From a press release:

NEW SUZUKI FINISHES FIRST ROUND OF TESTS

Phillip Island, Australia, February 21st.

SUZUKI’S new four-stroke GP racer completed the first round of tests at the Australian GP Circuit today, with no hitches and steady progress. Now the Telefonica Movistar Suzuki team and riders are eagerly awaiting the next stage of development of the all new MotoGP machine.

Regular riders Kenny Roberts Jr and Sete Gibernau, along with factory tester Yukio Kagayama, battled high winds at the circuit, but still managed to bring the first part of the programme to a successful conclusion.

Now the team takes a short break while the factory race department incorporates important changes to the machine’s settings and electronics. The next stage of the high intensity development takes place at the Catalunya GP circuit outside Barcelona early next month, where the new bike will be seen in public for the first time.

The machine, powered by an all new fuel-injected 60-degree V4 engine of 990cc, is one of the new generation of Grand Prix motorcycles built to new regulations, pitting four-stroke prototypes against the established 500cc two-stroke GP bikes. Although originally intended to race in 2003, Suzuki’s first prototype showed so much progress that the programme was put forward by a full year to join the other MotoGP pioneers in the first season of the new class.

Over the past three weeks it has been tested at Sepang in Malaysia, and at Eastern Creek and Phillip Island in Australia. During that time factory engineers have been working flat out to take the bike from first prototype stage. The team has established a clear direction of development of both engine and chassis. Now the factory has a chance to make bigger changes to comply with its requirements.

“These tests were merely extended shake-down runs,” said team manager Garry Taylor. “It’s important that people understand that the bike is still at the very early stages of development, and as a result we are still making fairly fundamental changes rather than small refinements. This means there is a certain reaction time to our requests, none of us expected to leave Australia with the whole job done.

“We have been dogged by bad weather in Australia. The first day at Phillip Island was still, but we had a lot of problems with birds on the seaside circuit. The next two days were very windy, which meant we weren’t able to complete as many laps as we would have liked.

“At the same time, we’ve learned a lot and made a lot of progress – and also proved that the new bike has tremendous potential. The team’s mood is still very positive and importantly we are coming away with both riders fit and strong.

“We are realistic enough to know that the bike is still very new and includes a lot of engineering and electronics that are still at the prototype stage. There is a lot to be done before it is fully ready to race, and time is short. But everybody involved – from the riders and mechanics to the factory engineers – is deeply committed to achieve success as soon as possible, and we have taken the first step.”

The bike’s next outing will be in Spain, filming a TV commercial, for sponsors MoviStar, before joining the “open to all” IRTA test at Catalunya on the second week in March, where they will meet the rival four-strokes and two-strokes for the first time.


Kenny Roberts: Unleashing the potential

“We’re under no illusion, there is a lot to do before this bike is ready to race, we’ve started the work and the first stage is over. Now we wait for the factory to make the changes we’ve asked for, to take the bike to the next level. Everybody is working really hard and we need to keep up the pace to the start of the season and then for the rest of the year. The machine goes well and sounds fantastic. The potential is there, and we are working on achieving it.”


Sete Gibernau: Bad weather, good experiences

“Of course the weather was frustrating. It would have been so nice to run strings of laps in good conditions at Phillip Island, but that wasn’t possible. We still managed to achieve quite a lot. There is such a positive feeling in the team, and the bike is obviously a big step forward. The engine is very strong and that is our big area of concentration. We need to get a throttle response right so we can use all of that power.”

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

A report on motogp.com that John Hopkins crashed his Red Bull Yamaha during testing at Estoril yesterday was incorrect.

The report, also issued via the MotoGP news service, was picked up by several websites in the U.S.

Asked about the reported crash via cell phone, Red Bull Yamaha Manager Peter Clifford said, “It’s news to us.”

Clifford passed the phone to Hopkins, who said he had run off the track once, but did not fall.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

During the recent AMA team test at California Speedway, we asked three-time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin if he had any plans to race Suzuki’s new XERO V4 MotoGP four-stroke after the AMA season’s early end in August.

“I don’t think so,” said the 29-year-old Australian. “I highly doubt I’ll get a run on that bike. Suzuki seems to have their plans and their riders that they want to have involved in that. It’s not something I look to. If it happens then maybe I’ll do it, maybe I won’t. I’ll just have to see what the deal is at the time and how they wanted to structure a race or two.

“But I have plans to go home at the end of the year straight after the last race and do a little bit of racing in the National Championship at home. So we’ll just go over and do that and have a bit of fun and mess around.

“I’ve got a lot of things going on back home now. It would certainly be good to go over and do a bit of racing and to do a bit of racing back in front of the Australian fans, too. It’s been a long time, six or seven years now. It’s something that I certainly aspire to do some day when I finish racing professionally out of the country. I certainly want to go home and do some racing.”

