Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

AMA Pro Racing has fined racer Vincent Haskovec $1000, deducting the amount from his VIR purse check without ever discussing the situation with him or notifying him that he was being fined or why, according to Haskovec.

Haskovec, who visited the Roadracingworld.com offices Friday afternoon, arrived with an AMA check that he received in the mail on Saturday, September 1. The check stub included a line that indicated that $1000 was being deducted from his VIR purse, without any explanation. The check did not come with a letter of explanation, and Haskovec said he has not received any verbal or written notification of any offense from AMA Pro Racing.

Haskovec and seven or eight other riders were late exiting the pits for the restart of the Superstock race at VIR; Haskovec, who had been at the far end of pit lane, arrived at the pit exit just as the red light went on, and was stopped by a grid marshall even as another rider rode around the marshall and took to the track for the warm-up lap. Haskovec turned around and rode to the other end of pit lane, then proceeded to his grid position and started the race on unscuffed tires. He finished fifth and won $300.

Other riders who were stopped at the pit exit either started the race from pine lane after the field had left the grid, or retired to the pits.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Zenon Nelson of Bowmanville, Ontario and Tim Easton of Calgary, Alberta have qualified to represent Canada at the GSX-R World Cup race scheduled for September 14 at Magny Cours, France.

Easton, the current CMRA Champion, will leave for France immediately following the final CMRA race of the season, September 8 in Calgary.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Ten Kate Dominates Front Row

By Glenn LeSanto

Four bikes on the provisional front row of the World Supersport race at Assen this weekend feature Ten Kate-tuned engines.

On the provisional pole is young Chris Vermeulen on the Van Zon Honda TKR CBR600FS, and his lap time of 2:06.077 raised a few eyebrows around the
Supersport paddock–it was almost two seconds quicker than Iain MacPherson’s fastest lap in free practice this morning.

“Chris Vermeulen’s lap times are incredible,” admitted Ten Kate rider and Championship points leader Fabien Foret on another Ten Kate Honda. “It’s almost as if he’s missing a corner out somewhere!”

“I feel very comfortable,” said Vermeulen, “It’s never easy to be on pole in a World Championship but I feel relaxed and I’m having fun out there so far!”

Vermeulen may face the uncomfortable prospect of having to back off to let Foret by on Sunday. Foret is leading the Championship by three points and Honda officials have asked other Honda-mounted riders to “support him” in the race.

Foret was almost eight-tenths of a second behind Vermeulen in second spot. With rain forecast for Saturday these Friday times may well turn out to be the final qualifying times. “If it rains on Saturday then we can use that to sort out a wet set up, then wet or dry on Sunday we’ll have a set up whatever the weather,” said Foret.

Third on the grid was MacPherson on the other Ten Kate Honda. “I feel I could have gone a bit faster,” said MacPherson. “But I got caught up in traffic.”

Although he’s riding with a broken thumb MacPherson doesn’t think it’s affecting his riding much, “It hurts most when I take my gloves on and off!” quipped the Scot.

Wild-card rider Jan Hanson took the fourth-fastest time on his Esha-Kobutex Honda ­ also with a Ten Kate engine fitted! Christian Cogan made fifth fastest to make it five CBR600f4i Honda’s in the top five! Stephane Chambon
came in sixth-fastest on the Alstare Suzuki.


