Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

For the first time in recent memory, not all the enclosed garages at Daytona were rented for this weekend’s AMA events.

According to a printout provided from the track, Garages 7, 23 and 37 are open. In normal years, there are waiting lists for garages.

This year’s garage assignments are:

1. Valvoline EMGO Suzuki, Josh Hayes/Tom Kipp/Chris Ulrich

2. Team America, Jason DiSalvo

3. Hal’s Harley-Davidson, Mike Ciccotto

4. Innovative Motorsports, Michael Barnes

5. Jerry Wood Racing, Eric Wood/Jeff Wood

6. Advanced Motorsports, Kirk McCarthy

7. Open

8. Team Performance Racing

9. Rick Shaw Racing, Rick Shaw

10. Team Corbin, Jimmy Filice

11. Team Kawasaki, Eric Bostrom/Tommy Hayden/Tony Meiring

12. HMC Ducati, Pascal Picotte

13. Team Honda, Miguel Duhamel/Nicky Hayden

14. Team Honda

15. Erion Racing/Bruce Transportation Group, Kurtis Roberts/Mike Hale/Jake Zemke/Alex Gobert

16. Yoshimura Suzuki, Mat Mladin/Jamie Hacking/Aaron Yates

17. Yoshimura Suzuki

18. Valvoline EMGO Suzuki (back side of garage #1)

19. R&R Racing

20. Euro Sports

21. Project Monza

22. Attack Performance, Jason Pridmore/Ben Spies

23. Open

24. Robinson

25. Tilley Buell

26. O’Champ’s “Daytona Weapon”

27. Team Shinji Racing

28. Team Kawasaki (back side of garage #11)

29. Tuff Dog Racing, Alan Schmidt

30. HMC Ducati (back side of garage #12)

31. HMC Ducati

32. Erion Racing/Bruce Transportation Group (back side of garage #15)

33. Yoshimura Suzuki (back side of garage #16)

34. Yoshimura Suzuki (back side of garage #17)

35. Team Trimby/UK

36. Rue Racing

37. Open

38. Michelin

39. Team China, Stephane Mertens

40. 4&6 Cycle, Owen Weichel, Andrew Nelson

41. Team Obsolete, Dave Roper

42. Michelin (back side of 38)

44. Yamaha, Anthony Gobert/Aaron Gobert/Damon Buckmaster

45. Yamaha

48. Yamaha (back side of #45)

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

World Superbike Champion Troy Bayliss will start the first World Superbike race of the new season from pole, at Valencia, Spain.

In a Superpole session where several riders bettered their qualifying times Bayliss kept his cool to fire his Ducati onto the top spot on the grid with a lap time of 1:34.814. His fastest lap in qualifying was 1:34.936.

Second on the grid will be last year’s pole-sitter Ben Bostrom. His Superpole lap was just over a tenth of a second behind Bayliss at 1:34.959. Both Ducati riders were riding hard, but smooth, which seemed to be the secret of a good lap in Superpole here today.

Less smooth was fellow factory Ducati man Ruben Xaus. He looked choppy during his lap, had several moments and ended up being pushed down onto the third row. His 1:35.937 lap was just over a second slower than his best qualifying time.

Last year’s runner up in the World Championship, Colin Edwards, was another smooth rider and was rewarded with third on the grid. He lapped at 1:34.982, just a tenth of a second slower than his best qualifying time of 1:34.860.

The irrepressible Noriyuki Haga put his Aprilia on the front row with a Superpole time of 1:35.015. He was another rider to improve on his best qualifying time, having lapped in qualifying at 1:35.142.

Final World Superbike Superpole Qualifying Times:
1. Troy Bayliss, Australia (Ducati) 1:34.814
2 Ben Bostrom, USA (Ducati) 1:34.959
3 Colin Edwards, USA (Castrol Honda) 1:34.982
4 Noriyuki Haga, Japan (Aprilia) 1:35.015
5 Neil Hodgson, GB (Ducati) 1:35.065
6 Juan Borja, Spain (Ducati) 1:35.891
7 Hitoyasu Izutsu, Japan (Kawasaki) 1:35.904
8 Lucio Pedercini, Italy (Ducati) 1:35.909
9 Ruben Xaus, Spain (Ducati) 1:35.937
10 Pier-Francesco Chili, Italy (Ducati) 1:35.948



Valencia World Superbike
Post-Superpole rider quotes

Colin Edwards, Castrol Honda VTR SP2, Michelin tires, third in Superpole: “The Honda’s a lot better this year, we’ve done lots of testing and we’ve received some new motor parts in the last two weeks. Now the bike is just asking for traction, it’s not like last year when it just spun and spun, it’s good. We’ve got some good stuff now, but it’s been a long weekend getting it all working. If I told you the full story I’d probably get into trouble!”

