The wonders of international PR bring us the news that a Suzuki is on pole at Suzuka, courtesy of a Honda press release written by a Japanese writer:


Ryo Snatches Suzuka 8 Hours Pole From Rossi

Akira Ryo will start tomorrow’s Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance race from pole position. The Team Suzuki rider grabbed top spot on the grid with a superb lap in the final ‘Special Stage’ held at the 5.864km circuit today.

“Special Stage is only a show,” said Ryo. “I wanted to do 2:07.7 but the temperature was high. Still I’m happy because we can start from the top. I want to win the race tomorrow with Kagayama and Watanabe.”

Qualifying for the race is held over two days with the best lap times of each team rider combined to establish their average speed. The grid is then locked, the top 20 teams apart.

The two fastest riders from the top 20 teams each try to better their time via the Special Stage, a ‘Double Superpole’ type shoot out. The time set by the fastest man in the team establishing their position on the grid.

At the end of two days of qualifying it was 2000 race winners Tohru Ukawa and Daijiro Katoh, together with reserve rider Makoto Tamada (Cabin Honda), set the pace from Ryo, Yukio Kagayama and Akira Watanabe, with the Cabin Hondas of Valentino Rossi, Colin Edwards and Shinichi Itoh plus that of Tadayuki Okada, Alex Barros and Manabu Kamada.

Fastest lap in regular qualifying was set by Rossi. His time of 2:07.349 was four-tenths of a second faster than that of Ryo and a further tenth faster than Ukawa.

In the special stage Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) was first man close to breaking the 2:09 barrier, missing out by just 0.010s. The Kawasaki of Hitoyasu Izutsu was the first to dip under 2:09, taking provisional pole in the process. Okada was next to try but failed and will take fifth place along the pit wall in the Le Mans type start.

Rossi was next to go out and, despite a crash in the morning free practice session, set a blistering time of 2:08.146. But Ryo had been in good form all weekend and went even faster with a time of 2:08.093 pushing Rossi, Edwards and Itoh into second spot.

That left Honda’s hopes of pole position riding on the shoulders of Ukawa’s cabin Honda. It was not to be, Ukawa, at his own admission, was well off the pace and their team will start from third, courtesy of Katoh’s time.

Okada, Barros and Tamada start from sixth place ahead of the Yamahas of Haga and Anthony Gobert, and the second team machine of Naoki Matsudo and Wataru Yoshikawa.

The Team Kohtake & Sakurai Honda VTR of Yuichi Takeda and Tetsuya Yamaguchi take ninth place on the grid.


Qualifying times: (lead off rider named first).

1. Akira Ryo/Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, 2:08.093
2. Valentino Rossi/Colin Edwards, Honda, 2:08.146
3. Daijiro Katoh/Tohru Ukawa, Honda, 2:08.297
4. Hitoyasu Izutsu/Akira Yanagawa, Kawasaki, 2:08.305
5. Tadayuki Okada/Alex Barros, Honda, 2:08.385
6. Noriyuki Haga/Anthony Gobert, Yamaha, 2:09.010
7. Naoki Matsudo/Wataru Yoshikawa, Yamaha, 2:09.045
8. Keiichi Kitagawa/Toshiyuki Arakaki, Suzuki, 2:09.149
9. Yuichi Takeda/Tetsuya Yamaguchi, Honda, 2:09.163
10. Osamu Nishijima/Ryuji Tsuruta, Kawasaki, 2:09.501


Team Cabin Honda:

Valentino Rossi. No 11: “Pole position would have been great but because I had a silly crash this morning I did not go as hard as maybe I could have. It is disappointing to set a 2:07.3 in regular qualifying and then get a 2:08.1 in the attack stage. But second place is perfect for us, the race is not decided in practice and the race is eight hours long.

“Colin (Edwards) is also having a good feeling and the machine is fine, so we are looking forward to tomorrow’s race. All we have to do is not crash like last year. Tomorrow, I take the start. It’s a first experience for me and I’m looking forward to it. I’m quite good at running, you know!”