Friday’s World Supersport qualifying times:
1. Chris Vermeulen, Honda CBR600, 2:06.077
2. Fabien Foret, Honda CBR600, 2:06.857
3. Iain MacPherson, Honda CBR600, 2:07.021
4. Jan Hanson, Honda CBR600, 2:07.668
5. Christophe Cogan, Honda CBR600, 2:07.858
6. Stéphane Chambon, Suzuki GSX-R600, 2:07.957
7. Jörg Teuchert, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:07.988
8. Karl Muggeridge, Honda CBR600, 2:08.004
9. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki GSX-R600, 2:08.030
10. Christian Kellner, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:08.113
11. Paolo Casoli, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:08.171
12. James Whitham, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:08.229
13. Sebastien Charpentier, Honda CBR600, 2:08.292
14. Alessio Corradi, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:08.304
15. Robert Ulm, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:08.401
16. Andrew Pitt, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 2:08.551
17. Werner Daemen, Honda CBR600, 2:08.565
18. Kevin Curtain, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:08.675
19. Barry Veneman, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:08.990
20. Piergiorgio Bontempi, Ducati 748R, 2:09.140
21. James Ellison, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 2:09.288
22. Giovanni Bussei, Ducati 748R, 2:09.321
23. Gianluca Nannelli, Ducati 748R, 2:09.561
24. Antonio Carlacci, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:09.978
25. Christer Lindholm, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:10.389
26. John McGuinness, Honda CBR600, 2:10.575
27. Stefano Cruciani, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:10.685
28. Matthieu Lagrive, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:10.806
29. Robert Frost, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:10.847
30. Laurent Brian, Honda CBR600, 2:11.086
31. Harry Van Beek, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:11.305
32. Claudio Cipriani, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:11.420
33. Rico Penzkofer, Ducati 748R, 2:11.634
34. Giovanni Valtulini, Yamaha YZF-R6, 2:16.884

From a press release issued by Michelin:

Bayliss under pressure

Four races to go and the 2002 Superbike World Championship just keeps getting better and better. Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada-Michelin) still leads quite comfortably, but arch-rival Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda-Michelin) is doing everything right to put as much pressure on Bayliss as possible. Edwards trails Bayliss by 29 points as both riders come to Assen, the place where last year Bayliss became world champion (with a lot of help from teammate Ruben Xaus).

To prevent Bayliss from holding on to that number one plate, Edwards needs to keep doing what he’s been doing for the last five races in a row: winning. Last week-end, in Germany, Edwards once again stood on top of the podium twice. It was his 27th win and the 51st win for Neil Tuxworth’s Castrol Honda team. It was also the 21st straight podium finish for Edwards. “I want to keep on winning to keep the pressure on Troy,” says Edwards. “Honda, Michelin and Castrol are helping me do that by keeping the devel opment up and making my life on the bike easier. I want to carry on winning at Assen. We started the season with Troy winning all the races and that was no fun for us.”

Since the start of the World Superbike championship in 1988, Michelin has won 248 out of 363 races and 9 out of 13 world titles.

This season alone, out of 22 races Michelin has won 21 and taken all three podium positions 8 times. A total of 66 podium positions have so far been claimed this year and 48 of those went to Michelin, even though the French tyre giant only works with four riders.

The outright win record for a single season is still held by Doug Polen who won 17 races in 1991. But Troy Bayliss has already won 14 times this year so Polen’s record is well within his grasp.



Michelin and Dutch Riders

Michelin won the 125cc Motocross World Championship in 1987 with Dutchman John van den Berk (Yamaha-Michelin). This year, Jan de Groot also trusts Michelin for his works Kawasaki team.

On the roads, the seventies and the start of the eighties were the heyday of Holland’s best with a trio of riders who all used Michelin tyres. Will Hartog was 4th in the 500cc world championship in 1978 and 1979. Boet van Dulmen was 6th in the same class in 1979 and 1981 while Jack Middelburg was 7th in 1979 and 1981.

Michelin also works with Dutch riders in car racing. This year, at the Le Mans 24 Hours, Jan Lammers, Val Hillebrand and Tom Coronel drove the Dome-Judd-Michelin for the Racing for Holland team.



Interview: Jean Hérissé, Michelin Superbike manager.

How do you explain Michelin’s excellent results in this year’s Superbike World Championship?
“We’ve worked very hard on the front with both our top riders, Colin Edwards and Troy Bayliss, at our Ladoux test track. We’ve been able to develop new front tyres that give our riders better feeling under braking and more control at high lean. We’ve been able to cut lap times and we’ve also worked on the rear to increase consistency over race distance. From what our riders tell us, our tyres feel the same on the last lap as they did on the first. So lap times have obviously fallen but more importantly, total race times have been cut quite dramatically compared to last year.”

