Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

General-interest news media representatives will take rides on a two-seat Formula Xtreme racebike at Road Atlanta today.

The new program is designed to give reporters an appreciation of the performance of modern racebikes and to promote interest in AMA road racing.

The racebike is a 2002 Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki GSX-R1000 which was clocked at 187 mph at Brainerd International Raceway last year, and which has been fitted with standard tailsection, passenger seat and passenger pegs.

The two-seat racebike was a big hit with media reps at Infineon Raceway earlier this month, resulting in stories on two TV stations and in three newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle. Several of the involved reporters had never been on a motorcycle before.

Steve Rapp will pilot the two-seater, and media passengers have been lined up by Road Atlanta.

Several other racetracks have signed up to use the two-seater for pre-race PR purposes.

From a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing:

Fast-track development for Foggy PETRONAS Racing at Monza

Carl Fogarty and his Foggy PETRONAS Racing team continue the fast-track development of the FP1 when the World Superbike championship returns to Europe for round four at the historic circuit of Monza, in Italy.

Having demonstrated the potential of the bike during the first three rounds, riders Troy Corser and James Haydon face a new set of challenges at a circuit where straight-line speed is of the essence and where the cutting-edge aerodynamic technology used in the early development stages of the FP1 will play a key part.

Opportunities to test the bike under extreme slip-streaming, when a bike’s temperature can rise by more than 10 degrees Celsius, have so far been limited and improvements to the bike’s water pump have been made in an attempt to counter the increased heat output.

Carl, who will officially open the team’s brand new hospitality unit on Friday, said: “Part of our on-going development of the FP1 will be to see how it performs in higher ambient temperatures here, especially when slipstreaming. The aerodynamic shape of the bike will help for sure but I always found that bikes which did not normally handle well would work fine at Monza, so I don’t know whether our chassis will give us a great advantage here.

“I don’t really know what to expect this weekend. We are not ready to challenge for third place – the Ducati riders have the top two places sewn up. So I think a realistic goal for us at this stage would be to have both riders finishing in the top ten in both races. Reliability was a bit of a problem in Japan so hopefully we have managed to make progress on that front.”

Troy said: “Monza is all about acceleration and top speed. It’s actually quite a boring circuit because you spend so much time on the straights. Handling is a key factor through the fastest chicane, so the FP1 should go well through that section. Braking is also important and it will be interesting to see how stable the bike is under extreme braking, as it has not really been tested yet under those conditions.”

James said: “I really enjoyed racing here in 1997 so I am looking forward to this weekend and I don’t think the changes to the circuit will take too much learning. Hopefully the new set-up that I tried in the second race at Sugo will continue to work better for me. I am confident we are moving in the right direction, although we still need to develop this further for the FP1 to really suit me.”

Circuit information: Monza, Italy

Best lap: Troy Bayliss, 1:47.434 (2002).

Superpole record: Neil Hodgson, 1:47.913 (2002).

Race record: Troy Bayliss, 1:47.434 (2002)

Pole position: Left. Circuit length: 5.793km.

Corners: 5 left, 8 right. Corner radius: 610m maximum, 12.5m minimum.

Maximum slope: 2.4 per cent upwards, 1.7 per cent down

Race times: 1100 and 1430 hours, GMT. Selected

TV: British Eurosport (Superpole delayed, Saturday 21.30-22.30, both races live 10.00-15-
30). BBC (Race 1 delayed at 13.35, Race 2 live at 14.25)

From a press release issued by Honda Racing Information:

SUPERSPORT HONDAS TUCK INTO THE MONZA SLIPSTREAM

The historic and ultra-fast parkland circuit of Monza hosts the fourth round of the World Supersport Championship this weekend, a venue and event much anticipated by the ranks of factory-supported Honda riders. Generally acknowledged as the fastest bike in the 2003 series, the new Honda CBR600RR is expected to be the leading force at Monza, much as the previous CBR model was in 2002.

As the 1-2 Honda finish last season showed, a high top speed and expansive engine power are important assets at the fastest race of the year. Average lap speeds of over 180kmph are experienced at Monza, despite the frequent interruptions of the Prima Variante, Variante della Roggia and Variante Ascari chicanes.