Colin Edwards. No 11: “Today’s special stage was okay and I’m satisfied with my time. When Valentino crashed during the free practice I was anxious. But as he didn’t get injured and the machine wasn’t heavily damaged, I was relieved. We are getting good tyres for the race and we are looking forward to it. Tomorrow the only tactics is not to crash.”

Noriaki Nakata, Cabin Honda team manager Rossi – Edwards: “The reason for Valentino’s crash during free practice was a brake adjustment mistake. The nightmare of last year’s crash suddenly crossed my mind. So I was quite nervous during the special stage. But both riders did a good job and I am satisfied. No crash is the key for tomorrow’s race.”

Daijiro Katoh. No 4: “I can ride on my own during the special stage without any traffic and I like it. But today I didn’t push to the limit. The top speed of my VTR1000SPW is 288km/h and I guess this was due to a fair wind. Of course I want to win again tomorrow. I will try my best although I will be careful not to crash.”

Tohru Ukawa. No 4: “I rode terribly today. I am disappointed. I made a lot of mistakes. Maybe I was too tense. But tomorrow I will ride smoothly and win the race.”

Machimasa Arima, Cabin Honda team manager Katoh – Ukawa: “We wanted to get pole but third on the grid is not so bad. We found a good machine set-up and have also decided which tyres to use tomorrow. The race will be tough tomorrow and our tactics will be to stay in the top group till the later stages then get out of the group to win the race. Smooth preparation and pit work will be necessary to accomplish our goal.”

Tadayuki Okada. No 33: “I didn’t like the special stage so much before but Michelin prepared superb tyres for us this time and I felt comfortable today. When Alex crashed during free practice he wasn’t using the new front tyre so I wasn’t worried at all.

“Both Alex and I are doing so well this time and we are enjoying ourselves. I think we can enjoy the race also. I want to win this 8 Hours and am looking forward to improving my Superbike results.”

Alex Barros. No 33: “I could have gone faster for the time attack today. But I crashed in free practice so I didn’t push to the limit during the time attack. Also it was very hot and the grip was not so good. The 8 Hours is a long race and it is important to do consistent times. Fifth on the starting grid is a lucky position for us. When we won in 1999, we started from fifth position. I remember it well.”

Nobuo Ono, Cabin Honda team manager Okada – Barros: “Both riders set almost the same time during the special stage and that’s very good. During free practice Alex crashed, soon after he set a time of 2:07. But it was a good lesson for him to know his limit. Both our riders are well experienced and they will show their fighting spirit tomorrow.”

Vesrah Suzuki’s Mark Junge, Chris Ulrich and Tray Batey led the WERA 6-hour at Summit Point Raceway after three hours, and Batey set a new track motorcycle record in his opening stint on the team’s Suzuki GSX-R1000, at 1:15.681.

Title-chase rivals Team Pennzoil crashed 2 hours and 7 minutes into the race and rejoined at the 2 hour, 45-minute mark, and was back in 31st overall at the end of Hour 3.

Hour 3 Standings

1. Vesrah Suzuki, Heavyweight Superbike, 113 laps
2. Loudoun Motorsports, Heavyweight Superstock, 112 laps
3. Team Chaos, Mediumweight Superstock, 109 laps
4. Ridge Racing, Heavyweight Superstock, 109 laps
5. Army Of Darkness, Mediumweight Superbike, 109 laps

31. Team Pennzoil, Heavyweight Superbike, 84 laps

Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

According to Attack Suzuki owner Richard Stanboli, Jason Pridmore will return to racing at Pike’s Peak aboard both his GSX-R1000 Formula Xtreme bike and his GSX-R600 Supersport machine.

“Jason called me right from Dr. (Art) Ting’s office Wednesday (August 1) and said that he would 100% for sure be ready for Pike’s,” Stanboli told Roadracing World in an August 3 telephone interview.

Stanboli said that with Richie Alexander now concentrating on the 750cc Supersport class, Pridmore and Tom Kipp will each have a GSX-R1000 Formula Xtreme and GSX-R600 Supersport bike to race. But Stanboli is discouraging Kipp and Pridmore from riding the 600s saying, “They both like the track and want to go out and show something for next year, but I think that their best showcase will be in the Formula Xtreme race. On the 600 at Pike’s Peak, it’s all about working traffic and making hairball passes. It’s pretty easy for something bad to happen.”

