Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Dorna Sports, which organizes the FIM MotoGP World Championship series, has announced an agreement that will bring the MotoGP series to China in 2004, say sources in Europe.

A new, multi-year agreement between Dorna Sports, China Grand Prix Bureau and the China Panthere Corporation will start construction of a brand new racing facility in the Yanqing province of China, approximately 25 miles from Peking and within sight of the Great Wall of China. The report says the facility will have a spectator capacity of 500,000 people, will be ready and homologated within one year and will hold its first race in 2004.

The deal will see MotoGP races broadcast on public television in China starting with the Czech Republic Grand Prix in August, 2002.

From a press release issued by Eric Bostrom’s publicist:

Laguna Seca Recap: Eric Rocked!

Proving that he is currently the fastest and most consistent road racer in the United States, Eric Bostrom took Laguna Seca by storm and gave the 98,000+ fans something to cheer about. Starting with the AMA Chevy Trucks Superbike Championship, Eric qualified his Kawasaki Superbike on pole for the fourth time in a row. “It’s definitely the way you want to start the weekend.”

Eric had obviously been looking forward to racing at his favorite track. “It’s just nice to be out there on a great racetrack. I enjoy the place so much; it can’t help but put a smile on your face when you’re out there. And the fans are just incredible.”

When the lights turned green for the race on Saturday, Eric stormed away to the lead and was pulling a gap on everyone until a red flag on lap four brought the riders back to the grid. The second restart was a carbon copy of the first, with Eric again leading and pulling a gap on everyone, only to have another red flag interrupt things. Although Nicky was a bit closer after the third restart, Eric got the holeshot again and never relinquished the lead, as he beat the current points leader by over ten seconds.

“The third time was the charm. It’s tough to keep focus after that many restarts. And by the third start we ran out of tires because we didn’t anticipate three restarts. So the tires were a little more slippery than I would have liked. And there was no getting away from Nick; he was just right there on the tail. I tried to keep my head down and keep mistake-free, and we got a little bit of a break with lapped traffic. I got by four guys going in on the brakes, going into the corkscrew. And I was like, man that had to have helped!”

The win was Eric’s second of the season and his eighth podium, as he tries to return the #1 plate back to Kawasaki. “It was a great race. The Kawasaki ZX-7 Ninja worked great, and I can’t thank my crew enough. They have been working so hard lately; you wouldn’t even believe it.”

Not one to rest on his laurels, Eric made Kawasaki owners and fans all over the world ecstatic with his World Superbike performance. Although his pace in race one was a bit slower than expected, he still finished as the highest four-cylinder with a sixth place finish.

“In race one, we had a fork problem. I guess on my victory lap after the AMA win I busted the fork valves when I set the front wheel down (doing victory wheelies). After the race, the guys got in there and fixed the thing up and it made it much better for race two.”

With the problem fixed, Eric gave a performance that his fans expected, and did what no other racer in the world has been able to do, by getting the holeshot and leading the World Superbike regulars for a few laps on his four-cylinder Kawasaki Superbike. Ultimately the performance of the factory twins was too much, but Eric put on a valiant effort by staying with the leaders and finishing a very close fourth.

“Near the end of Race Two, Neil got by me. The lap before that Bayliss had made a big mistake and dropped off the back of Colin a bit. So I thought Bayliss might tow me back up to Colin. I could make time on them everywhere, except down the hill and on the front straight. But then Neil came by me and, I don’t know, just disappeared from me. He and Bayliss just rode off into the sunset. I tried my best. And it was such a great feeling to lead the race. It seemed like an eternity, even though it was only four or five laps. I swear I was giving the throttle the death grip. That throttle cable’s got to be an inch longer now! But it felt great knowing the world champion was behind me.”


From a press release issued by RevUp Ducati:

Jessica Zalusky finishes 9th in 2002 AMA Pro Thunder Standings.

After finishing her last Pro Thunder race of the year at Laguna Seca, Jessica finished strong in 9th in the overall standings for 2002. After having an early set back, a crash in practice, the Laguna Seca rookie finished 32nd in the field.

After learning the disappointing news of the elimination of Pro Thunder from the AMA Series for 2003, Jessica plans to continue to race in AMA in another class. For the remainder of this year, Jessica plans to follow the Formula USA series.

