From a press release issued by Fuchs Kawasaki:

GARRY MCCOY: QUICK PROGRESS DESPITE RAIN

Sepang ­ Tuesday, December 17th, 2002:

In only his second flying lap on the second day of testing in Malaysia, Team Kawasaki Racing’s new star Garry McCoy slashed more than one-and-a-half seconds from his previous best time aboard the new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR MotoGP prototype. His rapid progress with a new and stronger swingarm came to a halt when a tropical downpour soaked the track. McCoy went out again in the afternoon but was slowed once again, this time with an oil pressure problem caused by some mysterious residue in the oil system of his machine. In order to make the best out of the waiting time while his mechanics performed an engine change, McCoy completed the day with a few laps aboard the bike of Andrew Pitt.

McCoy’s Australian teammate Pitt and Kawasaki test riders Akira Yanagawa and Alex Hofmann also tried some new chassis solutions, but were stopped halfway through their scheduled testing program when another violent rain shower came down in the afternoon. Hofmann continued with some rain tyre testing and won the team award of the “Slide of the Day” competition, when his rear wheel stepped out so violently that he went sideways for almost 100 meters. Computer data confirmed how well Hofmann did to save it: Whereas the front wheel went into the right direction at a modest 170 kph, the rear wheel spun up to 235 kph!

Garry McCoy (15 laps ­ best time in 2:07.5):
“We tried a different swing arm today, something I thought the bike needed at my very first test in Valencia already. The bike was a lot easier to ride for me, a lot more user-friendly compared to what I’ve used before. The lap time was good, and it’s good to drop so much so quickly, in one hit. Step by step, we keep going the right direction. But I still think it can be better again. Including in an out laps, I’d only done five laps this morning before the rain came down, so I’d really like to try this chassis much more. As a next step. I’d like to use a few different set-ups, with the shock, with the linkage or with different angles on the front. We just need more laps, and unfortunately, today wasn’t that day. Now we are running out of time, because there is only one day of testing left, and you can only do so much. It didn’t help much to go out on Andrew’s bike. It’s too different. He has his own settings, and all the lever positions, for feet and hands, were so different to what I’m used to or how I like it. It’s too hard to go quick on a bike that just isn’t set up for you!”

Andrew Pitt (21 laps ­ best time in 2:08.6):
“Today was easy on the body! This morning I went out with a new chassis that has a different geometry and different pivot points, and I did a good time on my second or third lap. That was promising, but then the rain came, and I had to stop for a good while. I went out this afternoon again, trying different rear shock settings, but we lost quite some of the positives that we had in the morning. Now, we have to try some other things in the morning. It’s obvious that we need to do more laps with this new frame!”

Alex Hofmann (32 laps ­ best time in 2:09.7):
“Today’s plan was to test a new slipper clutch and some more tyres, but then the rain spoiled things a bit. I didn’t even have a chance to go for a few fast laps when it was dry in the morning, because we had to adjust the clutch and I needed a while to get used to it. In wet conditions in the afternoon, we finally worked out how to use the clutch properly. At the end of the day, I compared two sets of rain tires. On the set that didn¹t work so well, I had a big slide. For well over 85 meters, the rear wheel was spinning more than 40 kph faster than the front. That was a lot of fun ­ my next goal is to do the same thing in dry conditions!”

Akira Yanagawa (20 laps ­ best time in 2:08.6):
“Today, we tried another frame with a different pivot position. This frame provides more stroke for the rear shock, but I still had a chatter problem. I think the problem stems from the rear, but it is not completely clear yet. We also tried many different mappings for the injection again. Some of the settings are better, but still not perfect. We need more time for testing. But anyway, my lap time was one second faster than yesterday, which is not so bad!”

Harald Eckl ­ Team Manager:
“The good news is that Garry and Akira went a lot quicker today. But unfortunately, the day was cut short by the rain, and we couldn’t confirm all of our changes on the chassis and the set-up of the bikes. We hope for better conditions tomorrow!”

From a press release issued by Aprilia:

Aprilia Racing Press Information
Valencia (Spain) – Private Tests
17 December 2002

Aprilia tests in Valencia with 2003 in its sights.


Colin Edwards.