Last year, it seemed some circuits were better for Michelin than others but this year, whatever the circuit and whatever the conditions, Michelin always seems to win. Why?
“We worked very hard to address that kind of problem at those circuits where we felt we weren’t quite competitive enough. As for the weather conditions, Michelin has long been dominant in the wet and this year, we’re working with the two best wet-weather riders, Troy Bayliss and Colin Edwards.”


Assen and tyres.

23 million euros have been invested in improvements to the Assen track over a three year period. Work started on the grandstands in 1999 and moved on to the 34 pit boxes, the media centre and the medical centre in 2000. Last winter, 9 million euros were spent on renewing the track. Total paddock area has been increased from 40,000 to 60,000 m2 which meant changing the Veenslang and Ruskenhoek corners. This year, 75% of the track has a new surface and the new circuit length is 6.027 km.

“It’s a very interesting track which I would love if I was a rider,” argues Nicolas Goubert, Michelin motorcycle competition chief. “It’s very fast and has great flowing corners. It often rains there but grip levels are very high even when it does rain. Average lap speeds are very high at Assen but this doesn’t create any special problems for us with tyres.

“The area around the paddock now has a different surface but that won’t be a problem because the track is almost all straight line there,” explains Goubert when asked if the new surface might give his riders some cause for concern. “The double right-hander at the end of the track should give good grip with the new surface. Generally, we have problems when we go to a low-grip track where part of the surface has been redone and has better grip. On the old part of the track, the riders can get in real trouble. But at Assen, grip has always been good and I don’t expect major problems.”

Troy Bayliss: “We’ll see about the new track but last year was great. It was good to have two wins here before they actually changed the circuit. It’s very flowing. It’s a track where you have to have a little bit of time out. Last year, when I first came on a Ducati, I pushed very hard to try to get results and I had two crashes, and one of them was one of the fastest crashes I have ever had. So you have to be careful here, it can bite you quite big. This is a fast place.”

Colin Edwards: “Assen is one of the tracks where I shine in the rain. I’m good in the rain. I never won here but I’m looking to change that for sure. With the stuff we have got, I’m sure we can do it.”

Ruben Xaus: “The changes made to the track don’t seem to have altered its general character. It’s a very fast circuit and just like in Austria, at Hockenheim or in Indonesia, I like this kind of fast track. I always get good results here. In 1999, I was 3rd in Supersports on the Yamaha and in 2000 I won on the Ducati. Last year, in Superbikes, I was second behind Troy in both races. So this year I’m aiming for the podium for sure.”


Circuit Van Drenthe is 2km away from Assen and 110km northeast of Amsterdam. Because England is but a short drive (and ferry ride) away, British fans flock to the circuit each year. The first Dutch TT was held in 1925 and racing has never stopped at the Dutch “cathedral,” except during the two world wars. The current track was built in 1955 and modified in 1989. It is used primarily for motorcycle racing, with only a handful of car races organised there each year.

“This track had good grip and good drainage,” explains Michelin Superbike Manager Jean Hérissé. “We’ll see if the work done on the track changes this in any way. The old track was great in the rain. It’s a fast and flowing circuit which makes tyre choice difficult.

“This is a real rider’s track,” smiles Hérissé. “The layout requires inch-perfect lines and that’s why riders often take longer to adapt to Assen than other tracks.”

Races are often won or lost in the last chicane at Assen. Those willing to be brave on the brakes are hard to beat there but it takes great skill and balance to avoid running off the track and crashing or hitting another rider.

One of Assen’s trademarks is the camber. The track used to be an actual road and it’s still crowned in the middle like a public road. Therefore, the Assen racing line takes riders through several camber changes as they go from one side of the track to the other. Grip can vary greatly and excellent control is required to master Assen.

