second.

World Champion Valentino Rossi (Honda 1:31.196) made a strong start to his second “home” Grand Prix. The London-based rider was fastest for most of the session and held off a late challenge from Australian Troy Bayliss (Ducati 1:31.278) with a string of flying laps at the end of the hour. Third place on the grid went to Spaniard Sete Gibernau (Honda 1:31.527) just ahead of Checa. All four front row starters were inside the previous circuit best lap (1:31.563) set by Rossi in qualifying last year.

Fortuna Yamaha Team Catalan-born rider Carlos Checa made a strong start to the weekend this morning with fourth place in free practice. Checa, who along with Rossi and team-mate Melandri is a UK resident, waited until the last ten seconds of the session to replicate that fourth place in this afternoon’s qualifier with a flying lap.

“I think for a starting point that’s not too bad,” said Checa. “We did a good job this afternoon. It was quite difficult to find the right tyre and I’m not so clear in this area. We’ll do some more work with the tyres tomorrow morning. Today I wasn’t feeling too good as I had a headache. I may have picked up a cold so I’ll go to the Clinica tonight to perfect my personal ‘set-up’ for tomorrow.

“The team are working well. They have given me a good bike here like at the last race and that helps to give me a new positive feeling that I didn’t have at the start of the season. Now we’re going better we can hopefully score some good results.”

Marco Melandri was a little disappointed with his provisional fourth row start despite feeling happier with his general set-up today. The 20-year-old reigning 250cc World Champion finally qualified thirteenth fastest with his Fortuna Yamaha Team YZR-M1 with 1:32.283, missing the opportunity to put in a faster lap at the end of the session.

“I’m happy, but sad about the last lap,” said Melandri. “On the second to last lap I saw that I had three minutes to go so I thought I could get another lap in. But in the end I was too late. My feeling with the bike is quite good and I never really had a good feeling at this track in previous years. I feel better on the M1 than I did on the 250 here. I think I can improve quite a lot tomorrow. We’ve changed the set up a little bit since Assen. I gave feedback to the crew and they’ve altered the suspension geometry a little and it feels better for me. I’m really happy with the work of the team. They say the weather will be good for the next two days so hopefully I’ll get a better grid position tomorrow afternoon!”

Team Director Davide Brivio welcomed the team’s first qualifying performance, “It’s been a good day,” he explained. “With both riders we have some room for improvement tomorrow. Carlos did well with a fast lap at the end of the session. Unfortunately Marco thought he would still be in time for one more lap and so didn’t get his flying lap. But he seems to have a good feeling on the bike and both riders are quite happy. We’ll keep working methodically to improve our performance throughout the weekend.”

More, from a press release issued by KTM:

Vincent Flies to 11th for KTM-Red Bull

World champion Arnaud Vincent has qualified 11th on the provisional grid at a sunny and warm Donington Park in preparation for Sunday’s British Grand Prix. The race is the halfway point of the championship season with Vincent’s teammate Roberto Locatelli 22nd in first qualifying.

Both riders recorded their fastest laps after the chequered flag had been waved with Vincent’s late dash closing him to within 1.1 second of pole position. And the Frenchman believes he could have been much faster after he was delayed by traffic on his final fast lap. The Donington circuit, which does not rely on outright speed and horsepower, is proving to be KTM-friendly and both Vincent and Locatelli are hopeful of improved performances in final qualifying.

# 1 Arnaud Vincent
11th/1:39.460

On my final lap I had to pass three riders and there was a lot of traffic. The layout of this track suits the KTM engine characteristics and for tomorrow I hope to have my best engine fitted to my preferred chassis. Today the engine in my best handling chassis was a little down on performance.

#10 Roberto Locatelli
22nd /1:40.396

Donington has a lot of little bumps at some corners especially the final hairpin section and I need to work with my technicians for a better set-up over the bumps. Apart from that the motor does fell more suited to this track compared to the faster circuits of recent races.

Harald Bartol
Team Manager

A positive day for us and for sure Donington is a track where we can maximise the performance of the engine with our current level of development. After Assen we did a lot of tests on the gearbox and have eliminated that as the cause of our power loss on the faster circuits. There is another reason and In the coming weeks we will look for the solution with more dyno testing in the workshop.

