Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

“All weekend I’ve been trying to learn the track since I’ve never been here before,” 19-year-old Richard Cooper told reporters. “I was kind of running at the back really trying to get clear track time. Watching the other classes I see that you need to have to be with a bunch of riders to get a good time. I thought I’d go out and try to get in with the bunches and get into the slipstream and see how much it makes a difference, and it sure did. I was really surprised that I was over a second quicker than anybody out there and it gives you real good confidence for the weekend to come.”

Cooper raced in the British CB500 Cup, the British Honda Hornet Cup, finished second in the 2001 British Supersport Championship and finished sixth in the 2002 BMW Boxer Cup Championship.

Thursday’s BMW Boxer Cup Qualifying Results (all on BMW R1100S):

1. Richard Cooper, UK, 2:04.615
2. Sebastien Legrelle, Belgium, 2:05.622
3. Jason Perez, USA, 2:05.666
4. Tripp Nobles, USA, 2:05.854
5. Brian Parriott, USA, 2:06.043
6. Fernando Cristobal, Spain, 2:06.160
7. Roberto Panichi, Italy, 2:06.169
8. Andy Hofmann, Switzerland, 2:06.241
9. Guillaume Dietrich, France, 2:06.528
10. Markus Barth, Germany, 2:06.598
11. Steven Casaer, Belgium, 2:06.599
12. Thomas Hinterreiter, Austria, 2:06.636
13. Federico Aliverti, Italy, 2:07.023
14. Lex Van Dijk, Netherlands, 2:07.305
15. Alessandro Tomassoni, Italy, 2:07.336
16. Eric Lejeune, Belgium, 2:07.469
17. Michael Galinski, Germany, 2:07.591
18. Klaus Nies, Germany, 2:07.931
19. Jay Springsteen, USA, 2:08.094
20. Norbert Rebholz, Germany, 2:08.381
21. Peter Ottl, Germany, 2:08.493
22. Laurry Fremy, France, 2:08.617
23. Robert Van Der Molen, Netherlands, 2:08.732
24. Jeroen Oudeman, Netherlands, 2:09.199
25. Steve Atlas, USA, 2:09.374
26. Agusti Busquets, Spain, 2:09.779
27. Josep Maria Busquets, Spain, 2:10.256
28. Koen Vleugels, Belgium, 2:10.383
29. Barry Burrell, UK, 2:10.500
30. Francois Cicilliani, France, 2:10.530
31. Alex Busquets, Spain, 2:10.692
32. Ricky Orlando, USA, 2:10.736
33. Gabriele Perri, ITaly, 2:10.796
34. Nate Kern, USA, 2:11.015
35. Matt Layt, UK, 2:11.415
36. Dave Campbell, USA, 2:12.280
37. Rosana Scoleri, Italy, 2:12.354
38. Frank Shockley, USA, 2:12.524
39. Javier Valera, Spain, 2:12.654
40. Guido Stosser, Germany, 2:13.472
41. Greg White, USA, 2:13.711
42. Jimmy Lewis, USA, 2:14.269
43. Brian Catterson, USA, 2:14.290
44. Gerald Young, USA, 2:15.961
45. Sylvester Lemanski, USA, 2:17.477
46. Jorge Diaz, Spain, 2:21.573

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Veteran racer Tripp Nobles set the fastest lap time in BMW Boxer Cup practice on his O/Brien/Rough Stock Racing/Foothills BMW.

BMW Boxer Cup practice has seen extremely aggressive riding by many of the International racers, and the session was stopped for a multi-bike crash in turn one during the Thursday morning session. Javier Valera was able to ride his BMW away from the incident.

American teenager Jason Perez crashed in a separate incident in the chicane. Perez’s BMW suffered heavy damage, but Perez was relatively uninjured in the fall.

