From a press release:

HONDA RACING PRESS INFORMATION

Valentino Rossi (Nastro Azzurro Honda NSR500) secured his richly deserved first 500 World Championship at Phillip Island today.

The brilliant young rider did it in stunning style – winning the most exciting race of the season by just one hundredth of a second from arch-rival Max Biaggi (Yamaha). Loris Capirossi (West Honda Pons NSR500) and Alex Barros (West Honda Pons NSR500) were right behind at the flag, just 0.714 seconds between the foursome, and with only 2.832 seconds covering the top nine finishers, this was the closest-ever 500 GP.

All the way through the most important weekend of his life Rossi had been insisting that he wanted more than the eighth-place required to wrap up the title. And he was true to his word, playing his part in a race-long dogfight around this most spectacular of tracks.

The battle royal drew gasps of awe from the 40,000 spectators and plumes of smoke from the bikes, as Rossi & Co made contact on more than one occasion. Rossi led the first lap but after that he had to fight corner by corner with Biaggi, Capirossi, Barros, Olivier Jacque (Yamaha) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha). He shuttled back and forth through the group, surviving one heart-stopping brush with Barros at the end of the 190 mph start-finish straight, and every time he tried to make the break out front, his rivals would come with him. He made his final-lap-winning move at the slow MG turn, just 500 yards from the finish line, diving under Biaggi and holding his advantage to the line.

“I didn’t think about the championship, I just concentrated on the race, because trying to finish eighth would’ve been more risky,” said Rossi after his ninth win of the year. “The early laps were a little dangerous maybe, because Haga and Barros were very aggressive, so I was keeping one eye on them and one on the track. Then when the tires started to wear, Loris and Biaggi arrived. Everyone was pushing so hard and getting some wheelspin, so I worked at saving my tires, and at the end my tires were in good shape. I had one place to overtake Biaggi and it worked okay.

“There are many reasons why I won the title, not least because I have the best package of machine and team. I’d like to thank everyone who helped me to do this–Honda, my engineer JB and the rest of the crew. It’s been a great year, I think we’ve made a great show all season, not just today. The level of racing has been very high, especially among us three Italians. We race very hard because we want to win.”

Rossi’s success gives Honda its 11th 500 World Championship and he’s the sixth Honda rider to win the title. American Freddie Spencer (Honda NS500) won the marque’s first 500 crown in 1983, and since then Wayne Gardner (Rothmans Honda
NSR500, 1987) Eddie Lawson (Rothmans Honda NSR500, 1989), Mick Doohan (Repsol Honda SR500, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998) and Alex Criville (Repsol YPF Honda NSR500, 1999) have also won 500 titles for the world’s biggest motorcycle manufacturer.

Rossi’s Island win also confirmed Honda as the 2001 500 Constructors’ World Champions. Honda has now won this title 13 times. Capirossi was one of the first riders to offer his congratulations to Rossi. “I’m so happy for him, Valentino has been fast everywhere this season, he deserves the title,” said the Italian, who won his first 125 title in 1990 with Honda at the Island. “I got a bad start today and the bike was difficult to ride on a full tank. After six laps it was better so I started pushing harder, but by the time I’d got to the front I’d used most of my rear tire. It’s a shame, I still haven’t won a race this year.”

Barros dominated the early stages of the race, leading eight of the first nine laps, but after half distance he had a tougher time. He never stopped fighting, however, and was side by side with Capirossi as they battled for the final podium placing. “I’m not so happy with the result but the bike worked perfectly,” said the Brazilian. “Biaggi made contact with me a few laps from the end and I lost a lot of places, which made victory impossible.”

Tohru Ukawa (Repsol YPF Honda NSR500) rode a great race, coming through the pack from 12th on the first lap to catch the leading group. He ended up a brilliant fifth, just 1.288 seconds behind Rossi. “I used too much clutch at the start, which lifted the front too much, I’ve got to learn to play with the clutch,” said the Japanese. “After that I fought hard and racing for the podium later on was fun.”

More frustrated was 11th finisher Alex Criville (Repsol YPF Honda NSR500). “Starting from the fourth row I needed a good start and I didn’t get one,” he said. “After that I got held up by the v-twins which are slower through the fast sections of the track.”

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS:


1. Rossi (WORLD CHAMPION), 275 points

2. Biaggi, 203

3. Capirossi, 179

4. Barros, 160

5. Nakano, 135

9. Criville, 101

11. Ukawa, 96



Upcoming rounds:

10/21 Sepang, Malaysia

11/3 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

From a FAX addressed to Roadracing World from a company which describes itself as being involved in “developing a new limited edition for Ducati and launching the Ducati-Fogarty edition.”