A big thanks to all of those who supported Jessica for 2002, including Ducati, RevUp Energy Drink, Moto Primo, Teknic Gear, HJC Helmets, Motul, STM Italy, Azione Moto, Mason Racin’ Tires, Tuning by Frey, Roadracingworld.com, and Edge Performance Riding Courses.

RevUp Ducati www.roadracinggirl.com

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

HMC Ducati raised $1800 for the Roadracingworld.com Action Fund at Laguna Seca July 11-14.

Wendy Hogg, press officer for HMC Ducati, organized a raffle with the grand prize being a hot lap of the track as the passenger on a specially-equipped Ducati 998 Superbike ridden by Doug Chandler.

The winner of the lap of Laguna was drawn by HMC Ducati guest, actor Ewan McGregor. A motorcycle fan, McGregor is best known for his starring roles in Star Wars Episodes I and II and in Black Hawk Down. On Sunday, McGregor drew the name of winner Rhonda Nickle.

In addition to her hot lap of Laguna Seca on the back of Chandler’s bike, Nickle also received a Suomy helmet autographed by Chandler.

From a press release:

FOGGY PETRONAS RACING MAKE BRANDS APPEARANCE

Foggy PETRONAS Racing will make their first public showing at the Brands Hatch round of the World Superbike championship between July 26th-28th.

Four-times world champion Carl Fogarty and his team will be at the Kent circuit to show off the newly launched Foggy FP1 race bike ahead of their intensive winter testing programme.

The team has rescheduled their race debut for the start of the 2003 season, having initially set a challenging target of racing in the final half of 2002.

Road versions of the Foggy FP1 race bike are being built by PETRONAS in their long-term programme to manufacture the first Malaysian race-bred superbike.

Carl said: “The whole idea of the manufacturing project is to build a road bike based on racing excellence. So it does not really make sense to rush our testing programme, which is also so crucial to the thorough development of the Foggy FP1 road bike, just so that we could have competed in the few remaining races this year.

“Everyone involved in this project wanted to race at the earliest possible opportunity. But we have decided that it was not worth sacrificing the overall aims of the project in order to satisfy the governing body’s deadline.

“I am most disappointed for our two riders, James Haydon and Troy Corser. But they both have multi-year deals and will have a more competitive bike to reward their patience when we do start racing after an extensive testing programme.”

Note: The sport’s homologation rules dictate that an initial 75 road versions of a race bike have to be built by certain deadlines in order for teams to compete in the World Superbike championship.

From a press release issued by Honda:

HONDA RACING INFORMATION

2002 MotoGP 500 World Championship, round 9
German Grand Prix, Sachsenring
July 19/20/21 2002

MotoGP LEADER ROSSI WARY OF TRICKY SACHSENRING

MotoGP dominators Valentino Rossi (Repsol Honda Team RC211V) and Tohru Ukawa (Repsol Honda Team RC211V) may face their toughest challenge of the 2002 World Championship at Sachsenring this weekend. Series leader Rossi admits to disliking the ever-so tight circuit, while Ukawa is battling to be fit following his massive crash during practice for last week’s British Grand Prix.

So far this year the two RCV V5 riders have ruled in MotoGP, Rossi winning seven of the eight races, Ukawa the only man to have beaten his young team-mate. The pair have also scored lap records at all eight GPs, while Rossi has taken pole at seven of the eight events. But since Sunday’s German Grand Prix is followed by GP racing’s usual four-week midseason recess, it’s important that the Italian and Japanese stars have a good weekend before kicking back for their summer holidays.

Rossi is already looking forward to a few weeks off from his hectic schedule. As the most popular rider in GP history, he works much harder than most of his rivals off the track. “I’m keen to get to Germany, then get on with the summer holidays, we all need to recharge our batteries!” he smiles.

Rossi ruled at Donington last Sunday despite a crunching practice crash that left him with a cracked left thumb and concussion. His impressive race victory was his fifth GP success at the British venue and his 46th from a career total of 100 GP starts, giving him an amazing 46 per cent win rate, a modern-era record. But he’s only won once at the Sachsenring, taking 250 victory in 1999.

“Sachsenring has never been one of my favourite tracks,” he explains. “I don’t really like the balance of the layout, it’s too tight and slow for my style. For sure, there will be another big fight between the four-strokes and the two-strokes, with the four-strokes having the usual advantage on acceleration, while the lighter two-strokes should have a handling advantage.”

