Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Abbott crowned World Champion

By Glenn Le Santo

It only took him 20 years but he finally did it, by the narrowest margin­zero points!

Steve Abbott struggled throughout the race with clutch slip and in the end had to rely on his superior wins tally. Jorg Steinhausen came third to finish the season on 151 points, an identical score to Abbott’s. But Abbott has won three races this year, compared to Steinhausen’s single victory and therefore he’s the new Superside World Champion.

It was a very dramatic race all round. Steinhausen only just made it to the line after being forced to change his engine – just 20 minutes before the race was due to start!

The race was a classic Superside battle. Tom Hanks took the holeshot but within a few laps it was the old-firm fight between Steve Webster and Klaus Klaffenbock that grabbed the attention of the spectators and the television cameras.

As the battle raged in front, complete with fairing banging, the situation behind them hung in the balance. Steinhausen had now moved up to third ahead of Hanks. Abbott was struggling with clutch slip down in fifth and Schlosser was catching him fast. If the situation stayed the same Abbott and Steinhausen would share 151 points, with Abbott taking the Championship by those extra wins.

Schlosser and Hanni were closing fast and got within less than half-a-second of Abbott. If they had passed Abbott, Steinhausen would have been Champion. Then, just one lap later, Schlosser suddenly slowed, perhaps with a mechanical problem. In fact, Schlosser had realized that passing Abbott would effect the balance of the Championship and gamely he decided to slow down and allow the title to take its own course.

That course was a win for Abbott after the race was stopped after a terrible accident involving Mick Frith. Frith somehow got his arm caught between the sidecar wheel and the fairing. Despite frantic efforts, Frith was unable to attract the attention of his rider Bill Philp to tell him of his predicament and had to endure almost half a lap before Philp stopped. Frith was rushed to hospital with serious skin, tendon and muscle damage to his right hand, wrist and arm. The initial diagnosis is that he will heal and should retain most of the use of his wrist and hand.

Due to the seriousness of the incident, and the need to get an ambulance on track, the race was red flagged. The result was taken back to lap 13. Klaffenbock was leading the race, Webster was second, Steinhausen third, Hanks fourth and Abbott fifth.

Abbott and Jamie Biggs crossed the line in fifth completely unaware that this meant they had won the title. They soon found out when they pulled into the pit lane to be greeted by their entire team doing an ecstatic victory dance. To say the red wine will be flowing in the Eastern Racing hospitality tonight is perhaps the understatement of the year.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” said an emotional Abbott, “but I’m sure it will after we’ve had a bit of a celebration tonight!”

However, Jorg Steinhausen put in a protest against Steve Webster, citing a rule infringement involving Webbo’s airbox. Had it be upheld then Steinhausen will have 155 points compared to Abbott’s 153, reversing the current situation.

Although the result is not yet official, the latest news is that Webster’s machine has been approved and the protest thrown out.

From a press release issued by Radar’s Team Yamaha:

2002 Yamaha Xtreme Tri-State
Event 6, Eastern Creek Raceway, NSW
Qualifying & Supersport Race report

CURTAIN CLAIMS FX SUPERSPORT TITLE AND FORMULA XTREME POLE POSITION AT EASTERN CREEK

Radar’s Team Yamaha rider Kevin Curtain needed just the first of four FX Supersport races for him to wrap up the title at the final round of the 2002 Yamaha Xtreme Tri-State series being held at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway this weekend.

Victory in today’s opening Supersport race aboard his Yamaha YZF-R6 gave the Newcastle rider an unassailable lead in the series as he has accumulated a total of 419 points to the 337 of second-placed Jamie Stauffer, with three races remaining. Curtain completed his stunning day’s work with victory in race two ahead of Victorian Shannon Johnson after Stauffer crashed out of contention. There are two more races for the FX Supersport during tomorrow’s schedule.

