Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Valentino Rossi will drive in the final round of the 2002 World Rally Championship. In a deal set up through the Italian rally team Grifone, the 23-year-old four-time motorcycle road racing World Champion will drive a Michelin-shod Peugot 206 WRC in the Network Q Rally of Great Britain November 14-17.

Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3’s Shinya Nakano and Olivier Jacque tested their new Yamaha YZR-M1s Tuesday, October 8 at the Shah Alam circuit in Malaysia. The pair will trade in their Yamaha YZR500 two-strokes and race the M1s in the final three rounds of the 2002 MotoGP season.

Nakano tested early versions of the 990cc inline four-cylinder on two previous occasions, but the recent test was the first time Jacque had ever ridden a four-stroke race machine.

From a press release issued by Henry DeGouw, manager of Team North America:

North American Team Set For Macau GP

Three riders from the United States and Canada have been selected for this year’s Macau Grand Prix Motorcycle Road Race.

Brian Livengood of Snellville, Ga. will compete on the HSA Suzuki 750 and tuned by Lee’s Performance Center of Charlotte, NC. Livengood won this year’s AMA Superbike Rookie Of The Year award.

Joining him will be Canadians, Frank Trombino and Kevin Lacombe on a pair of Honda Canada, Golden Palace-sponsored RC51s.

Trombino from Ontario is the 2000 & 2001 Canadian Open Sportbike Champion, while 20-year-old Lacombe, from Quebec won the final Canadian Superbike National this year at Shannonville.

All three are on their first trip to Macau. The team departs for Hong Kong on November 9th.

The 60-mile Macau GP race on Saturday the 16th is run on a 4-mile through-the-streets course.

After the race, riders and crews will be treated to a complimentary 8-night vacation in Thailand.

Anyone interested in accompanying the team should contact Henry DeGouw at (561) 793-3394 for prices and itinerary.

From a press release:


FASTRACK RIDERS ASSOCIATION EVENT DATES 2003


TRACK DAYS:

March 10th @ California Speedway Infield Course (Monday)

March 28th @ California Speedway AMA Track (Friday)

April 3rd @ California Speedway AMA Track (Thursday before AMA event weekend)

May 5th @ California Speedway Infield Course (Monday)

May 23rd @ California Speedway AMA Track (Friday)

June 16th @ California Speedway Infield Course (Monday)

June 27th @ California Speedway AMA Track (Friday)

July 25th, 26th & 27th @ California Speedway AMA Track (Saturday & Sunday)

August 11th @ California Speedway Infield Course (Monday)

August 29th @ California Speedway AMA Track (Friday)

September 27th & 28th @ California Speedway Infield Course (Saturday & Sunday)




AFM SOUTH RACE EVENTS:

March 29th & 30th @ California Speedway AMA track (weekend before AMA National)

April 19th & 20th @ Buttonwillow Raceway

May 24th & 25th @ California Speedway AMA Track

June 28th & 29th @ California Speedway AMA Track

August 30th & 31st @ California Speedway AMA Track

October 11th & 12th @ Buttonwillow Raceway

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Australian Andrew Pitt, 26, will ride the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR MotoGP bike at the Malaysian Grand Prix October 11-13, replacing Akira Yanagawa.

Yanagawa was injured in a crash during the Pacific Grand Prix at Motegi October 6.

Pitt will ride the Kawasaki in the three remaining rounds as Yanagawa will miss the rest of the season with a fractured hip.

“Sepang is a new circuit for me and I haven´t even sat on the new ZX-RR yet, never mind ridden it, so I won´t be going out there to set the world on fire in my first race,” said Pitt in a press release issued by Kawasaki.

“Realistically, if I can help the team continue the development work they´ve done so far with Akira then I´ll be happy with that.”

Pitt won the 2001 World Supersport Championship for Harald Eckl’s Kawasaki team.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

International Speedway Corporation (ISC) hired five-time 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan to inspect Watkins Glen International Raceway and suggest how the track would have to be changed to qualify for a MotoGP event.

Doohan inspected the track September 26 with track officials–including Watkins Glen President Craig Rust–and discussed what changes he felt would have to be made to make the track suitable for MotoGP homologation.

Reliable sources said the track has had an engineering firm look at moving back guardrails and dirt embankments.

Problem areas include turn two, the esses and the final two turns.

The track and the surrounding area can accomodate large numbers of spectators; it attracts nearly 200,000 people for NASCAR events.

From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

Mugello (Italy), October 8, 2002

DUCATI CORSE TESTING CONCLUDES AT MUGELLO

Ducati Corse concluded a two-day testing session at the Mugello Circuit in Tuscany, where factory riders Troy Bayliss and Neil Hodgson were able to put in their first laps on their respective 2003 factory Ducati Desmosedici and Ducati 999 Superbike bikes.