---

Yet another session of winter tests right after the two sessions in Jerez de la Frontera. This time the venue is the Comunidad Valenciana. The two Aprilia works riders for the MotoGP 2003, Colin Edwards and Noriyuki Haga, were out on the track, the latter just back in Europe after his wedding in Japan. But the whole work group is in Valencia, with the technicians from Noale, and so is Jan Vitteveen, who mentioned some of the first details about the new features of the 125 and 250 bikes from the Racing Department in Noale.

“Next year, we’ll have a considerably redesigned Aprilia 125,” says Jan Witteveen. “Nothing revolutionary, even though a whole range of components on the bike will be completely new. We’ve got a new frame and a new fork, and the overall look of the bike has been restyled too – so there are new fairings with different aerodynamics, a new tank and new seat fairings. In the evolution of our racing 125, we’ve focused especially on one important aspect, and that’s the simplicity of the adjustments and settings, so everyone can get the very best out of their racing bikes with the greatest of ease. There are some new features on the 250, too: It’s going to have a new frame so that a greater number of adjustments can be made. We’d been getting pretty close to the limit in terms of settings so we needed a new project to give greater potential for working on the bike. The 250 will weigh in at 100 kg, in compliance with the regulations, and the carbon disc brakes will go. We’ve also worked a lot on the performance of the engines so as to boost the competitiveness of our bikes even further in both classes.”


Noriyuki Haga.

---

Heading the MotoGP work group is Ing. Gigi dall’Igna, who commented on the first day of tests in Valencia: “We were helped by good weather conditions – even though we were expecting slightly milder temperatures – and successfully completed today’s work schedule. Colin Edwards used the RS Cube 2003 to continue the work on the settings he had started in Jerez, while Noriyuki Haga used the 2002 configuration like last time. The Japanese went for two harmless slides that slowed down the tasks to be carried out by his work group, but we reckon we’ll be able to make up for lost time tomorrow. At the end, we’ll be able to take stock of the situation after this third round of winter tests.”

Aprilia private tests on the Valencia track come to an end tomorrow.

Spanish riders Fonsi Nieto and Toni Elias (Aprilia 250 Class), and Pablo Nieto and Hector Barbera (Aprilia 125 Class) are also taking part in the tests.

Colin Edwards – 75 laps – Best Time: 1:34.8

Noriyuki Haga – 36 laps – Best Time: 1:36.1

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Readers react to the essay posted December 13.

You are right on point! Wonderful article!

George Leavell
Gilroy, California



Say Amen Reverend Miller!

I’m given pause to wonder though, why, so many people go for the NASCAR stuff? Maybe there’s a certain breed of fan as well?
Phil Burre



I just finished reading Mark’s opinion. Mark Miller is an excellent writer. You should provoke him to write for you more often.

Todd Hoekstra



I was reading Mark Miller’s “First Person/Opinion”
piece, thinking I mostly agreed with him–based on my own long analysis of my life-long speed jones and a recent day spent on the track (the first time since my fourth retirement from road racing (“Never say never again…”). (Aside: In fact, on that recent day at the track, I lost sight of the fact that I was actually trying out to be a riding instructor for a very well known “cornering” school and just focused on turning the fastest laps that I could on my street bike. It didn’t matter that I didn’t have any way of knowing my lap times–I could tell. And, no, I didn’t get the instructor position.)

Then I got to the end of the article, where Mark wrote “I guarantee you, though, the young men you’re watching up front on TV don’t come more competitive, and are probably saying in a continuous loop in their heads, ‘F–k those guys, I’m better.'”

And I knew with those last five words that he’d hit the nail on the head. Because that’s what was in MY head every time I lined up on the starting grid, whether I was dead last on the back row–early on–or up near the front. It didn’t matter whether it was true, either. It was simply what I believed every time. It was my personal motivation for beating the guys (and two women) I rationally knew were faster than me. It was my personal motivation for saying “F–k it!” and keeping the throttle screwed to the stop longer than I had before, longer than I thought was possible and to keep the bike on two wheels, only to find out that I could keep the throttle open that long, that I could ride like those faster riders, that I could go as fast, and that I could beat them.

But I never told them what I was thinking. In fact, I don’t think I ever told anyone. Like Mick Doohan recently said in an interview, trash talk just makes the other guys work harder to beat you. And you always have to make good on your trash talk or you look like twice the fool.