“I couldn’t believe the last lap of that first race,” said Curtain. “I thought that I had covered my line into Turn Two, but all of a sudden Jamie (Stauffer) was riding around the outside of me and actually got past. He ran wide a little into Turn Four and I was able to get back up the inside and pass him. After that I made sure that I didn’t leave any room for him to get by. It was a great race right to the flag. I’m happy to get the title sorted out so early on in the weekend as it now allows me time to concentrate on the Formula Xtreme title.”

Not to be overawed by his Supersport title victory, Curtain produced the same good form to claim pole position for tomorrow’s four 8-lap Formula Xtreme races. Gusty winds made conditions difficult for the riders, but Curtain was to master the conditions best of all aboard his Radar’s Team Yamaha YZF-R1 by setting the fastest time of the combined qualifying sessions with a 1:33.321, sixth tenths of a second quicker than three times American Superbike Champion Mat Mladin who posted a best time of 1:33.939 aboard his Suzuki GSX-R1000. Completing the front row of the grid were the Bio Magnetics Sport Yamahas of Daniel (1:34.005) and Jamie Stauffer (1:34.240). A crash in the opening qualifying session left defending Formula Xtreme champion Robbie Baird in sixth place on the grid, one place ahead of teammate Craig Coxhell on the third of the Radar’s Team Yamaha YZF-R1s.

“The wind definitely knocked things around for us out there,” said Curtain after his Formula Xtreme qualifying sessions. “It got a lot stronger out there in the second session and there was no way we could have gone any faster. In the first session I was able to follow Mat (Mladin) around for a few laps and was able to catch and pass him which was good for us. Aside from that, everything is looking good for tomorrow.”

“Being sixth on the grid is about the worst position I’ve had to start a Formula Xtreme race from, so it’s not good from that point of view,” said Baird. “I was forced off the track in the opening session by another rider and crashed as a result, which meant that I lost valuable track time in that first session. We’ll make a few changes tonight, possibly even go back to the settings that we had when we tested here a couple of weeks ago when I was able to do flat 34s. We’ll just have to see what happens I suppose.”

“Where I went wrong was when we went out early in the first session on old tyres to just get a feel for the bike, with the plan to then come in and put some new tyres in to try and set some faster times later in the session,” said Coxhell. “Little did we know that the wind was to get stronger and that the times that everyone set early in the session would stay as their quick times. I was having a few problems with the front end in the wind and we then hoped that the conditions would change for the second session, but that didn’t happen. I’m disappointed, as I was able to do some good lap times at the test here, but can’t do those times this weekend. We’ve also got a few new tyres to test, but they just seem to change the handling characteristics of the bike that much that it has been hard to try and get a consistent set up.”

Tomorrow’s final round of the Yamaha sponsored Formula Xtreme sees Curtain leading the series points table by 38 from teammate Baird, while Coxhell holds fifth position on the table.

2002 Yamaha Xtreme Tri-State
Event 3, Eastern Creek Raceway, NSW, September 28 – 29

FORMULA XTREME
Qualifying

1. Kevin CURTAIN, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:33.321

2. Mat MLADIN, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:33.939

3. Daniel STAUFFER, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:34.005

4. Jamie STAUFFER, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:34.240

5. Josh BROOKES, Honda CBR954RR, 1:34.267

6. Robbie BAIRD, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:34.624

7. Craig COXHELL, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:34.953

8. Wayne MAXWELL, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:35.107

9. Tony REES, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:35.392

10. Robert BUGDEN, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:35.547

Lap Record: Josh Brookes (Honda CBR929RR) 1:33.365 (08/07/01)


More, from a press release issued by Mat Mladin’s publicist, Steve Reeves:

Round 6 Yamaha Xtreme Tri-State series
Eastern Creek Raceway, NSW
Formula Xtreme Qualifying Report

MLADIN QUALIFIES SECOND FASTEST AT FORMULA XTREME FINALE

Former Australian Superbike and three times American Superbike Champion Mat Mladin will start from the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s sixth and final round of the 2002 Yamaha Xtreme Tri-State series at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway, after setting the second-fastest time during today’s qualifying sessions.