Cool 15° temperatures and slight rain disturbed the day’s testing for Ducati Corse throughout the day, but despite this the scheduled programme both for the MotoGP bike and the Superbike was completed on time.

After yesterday’s first contact with the Desmosedici, Troy, who will line up with Loris Capirossi in next year’s MotoGP championship, completed 30 laps of the 5.245 km Tuscany circuit, saying that he was delighted to form part of a brand-new project and to be able to develop the new bike right from scratch.

“I’m very excited to be part of this project” declared Troy. “We all know we’ve got a difficult job ahead of us but we’re all very keen. My first impression after hopping on the bike was very good, it’s got a lot of power and it’s been an exciting couple of days and we’ve made some good progress since we arrived. We have lots of tests before the season starts next year and we’re going to do everything we can possibly do to get the bike to a competitive level. At the moment we have a lot of horsepower, the bike is very fast and it’s a lot lighter than the Superbike. There aren’t many places where you use full gas at Mugello so you have to make the bike work good. That’s our main priority at the moment and we’re heading in that direction. All systems are go and we’re up for it!”

Neil Hodgson also continued development work on the Superbike version of the Ducati 999, the bike that will be called upon to replace the glorious 998, with which Ducati this year won its 11th World Superbike Constructors’ title reserved for production-based racing motorbikes.

The British rider completed a total of 45 laps during the day, searching mainly for the right feeling with a bike that is totally different from the HM Plant-backed satellite Ducati 998 F01 with which he finished third in this year’s World Superbike championship.

“My first impression with the 999 is that it’s very different to the 998” commented Neil. “The engine feels better and the dual swinging-arm makes the suspension completely different to what I was used to.

“I’m already really looking forward to next season’s World Superbike Championship” he added. “The 999 has got a lot of potential and it can improve a lot more so I think that in the next 3 or 4 tests we will be able to turn a good bike into a fantastic one.”

Ducati Corse will move away from Italy for its next session with Troy Bayliss and Neil Hodgson doing testing duties at the Valencia Circuit in Spain on 22 and 23 October. The Spanish track is ideal for development work on the Desmosedici and the 999 Superbike, as it is included in both the MotoGP and World Superbike calendars for next year.

From a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service:

SUZUKI GOES TO SEPANG

MotoGP Round 14 Preview, Sepang, Malaysia, October 13th:
TEAM Telefónica MoviStar Suzuki riders Kenny Roberts and Sete Gibernau go to Malaysia with two goals in mind.

The first is to continue with the task of race-developing the new 990cc four-stroke GSV-R racer for the 14th out of 16 races in its shake-down first season, so that the second version can start next season at full racing strength for a serious title challenge.

The second is to get the best possible results, from a machine that has gone from early prototype at the start of the year to an increasingly accomplished racer capable of regular top 10 and even top-three rostrum finishes.

Suzuki has a fine record at the magnificent state-of-the-art Sepang circuit, with Roberts claiming victory in 1999 and 2000, though knocked off while fighting for the lead last year – and it was here that Roberts and Gibernau met the new 200-plus horsepower GSV-R for just the second time on February 4, for pre-season tests. They had been introduced to the bike for a single day’s testing at Suzuki’s private test track in Japan in January, but the first major test was to be held at Sepang. Returning to the same track now, they will get a chance to compare the machine with its early performance after almost a full season of steady development and continuous improvement.

This will give an interesting measure of progress so far – but will not deflect the team or the riders from the task of getting on with the race. Another clear indication of improvement is that both riders have been achieving much better results recently, including a first top-three podium for Roberts at the Rio GP, the last race but one. Roberts has moved up into the top 10 of the championship, in spite of failing to score points at three out of the first five races.

“All through the season the factory has been working hard and sending an almost constant supply of new bits and pieces,” said team manager Garry Taylor. “We expect some more of the same at Sepang.

“It was great to see so many senior factory people at the last round at Motegi in Japan, and we had a number of excellent meetings where technicians and riders were able to put their points directly to the factory engineers. That will surely help us get even better, especially with a view to next year’s machine,” he said.

The middle of a trio of long-distance “flyaway” GPs held on consecutive weekends, the Malaysian round marks a fresh stage in the first MotoGP season, which pits the traditional 500cc two-strokes against new-generation 990cc four-strokes like the Suzuki.

At Sepang, there will be 14 of the new four-strokes – double the number that started the year in April, as manufacturers enter wild card riders, or reward satellite teams that started out racing two-strokes with the latest versions of the new machines.