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

GREAT BRITAIN GP/ 1st QUALIFYING SESSION

Donington – A big quantity of competitive spirit and limited gaps for the first qualifying session on Donington Park circuit or the 8th round of the world championship: 13 riders in one second. So tomorrow and especially on Sunday the challenge will be very hard. The features of the British track which is fast and easy-riding in the first part and slow and “tortuous” in the second one, create some setting problems: in fact, it must decide if it’s better to improve the handling or the stability. So difficult choices for everybody but the show on track is still the same.

COLIN EDWARDS: “I feel fine here because I am well-known by the public and there are a lot of photographers searching for me all the time. But this is not the problem. In the first part of the track I am very fast and enjoy my trajectories. The second part I simply terrible: I must control the bike in acceleration and it’s not so funny. Tomorrow we are going to make new experiments in order to balance the bike”.

NORIYUKI HAGA: “It’s a pity cause my engine switched off at 100 metres to the finishing line. I like the whole track also the second part but I need a perfect setting on order to be more competitive: now the bike is to “nervous” in the final part. Anyway I feel confident: I like this track very much and I absolutely want to get a good result”.

GIGI DALL’IGNA (Project Leader): “We have not been so lucky in the final part of the session: Haga’s engine switched off in the last corner because of a fuel distribution problem. It’s not a serious thing but Nori could easily improve his lap time. Colin found a Proton bike in the middle of the track so he lost too much time. Anyway the info achieved today are very important: the challenge is big and the gap is very low. Tomorrow we will try to improve the performance of our bikes in the second part of the track”.

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

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

Friday – qualifying sessions

Tough first round of practice sessions for Makoto Tamada at Donington.

First day of apprenticeship at Darlington for Makoto Tamada, who had a tough time getting a feeling for the highly technical British circuit. This is also the first time he has tried out the new frame, which has just been flown in for his RC211V, and that has made his job twice as hard: a new circuit and a new motorcycle configuration that he needs to get to grips with.

As the first quarter of the qualifying session was coming to an end, Makoto Tamada went into a harmless slide on the McLeans corner. Just slight damage to his RC211V, but enough to prevent him from continuing his comparative tests on the two different frames. Makoto carried on with the bike with the latest frame – the one not involved in the fall, and he finished the session with a slight loss of concentration. This means there should be plenty of room for improvement tomorrow when the great Japanese rider will have acquired better knowledge of the English circuit and, of course, of the new alternative configurations of his Honda.

Makoto Tamada (Pramac Honda Team): 17th – 1:33.338

“A pleasant, technical circuit. The two 180-degree hairpins are absolutely great. Even so, my harmless slide did complicate matters and I found myself having to work only on the new configuration of my bike. I find the bike a bit heavy, what with having the two frames, and it’s rather jerky when I’m braking. We’re going to have to work on the set-up of the suspension, and get the settings just right. We also need to find the right direction to follow in order to improve, but I think we’ll be able to get the details sorted out tomorrow. As far as today is concerned, I must say it’s hard to give a precise idea about the differences between the two different frames.”

More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki:

SUZUKI TEAM STEP FORWARD AT DONINGTON

Team Suzuki Press Office Friday 11th July 2003
Team Suzuki riders Yukio Kagayama and John Hopkins qualified side by side once again for the provisional starting grid for Sunday’s British GP, setting 15th and 16th-fastest lap times round the swooping 4.023km parkland circuit outside Derby.

Both riders were enjoying the benefit of the latest in a continuing line of improvements and revisions to the new GSV-R MotoGP prototype. New chassis and engine parts were aimed at making the 200-plus horsepower machine more predictable and easier to ride.

The effects were immediately discernible, and though not the final answer in unleashing the full potential of the 990cc V4 racer they are proof that development is moving ahead, and in the right direction. Hopkins set the second-fastest top speed time today, at 268.1km/h, with only Loris Capirossi (Ducati) faster through the speed trap.

The British GP, eighth of 16 rounds, is the home race for the team, based in Kent south of London, and also for Hopkins, who was born in the USA but to an all-English family. As well as his mother and sister from the USA, Hopkins is playing host to a number of home-country relations at the British race. Hopkins is fresh from a first drive in a McLaren Formula One car – a two-lap test at the French GP last weekend. “It was pretty tightly controlled, but I managed to get the back to slide out of the last corner, and gave it a good run up through the first five gears,” he said. “It felt like a big go-kart. A really fast go-kart.”