Ben Bostrom, L&M Ducati, Dunlop tires, second in Superpole: “The tires are working good, the team’s working good, it’s good all around. The race will be tough and it’s hard to pass at Valencia. I think there will be a group of four or five guys up front all battling it out. It will be a good race. This track tends to burn out the tires on the left side and that means you get to hang the back out in slides a lot, I like that, it’s fun!”

Troy Bayliss, Infostrada Ducati, Michelin tires, first in Superpole: “The problem here at Valencia is that we come here and test and get tires and set up sorted. Then, next time we come back it’s like someone has come along and done something to change the track and all your set-ups and tire information are wrong. But it’s the same for everyone and you just have to work it all out. In the race I’ll be the first into the first corner (laughs) but then these guys know I’m slow for the first three laps and they’ll try to come past me. But I’ll just do my best and go out for the win.”


Flying Frenchman Foret On Supersport Pole

Fabien Foret took the first pole position of the new season for Ten Kate Honda. The flying Frenchman put his Honda CBR600FS (F4i) at the front of the pack with a fastest lap of 1:37.674, nearly a second faster than fellow Frenchman Stephane Chambon.

Fabien was relaxed after the session, “Iím happy with my lap time,” declared Foret. “But the important thing to me is the race. Of course it is great to be on pole but I am not letting it go to my head. I will try to win the race, but the important thing for me is to finish in a good position so I can fight for the Championship.”

Foret’s new teammate Iain MacPherson, who replaced Pere Riba just a few days prior to the race after Riba defected to MotoGP qualified in tenth place on the grid with a best lap of 1:39.121.

Foret was pushed all the way this weekend by last year’s European Supersport Champion Alessio Corradi. The Italian rider will be third on the grid for tomorrow’s race, he set a best time of 1:38.730. Foret, Chambon, Corradi will be joined on the front row of the grid by Stefano Cruciani who recorded a fastest time of 1:38.777 on his R6.

Foret, Corradi and Cruciani are all using Pirelli tyres. Chambon is riding on Dunlops.

Final World Supersport qualifying times:

1 Fabien Foret, France (Honda) 1:37.674
2 Stephane Chambon, France (Suzuki) 1:38.539
3 Alessio Corradi, Italy (Yamaha) 1:38.730
4 Stefano Cruciani, Italy (Yamaha) 1:38.777
5 Jorg Teuchert, Germany (Yamaha) 1:38.833
6 Chris Vermeulen, Australia (Honda) 1:38.877
7 Christian Kellner, Germany (Yamaha) 1:38.877
8 Andrew Pitt, Australia (Kawasaki) 1:39.013
9 Katsuaki Fujiwara, Japan (Suzuki) 1:39.029
10 Iain MacPherson, GB (Honda) 1:39.121

From press release:

Brave Benelli Battles On

Despite a difficult winter during which the Benelli company struggled with problems in the Italian motorcycle market, Benelli Sport is back contesting the World Superbike championship.

The team’s first day back in the Championship after their debut year in 2001 was not a happy one. Rider Peter Goddard was forced to retire from the free practice and the afternoon’s qualifying session after engine problems.

“We have had to take some risks in order to get more power,” admitted Team Owner Andrea Merloni, “unfortunately this resulted in some unexpected problems with the engine. We are not sure yet if the problems are due to our changes or just down to bad luck. But we’ll be trying our hardest again on Saturday and we shall soon know if we have been heading in the right direction.”

Australian Peter Goddard, who scored points in last year’s Championship on the Benelli Tornado Superbike was obviously very disappointed with his day. “Sadly, I didn’t get much in the way of track time today,” commented Goddard.