There aren’t many other circuits offering the levels of grip that Assen has. Especially in the wet. In the dry, grip can seem limitless at Assen and those riders accustomed to sliding a lot can find Assen difficult because of this.

Assen requires a very smooth riding style. The smallest mistake can wreck a whole lap as the rider struggles to make up the time lost on those ultra-quick turns. On a Superbike, it’s hard to keep the front wheel on the ground and that only means more problems for riders each time they exit a corner and get on the gas.

The last right-left flick before the final chicane is one of the most difficult sections of the track. Riders are going so fast there that they find it very difficult to push the bike into making the change of direction from right to left, especially when it’s windy.


Assen stats.

Superbike:
Official practice record (2001):
2:02.409 Ruben Xaus (Ducati Infostrada-Michelin), 177.899 kph average speed.

Superpole record (2000):
2:02.678 Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda-Michelin), 177.509 kph average speed.

Lap record (best race lap 1999):
2:03.914 Carl Fogarty (Ducati Performance-Michelin), 175.740 kph average speed.

Fastest MotoGP laps for the new circuit:
Qualifying: 2:01.691 Valentino Rossi (Honda Repsol-Michelin)
Race: 2:00.93 Valentino Rossi (Honda Repsol-Michelin)



First race results 2001:
1. Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada-Michelin), 13 laps (78.637 km) in 27:08.793, 173.806 kph average speed.
2. Ruben Xaus (Ducati Infostrada-Michelin) at 0.166
3. Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda-Michelin) at 1.082
4. Pierfrancesco Chili (Suzuki Alstare) at 5.067
5. Neil Hodgson (GSE Racing Ducati) at 12.751


Second race results 2001:
1. Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada-Michelin), 16 laps (96.784 km) in 33:31.896, 173.181 kph average speed.
2. Ruben Xaus (Ducati Infostrada-Michelin) at 0.221
3. Troy Corser (Aprilia) at 4.575
4. Pierfrancesco Chili (Suzuki Alstare) at 4.776
5. Neil Hodgson (GSE Racing Ducati) at 6.711

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Formula USA NRRS 200-Mile Team Challenge Results:

1. Beaverton Honda Yamaha (Todd Frey/Andrew Cox) GTO, Yamaha YZF-R1, 104 laps

2. Big Show Racing (Brian Salazar/Matt Wait) GTU, Suzuki GSX-R600, 103 laps

3. New England Performance (Gus Holcomb/Chris Ancien/Jim Gilbert) GTO, Suzuki GSX-R750, 102 laps

4. Edge Motorsports (Michael Fitzpatrick/Josh Bryan) GTO, Suzuki GSX-R750, 100 laps

5. Team Embry/Moon’s Supercycle (Geoff May/Greg Moon) GTU, Yamaha YZF-R6, 98 laps

6. Team Scott (Tyler Scott/Ricky Frasier) GTO, Kawasaki ZX-9R, 98 laps

7. MVP Performance Dyno (Dave Alexander/Human Talhami/H. Elliott Cho/Mitchell Pierce/Kevin Thomas) GTU, Yamaha YZF-R6, 95 laps

8. Team Hooters/Kneedraggers.com (Nate Kern/Alan Schwen) GTU, Suzuki GSX-R600, 81 laps

9. Synergy Racing 4 (Brian Parriott) GTO, Honda CBR954RR, 60 laps

10. Synergy Racing 2 (Cory West) GTU, Honda CBR600F4i, 50 laps

11. Synergy Racing (Andrew Nelson) GTU, Honda CBR600F4i, 30 laps

From a press release issued by Honda:

HONDA RACING INFORMATION

Assen, Holland – 2002 World Superbike championship round 12 / 2002 World
Supersport championship round 11 – Sunday September 8

Edwards looking for same again

Castrol Honda’s Colin Edwards is aiming to repeat last Sunday’s double win in Germany when the World Superbike championship moves to Assen in Holland this week for the 12th and penultimate round.