With three race weekends and the championship’s only two ‘long-haul’ rounds at Phillip island and Sugo completed, Europe will be the base for the rest of the Supersport season, with Monza a more than fitting focus of attention to re-start the series. The oldest permanent racing circuit still in regular use in Europe, Monza was first laid down as a banked oval in 1922, but even the much modified modern 5,793m circuit – with ultra-fast corners and straights punctuated by hard braking for the slow chicanes – still retains an all-pervading atmosphere of history and importance.

Chris Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) approaches Monza as the World Championship leader by 10 points, and the holder of the fastest ever Supersport lap of the track, with a time of 1:53.127 (184.350kmph) secured during official qualifying in 2002. He finished second on a van Zon Honda in the race itself, inches behind eventual World Champion Fabien Foret, on a Ten Kate Honda.

The 20-year-old Vermeulen, now a veteran of 29 World Supersport starts on the eve of Monza, has many reasons to feel optimistic in his return to the classic circuit.

“I’m glad I’m on a Ten Kate Honda,” said Vermeulen in the run up to race weekend, alluding to his machine’s consistently impressive straight-line speed. “I’m looking forward to it because it’s a really fast track and Ten Kate are known to have had fast bikes there before. Hopefully they’ll keep that reputation up. It’s a pretty cool track, last year it gave me my best result, my first pole position and my first ever podium. If I can repeat something like that I’ll be happy.”

Vermeulen’s team-mate Karl Muggeridge is another Australian Honda rider with a single World Supersport race win to his credit. Having taken slightly longer to settle into his new 2003 task than Vermeulen, Muggeridge is nonetheless improving with every outing on the CBR6000RR.

“I’m confident for Monza,” said Muggeridge, seventh overall in the championship at this stage. “It’s taken me a while but we’re slowly getting the bike better and better and I’m feeling more comfortable. Soon we’ll start seeing some decent results.”

Christophe Cogan (BKM Honda CBR600RR), who narrowly missed out on a podium finish after the first race of the year at Valencia, lies eighth in the series.

“Monza will be better, the circuit is more flowing compared with Sugo and we should have a better result there,” affirmed a determined Cogan, the most experienced rider in the Supersport pack.

With his impressive early season rides yet to end kindly enough to deliver him a podium, a fully-fit Broc Parkes (BKM Honda CBR600RR) expects Monza to be one of his better chances for early season success.

“Hopefully I can do something a bit better in Monza and if we have a fast engine then for sure we can be fast in a straight line. That’s one of the biggest things,” acknowledged Parkes, 12th in the championship table. “At Sugo I could stay in the slipstream better than Philip Island so we’ve already found a little bit more.”

Points scores in every round so far have taken Werner Daemen (Van Zon Honda CBR600RR) to 14th overall, a net 12th when the two top Japanese wild cards from the Sugo round are discounted. The Belgian rider is still working to maximise his race long performances on his all-new machine.

“We need a little bit of work on the engine I think, to try and get it exactly how I want it,” said Daemen, looking for every last possible advantage in this highly competitive year. “The results are going to get better and better and at Monza I think a top ten might be possible. I hope so.”

Robert Ulm has been the top rider in the Klaffi Honda squad this year, but has found good fortune an elusive riding partner once aboard his CBR600RR.

“I think we have the chance to do well at each track but so far we have not had so much good luck,” said a rueful but determined Ulm. “At Monza we should have an even better chance because our top speed is always good. We only have a small problem exiting corners to work out. Monza should be good for us.”

Iain Macpherson, the 1999 World Championship runner-up, approaches Monza with new energy and motivation after seeing three strong rides result in two DNFs and a non-points scoring finish in Japan.

“Sugo was a bad result so I have been focussing very hard on Monza, thinking about the whole event even more than I would normally,” said Macpherson as he approached a pivotal weekend. “It should be an ideal track for our bike but racing at Monza means that there is always a bit of luck involved. You can ride a perfect race and still be passed by a few riders on the last lap, just because of the slipstreaming and constant overtaking.”

For recent Klaffi Honda inductee Sebastien Charpentier Monza will be the ideal chance to demonstrate his true abilities on the fast and well-developed CBR600RR. Having missed the first two rounds, Charpentier was thrown in at the deep end in Sugo, finishing the race but missing out on points in 19th.

Two weeks after Monza the championship will move Oschersleben, an earlier feature on the calendar than usual, with raceday on June 1.

From a press release issued by Pramac Honda Racing:

PRAMAC RACING AND CLASS EDITORI JOIN FORCES IN MOTOGP

The Pramac Group is pleased to announce the partnership in which Pramac Honda Team and Class Editori Group team up in the 2003 MotoGP.