On the bright side, Benelli showed a pre-production version of the Tornado road bike. The motorcycle was spotted by the SBK organizers, and Benelli officials were asked to wheel it into the SBK paddock show area, where it wowed the crowds. When asked for comment on the machine, onlookers typically responded with “that is the most beautiful motorcycle in the world,” or a similar comment. Some encouragement at least then for the Benelli Sport team on a difficult day. The road bike will be officially launched at the Monza World Superbike round in May.


Foret Takes Supersport Pole

Fabien Foret took the first pole position of the new season for Ten Kate Honda. The flying Frenchman put his Honda CBR600FS (F4i) at the front of the pack with a fastest lap of 1:37.674, nearly a second faster than fellow Frenchman Stephane Chambon.

The Ten Kate Honda team manager was smiling again after watching Foret take a comfortable pole position in the Spanish sunshine. “I thought Foret’s lap time was very impressive,” declared Ronald ten Kate. “The conditions were quite different today compared to when we tested here just over a week ago. This meant we had to search for a new set up, and despite the less than ideal conditions Foret was still very fast.”

Fabien was relaxed after the session. “I’m happy with my time,” declared Foret. “But the important thing to me is the race. Of course it is great to be on pole but I am not letting it go to my head. I will try to win the race, but the important thing for me is to finish in a good position so I can fight for the championship.”

Ronald ten Kate was also pleased with the progress of his new team member Iain MacPherson. “Iain is settling down in his new job. But we are not putting any pressure on him to go fast immediately. I am confident he will get quicker and quicker as he gets used to the Pirelli tires, the WP suspension and the Honda CBR600FS.”

Iain confirmed his manager’s feelings. “The more I ride the bike the more I like it,” said MacPherson. “The Honda allows me to open the throttle much harder much earlier than I could on the Kawasaki last year. If I’d ridden that the way I can ride this Honda I would have high-sided it for sure. The tires are fantastic and I’m very happy with the WP suspension. I’m really happy in my new job; the team is so friendly and extremely helpful. I know I will go faster as I get more laps under my belt.”

MacPherson qualified in tenth place on the grid with a best lap of 1:39.121

Final World Supersport qualifying times:

1. Fabien Foret, France (Ten Kate Honda), 1:37.674s
2. Stephane Chambon, France (Suzuki) 1:38.539
3. Alessio Corradi, Italy (Yamaha) 1:38.730
4. Stefano Cruciani, Italy (Yamaha) 1:38.777
5. Jorg Teuchert, Germany (Yamaha) 1:38.833
6. Chris Vermeulen, Australia (Van Zon Ten Kate Honda) 1:38.877
7. Christian Kellner, Germany (Yamaha) 1:38.877
8. Andrew Pitt, Australia (Kawasaki) 1:39.013
9. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Japan (Suzuki) 1:39.029
10.Iain MacPherson, GB (Ten Kate Honda) 1:39.121

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

According to Yamaha Team Manager/Crew Chief Tom Halverson, Anthony Gobert will race in Sunday’s Daytona 200 and Aaron Gobert will remain in the Intensive Care Center of Halifax Medical Center for “at least a couple more days”.

Fighting a nasty case of food poisoning himself, Halverson admitted that he had not seen Aaron Gobert but had received reports from Gobert’s mother, Sue Gobert, and from Aaron Gobert’s girlfriend, Melanie, who are both by his side at the hospital. At 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time Saturday, March 9, Halverson said that Anthony Gobert was in Yamaha’s hospitality suite at the Speedway watching the AMA Supercross race.

When asked to clarify the wide range of reports concerning Aaron Gobert’s condition, a pale Halverson took a deep breath before starting the list of injuries.

According to Halverson, Aaron Gobert has a badly broken right leg (both tibia and fibula) which was operated on late Friday night/early Saturday morning by a local doctor; a broken ankle on his left leg that did not require surgery; two broken vertebrae that have not caused paralysis or required him to be fitted with a head-immobilizing device called a “halo”; a broken collarbone, but Halverson did not know which side; and “a lot of bad abrasions”. Halverson said that both of Aaron Gobert’s lungs collapsed from multiple rib fractures but both had been re-inflated.