Stanboli said that Pridmore would test at Willow Springs Tuesday, August 14 before the Pike’s Peak event to make sure everything is working right.

Note: This post, originally posted 7/24, contained an incorrect conversion of Lire to U.S. dollars. The conversion is corrected here.

Piaggio Holding SpA bought 20 percent of MV Agusta SpA in a July 24 agreement which may eventually lead to MV Augusta being integrated into Piaggio.

Piaggio, which is controlled by Morgan Grenfell Private Equity, recently bought Derbi.

MV Agusta built 23,000 motorcycles in 2000, with sales worth 240 billion Lire ($109,479,120 U.S.). Piaggo sold 480,000 vehicles under the Piaggio, Vespa and Gilera brand names in 2000, worth 2006 billion Lire ($915,062,978 U.S.).

According to a press release issued by MV Agusta, the agreement with Piaggio may be “representing the first step towards a possible further integration of the two companies which will allow from now on to put together two important and perfectly complementary and functional experiences in order to launch successful enterprises.”

With 5 of 6 hours in the books, Vesrah Suzuki led the WERA National Endurance Series race at Summit Point Raceway in Summit Point, West Virginia, and the race was red-flagged at 5:07 on the race clock due to lightning strikes in the area.

Team Pennzoil retired for good at about 4:30 on the race clock, possibly as a result of damage suffered in an earlier crash.

Provisional Hour 5 results follow:

1. Vesrah Suzuki, 200 laps
2. Loudoun Motorsports, 195 laps
3. Ridge Racing, 193 laps
4. Army of Darkness, 192 laps
5. Team Clinton Cycles, 191 laps

A runaway dump truck nearly ran over New Hampshire International Speedway Motorcycle Safety Director Jerry Wood last Wednesday, but AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin was not involved.

According to Wood, who is currently on crutches after blowing out a knee while trail-riding with one of his sons, he was working on his property in Maine when the dump truck’s parking brake failed and the truck rolled forward unexpectedly.

Wood, who was standing in front of the running dump truck, managed to jump mostly out of the way with his crutches but was hit on one elbow by the runaway truck.

The truck continued down a hill and into a ditch, where it stopped without hitting anything or anyone else.

At the time of the incident, Mladin was traveling via motorhome to his home in California, after attending the AMA Superbike National at Brainerd, and thus could not be implicated in any conspiracy involving the dump truck.

Despite Mladin’s alibi, several fans who had attended the June AMA National at Loudon immediately issued a statement blaming Mladin for the incident, alledging that the dump truck belonged to the America Mladin Association and was following Mladin’s orders when it came close to squashing Wood.

“I’d like to open a dialog with Mladin,” said Wood afterwards. “He has some valid points and I hope we can somehow reach an understanding and work together, putting aside our past disagreements. We just need to get beyond the personal attacks and name-calling, and work to make things better for everyone. All I want to do is advance motorcycle racing in the Northeast and make our track as good as it can be, and I am always open to constructive criticism.”

Special Editorial Note For The Humorless: Yes, this is satire, although the dump truck did nearly roll over Wood, and although Wood says he is genuinely interested in opening up a constructive dialog with Mladin and/or any other interested AMA riders.

Vesrah Suzuki led the first hour of the WERA National Endurance Series 6-hour at Summit Point Raceway Saturday. The race was red-flagged twice in the first hour, the first time for 10 minutes after just three laps had been completed, and the second time for 35 minutes to end the first hour.

At the end of hour one, Vesrah led Loudoun #1, Loudoun #2, Ridge Racing and Team Pennzoil, all with 17 laps.

In other endurance news, Jeff Nash replaced Brian Stokes on the Army of Darkness GSX-R600, after Stokes collided with another rider in practice and suffered a broken foot. Nash is at Summit Point to compete in the AMA Pro Thunder race held in conjunction with the WERA National.

From a press release issued today by Vesrah Suzuki:

Former Formula USA National Champion and multi-time WERA Endurance Champion Tray Batey has agreed to join Team Vesrah Suzuki for the remaining four rounds of the WERA National Endurance Series. Batey is filling in for the injured Glenn Szarek and will remain with the team when Szarek returns.