The good part follows:

“…we are always looking to do a deal with people. In the past some magazines gave us good editorial in exchange for 1-2 of our pieces, which were then used as prizes in competitions organised by the magazine. On other occasion (sic) we did a deal with a magazine whereby they advertised our products and we shard (sic) the profits. Would any of these schemes be of interest?”

And to answer the question, no, no they would not.

“Harley-Davidson: Birth of the V-ROD”, a one-hour-long television documentary, is scheduled to air for the first time today, October 14 at 9:00 p.m. EDT.

The program will highlight the top-secret development, over a seven-year period, of the first water-cooled production motorcycle in the 99-year history of Harley-Davidson.

The show will cover everything from the first sketches of the V-ROD drawn on dinner napkins at the home of Willie G. Davidson to top-secret testing at Talladega Gran Prix Raceway to the public unveiling of the V-ROD at the Harley dealer show in Los Angeles last July.

500cc Race Results, 27 laps, 120 km, 74.57 miles:
1. Valentino Rossi, Italy, Honda, 42:22.383
2. Max Biaggi, Italy, Yamaha, -0.013 seconds
3. Loris Capirossi, Italy, Honda, -0.581
4. Alex Barros, Brazil, Honda, -0.714
5. Tohru Ukawa, Japan, Honda, -1.288
6. Olivier Jacque, France, Yamaha, -2.534
7. Shinya Nakano, Japan, Yamaha, -2.579
8. Noriyuki Haga, Japan, Yamaha, -2.582
9. Sete Gibernau, Spain, Suzuki, -2.832
10. Jurgen v.d.Goorbergh, Holland, Proton, -19.443
11. Alex Criville, Spain, Honda, -20.000
12. Anthony West, Australia, Honda, -20.303
13. Norick Abe, Japan, Yamaha, -21.043
14. Haruchika Aoki, Japan, Honda, -21.360
15. Kenny Roberts, USA, Suzuki, -29.738
16. Carlos Checa, Spain, Yamaha, -30.023
17. Johan Stigefelt, Sweden, Sabre, -78.349
18. Barry Veneman, Holland, Honda, -84.773
19. Leon Haslam, Great Britain, Honda, -84.848
20. Brendan Clarke, Australia, Honda, -1 lap
21. Garry McCoy, Australia, Yamaha, -9 laps, DNF, retired
22. Jose Cardoso, Spain, Yamaha, -21 laps, DNF, retired


250cc Race Results, 25 laps, 111 km, 69.10 miles:
1. Daijiro Katoh, Japan, Honda, 39:48.180
2. Tetsuya Harada, Japan, Aprilia, -5.644 seconds
3. Roberto Rolfo, Italy, Aprilia, -8.518
4. Jeremy McWilliams, Great Britain, Aprilia, -14.303
5. Fonsi Nieto, Spain, Aprilia, -14.389
6. Emilio Alzamora, Spain, Honda, -14.749
7. Roberto Locatelli, Italy, Aprilia, -17.546
8. Luca Boscoscuro, Italy, Aprilia, -37.456
9. Naoki Matsudo, Japan, Yamaha, -50.872
10. Shahrol Yuzy, Malaysia, Yamaha, -53.951
11. Lorenzo Lanzi, Italy, Aprilia, -60.113
12. Taro Sekiguchi, Japan, Yamaha, -70.314
13. Riccardo Chiarello, Italy, Aprilia, -94.981
14. David Tomas, Spain, Honda, -99.355
15. Jeronimo Vidal, Spain, Aprilia, -1 lap
16. Cesar Barros, Brazil, Yamaha, -1 lap
17. Diego Giugovaz, Italy, Aprilia, -1 lap
18. Luis Costa, Spain, Yamaha, -1 lap
19. Katja Poensgen, Germany, Honda, -1 lap
20. Stuart Edwards, Great Britain, Yamaha, -1 lap
Crashers: Franco Battaini, Sebastian Porto, David Checa, Rande de Puniet, Alex Hofmann, David de Gea.