“This morning he was breathing on his own, conscious and talking a little bit,” said Halverson of Aaron Gobert.

When asked what happened in the crash that took out two of his team’s Supersport riders, Halverson relayed what he had been told by Anthony Gobert. Halverson said that Anthony Gobert told him he knew that Aaron Gobert was going to crash coming out of the chicane. Anthony said that he was set up to pass Aaron on the inside but decided to go around the outside, between Aaron and the wall, at the last moment and didn’t make it.

According to what Halverson said he saw watching a videotaped replay of the race, Tommy Hayden practically crashed trying to avoid hitting Aaron Gobert but unavoidably ran over the 21-year-old Aussie.

Aaron Gobert was unconscious at the scene but regained consciousness and became combative (typical of riders with serious concussions) when he regained consciousness in the emergency room. Doctors then sedated Aaron Gobert brother before diagnosing and treating his more severe injuries.

Meanwhile, Anthony Gobert suffered a deep puncture wound near his neck, which exposed the collarbone. Halverson reported that medical personnel were more concerned about a possible spinal injury and put Anthony Gobert in a neck brace and on a back board before addressing the puncture wound. This resulted in early reports of a suspected compound collarbone fracture. Halverson stated firmly that Gobert did not break his collarbone. While Halverson spoke, the Yamaha crew was practicing pit stops behind the team’s garage.

Of his visit to Halifax Medical Center, Halverson said, “They didn’t have enough staff. As long as you were alive and breathing, they pretty much left you alone. Anthony was alone in a room for a long time before he was seen by a doctor. That’s pretty weak if you ask me.”

Because of so many injured Bike Week streetriders, Halverson likened what he saw at the hospital at 9:30 p.m. Friday night to a scene out of a war movie. “There were two chaplains there from the MRO and another from the Speedway, and they looked really worn out.”

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Glenn LeSanto

Benelli withdraws from Valencia Superbike race

The Benelli Sport team has been forced to withdraw the beautiful Tornado Superbike from racing in Valencia.

Due to repeated failures of a component, thought to be in the engine cylinderhead, the team has decided to withdraw, rather than risk the rider’s safety.

The problem is thought to be down to faulty heat treatment. Benelli engineers have stressed that the faulty part is not used in the road going version of the Tornado.

At this point in time, it is not known if the team will return for the next round in Phillip Island.



Bostrom on provisional pole

American Ben Bostrom will have the luxury of knowing what he has to do to stay on pole for tomorrow’s first races of the new World Superbike season.

The Ducati L&M rider sneaked in to push rival American Colin Edwards off the provisional pole as the session came to an end on Saturday morning. His time of 1:34.649 was just 0.211 up on Edwards’ best time in a close-fought session.

Ruben Xaus had topped the timesheet for much of the session, but slid off his Infostrada Ducati with four minutes to go as Edwards and Bostrom piled on the pressure. Xaus ended the session third fastest.

Reigning champion Troy Bayliss made the last place on the provisional front row as Haga was edged back into fifth on his Aprilia. Hitoyasu Izutsu was again the first man on a four-cylinder bike in the running; he’s a provisional sixth fastest going into Superpole. James Toseland put his HM Plant Ducati into seventh place, just ahead of his teammate Neil Toseland.

World Superbike
Final Qualifying
Saturday morning

1. Ben Bostrom, USA, Ducati, 1:34.649
2. Colin Edwards, USA, Castrol Honda, 1:34.860
3. Ruben Xaus, Spain, Ducati, 1:34.927
4. Troy Bayliss, Australia, Ducati, 1:34.936
5. Noriyuki Haga, Japan, Aprilia, 1:35.030
6. Hitoyasu Izutsu, Japan, Kawasaki, 1:35.385
7. James Toseland, GB, Ducati, 1:35.393
8. Neil Hodgson, GB, Ducati, 1:35.429
9. Pier-Francesco Chili, Italy, Ducati, 1:35.632
10. Lucio Pedercini, Italy, Ducati, 1:35.873



First Person/Opinion:
The State Of World Superbike

By Glenn LeSanto

Friday 8 March marked the start of a new World Superbike season with riders getting out on the track for the first free practice and qualifying sessions of the year.