The colourful Texan heads for the popular Dutch venue in the knowledge that last Sunday’s Oschersleben double has given him a chance of regaining the championship title he won in 2000.

“Assen is another crucial round for us,” says Edwards. “We arrived in Germany last week knowing that two wins were the only thing that would keep my title chances alive. We got the wins and closed the championship gap to, more or less, one race win.”

Edwards continues: “Germany was a big turning point for me, just because it saw the arrival of so many new contributing factors, mainly the new motor from HRC which was as good as anything Honda’s ever given me. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that everything will work as well at Assen.”

The SP-2 pilot arrives at Assen 29 points behind series leader Troy Bayliss after breaking a host of records and reaching a number of milestones with his double win in Germany.

Edwards won his fourth and fifth races in succession his sixth and seventh of the season, taking his career tally to 27. His first race win was the 50th for the Castrol Honda team and he equalled Doug Polen’s 1991 record of 21 podium finishes in one season.

Castrol Honda team manager Neil Tuxworth commented: “Colin did what everyone expected at Oschersleben but it’s not easy to go out and win both races when you’ve dominated practice and qualifying. Colin proved he’s at the top of his game and we know he’s got the fight in him he’ll need for the rest of this year.”

Fabien Foret will be hoping the Assen round will be a good omen for his Dutch team as he bids to extend his three-point lead in the championship over Katsuaki Fujiwara.

The Ten Kate Honda team rider will be looking for his fourth win of the year as he looks to leave Assen with a comfortable lead going into the final round at Imola, Italy on September 29.

“I want to have some points to play with by the time we get to Imola but I think the best approach is to try and concentrate on winning at Assen,” said Foret.

Behind second-placed Fujiwara is former champion Stephane Chambon, just 10 points adrift of his Suzuki team-mate while defending champion Andrew Pitt is 22 points behind Foret.

Chris Vermeulen, on the Van Zon Honda, arrives at Assen in confident mood, having beaten Foret in a recent race at the fast, flowing track in the north of the country. And Honda UK’s Karl Muggeridge has proved his ability around the Dutch track–the Australian rider knows how important a strong finish on Sunday is for his season.


Assen data:
Superbike:
2001 Qualifying: Ruben Xaus (Ducati) 2m 02.409s
2001 Superpole: Troy Bayliss (Ducati) 2m 10.922s
2001 Winner: Troy Bayliss (Ducati) x 2
Lap record: Carl Fogarty (Ducati) 2m 03.914s (September 1999)

Supersport:
2001 pole position: Katsuaki Fujiwara (Suzuki) 2m 08.497s
2001 winner: Paolo Casoli (Yamaha)
Lap record: James Whitham (Yamaha) 2m 08.748s (September 2001)

World Superbike championship points after 11 of 13 rounds: 1 Troy Bayliss,
Australia (Ducati) 481, 2 Colin Edwards, USA (Castrol Honda) 452, 3 Neil Hodgson, GB (Ducati) 289, 4 Ben Bostrom, USA (Ducati) 229, 5 Noriyuki Haga, Japan (Aprilia) 228, 6 Ruben Xaus, Spain (Ducati) 204, 7 James Toseland, GB (Ducati) 149, 8 Chris Walker, GB (Kawasaki) 134, 9 P-Francesco Chili, Italy(Ducati) 127, 10 Gregorio Lavilla, Spain (Suzuki) 104.

Manufacturers points: 1 Ducati 495, 2 Honda 457, 3 Aprilia 228, 4 Kawasaki 185, 5 Suzuki 121, 6 Yamaha 16, 7 Benelli 14.