125cc Race Results, 23 laps, 102 km, 63.38 miles:
1. Youichi Ui, Japan, Derbi, 38:14.688
2. Manuel Poggiali, San Marino, Gilera, -4.709 seconds
3. Toni Elias, Spain, Honda, -4.743
4. Masao Azuma, Japan, Honda, -4.938
5. Lucio Cecchinello, Italy, Aprilia, -4.974
6. Alex De Angelis, San Marino, Honda, -5.053
7. Daniel Pedrosa, Spain, Honda, -5.562
8. Max Sabbatani, Italy, Aprilia, -5.881
9. Eric Bataille, Andora, Honda, -9.506
10. Gino Borsoi, Italy, Aprilia, -17.165
Crashers: Peter Galvin, Cath Thompson, Simone Sanna, Angel Rodriguez

Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Chris Normand, who was wrongly disqualified from third place in the Pro Thunder race at VIR two weeks ago and has since been reinstated, is still discribed as being guilty of violating rules in a story linked to the AMA Pro Racing website.

A story on Speedvision.com, dated September 30 and headlined “Montano’s Pro Thunder Lead Grows With VIR Win”, was provided by AMA Pro Racing and, as of October 14, can still be reached via a prominent link on www.amaproracing.com.

The link appears on the left hand side of the AMA Pro Racing home page, as a logo carrying the words “Media Center”. The headline over the Media Center logo reads “Get AMA road-racing news in the (Media Center)”.

AMA officials disqualified Normand for violating a minimum-weight rule which had been eliminated before the season started. AMA tech boss Rob King, who wrote a February 9, 2001 Competition Bulletin announcing the rule change for non-desmo twin-cylinder machines, was on site at VIR when the disqualification took place.

The story still appearing on Speedvision.com reads, in part, “Mike Ciccotto was second, 17 seconds behind and Thomas Fournier took third after original third-place finisher Chris Normand was disqualified for his bike being underweight.”

While AMA officials personally apologized to Normand and reinstated his finish, AMA Pro Racing has not issued a press release acknowledging the error and announcing Normand’s reinstatement.

Press releases announcing the wrongful disqualification, along with official results without Normand’s finish, were distributed before the error was corrected. As a consequence, TV highlight shows featuring action from VIR reported that Tom Fournier finished third in the Pro Thunder race. Various websites also carried the incorrect results along with news of Normand’s initial disqualification.

The October 12 edition of The Business Journal, published in Charlotte, North Carolina, reported that Speedvision is moving to new headquarters, will be re-named and will have a new emphasis on NASCAR racing.

The story also revealed that other forms of motorsports will continue to covered on the cable network, at least initially.

The story also appears on The Business Journal website and can be found at:

http://charlotte.bcentral.com/charlotte/stories/2001/10/15/story6.html


The story, headlined “Charlotte Lands New Fox Sports Racing Network”, quotes Speedvision President Jim Liberatore as saying “We’re going to completely re-introduce the network. It will have a new look, new name, new graphics, new everything. We have big plans in store….The whole reason for moving to Charlote is the direction of our NASCAR partnership. We need access to the drivers, their teams, the garages.”

According to the story, network headquarters are expected to move from Connecticut to the Charlotte area after the first of the year.

The story also quotes a NASCAR official as saying of the network, “We don’t think it can be just NASCAR 24 hours a day out of the gate. It will have some other racing elements. That’s probably the right mix to get us started.”

Another Liberatore quote gives motorcycle racing fans some hope, however: “We’re a niche, but within that, we have to be as broad as possible. We want to be the mall. Some go for GNC, some go for Cinnabon. You need both.”

From a Marlboro Yamaha press release:

AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX, PHILLIP ISLAND

Final Qualifying, Saturday, October 13, 2001

MARLBORO YAMAHA MEN READY FOR ISLAND BATTLE

Marlboro Yamaha Team riders Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa qualified first and seventh for tomorrow’s Australian GP, the pair declaring themselves good and ready for what promises to be another ultra-close battle around the high-speed Phillip Island circuit.

Biaggi was once again in breathtaking qualifying form, putting his YZR500 on pole with five minutes to go, while Checa’s attempts to join his teammate on the front row were frustrated by a backmarker.

“I think both riders are in good shape for tomorrow’s race,” said Marlboro Yamaha Team director Hiroya Atsumi. “This is a very special circuit, the only one of its kind in the world, so we’ve been working to get the correct suspension settings and machine balance, both for the track and for the cool weather conditions. Max is on pole but the times are very close, so I think it’s going to be another very exciting race here. Carlos feels even better on the bike than usual, I think he’ll be able to ride very hard tomorrow, it ‘s just unfortunate he couldn’t make the front row.”

Today’s Phillip Island action was indeed fast and fraught, with Biaggi clocking the fastest-ever two-wheel lap here, and the quickest 15 riders covered by just 1.109 seconds.