Kagayama is also a temporary resident of England, where he is contesting the full British Superbike Championship. “Yuki” (29) is fresh from his first double win last weekend at the Rockingham BSB round; while the British GP is the fifth of nine consecutive weekends of top-level racing. He is taking the place of the injured team regular Kenny Roberts, who expects to be fit to return for the next round in Germany.

Today’s practice took place in dry and partially cloudy conditions, with a cool wind keeping temperatures to 21 degrees. There is one more hour-long timed qualifying session tomorrow for Sunday’s race, with good weather predicted for the rest of the weekend.

JOHN HOPKINS – 15th Position, 1:32.798
We got some new parts here, and it definitely seems to be a step in the right direction. The engine changes are the biggest improvement. They don’t make the bike faster or change the limits of performance, but they make it easier to get to the limit and to ride at the limit. This afternoon we messed round with the set-up, but we went the wrong way. This may have interrupted our progress, with changes that weren’t necessary but that’s all part of trying to get the bike the best it can possibly be for Sunday.

YUKIO KAGAYAMA – 17th Position, 1:32.859
After my first ride on the new bike at Assen, we asked for some changes from the factory, and we have them here already. And it is working a bit better. The throttle response is improved, not perfect, but better than before. The chassis is not so bad, here or at Assen. This is my first time at the long circuit here, but the hairpins are not difficult corners, and I like the other part of the circuit, so I am enjoying myself. I was pleased when I got in to the 32s this afternoon, and sure I would be higher up the grid but when I got back to the pit, I found I was in the same position. Everybody else also went faster!

More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing:

Checa claims provisional front row at Donington
Round: 8 – Donington MotoGP
Circuit: Donington Park
Date: 11 July 2003
Temp: 21°C
Weather: Dry
A late surge from Carlos Checa (Fortuna Yamaha Team) during the opening qualifier for the British MotoGP, held July 11 at Donington Park, produced a valuable provisional front-row start for this weekend’s eighth round of the world championship. The Spaniard, who resides in England, set his best time of 1:31.562 with less than two minutes of the one-hour session remaining – claiming fourth place on a grid that saw the top 13 riders covered by little more than one second. Joining Checa on the front row is reigning world champion Valentino Rossi (Honda), who set the fastest time of the day with a 1:31.196, ahead of Australian Troy Bayliss (Ducati, 1:31.278) and Spain’s Sete Gibernau (Honda, 1:31.527).

Frenchman Oliver Jacque (Gauloises Yamaha Team, 1:31.655) claimed the sixth fastest time, with team-mate Alex Barros also qualifying under the existing lap record –rounding out the top ten with a time of 1:32.039 – despite a less than ideal chassis set-up.

Donington is also the adopted home Grand Prix for Italian rider Marco Melandri (Fortuna Yamaha Team, 1:32.283) who lives in Derby, just a few miles drive from the technically demanding circuit. The MotoGP rookie felt he could have gone faster today, but mistimed his run and was met by the chequered flag as he came round to attempt his flying lap. Melandri finds himself 13th in the overnight standings, just 1.087 seconds behind provisional pole-sitter Rossi.

Shinya Nakano (d’Antin Yamaha Team, 1:32.483) was one of a number of riders to be caught out in the early stages of the session when he slid from his YZR-M1. Despite the fall the Nakano was able to return to the pits and use his spare bike to take a place on the fourth row of the grid.

Fortuna Yamaha Team
Carlos Checa 4th, 1:31.562: “I think for a starting point that’s not too bad. We did a good job this afternoon. It was quite difficult to find the right tyre and I’m not so clear in this area, yet. We’ll do some more work with the tyres tomorrow morning just to make sure. Today I wasn’t feeling too good as I had a headache. I may have picked up a cold so I’ll go to the Clinica tonight to perfect my personal ‘set-up’ for tomorrow.

“The team are working well. They have given me a good bike and that helps to give me a positive feeling that I didn’t have at the start of the season. Now we’re going better we can hopefully score some good results.”

Marco Melandri 13th, 1:32.283: “I’m happy, but at the same time sad about the last lap. On the second to last lap I saw that I had three minutes to go so I thought I could get another lap in. But in the end I was too late. My feeling with the bike is quite good, and I never really had a good feeling at this track in previous years. I feel better here on the M1 than I did on the 250 and I think I can improve quite a lot tomorrow. We’ve changed the set-up a little bit since Assen. I gave feedback to the crew and they’ve altered the suspension geometry a little and it feels better for me. I’m really happy with the work of the team. They say the weather will be good for the next two days so hopefully I’ll get a better grid position tomorrow afternoon!”