Thursday Morning BMW Boxer Cup Practice Times (all on BMW R1100S):

1. Tripp Nobles, 2:06.092
2. Brian Parriott, 2:06.300
3. Thomas Hinterreiter, 2:06.584
4. Markus Barth, 2:06.712
5. Sebastien Legrelle, 2:06.853
6. Roberto Panichi, 2:06.995
7. Richard Cooper, 2:07.074
8. Eric Lejeune, 2:07.207
9. Andy Hofmann, 2:07.232
10. Jason Perez, 2:07.383
11. Alessandro Tomassoni, 2:07.792
12. Steven Casaer, 2:07.921
13. Jay Springsteen, 2:07.923
14. Fernando Cristobal, 2:08.273
15. Michael Galinski, 2:08.314
16. Laurry Fremy, 2:08.327
17. Ricky Orlando, 2:08.509
18. Agusti Busquets, 2:08.531
19. Peter Ottl, 2:08.605
20. Lex Van Dijk, 2:08.769
21. Jeroen Oudeman, 2:09.021
22. Koen Vleugels, 2:09.229
23. Steve Atlas, 2:09.307
24. Norbert Rebholz, 2:09.340
25. Klaus Nies, 2:09.357

From a press release issued by Mat Mladin’s publicist, Steve Reeves:

2003 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship
Round 1 – Daytona 200, Daytona International Speedway, Florida
Opening Practice Sessions Report

MLADIN SECOND FASTEST AT DAYTONA ABOARD NEW SUZUKI

Daytona Beach, Florida, USA–The opening practice
sessions for this weekend’s Daytona 200 got underway today, with Australia’s Mat Mladin posting the second fastest time aboard his Team Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Mladin, a two times winner of the Daytona 200 and three times American Superbike champion, set a time of 1-min 49.4.13-secs to be fractionally slower than Kurtis Roberts (Erion Honda) who set the fastest time of the day with a 1:49.314 in the first of today’s two practice sessions.

The lead pair were the only riders to dip into the 1:49 time bracket, with four other riders including the American Honda pair of Miguel DuHamel and Ben Bostrom, along with Mladin’s Team Yoshimura Suzuki teammates Aaron Yates and Ben Spies, posting times in the 1:50 bracket.

“First day on the racetrack and that sort of thing, there is a bit of work to do on the bike to make things better and there is a lot of improvement to come over the next couple of days.” said Mladin. “Being a brand new bike for this year, we had it here at the test in December, but honestly the bike is very different now to what it was then, so we are starting fresh again in a way.”

A factor that will be new for tomorrow’s opening qualifying sessions is that the teams will not be able to use soft qualifying tyres. Chief tyre supplier to the teams, Dunlop, has announced that they will not be producing the purpose built soft qualifying tyres for this season with competitors left to complete their qualifying sessions on ‘race’ tyres.

“From what I understand, there is a gentlemen’s agreement between the teams not to use the softer qualifying tyres, because Dunlop have decided they are not going to use them this year, but some teams have some in their trucks, so we’ll just have to wait and see if everyone sticks to the agreement,” Mladin added with regards to the tyre situation. “If everyone has to use a race tyre and everyone does use a race tyre we are all in the same boat, but unfortunately some people can’t help themselves.”

The qualifying format for Sunday’s 57-lap Daytona 200 will see the top four places including pole position being decided in Thursday’s sessions, with the remainder of the grid positions being determined by the completion of Friday’s qualifying sessions.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Parts Unlimited/PJ1/Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts set the fastest lap time in the even-numbered AMA Superbike qualifying session Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. Roberts’ best time, 1:48.554, was 0.001-second faster than Mat Mladin’s fastest lap, 1:48.555.

Mladin crashed his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the chicane during the session, returned to the pits, got on his back-up bike and returned to the track, but was unable to better his time.

Odd-numbered Superbike riders are now going out for their one-hour qualifying session.

Thursday’s top four Superbike qualifiers lock in front row starting spots for Sunday’s Daytona 200 by Arai.

The rest of the grid will be set in additional qualifying sessions on Friday.

Even-numbered Superbike Qualifying Times:

1. Kurtis Roberts, Honda RC51, 1:48.554
2. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:48.555
3. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:48.659
4. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:48.695
5. Anthony Gobert, Ducati 998RS, 1:48.935
6. Larry Pegram, Ducati 998RS, 1:49.087
7. Doug Chandler, Honda CBR954RR, 1:51.438
8. Michael Barnes, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:51.695
9. Shawn Higbee, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:52.390
10. Eric Wood, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:53.595
11. Brian Livengood, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:53.696
12. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:54.634
13. Warwick Nowland, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:54.858
14. Adam Fergusson, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:54.902

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Veteran American Honda rider Miguel Duhamel qualified on the pole position for Friday’s Pro Honda Oils U.S. Supersport final with a new lap record time of 1:52.785 on his brand new CBR600RR.