Thanks to the recent agreement, a special new partnership has been created, with a top publishing group now entering the MotoGP.

Joining the MotoGP challenge launched by Pramac Honda Team there is thus the prestige of one of Italy’s leading publishing groups. The aim is to create new opportunities for meeting the public, and the choice has fallen on one of the most exciting and eagerly-awaited rendezvous of the entire sports season: the MotoGP and the class that best expresses the technology and thrill of motorcycling – the top, premier class.

Class Editori, the publishing company set up in 1986, floated on the stock exchange in late 1998 and has now become a unique multimedia Group on the Italian publishing scene. It produces seven economics and finance dailies together with nine periodicals that, all together, constitute a range of publications able to cover all the key aspects of luxury consumption. They are flanked by a digital TV network, a radio station and an Internet network with no fewer than 18 dedicated sites that clock up 13 million page hits per month.

The agreement signed by the two Groups will bring Pramac and Class Editori together for the 2003 World Championship. This partnership will involve both companies in targeted promotion events for the brands.

Makoto Tamada and Shinichi Itoh will be racing with the logo of the publishing company on the front fairing of the glorious RC211Vs, bringing onto the circuit all the determination of a rapidly emerging team closely followed by the great Japanese manufacturer Honda.

From a press release issued by HM Plant Ducati:

HM Plant Ducati returns to Europe

This weekend the Superbike World Championship returns to Europe – and Monza in Italy – for the fourth round of the Ducati-dominated series. The ultra-fast circuit near Milan is also close to Ducati’s factory and HQ at Bologna, so the Fila Ducati and HM Plant Ducati teams are set to continue their impressive start to the season.

The first six races of the championship have been won by former HM Plant Ducati star Neil Hodgson but former team-mate James Toseland and 2003 signing Chris Walker have already shown what they are capable of on the 998 F02 factory machines. Both riders have finished on the podium this season, with Toseland repeating this feat at the last round in Sugo, Japan.

“Sugo was good to me,” said Toseland, “but that’s not to say I’ll be taking anything for granted at Monza. I ran well there last year and adapted myself to the tactics of slipstreaming around the fastest circuit on the World Superbike calendar. The HM Plant Ducati team is in good shape for the weekend and I’ll be giving it everything to finish on the podium once again. To do this, I need to qualify and start each race well so that I can get away with the leaders – anything can happen after that.”

Walker had an unfortunate Japanese round and was involved in three crashes that left him with two injured feet. He high-sided during final qualifying and low-sided in the second race – and was taken out of race one in a multiple bike pile-up. The incident-packed event left him with a cracked bone in his right foot to go with the little toe he had broken on his left foot the day before!

“The injuries have healed well,” said Walker, “and I am on the road to a full recovery. I am eager to get my second World Superbike season back on track after two non-finishes at Sugo. Monza is a fantastic circuit and I am looking forward to attacking it on the HM Plant Ducati. The team has gone well in the past and I’m confident that I can carry on where Neil and James left off last season.”

FORTUNA YAMAHA TEAM TESTS
Mugello, Italy
Tuesday 15 May 2003 (day 2 of 2)

SUN SHINES ON FORTUNA YAMAHA TEAM TESTS IN MUGELLO

The Fortuna Yamaha Team today completed the second day of their two day test in Mugello, Italy. The Italian-based team was blessed with brilliant weather for both testing days, a welcome change from the bad weather conditions they experienced during much of their winter testing programme.

Testing alongside the Fortuna Yamaha Team were Gauloises Yamaha riders Alex Barros and Olivier Jacque, Team d’Antin Yamaha rider Shinya Nakano, and Yamaha test rider Norick Abe.

Fortuna Yamaha Team riders Carlos Checa and Marco Melandri were glad for the extra test time, which falls in between last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez and next weekend’s French Grand Prix in Le Mans. Both riders rode consistently during the two days at the Italian circuit, with Checa setting a best time over the two days of 1’51.9s, beating the circuit lap record of 1’52.6 (the circuit best lap is 1’51.2s, set by Rossi last year). Checa completed a total of 34 laps today. Team-mate Melandri completed 71 laps today with a best time during the two days of 1’53.0s.