The organizers are boasting how they have an extended contract with the FIM which takes Superbike racing well into the next decade, but who will be racing with them by then? The series is in very real danger of becoming a Ducati Cup and the 15th World Superbike year could be the last with any real inter-factory battling.

Suzuki almost left the series last year and only plenty of arm-twisting and alleged palm greasing kept them in. Gregorio Lavilla only managed 11th fastest time in Friday’s qualifying. Will the factory want to continue to support such results next year as the MotoGP sucks more and more resources out of their racing budget? The answer is probably not.

Hitoyasu Izutsu fared better on his factory Kawasaki; he was the first four-cylinder motorcycle in the ranking at sixth fastest. But his team manager Harald Eckl is set to defect to the factory GP1 effort next year, so what’s the future of Kawasaki in WSBK? None it would seem, if the rumors that a replacement is being sought but with a new job title; that of Kawasaki Supersport Team Manager. So we can be pretty certain that Kawasaki won’t be back.

Teams with four-cylinder bikes might be tempted to stay a little longer if the rules help them a little more. But with the fudged rule changes slated for 2004, about which I’ve yet to hear anything positive from any teams, it will be a case of too little too late. And I’ve yet to speak to a Superbike rider willing to ride on treaded tyres.

Benelli’s valiant effort looked good last year, with the little factory scoring championship points in their debut year. But this year a drastic downturn in the Italian scooter market, the bread and butter for all the Italian factories bar Ducati, has severely curtailed their advance. They are easy to ignore as they set times that wouldn’t even get them on the front row of Supersport, let alone Superbike, so much so that even official WSBK press releases have often failed to note them as a competing factory! But ignore them at your peril, not because they are about to pull an extra 20 horsepower out of the bag and set the track alight, but instead because without them the series would be a duller, and less pretty, event.

What of Aprilia? They played a trump card this year, let’s call it the Ace of Haga’s. This man can and probably will revitalise the factory’s interest in WSB single-handed. But for how long? He’s very expensive, thought to be costing the factory around US $2 million in wages alone. And with an expensive MotoGP effort underway, how long can Aprilia, also affected by the Italian-market malaise, afford such a luxury?

So who are we left with? Ducati of course! Although even their commitment may reduce to factory support for private teams in the near future as they concentrate on their own MotoGP effort.

The new boys not yet on the block, Fogarty Petronas, already have their troubles. The WSBK and FIM are thought to be taking a hard line over homologation, forcing the team to produce 150 expensive road bikes before they can go racing. These are of course the rules, but last year they were very loosely applied to the Benelli entry. But while Fogarty may be Mr. Superbike, he ain’t Italian. He should expect to see more of the rulebook than Mr. Merloni the Benelli team boss was ever shown during his negotiations to enter the almost entirely Italian managed series.

I almost forgot the Big Red Wing themselves, the mighty Honda. Surely they won’t desert a production based series that marketing logic would suggest is so valuable to bike sales? Oh yeah? Well, how many VTR 1000 SP2 (RC51) road bikes do you think they’ll sell on the back of Colin Edwards’ performance? Not many, actually. I’ve already heard that they intend to farm out their future SBK effort to a factory-supported team, just as they already have done with their World Supersport entry.

Are we looking forward to 15 more years of World Superbikes or a just a Ducati Cup? As the series begins its 15th year the future isn’t entirely clear.

From a press release:

They’re Racing Trucks At Daytona

Actually it’s CDLSCHOOL.com Racing, a new entrant in the Formula USA and AMA racing series. The CDL School is based in the eastern U.S. with offices in Miami, Palm Beach, Jacksonville, Albany, Newburg, Bronx NYC and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The CDL School is proud to sponsor the team of Mike Hanley, Debi Venega and Leo Venega, in association with Debi Venega’s shop, Right On Track. The team is contesting selected Formula USA events with one of The CDL School’s 18-wheeled mobile classrooms serving as a race transporter.

“We’re quite excited to be involved with such a dnyanic and beautiful sport,” said Kathy Tejeda, Director of Admissions for The CDL School. “It is a great opprtunity to show the benefits of career training in the Transportation Industry. We will have information packets available at the truck, and if people see our truck and are interested on a career where they can make $50,000 a year, they shouldn’t be shy.