Gauloises Yamaha Team
Olivier Jacque 6th, 1:31.655: “We managed to find a good base set-up quite quickly this morning and after that I concentrated on posting fast consistent laps rather than going all out for one quick lap. Consistency over race distance has been our weak point up until now and if we want to put in the kind of performance the bike and I are capable of at this circuit then it’s what we have to focus on.”

Alex Barros 10th, 1:32.039: “I’m not too thrilled about my position but the times are very close and if we manage to make the bike turn a little better I think my time should come down quite a lot. Apart from the bike not turning in fast enough yet, I have no particular set-up problems. Given that I like this circuit and usually go well here I think I should be OK come Sunday.”

D’Antin Yamaha Team
Shinya Nakano 14th, 1:32.483: “Today was a difficult day because I crashed at the beginning of the session when I touched the track kerbing. It meant that I had to finish the session with my second bike. We have been working with the engine response and the chassis set-up, and although the 14th place would be seen as a bad result, overall the day wasn’t too bad for me.”

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

V5 Home Debut

Jeremy McWilliams: 18th, 1:33.386
Nobuatsu Aoki: 22nd, 1:35.208

Team Proton KR riders placed 18th and 22nd in a hard first day of practice for Sunday’s British GP, home race for the Banbury-based team, and only the fourth race for the radical new V5 four-stroke racer.

But two weeks since the Dutch TT, with two test sessions and gallons of midnight oil burned at the factory, has yielded yet more clear progress. Oil-control problems encountered at Assen have not returned, while the overall package has taken another step forward, as the team tick off the teething problems one by one, and also polish the settings and engineering details to achieve the right balance and feel for the brand new machine.

One problem will take longer to solve – crankshaft failures have dogged the first version of the engine, and the team is still waiting for delivery of redesigned components.

One result is that there only three of the new four-strokes at Donington Park. The team had four bikes at Assen two weeks ago, but a shortage of parts has limited them for this race. Aoki has two of the new machines; McWilliams just one, with one of the old three-cylinder 500cc two-strokes on which they started the season standing by as a spare.

Hopes were also dashed for a first outing for the latest power-up engine that arrived from Rob Muzzy’s workshops in the USA during the break after Assen. This also succumbed to teething troubles. “We always knew it would take time to get the new parts we need,” said team owner Kenny Roberts.

Today’s first practice took place in dry and intermittently sunny conditions, with a cool breeze keeping overall temperatures down. There is one more day of practice before Sunday’s race.

Jeremy McWilliams
I feel as though I am doing everything possible at the minute, but I am limited by how fast the bike can go into the corners. I don’t get on with the slipper clutch yet, and the back wheel tends to lock up. You have to wait until it all comes back into line before you can commit to the corner. I can only brake as late and as hard as the engine will let me. If we can sort that out, there’s another 1.5 seconds, or at least a second, improvement. We’ve improved it already with the tests since the last race, and I think we can get it better for tomorrow.

Nobuatsu Aoki
This morning for the first time I felt really comfortable on the bike. My crew made some geometry changes, with the engine a bit higher, that gives me more confidence. In the afternoon we changed the gearing a little, by changing both front and rear chain sprockets. That obviously changed the chain force, and it felt like anti-squat geometry that wasn’t working right. The whole balance was wrong. Tomorrow we’ll put it back to how it was this morning, then we’ll see.

Kenny Roberts – Team Owner
We only have three bikes because we’re out of parts – though we will get another engine tonight. We had one of the power-up engines here too, but it broke. We’re still having crankshaft problems, and it’s going to be some weeks before we get the redesigned parts. You have to remember that this is still just the first development version of the bike – we never really intended to race it.

More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

Ducati Marlboro Men Make great Start at Donington

Ducati Marlboro Team riders Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi made a superb start to their weekend at breezy Donington Park this afternoon, placing second and fifth in the opening qualifying session. Bayliss was just 0.082 seconds off provisional pole despite two minor crashes, and even though the Desmosedici has never been here before.