Suzuki is no different, as it continues with the high-visibilty race development of the new bike. Factory tester Akira Ryo, who finished second in the opening round of the year at Suzuka, will be joining Roberts and Gibernau in a factory liveried machine to bring the normal strength of two bikes up to three.

The Malaysian race poses special problems – especially baking heat and energy-sapping humidity. Both take it out of the riders, technicians, tyres and machines. The other tricky aspect to the track is the pair of straights, linked with a wide hairpin bend, that finish an otherwise rhythmical and technical lap. This puts the emphasis on sheer horsepower rather than the finesse that pays such dividends over the rest of the long lap.

After the Malaysian round, the team will travel to Australia for the last flyaway race of the season, before returning to Europe for the final race of the first MotoGP year at Valencia, two weekends later.

KENNY ROBERTS – THIS YEAR, NEXT YEAR
“I’m not really looking at the championship position. My aim is to win it again: first is the only place that matters, and I’m going to Malaysia with the main aim of continuing to improve the bike. The more new stuff we get to test, the more feedback we can give to the engineers, and the more we can do to make next year’s bike into a potential winner.”

SETE GIBERNAU – GET IT RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING
“I hope we can get some decent practice sessions in at Malaysia. In Japan, we lost our way a little, and that costs you over the whole weekend. I’d like to get qualified at least on the second row, and then race the bike to the maximum.”

ABOUT THIS RACE
The first Malaysian GP was held in 1991, at the Shah Alam circuit on the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur – and since then it has become a firm fixture on the calendar. Shah Alam remained its home until 1997, but while the technical track was interesting, the facilities were poor, and in 1998 it moved for one year to Johor, in the south of the Malaysian peninsula. That was only temporary, because the fine new Sepang circuit was soon to be constructed on a newly developed site close to the new Kuala Lumpur international airport, some way outside the city. The circuit was inaugurated with the motorcycle GP in 1999, and has since then also become a highly regarded F1 venue as well as regular home to the motorcycle GP.

ABOUT THIS TRACK
The huge glass-clad pit buildings and arched-roof grandstands are the first striking thing about the Sepang circuit, where little expense was spared to provide ultra-modern facilities for a world-class racing facility. Nothing was stinted for the circuit either, which was laid out round an unfashionably long lap of 3.447 miles (5.548km), making it one of the longer circuits on the motorcycle calendar. A technically interesting layout comprises mainly medium-speed bends, with the lap finishing with a pair of straights running up and down the vast doubler-sided grandstand.

RACE DATA

Sepang Circuit

Circuit Length: 3.447 miles / 5.548 km.

Lap Record: 2:06.618 -98.016 mph / 157.741 km/h. V Rossi (Honda), 2001

2001 Race Winner: V Rossi

2001 Race Average: 44:46.652 – 97.006 mph / 156.116 km/h

2001 Fastest Race Lap: see lap record

2001 Pole Position: L Capirossi (Honda) 2:05.637

2001 Kenny Roberts: DNF, qualified Ninth (Telefónica MoviStar Suzuki)

2001 S Gibernau: Eighth, qualified Eighth (Telefónica MoviStar Suzuki)

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Former racer Kaming Ko has formed a new Superbike team, which will campaign a Ducati in 2003.

Ko, 48, last raced in the 1970s on a Kawasaki H2R; he was a test rider for Yoshimura during development of Yoshimura’s first Suzuki-based Superbike. Ko raced cars after retiring from motorcycle racing, running in Formula Atlantic and also competing in the 24-hours of Daytona three times in the early 1990s. He is currently the U.S. sales rep for various auto-part manufacturing companies owned by the Chinese government.

Ko’s new team, called Dream Team Racing, will be based out of a 5500-square-foot race shop located in Camarillo, California and has a first-year operating budget of $1.4 million.

According to Ko, he has made a deal with Ducati Corse, which will provide an engineer to work with the team; Mike Velasco has been contracted to work with the team and Jeff Nash will build engines.

Ko is also exploring funding a television show, based on the Inside NASCAR model, covering AMA road racing.

The team is likely to run Michelin tires.

Ko declined to name his rider, who he said is still under contract to American Suzuki; reliable sources said the involved rider is Larry Pegram.

Pegram could not be reached for comment at post time.

From a press release issued by Motonation:

SIDI ROAD RACE BOOT SUPPORT RIDES NOW AVAILABLE!

Motonation, the exclusive Sidi boot importer for the USA announced today that they are now accepting rider resumes for the upcoming 2003 racing season.

Sponsorship is available in all regions at various levels of support. Resumes should be mailed to:

Motonation
Attn: Rider Support Manager
14168 Poway Road, Suite 205
Poway CA. 92064

For additional information riders can call Motonation toll free at 1-877-789-4940 or e-mail via their Website at www.motonation.com