And Mark is right about the fact that it doesn’t matter how one who needs speed to live gets their fill of it–I progressed from running to bike riding to skateboarding down the biggest hills to skiing ridiculously fast and finally to motorcycles and road racing (and throw in ocean sports and now snowboarding, too).

And the fact that I have no way of presently affording to race or even do regular track days actually causes me to suffer. In reference to myself and those like me, I’ve always used the term “aficionado,” as used by Hemingway in “The Sun Also Rises.” I might not make a living in the world of motorcycling, but I still eat and breath it and live for it.

But one day, I’ll be back on the track. Like I
said–it’s my fourth retirement.

Not my last…

And f–k those guys, I’m better.

Evan Kay
Team Pro Bono




I really enjoy reading stuff like that…straight-up and REAL. Thanks.

Happy Holidays,

Jodie York
Ventura, California



I enjoyed reading the first person/opinion article by Mark Miller a great deal. It reminded me of that great quote by Ernest Hemingway:

“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”

Regards,

Jesse Seitz

From a press release issued by Scuderia West:

SCUDERIA WEST OPEN HOUSE RAISES $1825.00 FOR WEGMAN FUND

The Wegman Benefit Fund was this year’s recipient of the proceeds from Scuderia West’s annual benefit raffle. Scuderia’s raffle has become a traditional part of their fall open house often lasting well over an hour as prizes donated from manufacturers and distributors are given out to the lucky winners.

This year’s raffle raised $1825 with all proceeds going directly to the Wegman fund, a non-profit organization which provides assistance to seriously injured road racers who are injured while competing.

In recent years proceeds have gone to other not for profits such as The American Red Cross (following Sept. 11th) and the Christopher Reeve Foundation (spinal cord injury research) but after discovering the Wegman fund Scuderia felt that the proceeds would more directly reach those that need it in a sport that they have many friends, family and customers involved in.

Scuderia West wishes to thank all of those who attended the open house making it once again a terrific success.

Information on the Wegman fund is available at
www.wegmanfund.org

From a press release issued by AMA Pro Racing:

SETTLEMENT REACHED IN AMA PRO RACING CASE

PICKERINGTON, Ohio–AMA Pro Racing reached an agreement in its dispute with Clear Channel Motorsports over the 2003 AMA Supercross Series. Among other things, the settlement agreement, pending arbitration, resolves the dispute regarding specific roles of the various parties.

“AMA Pro Racing successfully preserved the sanctity of the AMA Supercross Series,” said AMA Pro Racing CEO Scott Hollingsworth.

Provisions of the settlement agreement include Clear Channel Motorsports’ acknowledgment that AMA Pro Racing will continue to exclusively officiate the races in the AMA Supercross Series under the authority of the AMA Pro Racing Rule Book.

Federal District Court Judge James L. Graham was instrumental in assisting the parties in reaching an agreement. “We are pleased that the court will retain its jurisdiction over the settlement agreement,” said Hollingsworth. “Our focus has always been the fans, riders and series sponsors. This agreement is a victory for everyone who follows AMA Supercross.”

The 16-round AMA Supercross Series begins January 4 at Edison Field in Anaheim, California and concludes May 3 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

AMA Pro Racing has issued a check for $550 to racer Chris Ulrich for “refund purchase of guest passes” he purchased in 2001 when he was entitled to a free pass under a still-secret policy. Ulrich received his check–dated December 13–in the mail Monday, December 16, but other AMA Pro racers contacted by Roadracingworld.com had not received refund checks as of today.

For the past two years, AMA professional racers who pre-entered the entire road racing season were entitled to a one, free, season-long guest pass. The complimentary pass policy has never been publicized or included in the rulebook, entry mailings or Competition Bulletins issued by AMA Pro Racing. The policy has also never been mentioned at any riders’ meeting, and as a result several racers who were entitled to the free passes continued to purchase gate passes.

Several AMA Pro riders contacted for a July 10, 2002, posting on Roadracingworld.com knew nothing of the secret guest pass policy and had bought guest passes during the last two seasons even though one AMA Pro Racing staffer said at the time, “The riders know. All the riders who call here know about it.”

Now, eight months after the problem was brought to the attention of the AMA Pro Racing Board of Directors and AMA Pro Racing CEO Scott Hollingsworth in April 2002, AMA Pro Racing has apparently taken the first steps to make the situation right.