“We’re quite happy with today because now the bike seems to work everywhere, more or less,” said Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli. “Of course, both our riders know and like this circuit, which obviously helps. Donington is one of the slowest tracks in MotoGP but we don’t ‘turn down’ the engine here, we prefer to leave it the same, so the riders are fully familiar with its behaviour. The only particular set-up feature here is the fork setting – we run a harder front-end here so the forks don’t bottom during braking for the slow hairpins. Troy had a couple of crashes, both going into those slow turns, because he lacked a bit of feeling with the front, so he was finding it difficult to feel the limit. Loris wasn’t able to do as many laps as he wanted this morning because we were making a few changes to the bike, but this afternoon was good for him. He did his fastest laps with potential race tyres, and tomorrow we’ll try to do as many laps as possible on those tyres for Sunday.”

Bayliss bounces back from two spills
Two low-speed spills couldn’t stop Ducati Marlboro Team rider Troy Bayliss from challenging for provisional pole position today. The Aussie, who hasn’t been on the front row since May’s Spanish GP, slid off at Donington’s two slowest turns – the bumpy, off-camber Goddard hairpin this morning and the slightly less bumpy Melbourne hairpin this afternoon. He walked away from both crashes, though he did sustain a minor injury in the second get-off, when his bike’s handlebar struck his left arm.

“They weren’t so much crashes as ballet,” grinned Bayliss after his second graceful fall. “I’d been getting a bit of chatter mid-corner – the bike was trying to tell me something. Both times the bike slid and nearly picked itself up but not quite! You have to be careful to find the right way here – especially at Goddard. The second one happened when I was trying a few different lines at Melbourne. But overall the bike feels good, I feel really comfortable on it. We seem to have a base setting which is pretty good everywhere, and I like this place, even though I’ve never won a race here. The plan for tomorrow is to work some more on grip – this isn’t the grippiest track in the world.”

Capirossi 0.2 seconds off front row
Loris Capirossi, gunning for his seventh consecutive front-row start, ended this afternoon’s opening qualifier in fifth spot, just two hundredths of a second off the provisional front row. And the Ducati Marlboro Team man is in confident mood, because he did his quickest lap on race tyres, not softer qualifying rubber.

“I’m happy with that because we lost some time making adjustments in the morning session,” said the Italian who won his first GP victory here in 1990. “This afternoon was much better and we’re very close to pole, even though I was using quite a hard rear tyre for my best lap. We are still trying to find more feel from the front end but I’m confident we can improve tomorrow when we’ll try some other tyres. We know what we’ve got to do and I’m confident for the weekend.”

More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:

DIFFICULT DONINGTON CHALLENGE FOR FUCHS KAWASAKI TEAM
Fuchs Kawasaki riders Andrew Pitt and Garry McCoy became the unwilling ‘wheelie-kings’ of Donington Park during today’s first qualifying session for Sunday’s British Grand Prix.

Both riders struggled to keep sufficient front wheel contact with the four kilometre East Midlands circuit, which is proving to be another new and difficult challenge in the development of the Ninja ZX-RR MotoGP machine.

Even so, Pitt and McCoy both sliced more than two seconds from their morning free practice times as they worked closely with Kawasaki technicians to find solutions to the unique challenge of Donington Park.

The compromise is for smoothness under hard acceleration and braking in the stop-go Melbourne Loop, and for confidence-inspiring steering through the fast sweeps of the Craner Curves and Starkey’s Bridge.

For the first time this season McCoy concentrated on evaluating a softer and ‘more flexible’ version of the ZX-RR chassis, which has been adapted to the Australian’s own set-up requirements. McCoy used this frame specification, which has been employed in recent GP outings by wild card rider Alex Hofmann, for his qualifying run today. The Australian hopes to make further progress tomorrow after running a series of back-to-back tests today against his regular race mount, which features a later, stiffer ZX-RR frame.

On the tyre front, Dunlop have lived up to their Donington reputation with an excellent supply of rubber for the ZX-RR, which in today’s conditions, have produced consistent performance and grip levels.

Andrew Pitt – 19th – 1:34.028
‘I’m struggling to keep the front wheel on the track, especially through the tight, stop-go section; that’s the biggest problem we’ve got here and while it’s something that we’ve had at other tracks, the problem seems magnified at Donington. Another problem is finding the balance between good steering through the fast sections and the stop-go part before the pits. On a positive note, the Dunlops feel good with a lot of consistent grip.’