BIAGGI’S SEVENTH POLE OF 2001

Max Biaggi today maintained his reputation as the quickest man in 500 GP racing by scoring his seventh pole position of 2001, 0.424 seconds ahead of Valentino Rossi (Honda). The Marlboro Yamaha Team star has qualified on the front row at 11 of the 14 GPs so far this year, and the last time he missed a front-row start was at Jerez in early May. Today’s pole was the 15th of his 500 career and his 48th in ten seasons of GP racing.

“I feel like I’m on top and I’m confident for the race, but pole position is one thing, winning races is different,” said the Italian who won here last year. “We changed the set-up this morning, we’ve been working a lot on the front, we found some chatter but fixed that and since then we’ve been concentrating on small adjustments. The feeling from the front end is now much better so I feel confident. I think I can go fast tomorrow, hopefully fast enough!”

CHECA FAST BUT FRUSTRATED

Carlos Checa qualified seventh for tomorrow’s Australian GP, round 14 of the 2001 World Championship, but reckons he should be on the front row. The ever-smiling Spaniard ended the day deeply frustrated because his quickest lap at the end of the session had been interrupted by a slower rider.

“It wasn’t the rider’s fault, there just weren’t any blue flags to tell him to move over, I don’t know what the marshals are doing out there,” said the Marlboro Yamaha Team rider who is brimming with confidence for the race. “That was very annoying but now I must focus on the race and make sure I get a good start from the second row. The bike is working well. We’ve improved the chassis set-up, I’m getting great feedback from the tyres and no chatter. I’m feeling confident for tomorrow, but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the race.”

GIBERNAU ON FRONT ROW

Sete Gibernau scored his first front-row start for Suzuki at the Island today, moving up to fourth in the closing stages, right behind Honda riders Valentino Rossi and Alex Barros. “I rode absolutely to the maximum this afternoon,” said the Spaniard, who has previously raced factory Yamaha and Honda 500s at this track. “There’s a couple of guys ahead bike-wise but I don’t think anyone’s ahead in terms of riding. I aim to get a good start tomorrow, then ride to the absolute maximum, just like today.” Barros crashed heavily at the end of the session, spraining his neck, but is expected to race tomorrow.

ROSSI READY FOR CROWN

Untroubled by yesterday’s crash and a brush with the local police, Valentino Rossi qualified a close second for the Australian GP. The World Championship leader, who was caught speeding on the Island before Friday’s first practice, only needs to finish eighth tomorrow to secure the title, but wants to do better. “I know that I only need to finish eighth to win the championship but I don’t think that finishing eighth is a good way to win the title,” said Rossi. “So I want to end tomorrow’s race on the podium.”

Max Biaggi took pole for the Australian 500cc Grand Prix in Saturday’s final qualifying session at Phillip Island, Australia. Not only did Biaggi turn the fastest lap time, his Yamaha YZR500 also recorded the highest top speed on the 4.448-kilometer (2.764-mile) road course, reaching 305.7 kph (189.962 mph). Valentino Rossi’s Honda was second-fastest at 305.6 kph (189.900 mph). Conditions for the second of two qualifying sessions were dry.

500cc Final Qualifying Times
1. Max Biaggi, Yamaha, 1:31.984
2. Valentino Rossi, Honda, 1:32.408
3. Alex Barros, Honda, 1:32.421
4. Sete Gibernau, Suzuki, 1:32.473
5. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha, 1:32.477
6. Loris Capirossi, Honda, 1:32.513
7. Carlos Checa, Yamaha, 1:32.622
8. Tohru Ukawa, Honda, 1:32.768
9. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha, 1:32.840
10. Norick Abe, Yamaha, 1:32.905
11. Noriyuki Haga, Yamaha, 1:32.934
12. Kenny Roberts, Suzuki, 1:32.963
13. Alex Criville, Honda, 1:33.009
14. Garry McCoy, Yamaha, 1:33.049
15. Jurgen van den Goorbergh, Proton, 1:33.093
16. Anthony West, Honda, 1:33.714
17. Haruchika Aoki, Honda, 1:33.731
18. Jose Cardoso, Yamaha, 1:34.039
19. Johan Stigefelt, Sabre, 1:35.035
20. Leon Haslam, Honda, 1:35.724
21. Barry Veneman, Honda, 1:36.043
22. Brendan Clarke, Honda, 1:36.840