Mladin has also said that when he retires from professional racing that he would like to run Suzuki road race and motocross teams in Australia.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Loris Capirossi turned the fastest lap time on the final day of the two-day IRTA team test at Estoril in Portugal, Thursday. Capirossi turned a 1:40.126 on his West Honda Pons NSR500 in winds so strong that some teams ended their tests early. High winds were believed to have been a contributing factor in the crash that broke Red Bull Yamaha rider Garry McCoy’s leg Wednesday.

McCoy was flown by private plane to Austria where physicians are assessing the damage to the fractures in McCoy’s right tibia and fibula, about an inch above his ankle. It is unknown if McCoy will miss the opening round of the 2002 MotoGP season scheduled for April 5-7 at Suzuka in Japan.

McCoy’s Red Bull Yamaha teammate, American John Hopkins, reported that the winds at Estoril for the second day of testing, Thursday, “were pretty bad and were blowing me all over the place”. Hopkins compared the winds to those often encountered on windy days at his home track, Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, California. The winds limited Hopkins and the Red Bull team to only three hours of track time on Thursday.

Hopkins said, “It was a pretty good day. We got a pretty good time despite the wind. I did a 1:42.3 today compared to the 1:42.2 I did yesterday. That’s two-and-a-half seconds faster than I went the last time we tested here!

“I’m really happy. I’m definitely getting used to the bike and having a lot of fun on it. It’s been good riding with all of the different riders here and hanging with them.

“I’m flying home tomorrow. I’ll be there for four or five days before I leave again for a test in Barcelona.”

Best Lap Times From Thursday At Estoril:

1. Loris Capirossi, West Honda Pons NSR500, 1:40.126
2. Daijiro Katoh, Team Fortuna Honda Gresini NSR500, 1:40.743
3. Shinya Nakano, Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3 YZR500, 1:40.831
4. Alex Barros, West Honda Pons NSR500, 1:41.040
5. Jurgen v.d. Goorbergh, Kanemoto Honda NSR500, 1:41.056
6. Jeremy McWilliams, Proton Team KR – KR3, 1:41.201
7. John Kocinski, Team Marlboro Yamaha YZR-M1, 1:41.274
8. Carlos Checa, Team Marlboro Yamaha YZR-M1, 1:41.345
9. Norick Abe, Antena 3 Yamaha d’Antin YZR500, 1:41.390
10. Olivier Jacque, Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3 YZR500, 1:41.757
11. Nobuatsu Aoki, Proton Team KR – KR3, 1:42.096
12. Max Biaggi, Team Marlboro Yamaha YZR-M1, 1:42.126
13. Sylvain Guintoli, Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3 YZR500, 1:42.265
14. John Hopkins, Red Bull Yamaha YZR500, 1:42.379

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Sam Fleming
Reporting From Spain

According to conversations I had with a Speed Channel film crew working in Spain, Speed Channel (formerly Speedvision) will be broadcasting AMA, World Superbike and MotoGP races in a similar format and time slots in 2002 as it did in 2001.

Apparently the massive amount of requests that the Speed Channel received from motorcycle enthusiasts was partly responsible for the channel maintaining the level of motorcycle programming.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Red Bull Yamaha’s Garry McCoy had mixed results in the first day of the IRTA MotoGP team test at Esotril, Portugal, on Wednesday. One lap after McCoy turned the fastest time of the day on his YZR500 at 1:40.185, just 0.1-second shy of Max Biaggi’s 2001 pole position time, McCoy crashed and broke his right tibia and fibula.

The first day of the test saw many crashes due to what some riders felt was a dirty racetrack. According to MotoGP sources, crashers included Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3 riders Olivier Jacque and Sylvain Guintoli and Pramac Honda’s Tetsuya Harada. Jacque and Guintoli escaped serious injury, but 1993 250cc World Champion Harada broke his left collarbone.

Team Fortuna Honda Gresini’s Daijiro Katoh was second-fastest on his Honda NSR500, less than a tenth of a second slower than McCoy’s time. Katoh was followed by Yamaha riders Shinya Nakano and Jacque and West Honda Pons’ rider Alex Barros.


MotoGP Lap Times:

1. Garry McCoy, Yamaha, 1:40.185
2. Daijiro Katoh, Honda, 1:40.274
3. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha, 1:40.918
4. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha, 1:41.210
5. Alex Barros, Honda, 1:41.226


250cc Lap Times:

1. Fonsi Nieto, Aprilia, 1:42.216
2. Marco Melandri, Aprilia, 1:42.268
3. Randy De Puniet, Aprilia, 1:42.585
4. Roberto Rolfo, Honda, 1:43.213
5. Alex Debon, Aprilia, 1:43.289

From a press release:

TWO NEW MEMBERS ADDED TO AHRMA BOARD OF TRUSTEES

David Boydstun of Mesa, Arizona, and Craig Breckon of Sparta, Michigan, are the two newest members of the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association’s Board of Trustees. Matt Hilgenberg of Meadow Vista, California, and Rusty Lowry of St. Marys City, Maryland, were reelected to their posts on the board in voting which ended February 15.