Today, Roadracingworld.com reached three AMA Pro riders who had pre-entered for an entire season, hadn’t been told of the free pass, and had purchased guest passes. None of the three have received a refund from AMA.

“It’s cold outside, but I don’t think Hell has frozen over,” said Larry Pegram, who pre-entered the entire 2001 AMA road racing season.

“No, man, I get nothing,” said Vincent Haskovec. “I hope you’re right. Man, that’s $500!”

“No, I haven’t gotten anything,” said Chris “Opie” Caylor. “Let me know what you hear on that.”

A call at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time Tuesday seeking comment on the subject was greeted with a recording saying AMA headquarters had closed at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time for AMA’s holiday party.

From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

DUCATI CORSE PRESS INFORMATION
Phillip Island (Australia)
Tuesday 17 December, 2002

THREE-DAY DUCATI MOTOGP TEST GETS UNDERWAY AT PHILLIP ISLAND – POSITIVE TIMES RECORDED BY BOTH RIDERS

The Ducati Corse MotoGP squad has made the long haul overseas to the spectacular Phillip Island circuit not far from Melbourne in Australia for its latest round of testing, the final session before the Christmas break.

After the excellent times recorded two weeks ago at Jerez, Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss were both right on the pace with the new Ducati Desmosedici in the first day of testing.

Conditions were excellent in the morning, but strong winds disturbed the work of the squad in the afternoon. High temperatures (air 24°C / track 33°C) , similar to those encountered during October’s Australian GP, allowed the two Ducati Corse riders to complete the workload for the Desmosedici, which revolved mainly around testing various cooling components and all-new Michelin tyres for the 2003 MotoGP championship.

Both riders tested on the 17″ fronts used in MotoGP, and Troy Bayliss, on his home track, was finally able to get to grips with this particular tyre solution. During his 87 laps, he was able to put home track knowledge to good use to set a quickest time of 1:32.8.

48 laps today for Loris Capirossi, who despite harmlessly sliding off at the Honda Curve with no damage to the bike, managed to return to the pits and resume testing immediately. A series of other minor problems prevented the Italian from stringing together a lengthy series of laps, but despite this he recorded a time of 1:32.4, which was close to the lap record set during the Australian GP.

The test also highlighted the performance of Michelin’s 2003 tyres, which remained at an excellent working temperature despite the particular difficulty of the Phillip Island track, which presents a long left-hand curve leading onto the pit-straight.

Tomorrow Wednesday will be a rest day for Ducati Corse at Phillip Island, while the tests resume Thursday and conclude the following day.

From a press release issued by Kawasaki:

KAWASAKI STAR GARRY MCCOY BACK IN ACTION
Sepang ­ Monday, December 16th, 2002

Team Kawasaki Racing’s new star Garry McCoy is back into action. A pin and several screws in his right tibia bone, the last memories from a practice accident in February 2002, were removed in a Vienna hospital in November, as well as another pin in his wrist from a previous injury.

Free from any metal remains in his body and well recovered after several weeks of rest, the Australian “King of Slide” happily joined his teammate Andrew Pitt and Kawasaki test riders Alex Hofmann and Akira Yanagawa for his first real test session aboard the all-new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR in Sepang, Malaysia.

Yanagawa, who had suffered a broken pelvis when he crashed out of Kawasaki’s Grand Prix debut race in Motegi back in October, also celebrated his comeback aboard the MotoGP prototype machine, after long weeks of strict bedtime rest in order to cure his complicated injury.

With all four riders fully fit, Kawasaki successfully completed the first of three days of testing in dry and hot conditions, with another three-day session in Malaysia scheduled for January 15th ­ 17th, followed by a three-day-test in Phillip Island, Australia, on January 21st to 23rd, before joining the other MotoGP teams for the official IRTA tests in Spain in February, 2003.