Batey’s long list of racing accomplishments include the 1996 Formula USA Championship, several WERA National Endurance Championships as a member of Team Suzuki Endurance and Arclight Suzuki and the 2000 TL1000 Suzuki Cup, WERA F1, Open Superstock and Heavyweight Twins titles. This season he has been competing in the Formula USA series on an Aprilia RSV1000 Mille.

Batey was contacted after Glenn Szarek was injured during a sprint race at Virginia International Raceway. Szarek sustained a serious concussion and his return date is still unknown although he is making a strong recovery. Team Vesrah Suzuki currently leads the WERA National Endurance championship by 5 points heading into this weekend’s round at Summit Point Raceway.

Valentino Rossi was fastest in practice for the Suzuka 8-Hour in Suzuka, Japan on Friday, turning a best time of 2:07.349 on a Honda RC51. Makoto Tamada was second-fastest at 2:07.597 on another RC51, followed by Suzuki’s Akira Ryo at 2:07.783 and Tamada’s teammate Tohru Ukawa at 2:07.894.

Leading Superbike teams include:
Tohru Ukawa/Daijiro Katoh/Makoto Tamada (Honda) with an average time of 2:07.812
Valentino Rossi/Colin Edwards/Shinichi Ito (Honda) with an average time of 2:08.240
Akira Ryo/Kagayama/Watanabe (Suzuki) with an average time of 2:08.335
Tadayuki Okada/Alex Barros/Manabu Kamada (Honda) with an average time of 2:08.353
Akira Yanagawa/Hito Izutsu (Kawasaki) with an average time of 2:08.512
Takeda/Yamaguchi (Honda) with an average time of 2:08.640
Noriyuki Haga/Anthony Gobert (Yamaha) with an average time of 2:09.106
T. Serizawa/Gregorio Lavilla/Ian MacPherson (Kawasaki) with an average time of 2:09.239

The leading SuperProduction teams were:
Deguchi/Giles/Kawase (Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) with an average time of 2:10.211
Kitagawa/Arakaki/Toda (Suzuki GSX-R1000) with an average time of 2:10.416

Selected individual rider times follow:

Valentino Rossi, Honda RC51, 2:07.349
Akira Ryo, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:07.783
Tohru Ukawa, Honda RC51, 2:07.894
Y. Kagayama, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:07.983
Makoto Tamada, Honda RC51, 2:07.597
Tadayuki Okada, Honda RC51, 2:07.910
Daijiro Katoh, Honda RC51, 2:07.946
T. Yamaguchi, Honda RC51, 2:08.189
Alex Barros, Honda RC51, 2:08.327
Akira Yamagawa, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 2:08.497
Hito Izutsu, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 2:08.527
W. Yoshikawa, Yamaha YZF-R7, 2:08.573
T. Serizawa, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 2:08.604
K. Kitagawa, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:08.608
Shinichi Ito, Honda RC51, 2:08.683
Colin Edwards, Honda RC51, 2:08.689
O. Deguchi, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:08.693
Gregorio Lavilla, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 2:08.696
Naoki Matsudo, Yamaha YZF-R7, 2:08.709
M. Kamada, Honda RC51, 2:08.823
Anthony Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R7, 2:09.086
Y. Takeda, Honda RC51, 2:09.092
Noriyuki Haga, Yamaha YZF-R7, 2:09.127
A. Watanabe, Suzuki GSX-R750, 2:09.239
O. Nishijima, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 2:09.711
Sean Giles, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:09.838
T. Arakaki, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:09.884
R. Tsuruta, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 2:10.051
D. Sakai, Honda RC51, 2:10.118
Ian MacPherson, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 2:10.418
T. Hamaguchi, Moriwaki Honda RC51, 2:10.604
M. Maruyama, Honda RC51, 2:10.662
Stephane Mertens, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:11.342
T. Honma, Yamaha YZF-R7, 2:11.598
K. Hasegawa, Honda RC51, 2:11.921
H. Kawase, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:12.104
T. Toda, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:12.756
Michael Barnes, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 2:14.025
K. Kosaka, Suzuki GSX-R1000m 2:14.528