World Supersport championship points after round 10 of 12: 1 Fabien Foret, France (Honda) 148, 2 Katsuaki Fujiwara, Japan (Suzuki) 145, 3 Stephane Chambon, France (Suzuki) 135, 4 Andrew Pitt, Australia (Kawasaki) 126, 5 Paolo Casoli, Italy (Yamaha) 112, 6 Christian Kellner, Germany (Yamaha) 88, 7 Chris Vermeulen, Australia (Honda) 74, 8 James Whitham, GB (Yamaha) and Jorg Teuchert, Germany (Yamaha) 71, 10 Iain MacPherson, GB (Honda) and Alessio Corradi, Italy (Yamaha) 54.

Manufacturers points: 1 Suzuki 193, 2 Honda 168, 3 Yamaha 165, 4 Kawasaki 129, 5 Ducati 57.

From a press release issued by Honda:

HONDA RACING INFORMATION

2002 MotoGP 500 World Championship, round 11
Portuguese Grand Prix, Estoril
September 6/7/8 2002

ROSSI AIMS FOR RETURN TO BUSINESS AS USUAL IN PORTUGAL

MotoGP leader Valentino Rossi (Repsol Honda Team RC211V) aims to reassert his dominance of the 2002 World Championship this weekend at Estoril, before embarking on a round-the-world odyssey that will take him and his rivals to Brazil, Japan, Malaysia and Australia in the space of five weekends. Sunday’s Portuguese GP is the last of nine successive European events that have kept riders and teams in GP racing’s Continental heartland since May’s Spanish GP. The season ends back in Spain, at Valencia, on November 3.

Winner of eight of the first nine GPs of 2002, Rossi looked capable of adding a ninth victory at the Czech Grand Prix a fortnight back when tyre problems forced him out of the race. Since then he’s been testing at Valencia and is confident that he can return to his winning ways at Estoril, where he comfortably won last year’s Portuguese 500 GP.

During the two-day Valencia session Rossi focused on improving power delivery and rear-end traction, as well as testing new Michelin tyres. Both he and team-mate Tohru Ukawa (Repsol Honda Team RC211V) were comfortably within the circuit lap record.

“We needed the tests because the MotoGP competition is getting stronger,” says Rossi, whose Brno DNF was his first non-podium result of the year. “Obviously the problems we had at Brno weren’t the best way to start the second half of the 2002 season, but the Valencia tests went well, so I’m looking forward to Estoril. We need a good result there to maintain the momentum we had built up during the earlier part of the season.”

Ukawa is hoping for a less torrid time in Portugal after two painful crashes during practice for the past three GPs. The Japanese star was unable to race at July’s British GP after a massive get-off but bravely returned the following weekend to take third place in Germany. And he repeated that result at Brno despite another crunching tumble during morning warm-up.

“The last couple of races have been very strange,” he says. “I’ve been unlucky and lucky. I’ve been pretty sore since Donington and my condition wasn’t made any better by my Brno crash. However, at the Sachsenring and Brno I managed to get podium finishes as a result of retirements ahead of me, and I still hold second position in the championship, so I will try my hardest to keep it a one-two for the Repsol Honda Team.”

Rossi and Ukawa will have to work as hard as ever this weekend since Estoril is one of the circuits where the 500cc two-strokes could worry the new breed of 990cc MotoGP four-strokes. The four-strokes have won all ten races so far, but the Portuguese track’s ultra-twisting layout (it’s the slowest track on the GP calendar) offers the lighter and more manoeuvrable 500s a glimmer of hope.

As ever, team-mates Alex Barros (West Honda Pons NSR500) and Loris Capirossi (West Honda Pons NSR500) will be trying everything they know to get their 500s to the front, but while they’re confident they’ll be quicker through Estoril’s twists and turns, they’re concerned that the track’s long start-finish straight will tip the balance against them.

“We already know that the four-strokes are much faster than us in a straight line,” says Barros, currently the highest-placed 500 rider in MotoGP, in fifth place. “Even if we can make some tenths on them through the slower section, I’m sure they’ll be able to catch and overtake us on the main straight. The question is, will they be able to do that before the start-finish?”