Ukawa’s main concern at the moment is his fitness. He tumbled at 200kmh/125mph as he attacked one of Donington’s more treacherous corners, leaving him badly battered and bruised, and nursing a broken toe on his right foot. “It was my Donington curse again,” says the man who’s never had much luck at the British track. “I’m feeling much better now, though I’m still pretty sore. I’ve now got a small cast on the foot and if I continue my recovery at the current rate, I should be okay for the GP. I’ll meet the medical team at Sachsenring and then we’ll make a decision.”

If both Rossi and Ukawa have their doubts about the German GP, the man who’ll be aiming to make the most of their uncertainties will be Alex Barros (West Honda Pons NSR500). The Brazilian veteran pushed Rossi hard at last month’s Dutch TT, while only a poor start at Donington prevented him from running at the front again. And he reckons his NSR500 could be just the tool for the tight and twisting ‘Ring, where he won two years ago.

“I think Sachsenring could be good for us two-stroke riders,” says Barros, the fastest 500 rider in MotoGP. “The track isn’t so fast, what you really need is good turning and the 500s turn well, because they’re lighter than the four-strokes. The first section is very tight and I think we’ll have the advantage there, and also through the long, fast lefts that follow, because the 500s can hold a line better than the four-strokes, again because they’re lighter.

Barros will have young German Alex Hofmann (West Honda Pons NSR500) as his team-mate for the second race this weekend. Hofmann is subbing for Loris Capirossi (West Honda Pons NSR500) who broke a forearm at Assen, and is looking forward to performing in front of his home fans after a getting-to-know-you outing on Capirossi’s NSRs at Donington.

“I’m taking my time to get my confidence on the Honda,” said the former 250 rider who had stood in for injured Yamaha rider Garry McCoy at the Catalan and Dutch rounds. “The Honda is all-over stiffer and more aggressive than the Yamaha the engine, the chassis and the Michelin tyres, which I’ve never used before. Most of all though, I’m just happy to be here and glad to have had one race to get used to the package before the Sachsenring.”

Daijiro Kato (Fortuna Honda Gresini NSR500) is steadily returning to form after a difficult few races. He scored his best result in five races at Donington, despite racing with a broken bone in his right hand. “I’m now feeling more comfortable on the bike and I think my hand should be much better in Germany,” says Kato who was beaten at the last turn of last year’s 250 German GP. “This year I aim to concentrate all the way to the flag!”

Things are also looking up for fellow NSR men Tetsuya Harada (Pramac Honda NSR500) and Jurgen van den Goorbergh (Kanemoto Racing Honda NSR500). Both men performed superbly in British GP qualifying, Harada taking his first front-row start of the year, van den Goorbergh just a fraction off row two.

“We showed what we’re capable of during Donington qualifying,” says Harada. “Now we need to sustain our speed over race distance. Germany should also be good for us, the track should work well for the two-strokes, though we won’t really know till we get there.”

Van den Goorbergh benefited from much-improved Bridgestone tyres in Britain. “I don’t know if we’ll have anything else new for Germany and that will have a large bearing on how I perform,” he says. “Overall we’re making good progress with the tyres and I hope we can continue that work this weekend.”

Honda’s top 250 performer Robby Rolfo (Fortuna Honda Gresini NSR250) also believes he can have a good weekend in Germany. Currently third in the 250 World Championship, the Italian reckons his NSR should work well at this track which prioritises handling over horsepower. “I’ve not been to the circuit on a Honda but so long as we make a good job on settings, we’ll be fighting for a podium finish,” he says. “The bike’s base set-up gets better for me with every GP and that’s very important.”

Team-mate Emilio Alzamora (Fortuna Honda Gresini NSR250) wants to get back into action as soon as possible after a disappointing run to 12th at Donington. The Spaniard’s front-row start proved he’s got the speed and he aims to underline his pace with a good result at the ‘Ring. “It’s a difficult track but a fun track,” says the Spaniard. “I was very unhappy after Donington, I want a good result to erase that memory.”

Honda’s 125 title-hope Daniel Pedrosa (Telefonica Movistar Jr Team Honda RS125R) goes for a fourth straight podium finish on Sunday to boost his 125 title challenge. Winner at Assen and second at Catalunya and Donington, Pedrosa is currently just 16 points behind series leader Manuel Poggiali (Gilera) and he thinks he has a good chance of another good ride this weekend.