All will serve three-year terms beginning with AHRMA’s annual general meeting, March 6 in DeLand, Florida.

Boydstun replaces Rob Stickler of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, as Western Region trustee, while Breckon will occupy the seat held by Brian Slark of McCalla, Alabama, representing the Eastern Region. AHRMA’s board has 12 members elected by the membership.

A total of 1,051 of AHRMA’s more than 5,000 members cast votes – 463 in the West and 588 in the East. Complete vote totals are shown below. The top two vote-getters in each region were elected.

Western Region
Matt Hilgenberg, Meadow Vista, CA – 262
David Boydstun, Mesa, AZ – 235
Rob Stickler, Steamboat Springs, CO – 163
Gordon Smith, Burbank, CA – 89
Alan Dye, Centralia, WA – 60
Brad Kennard, Des Moines, IA – 53
Colleen Charrette, Cathedral City, CA – 26

Eastern Region
Craig Breckon, Sparta, MI – 291
Rusty Lowry, St. Marys City, MD – 223
Ron Winget, Two Rivers, WI – 209
Cindy Cowell, Southport, NC – 142
Brian Slark, McCalla, AL – 133
Gregg Bonelli, Mattoon, IL – 72
Mike Kavula Jr., Snellville, GA – 51

AHRMA is a national, non-profit, member-owned association which conducts classic road racing, motocross, dirt track, observed trials and cross country competition, as well as road racing for modern twins, singles and triples. For more information, visit www.ahrma.org.

Team ProMotion is opening its 2002 track ride and school season with an event on the VIR North Course on March 2-3.

More information is available from (215) 675-5080, www.teampromotion.com

From a press release:

MARLBORO YAMAHA TEAM TESTS
Estoril, Portugal
Wednesday, February 20, 2002

CHECA & BIAGGI WORK THROUGH TORRID DAY AT ESTORIL

Marlboro Yamaha Team riders Carlos Checa and Max Biaggi took part in a torrid day of pre-season testing at Estoril today, continuing their build-up to the much-awaited 2002 MotoGP World Championship.

The first day of the two-day IRTA session at the Portuguese track was marred by a number of crashes, the worst of which left MotoGP rivals Garry McCoy (Yamaha) and Tetsuya Harada (Honda) nursing suspected broken bones.

Somewhat wary of the circuit, which is often badly affected by strong winds blowing off the Atlantic, Checa and Biaggi went about furthering development of their Marlboro Yamaha Team YZR-M1s.

“We’ve been concentrating on making the bike turn better, because if we can improve turning, then I can get on the throttle earlier which will give me more acceleration out of corners,” said Checa. “This is a very tight circuit with many interlinking corners, which makes turning so important. We do have a new chassis on the way but I’m still keen to improve this one as much as possible.”

Biaggi was just a couple of tenths slower than his teammate, continuing work with the chassis he tried at the very end of last week’s Valencia IRTA tests. “We’ve done a lot of work on this chassis,” said the Italian. “We spent some of the day trying to dial out some chatter, which we did improve for my last run. I also tried the engine-braking control system again and it seems better than at Valencia.”

Tomorrow Biaggi will try different M1 engine characters at Estoril, which is the slowest, most tortuous circuit on the World Championship calendar, with a lap record of just 149kmh.

“Once again we’re at another new track for the M1, so we’ve been trying different set-ups for this kind of circuit,” explained M1 project leader Ichiro Yoda. “We need to find a good engine character and a good chassis set-up, and we know that if we improve the chassis, then that will allow the riders to use the advantages of the four-stroke engine. We have made some good progress with the engine-braking control system, and we’ll continue work on that tomorrow.”

Although the quickest 500s were faster than the M1 today, as they were at Valencia, Marlboro Yamaha Team manager Geoff Crust wasn’t overly surprised. “We always knew the 500s would be at their best at tight tracks because the regulations allow them to be lighter than the four-strokes,” he said. “We’d already seen that at Valencia last week and at Jerez, where Katoh’s 500 was faster than Rossi’s four-stroke. But one-off lap times are one thing, I believe the four-strokes can be stronger over race distance, and that’s what counts.”

LAP TIMES
Carlos Checa, Marlboro Yamaha Team, 1:41.39

Max Biaggi, Marlboro Yamaha Team, 1:41.62