Capirossi, who returned from injury at Brno, is also unsure of what awaits him at this Atlantic venue, where the unpredictability is heightened by the track’s situation close to the ocean, which means that it’s often lashed by strong winds that blow dust onto the circuit, dramatically reducing grip.

“The wind and dust can be a real problem at this track,” says Capirossi, eighth overall after missing two races. “And this year will be more difficult that ever because the four-strokes will be very fast on the start-finish, so we’ll have to take extra risks to stay with them.”

Just one place and five points ahead of Capirossi is MotoGP rookie Daijiro Kato (Fortuna Honda Gresini RC211V), who goes into his second race on Honda’s all-conquering RCV V5, which has won all but one of this year’s races. The little Japanese was a brilliant second on his RCV at Brno and is looking to go one better on Sunday, especially after an impressive test at Valencia, where he lapped faster than that of Rossi and Ukawa.

“I think we can say that Brno was like a test session for us, and that we’re thinking about fighting for victory at Estoril,” says Kato, winner of the past two 250 GPs at the track. “I learned so much at Brno, mainly that the RCV is a fantastic motorcycle. It’s easy to control compared to the 500 I had been riding, but its most wonderful feature is its amazing spread of power. Of course, over race distance you have to think about conserving tyre performance and so on, but for sure I’ll be in good shape to fight for another top result at Estoril.”

Honda’s other two 500 riders hope for better this weekend after disappointing results in the Czech Republic. Tyre problems consigned Tetsuya Harada (Pramac Honda NSR500) to a 15th-place finish. “That was a real shame, I just didn’t have enough rear grip,” says Harada. “Our main concern at Estoril will be sorting this problem, trying to make sure I have enough grip to do the lap times of which I’m capable.”

Jurgen van den Goorbergh (Kanemoto Racing Honda NSR500) finished three places ahead of Harada at Brno, and might have done better if his rear tyre hadn’t picked up rubber from the track, forcing him to slow. “We made a step forward in terms of tyre performance at Brno,” says the Dutchman, who is developing MotoGP tyres for Bridgestone. “The people at Bridgestone are working incredibly hard, giving us new material for almost every race and since the tyres worked well two weeks ago, we can hope they’ll be better at Estoril.”

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

According to news reports, police found WSMC racers Christopher Monson, 31, and Michael Tardio, 35, in a burning, rented SUV in Studio City, California.

Police said that the pair had been shot prior to the fire being set.

Additional information was not available at post time.

From a press release issued by No Limits Motorsports:

No Limit Motor Sports announces that they have reached an agreement with Honda Racing to race as a Honda support team for the 2003 AMA Road Racing Season.

Meetings between Ben Curtis, Team Manager, Jason Curtis, rider and part owner of the team and Chuck Miller, Manager of Motorcycle Sports for Honda has resulted in an agreement between the two entities.

No Limit will compete in the Supersport and Formula Extreme classes for the 2003 season on Honda Motorcycles. The team had great success during the 2002 series with riders Jason Curtis and Lance Isaacs both placing in the top ten in AMA Formula Extreme. The team believes that given the level of support and assistance promised by Honda, their success will be measurably improved for the 2003 season and beyond.

No Limit Motorsports thanks the following sponsors for their help during the 2002 season:

Mechanix Wear
VP Fuels
Dunlop Tires
Cyto-Sport Energy Drink
Shoei Helmets
AFAM
Maxima Oil
Chatterbox Radio
JMG Motorsports
Robertson North Hollywood Yamaha
Curtis Sand & Gravel
Canyon Bulk, Inc.
Texport
Alpinestars
Wood-Ease Hand Cleaner
All Industries Performance

Team President: Dianne Curtis
Team Manager: Ben Curtis

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

WERA Motorcycle Roadracing Inc. has cancelled its September 21-22 event at North Florida Motorsports Park.

Low rider turnouts for WERA events at the track and subsequent financial losses are behind the cancellation.