“The qualifying run wasn’t so special. I was a little faster earlier this morning by myself and was faster in December,” Duhamel told reporters.

A stronger wind was blowing into Duhamel’s face during the odd-numbered Supersport qualifying session, and Duhamel admitted to using a draft off of teammate Ben Bostrom to do his fast lap. Ben Bostrom qualified sixth with a 1:53.539.

Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking and Jason DiSalvo, two of the fastest Supersport riders throughout practice at Daytona, planned to work together in the draft during the even-number qualifying session, but DiSalvo crashed in turn six early in the session.

“I lost the front then I got on the gas to save it and it highsided me,” said 19-year-old DiSalvo. “I thought my right hand was broken because it looked twice as worse and hurt twice as bad as when I broke my hand last year. But they X-rayed it at the Infield Care Center and said it was just a deep tissue bruise.

“I’m going to race tomorrow, and I plan to finish in the top five.”

DiSalvo qualified 27th with a 1:58.890, but Hacking continued on alone to record the fastest time from the even-numbered group and the second-fastest time overall at 1:52.817.

Another Hacking teammate, Aaron Gobert, qualified third with a 1:52.945. Kurtis Roberts earned the final spot on the front row with a lap of 1:53.225 on his Erion Honda CBR600RR.


Final AMA Supersport Qualifying Results:

1. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR600RR, 1:52.785
2. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:52.817
3. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:52.945
4. Kurtis Roberts, Honda CBR600RR, 1:53.225
5. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:53.383
6. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR600RR, 1:53.539
7. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:53.735
8. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR600RR, 1:53.768
9. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda CBR600RR, 1:53.800
10. Jamie Stauffer, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:53.929
11. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:54.047
12. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:54.209
13. Matt Wait, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:54.218
14. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:54.287
15. Ty Howard, Honda CBR600RR, 1:54.338
16. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:54.435
17. Alex Gobert, Honda CBR600RR, 1:54.573
18. Craig Connell, Honda CBR600RR, 1:54.819
19. Andrew Nelson, Honda CBR600RR, 1:55.978
20. Lee Acree, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:56.519
21. Doug Chandler, Honda CBR600RR, 1:56.791
22. Jason Curtis, Honda CBR600RR, 1:58.035
23. Jason Perez, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:58.121
24. Chris Peris, Honda CBR600F4i, 1:58.177
25. Owen Weichel, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, 1:58.360
26. Jonathan Gomez, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:58.514
27. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:58.890
28. Thad Halsmer, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:59.077
29. Darrin Mitchell, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:59.834
30. Heath Small, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:59.893
31. James Mann, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:00.178
32. Chris Siglin, Suzuki GSX-R600, 2:00.484
33. Dirk Sanchez, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 2:00.836
34. Oliver Jervis, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 2:01.101
35. Joe Ford, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:01.230
36. Greg Moore, Suzuki GSX-R600, 2:01.275
37. Antonio Piccioni, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:01.385
38. Tim Knutson, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:02.185
39. Brent Bennett, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:02.200
40. Hector Romero, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:02.523
41. Chad Simons, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:02.771
42. Michael McAllister, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:03.144
43. Jason Hobbs, Suzuki GSX-R600, 2:03.290
44. James Kerker, Honda CBR600, 2:03.461
45. David Guy, Suzuki GSX-R600, 2:03.788
46. Crash Chris Lowe, Suzuki GSX-R600, 2:04.373
47. Larry Roberts, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:05.546
48. David Sanchez, Kawasaki, 2:06.911

112% of fast time: 2:06.319

49. Joseph Bennardi, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:09.964

From a press release:

Pramac Racing presents its 2003 MotoGP sports programme



Victory in the 2005 MotoGP championship: This is Pramac Honda Team’s ambitious aim. The announcement was made during the imposing presentation that took place, before all the assembled workers, inside the Pramac Group works in Casole d’Elsa.

“It would be fantastic to get there even earlier. Our commitment is to prepare special tyres for each Grand Prix”, said Hiroshi Yamada, director of the Bridgestone motorcycle division that has chosen Pramac Racing and Honda for the development of its new generation tyres.