Garry McCoy – 21st – 1:34.451
‘Wheelies are fun, but they are definitely not the fast way around Donington. It is really hard to keep the front wheel down and it feels like you can only use half to three-quarter throttle in every gear. This is not a new problem, but it seems worse here than other tracks; even going to taller gearing didn’t really solve it. I ran the more flexible frame this afternoon and I’m working out how much different it feels; we’ve got some more settings to try tomorrow and still quite a few tyre runs to do for Dunlop.’

Harald Eckl – Team Manager
‘Donington is a very different kind of track and this is our first time here with the ZX-RR. There have been good and bad points about today. The good is that we’re still on a steep learning curve and amassing data and experience for the future, while the bad is our positions on the provisional grid, as both the team and riders want to be closer to the front. The other good news is that our tyre partner, Dunlop, have supplied us with some good tyres which are very consistent and offer an excellent level of grip.’

More, from a press release issued by WCM:

BRITISH GP – DONINGTON

Qualifying – Friday July 11th 2003

WCM DEBUTS AT DONINGTON

CHRIS BURNS: 23rd 1:35.221
“That was alright for my first real go on a 500. I¹ve never ridden a 500cc four-cylinder two-stroke before other then a handful of laps at Rockingham on Wednesday, so I’m pretty happy with coming out and qualifying today.

The bike is light, small, easy to ride and pretty smooth and I am quite surprised at how good it feels for the age of it. It rode sharp and felt strong.

From Free Practice this-morning it was in my mind throughout the session to not drop it, only having one bike was in the back of my mind. So when I ran wide into the gravel on the fifth lap, I was determined to hold onto it and put it down gently in the litter. I lost 20 minutes in that session, getting back into the garage whilst the mechanics re-fitted the exhaust pipe.

Basically, all I’m missing is some horses down the straight, it’s amazing how much you can gain on the four-strokes in the corners, but as soon as you straighten up the four-strokes are gone.

It’s my second official practice session of the season, the first, back in April in Suzuka. I am really l

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Team Caracchi NCR Nortel Network’s Regis Laconi led the first World Superbike practice at Laguna Seca Friday morning, with a 1:26.429 on his Dunlop-equipped Ducati 998RS.

Ducati Fila’s Ruben Xaus crashed in turn 10 with three minutes remaining in the session. Xaus was reported as being “OK.”

AMA regulars/World Superbike wild cards Mat Mladin, Aaron Yates and Eric Bostrom sat out the one-hour practice per special rules set up for the Laguna Seca. According to the AMA teams, the wild card riders will not be allowed to participate in World Superbike practice sessions and can only ride in World Superbike qualifying sessions. If the wild cards qualify for Superpole, they will be allowed to participate in the short, pre-Superpole qualifying session Saturday afternoon.

Although he is considered a World Superbike regular, Ducati Austin’s Giovanni Bussei was not allowed to participate in World Superbike practice because he is practicing in the AMA Superbike sessions.

The start of the World Superbike practice session was delayed 30 minutes due to fog and reduced visibility.

Friday Morning World Superbike Practice Times:

1. Regis Laconi, Ducati 998RS, 1:26.429
2. Pierfrancesco Chili, Ducati 998RS, 1:26.679
3. James Toseland, Ducati 998F02, 1:26.807
4. Neil Hodgson, Ducati 999F03, 1:26.855
5. Chris Walker, Ducati 998F02, 1:26.963
6. Ruben Xaus, Ducati 999F03, 1:27.360
7. Steve Martin, Ducati 998RS, 1:27.578
8. Gregorio Lavilla, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:27.771
9. Lucio Pederchini, Ducati 998Rs, 1:27.917
10. Troy Corser, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:28.270
11. Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:28.474
12. Juan Borja, Ducati 998RS, 1:28.768
13. Ivan Clementi, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:28.836
14. Maurco Borciani, Ducati 998Rs, 1:28.842
15. David Garcia, Ducati 998RS, 1:29.142
16. James Haydon, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:30.423
17. Walter Tortoroglio, Honda RC51, 1:31.281
18. Jiri Mrkyvka, Ducati 998RS, 1:31.650
19. Lucio Pedercini, Ducati 998RS, 1:32.230

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies turns 19 years old today.

Spies was born in Memphis, Tennessee and currently resides in Longview, Texas.