Checa had a disappointing finish to last weekend’s Grand Prix in Jerez when electrical problems meant he had to pull out of the race while fighting with the race leaders. The Spanish rider and his crew focused all their attention to fine-tuning his Yamaha YZR-M1 machine yesterday in order to better his lap times at the Mugello circuit, and testing some new tyres for Michelin. Despite a few small tumbles Checa proved that his form is improving all the time. Today he tested a new evolution of the M1 chassis for the second time, having already tested it for a limited time in Suzuka at the start of the season. The rider is not yet sure whether he will use the new chassis to race at the forthcoming French Grand Prix.

“I am a little disappointed because I had some falls here”, said Checa. “I lost the front – it is difficult to find the limit here and I just pushed too hard. We tested the old chassis yesterday which works very well and I got my best lap time with it. Today I spent almost all the day with the new M1 chassis and the feedback was positive but then I crashed so we stopped early. In Le Mans I will confirm whether we will use the new chassis – we will take both the old and new ones there. So far for me the new one is a bit better here in Mugello but we will confirm when we see how it works in Le Mans.”

Checa’s team-mate Marco Melandri continued to amaze everyone with his incredible recovery since his unlucky fall at the Japanese Grand Prix just over one month ago when he fractured his ankle in two places and chipped his femur. The 20-year old Italian was out of action for the first two races of the season but made his comeback at the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend. Despite back pain during the Jerez race Melandri was riding in the top nine during the Jerez race but back pain forced him to slow down and run wide of the track and he finished the race in sixteenth position.

Today Melandri was tired but happy at the end of the session, having spent some of the day testing front tyres but feeling generally better than he has since his accident, “I’m feeling very tired now and have a small ache in my ankle and my back”, said Melandri. “But I am happy because I was able to do a lot of laps. This was the best training I could do for Le Mans. After Jerez I was really exhausted because I rode so many consecutive laps for the first time in the race. I am going to rest for a couple of days and then
keep going swimming to train before Le Mans. I am definitely well on my way to full recovery now.”

Team Manager Geoff Crust was pleased with the performance of both riders over the two days of the test, “After a hard weekend at the Grand Prix in Jerez although the team needed a rest we took the long trip north and pushed ourselves to carry on working here in Mugello,” said the Briton. “Although Carlos slipped off today the test was still successful as he was pushing to the limits to try and find the benefits of the new chassis. We found positive points and might well use the new chassis in Le Mans, we will analyse its performance now and in Le Mans and decide.

“After being checked by his doctor on Tuesday, Marco was advised to continue riding the bike to get fully fit. Towards the end of today he felt tired so we stopped early. Nevertheless, it was a successful test for him too and we hope he can improve even more in Le Mans. The M1 was strong in Le Mans last year and Carlos is going there with a positive attitude. Jerez was a little disappointing so we are looking forward to going to Le Mans and going for a good result, which we deserve.”

The Fortuna Yamaha Team moves to Le Mans next week for the French Grand Prix which will take place on Sunday 25 May.

TIMES (Day 2 of 2)

1. Alex Barros, Gauloises Yamaha Team (61 laps) 1’51.7

2. CARLOS CHECA, FORTUNA YAMAHA TEAM (34 laps) 1’52.1

3. Olivier Jacque, Gauloises Yamaha Team (60 laps) 1’52.5

4. MARCO MELANDRI, FORTUNA YAMAHA TEAM (71 laps) 1’53.0

5. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha Team d’Antin (63 laps) 1’53.5

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Via e-mail from Corona Extra Suzuki team principal Landers Sevier:

I read (Kawasaki Racing Manager Mike) Preston’s comments on Hayden’s penalty (Roadracingworld.com 5/8/2003 Kawasaki Team Manager Reacts To Hayden Penalty, Fine).

I agree that it does suck for Tommy (because he’s riding really well) that something most likely beyond his control has cost him points but let’s face it – deburring is not allowed – period. Preston knows that. Every seasoned Superstock/Supersport motor builder knows that as well.

Not a single Corona Suzuki has had any deburring whatsoever. Claiming ignorance of this rule and that “everybody’s doing it” is a weak excuse.

It now makes me wonder if there other “assembly” or “machining” errors that have been made on Hayden’s bike which could enhance performance. I wonder should the AMA delve a little deeper.

But in all actuality the points penalty, the fine, and the questionable legality of the machine in general doesn’t really matter that much to us….Hayden will soon be visiting the Suzuki whipping post.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

WMRRA and OMRRA racer Greg Bouwens and Crew Chief Angela Bye became engaged on May 11.

They plan a wedding in summer 2004, in Hawaii.