“It’s great because right there at the track people can sign up for our school and even get tuition assistance if they qualify.”

More information is available from The CDL School at (800) 423-5837.

From a press release:

MICHELIN GEARS UP FOR MotoGP HORSEPOWER RACE

Michelin are gearing up for their most challenging Grand Prix season in years.

The French tire giant, which has dominated both the 500cc and Superbike World Championships since the early 1990s, faces a new challenge with the new-look MotoGP World Championship. For the first time in GP history 990cc four-strokes will contest bike racing’s premier series, and these machines are by far the most powerful motorcycles ever seen on a racetrack.

Since last year Michelin has been working closely with Honda and Yamaha, the two factories at the vanguard of the four-stroke MotoGP revolution, developing tyres for this new breed of racing machine. With horsepower outputs already well up on the 500cc two-strokes, Michelin engineers have had to create a new generation of rear tire capable of handling in excess of 200 horsepower.

“This is an exciting and very busy time for us,” says Michelin’s motorcycle competitions chief Nicolas Goubert. “And we’re trying to look as far ahead as possible because we know the factories can get much more power from their engines. As soon as the racing starts in April, and one rider sees another in front, they’ll want more horsepower. I think it will be easy for the factories to get 240 or 250 horsepower; power is not a problem. And it is our job to make tires which allow riders to get the best out of these incredible machines. We are mainly using our experience from 500 GPs to create these tires, though our knowledge from World Superbike has also helped because the bikes are four-strokes and heavier than 500s, like the MotoGP bikes.”

Since serious four-stroke testing began last summer, Michelin has been working to produce a new variant of their hugely successful 16.5-inch rear slick, specifically suited to the more powerful and heavier four-strokes. So far they have produced three different profiles and multiple different compounds/constructions, with a fourth profile due at the IRTA team tests at Catalunya, Spain, on March 9/10, the first occasion all the major teams will share the same racetrack. A 16-inch slick has also been evaluated during Michelin’s MotoGP development program.

“Our four-stroke tire takes the 16.5-inch concept further down the same road of development,” explains Goubert. “We started development using the same 16.5 rim size but the four-stroke tire has a larger center diameter, giving a different profile to increase the contact patch and thus reduce running temperature. The new profile also offers improved edge grip, because the four-strokes have more torque available when the riders start to open the throttle at full lean, and more traction, because you need a lot of acceleration grip if you’ve got 240 or 250 horsepower. In some ways the tire is very different from our 500 tires, though the compound and construction are quite similar.

“That was our starting point and it was a big improvement, working pretty well straight away. Also, we found out quite quickly that the four-strokes aren’t as demanding on tires as we thought they’d be. Since then we’ve tried many other things, even a 16-inch rim with a wider tire to take another step but that didn’t give us what we were looking for. Obviously every time we try something new there’s an objective but sometimes the results aren’t what we expected; that’s what testing and development are all about. So we’ve stayed fairly true to our initial four-stroke design because it works so well, but of course we are still working. We will have another rear profile for our riders to test in March and, to be honest, we think the rear may change more in the future than it has so far.

“We’ve also done race-distance endurance testing with both Yamaha and Honda and it seems that there’s not a huge difference between the demands of the 500s and the four-strokes over race distance. But, as I said, this is early days for the four-strokes, what happens from now on may be a very different story, so we’ve got to keep working.”

Like any aspect of racing, whether it be engine, chassis or tire design, development moves ahead in a spiral. When engineers improve one aspect of a machine, another facet will inevitably need to be improved to restore overall balance. This is especially true in tire design: improve the rear tire and the rider will be able to get on the throttle earlier in the corner and at a greater angle of lean. This transfers more weight to the rear of the bike, taking weight and therefore grip and steering capability, away from the front, which must then be restored by adjusting chassis and suspension balance.

“Whether it’s the front or the rear, every time you gain something at one end, you have to make a similar step forward at the other end,” adds Goubert. “So when we build a grippier rear tire that sustains more cornering force, it’s going to make the front push when the rider gets on the throttle. In this case we do look to the chassis and suspension guys to help by adapting their settings. In fact we already improved our front slick by quite a lot at the end of last season. We brought a different construction front to the Rio GP and the few guys who had the chance to properly test the tire jumped on it. We then asked all our riders to try the tire during the winter and 90 percent liked it. So far we’ve not been asked by any of our four-stroke riders to concentrate on improving the front because that tire was a good step forward and it seems to work well with the new bikes. But we have been doing some extra front-tire testing with the Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3 team and what we’re learning with them might help us to improve our front tire still further.”