“Sachsenring will be an important race for us,” says the 16-year old. “I beat Poggiali at Donington and I want to do that again, so we can go into the holidays with a good feeling. This racetrack is quite unusual, power is less important than at many other circuits, so we’ll focus more than ever on achieving the correct chassis set-up.”

Masao Azuma (Liégeois Competition Honda RS125R) had his best ride of the year at Donington, missing the podium by just one place. “It’s a bad habit, I also finished fourth in Germany last year,” he grins. “I was fighting in the front group last year and aim to do so again, though I don’t like the first part of this track, it’s too tight. Overall though, I love the place!”

The GP circus reconvenes for the Czech GP on August 25. After Brno there’s one more race in Europe, at Estoril, before the action moves out of Europe for the second time, for the Pacific, Malaysian and Australian GPs. The final GP of 2002 takes place at Valencia, in Spain, on November 3.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Kawasaki has released a second progress report on the Ninja ZX-RR MotoGP prototype with some new details of the bike’s make-up.

In the report, Kawasaki officials say they considered many different engine configurations for their first MotoGP racer and chose an Inline Four configuration for its “many technical advantages”, including evenly-spaced firing intervals that make intake and exhaust tuning easier, perfect primary balance eliminating the need for engine balancers, more room to fit the required long exhaust system, and the fact that the “compact cylinder head makes it much easier to mount in a frame”.

The frame is the second area highlighted in the report. Kawasaki engineers feel that improved casting methods and use of the best materials available will allow them to give the Ninja ZX-RR a light yet strong frame. With a computer-generated image, the Kawasaki men show that they intend to use a new, thin-wall casting technique in the swingarm pivot and steering head areas of the frame. The image also shows that Kawasaki engineers plan to feed air to the new engine through a single ram-air intake in the steering head.

The Ninja ZX-RR will use a new Keihin FCR-i fuel-injection system that uses slides in the throttle bodies rather than butterflies. Kawasaki engineers say that since the slide retracts completely out of the air/fuel stream it is better than a butterfly valve that remains in the intake path at wide-open throttle. A small high-speed generator driven off the clutch gear provides the electrical power to run the new EFI system.

The report finishes by saying the Kawasaki MotoGP racer will feature advanced aerodynamics and shows pictures of the same angular bodywork with sharp edges, raised creases and central ram air intake opening in the nose that can be seen in the August issue of Roadracing World.

From a press release issued by Marlboro Yamaha:

Wednesday 17th July 2002

MARLBORO SPONSORSHIP OF YAMAHA TEAM TO END

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. has today announced that the Marlboro sponsorship of its Marlboro Yamaha Team in the MotoGP World Championship will cease at the end of 2002. Marlboro has been the primary sponsor of the team since 1999 with riders Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa. The team is wholly owned by Yamaha and is the company’s principal motorsports activity.

Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Lin Jarvis, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing B.V., the Amsterdam-based Yamaha subsidiary that oversees the non-technical side of Yamaha’s international racing activities, said: “It’s a great shame that we are parting company with Marlboro. We have had an excellent partnership and, on behalf of Yamaha, I would like to thank the Marlboro management for their support and wish them well for the future.

“Yamaha has a strong, on-going commitment to success in MotoGP. I cannot discuss our definitive plans for 2003 at this point, but we are in discussions with various sponsors and with both Max and Carlos about next year. They are two of the sport’s best riders and we are interested to retain their services. In the meantime, it goes without saying that it is business as usual for the Marlboro Yamaha Team. Our hunger for MotoGP victories remains as strong as ever. Everyone involved in our four-stroke project is working extremely hard to ensure that Yamaha has the best possible package for the remainder of 2002 and to ensure the strongest possible challenge for the 2003 World Championship.”

The 16-round MotoGP World Championship moves to the Sachsenring in eastern Germany this weekend before its traditional “summer break”. The action resumes in the Czech Republic on 25th August and the season concludes at Valencia in Spain on 3rd November. Italian Biaggi and Spaniard Checa are currently lying third and fifth respectively in the Championship on their four-stroke Yamaha YZR-M1 machines.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Ducati executives and factory riders jetted straight from Laguna Seca to Italy to unveil the newest Ducati, the 999, to members of the worldwide press Tuesday, July 16 at the Misano racetrack in San Marino.