“The challenge we are facing is to become the number one team in the Grant Prix”, reaffirmed Tetsuo Iida, former chief of Honda Europe for nine years and now president of Pramac Racing. He was chosen for the helm of the racing squad by Paolo Campinoti, the managing director of the Pramac Group who is already gunning for the title this year with the other team set up in agreement with Sito Pons and Max Biaggi. “Max is the best rider, Pons has the best organisation, and we’re putting our bets on the world championship”, declared Campinoti.

“We’ll be working together to make the best of Italian imagination and Japanese meticulousness”, stressed Gianluca Montiron, sports director of the team that will be entrusting the Bridgestone-shod Honda RC211V to Japanese rider Makoto Tamada, and that will have another Japanese, Shinichi Itoh, as its full-time test rider.

“In the world championship this year we’re going to have to face up to new teams and new competitors. It’s going to be a very tough and very hard-fought championship. Knowing that we’ll be working with an efficient organisation like Pramac, that we’ve known for two years, is indeed a comforting thought”, said Kuoji Nakajima, general manager of HRC, “partly because we know that Bridgestone will do all in its power to give us its support and technical development. And we’ll do the same.”

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

BMW Group Niderlassungen Racing Team’s Markus Barth set the fastest time in the first BMW Boxer Cup practice session Wednesday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway at 2:07.503 for an average lap speed of 100.515 mph.

“For me everything is new,” Barth told reporters. “I’ve never raced on oval, so I’m very surprised that I have fast time. The tactic for the race is very important here, and also the slipstream. I used the slipstream from some other guys, so I feel that’s the best solution for the race.”

Americans Brian Parriott, who will contest the entire nine-round BMW Boxer Cup series, and 18-year-old Jason Perez were second and third-fastest respectively.

Wednesday Afternoon BMW Boxer Cup Practice Times (all on BMW R1100 S):

1. Markus Barth, Germany, 2:07.503
2. Brian Parriott, USA, 2:07.527
3. Jason Perez, USA, 2:07.586
4. Roberto Panichi, Italy, 2:07.620
5. Andy Hofmann, Switzerland, 2:07.883
6. Thomas Hinterreiter, Austria, 2:08.142
7. Richard Cooper, UK, 2:08.444
8. Sebastien Legrelle, Belgium, 2:08.471
9. Michael Galinski, Germany, 2:09.117
10. Eric Lejeune, Belgium, 2:09.428
11. Guillaume Dietrich, France, 2:09.602
12. Fernando Cristobal, Spain, 2:10.140
13. Lex Van Dijk, Netherlands, 2:10.150
14. Koen Vleugels, Belgium, 2:10.170
15. Francois Cicilliani, France, 2:10.699
16. Ricky Orlando, USA, 2:10.720
17. Alessandro Tomassoni, Italy, 2:10.933
18. Steven Casaer, Belgium, 2:11.028
19. Steve Atlas, USA, 2:11.040
20. Jay Springsteen, USA, 2:11.179
21. Josep Maria Busquets, Spain, 2:11.259
22. Norbert Rebholz, Germany, 2:11.303
23. Peter Ottl, Germany, 2:11.505
24. Jeroen Oudeman, Holland, 2:11.813
25. Dirk Buylinckz, Belgium, 2:11.949
26. Agusti Busquets, Spain, 2:12.002
27. Alex Busquets, Spain, 2:12.078
28. Javier Valera, Spain, 2:12.510
29. Laurry Fremy, France, 2:12.701
30. Klaus Nies, Germany, 2:12.857
31. Matt Layt, UK, 2:13.883
32. Nate Kern, USA, 2:14.409
33. Jimmy Lewis, USA, 2:14.455
34. Gabriele Perri, Italy, 2:14.923
35. Frank Shockley, USA, 2:14.978
36. Brian Catterson, USA, 2:15.616
37. Barry Burrell, UK, 2:15.664
38. Dave Campbell, USA, 2:15.924
39. Gerald Young, USA, 2:17.239
40. Guido Stosser, Germany, 2:17.587
41. Rosana Scoleri, Italy, 2:18.236
42. Robert Van Der Molen, Holland, 2:18.253
43. Greg White, USA, 2:19.688
44. Jorge Diaz, Spain, 2:24.408