Racetrack development also throws up unexpected results from time to time, and Michelin’s engineers were surprised and pleased to discover that the larger-profile 16.5 also works well with the 500s. “Most of the 500 riders who’ve tried the tire really like it, though some say it pushes the front too much,” Goubert continues. “Every time we go to a new track we’ll see how the tire works with the 500s, because it’s sure to work better at some circuits and not so well at others.”

Unlike last year Michelin won’t be supplying tires to every team on the MotoGP grid during 2002. Two rival tire manufacturers have joined the series and Michelin are delighted to have some competition again, though most riders and teams are still choosing Michelin tires, which have won every 500 title since 1992 and every World Superbike title since 1994. The company will continue its policy of making the same tires available to all of its riders whenever possible, though the diversity of machinery entered in the 2002 series from Honda’s RCV V5 four-stroke to Yamaha’s YZR-M1 inline four-cylinder four-stroke and a number of “old-school” 500 V4 two-strokes requires that Michelin may have to undertake specific development work with different teams.

“If one of the new bikes turns out to have very different demands from the others, then we’ll create tires for that bike, and then make those tires available to anyone else who wants them,” explains Goubert. “As always, the policy is to give the same priority to all our partners.”


MICHELIN’S 2002 MotoGP PARTNERS

MotoGP–500cc(2-stroke)/990cc(4-stroke)

Malboro Yamaha Team (4-stroke)
Max Biaggi
Carlos Checa

West Honda Pons (2-stroke)
Loris Capirossi
Alex Barros

Repsol-YPF Yamaha d’Antin (2-stroke)
Pere Riba
Norick Abe

Honda Pramac Racing (2-stroke)
Tetsuya Harada

HRC
Valentino Rossi
Tohru Ukawa

Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3
Olivier Jacque
Shinya Nakano

Fortuna Honda Gresini
Daijiro Katoh


RECENT MICHELIN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP VICTORIES

500cc GRAND PRIX
1992, Wayne Rainey (Marlboro Team Roberts Yamaha-Michelin)
1993, Kevin Schwantz (Lucky Strike Suzuki-Michelin)
1994, Mick Doohan (Repsol Honda-Michelin)
1995, Mick Doohan (Repsol Honda-Michelin)
1996, Mick Doohan (Repsol Honda-Michelin)
1997, Mick Doohan (Repsol Honda-Michelin)
1998, Mick Doohan (Repsol Honda-Michelin)
1999, Alex Crivill? (Repsol YPF Honda-Michelin)
2000, Kenny Roberts (Telefonica Movistar Suzuki-Michelin)
2001, Valentino Rossi (Nastro Azzurro Honda-Michelin)

WORLD SUPERBIKE
1994, Carl Fogarty (Ducati-Michelin)
1996, Troy Corser (Ducati-Michelin)
1997, John Kocinski (Castrol Honda-Michelin)
1998, Carl Fogarty (Ducati Performance-Michelin)
1999, Carl Fogarty (Ducati Performance-Michelin)
2000, Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda-Michelin)
2001, Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada-Michelin)

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Mat Mladin has been admitted to Halifax Medical Center for surgery on an open fracture of his left elbow.

Rich Oliver may be admitted for treatment of a fractured pelvis and possible surgery on a fractured left ring finger.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Scott Russell has just announced his official retirement from racing.

Russell made his announcement moments ago in a press conference held in the media center at Daytona International Speedway.

Russell said that the extent of the injuries he suffered in a starting grid accident at Daytona a year ago have made it impossible for him to ride a bike at the level at which it takes to win.

From a Care Center Update released by Daytona International Speedway:

Aaron Gobert will be admitted to Halifax Medical Center with a chest injury, right leg fracture and for a closed head injury.

Anthony Gobert is being treated at Halifax Medical Center for an open neck wound that could possibly be an open clavicle injury.