Garry McCoy (57 laps ­ best time in 2:09.1):
“When the pins, screws and staples taken were put into my leg back in February, the doctor said they could stay there for about six or seven months, and any more was going to be a little long. I obviously couldn’t get them removed half way through the season, so I had to wait until the last race in Valencia. After that, I went back to my surgeon in Austria and got all the metal taken out, and recovered from that in the weeks since. I basically went straight back to Australia and had a bit of time off, keeping my leg working and trying to get it right as soon as possible and to get ready for this test here. Now here we are, and things aren’t looking too bad. It’s really my first test on the bike apart from a few laps that I did straight after the race in Valencia, and there are still a lot of things that we have to work out. I’ve got to get comfortable with the bike and find a few settings to make it feel comfortable, and I think it’s just going to take time. Obviously, the new Kawasaki four-stroke machine is very different to the old two-stroke. It’s got a lot more acceleration right through the powerband, but it’s not as aggressive, not as snappy as a two-stroke, so it doesn’t feel as fast. There are a great deal of changes to be made before I’ll get comfortable and before I can start dropping the lap times. The power of the engine seems to be great, there is no need for improvement in that department. But the chassis at the moment seems to be quite challenging to ride. On the exit of the turns, I seem to be having the biggest problems, and we need to go through different settings and hopefully find something we like. Going into the turns is a little bit difficult for me also, because the bike has a slipper clutch that you don’t use on a two-stroke. Forcing a two-stroke into a turn is all about brakes, whereas on the four-stroke, you just back off, let the clutch out, and it starts to pull up on its own!”

Andrew Pitt (75 laps ­ best time in 2:08.0):
“The bike has stayed quite similar to the one we used at the race and during our last test session here in Sepang, there are just a few little technical changes here and there. I’ve just been trying to work on my riding style, to suit the big horsepower bike a bit more, and I feel I’m starting to get closer and closer to that. Today I felt pretty comfortable on the bike, we made a few changes, found a good direction to go, and it feels a lot easier to do a good lap time than last time I was here. But I suppose a lot of that is down to me being used to the bike now. First time I was here, I was using the wrong gear in every corner, whereas now I feel I’m starting to ride the bike properly, and as a result, everything is getting better!”

Alex Hofmann (67 laps – best time in 2:08.6):
“Today, I put more laps in than in all the three days of our last test session here at Sepang.I mainly concentrated on tyre testing, and went through ten different rears with different constructions and compounds. Instead of the new fuel-injected Grand Prix machine, I used Kawasaki’s first development prototype with carburetors, and I was surprised how easy it was to ride. It is almost as fast, but much less aggressive than you would think it is, much closer to a Superbike than to a thoroughbred GP racer. The reason that we’re using this bike for tyre testing is that there aren’t enough new chassis ready yet, and it’s definitely powerful enough for our purposes. Dunlop is working with different constructions, different compounds and different dimensions in order to find the general direction in which to go in the future, and it’s my job to help find this direction. Once they decided on the right construction, they will start working on the compounds all over again. Today, it was easy to find two highlights out of my choice of ten!”

Akira Yanagawa (46 laps ­ best time in 2:09.6):
“I am very happy to be back on a racing bike, because I had to stay in bed for most of the time in the last two months which was very frustrating. Compared to my previous tests here, the lap time wasn’t so good today, but I’m still happy because firstly I didn’t crash, and secondly, we got some good data. We tried different mappings and some different parts on the injection system, and the result was really good. We have tried many changes before, and they weren’t really effective, whereas today’s changes made a real difference. Especially at the initial throttle opening, this injection system used to be on or off, really hard, but now, it seems to be smoother. We have two more days of testing here, and I hope we can confirm what we established!”

Harald Eckl ­ Team manager:
“We have achieved a lot today. Alex completed a good program of tyre testing, Garry and Akira got back into action, and I’m confident that we will see Garry matching Andrew’s lap times tomorrow. We will re-build all of our chassis for tomorrow, and we have to wait and see where this gets us. But so far, so good ­ we are not only having all our four riders, but all of our new crew with us for the first time, and even though it will take a while for everything to run smoothly, everybody has done a great job so far!”

From a press release issued by Marietta Motorsports:

Marietta Motorsports, aka 1-888-FASTLAP and 1888FASTLAP.com, has announced that long-time racing engine builder and tuner Rodney Vaughn has returned to work at Marietta Motorsports.

Rodney worked full time at Marietta Motorsports until 1998, and now returns to head up the new FASTLAP engine building department, designed to offer professional level services to all racers.

In 2002, Rodney Vaughn motors were on the podium in 4 AMA races, set the AMA Superstock track record at Mid-Ohio, and occupied 6 out of a possible 9 podium spots in the WERA 600, 750, and 1000 Suzuki Cup Finals at Road Atlanta.