500cc Top Speeds
1. Biaggi, 305.7 kph
2. Rossi, 305.6 kph
3. Ukawa, 305.4 kph
4. Criville, 303.1 kph
5. Abe, 302.4 kph
6. Capirossi, 302.2 kph
7. Nakano, 301.8 kph
8. Jacque, 301.5 kph
9. McCoy, 300.9 kph
10. Haga, 300.3 kph
11. Checa, 300.3 kph
12. Gibernau, 300.0 kph
13. Barros, 299.8 kph
14. Cardoso, 299.8 kph
15. Roberts, 298.4 kph
16. van den Goorbergh, 297.4 kph
17. Stigefelt, 289.1 kph
18. Aoki, 287.2 kph
19. Veneman, 282.5 kph
20. West, 282.1 kph
21. Clarke, 282.0 kph
22. Haslam, 277.3 kph


250cc Final Qualifying Times
1. Tetsuya Harada, Aprilia, 1:33.625
2. Jeremy McWilliams, Aprilia, 1:34.195
3. Daijiro Katoh, Honda, 1:34.368
4. Roberto Locatelli, Aprilia, 1:34.405
5. Fonsi Nieto, Aprilia. 1:34.642
6. Franco Battaini, Aprilia, 1:34.789
7. Alex Hofmann, Aprilia, 1:34.862
8. Sebastian Porto, Yamaha, 1:34.887
9. David Checa, Honda, 1:34.950
10. Emilio Alzamora, Honda, 1:35.023
29. Katja Poensgen, Honda, 1:39.996



125cc Final Qualifying Times
1. Manuel Poggiali, Gilera, 1:37.737
2. Lucio Cecchinello, Aprilia, 1:37.938
3. Youichi Ui, Derbi, 1:37.975
4. Gino Borsoi, Aprilia, 1:38.770
5. Noboru Ueda, Honda, 1:38.928
6. Alex de Angelis, Honda, 1:38.936
7. Simone Sanna, Aprilia, 1:38.989
8. Stefano Perugini, Italjet, 1:39.016
9. Arnaud Vincent, Honda, 1:39.062
10. Angel Nieto, Jr., Honda, 1:39.102
17. Toni Elias, Honda, 1:39.395

From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

Saturday 13th October 2001

BEN BOSTROM UPDATE

Bologna (Italy) – Ducati Corse wishes to announce that Ben Bostrom has undergone an operation on his shoulder this week in Los Angeles, California.

The 27-year-old Ducati L&M rider crashed out on lap 2 of race 1 of the Italian Round of the World Superbike Championship at Monza on Sunday 13th May and dislocated his right shoulder.

After a period of recovery, Bostrom went on to win five successive races during the middle part of the season, but an end-of-season operation was always on the schedule for the Californian rider in order to set his shoulder bone right and restore 100% articulation.

The arthroplastic operation was carried out by road-racing surgeon, Dr. Ting in his Palo Alto Clinic, Los Angeles.

Bostrom’s total recovery period is expected to be approximately eight weeks, with the shoulder joint healing up over the next six weeks.

His next track appearance will be the scheduled Dunlop tyre tests at Kyalami, South Africa on 4-6 December.



(Editor’s note: Dr. Arthur Ting’s clinic is not anywhere near Los Angeles, and in fact is in the San Francisco Bay area of Northern California.)

Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The Calgary Motorcycle Roadracing Association (CMRA) has established a fund for the widow and unborn child of racer David Presiloski, who died following a racing accident on Sunday, September 23 at Calgary’s Race City Motorsports Park.

Presiloski, 34, was riding a borrowed Kawasaki ZX-9R in hopes of capturing a class Championship in the 2001 CMRA series’ final event when he got into a tankslapper coming out of turn 10 and hit haybales positioned at the end of a concrete retaining wall on the inside of the track. According to local news reports, Presiloski was thrown from the motorcycle, flew into another concrete wall and later died of head injuries en route to the hospital.

CMRA officials postponed the rest of the event until the following weekend, September 30. The organization also awarded Presiloski first place in the race in which he crashed, making him the Heavyweight Sport Bike Amateur Champion.

Presiloski’s first child is due to be born this month; Presiloski is survived by his wife Jose, his mother, Dell Pruss, and his brother, Dennis Presiloski of San Jose, California, a road racer with the AFM.

Services were held September 26-27 at Park Memorial Funeral Home in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

CMRA has set up a memorial fund for Presiloski’s widow and child. Donations can be made with credit card via Pay Pal at the CMRA’s official website, www.roadracing.org.