The event marks Mladin’s first race in Australia since leaving our shores to race in the American Superbike Championship in 1996.

Mladin has been busy preparing a Suzuki GSX-R1000 from his Mat Mladin Motorcycles dealership in nearby Narellan, southwest of Sydney, over the past month and has immediately been competitive on a bike that is still in very much stock condition with the exception of a number of Yoshimura performance parts, such as exhaust, cams and pistons.

Strong wind gusts throughout the day made conditions difficult for all of the riders, with the fastest times being recorded during the first session held earlier in the day. Mladin’s time of 1:33.939 was the second-fastest recorded, with current Formula Xtreme points leader Kevin Curtain (Radar’s Team Yamaha) setting the fastest time with a 1:33.321.

“I’m pretty happy with the outcome today,” said Mladin. “If the wind would have stayed down a bit this afternoon I think we could have gone quicker for sure. I’m very pleased with the result that we’ve been able to achieve from a motorcycle that we basically started preparing about a month ago. The guys back at our shop have done a great job in getting the bike here and having it running as well as it is. Three weeks and three ride days is what we had to prepare the bike in.

“We changed the gearing a lot for the second session. We went in a totally different direction and it definitely helped, but it’s hard to test as you can’t have the same line twice as the wind is blowing you around that much. All I can say is how impressed I am with the bike and tomorrow is shaping up as being a good day.”

The Formula Xtreme competitors take to the track tomorrow with four 8-lap races scheduled for the day’s final round of the series. Points leader Kevin Curtain holds a 38-point advantage over teammate and defending champion Robbie Baird, who qualified sixth fastest overall.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.



Interview by Michael Hannas

(Stewart Miller, a 28-year-old Scotsman, is one of the three mechanics working on John Hopkins’ Red Bull Yamaha YZR500 under the direction of race engineer Colin Davies. Miller, who has been with Red Bull WCM for three years, is a motorcycle fanatic who used to race himself in club events in the U.K. Roadracing World’s Michael Hannas met Miller in San Diego last week, where Miller was on holiday between the Rio and Motegi rounds of the MotoGP Championship. Hannas, who doesn’t get a chance very often to talk to MotoGP mechanic, whipped out a tape recorder, and asked Miller a few questions. Miller’s answers, which are his personal opinion based on his personal experience working with various riders in 500cc Grand Prix and MotoGP, were transcribed directly off the tape. Obviously, Roadracingworld.com and Hannas had no control over what Miller said; Hannas asked the questions, and Miller said what he said. In other words, if you are a fanatical supporter of Noriyuki Haga or Regis Laconi, or for that matter a fanatical detractor of John Hopkins, tell it to their former or current mechanic, not us.):


Roadracingworld.com: Who were your riders before John Hopkins?
Miller: Well, it was Haga last year and Laconi the year before.


RW: How would you say Hopkins stacks up compared to those two, as far as how he is to work with?
Miller: Well, he is above them. No question, he is on another level than those two.


RW: What would you say the main differences are between Hopper and Haga and Laconi?
Miller: The other guys would always blame the bike when things didn’t go so well. Haga never really wanted to be there, he didn’t eat in the hospitality tent with the team once all season, never hung out with the mechanics, and always blamed the bike when his results were poor. Laconi was really emotional, one minute he’d be a hero and the next he thought he was shite. He also constantly blamed the machine, whereas John just f–king rides it!


RW: So Hopkins doesn’t ask you guys to make very many changes to the bike?
Miller: Once we found a good baseline setting for him, John hasn’t changed the bike around very much, no. He is always pleasant to work with and gives 100% every time he is on the track. It is refreshing that instead of racing for his paycheck or publicity, he just races to win. Period.


RW: How do you think Hopkins will do next season on a four-stroke?
Miller: I think he’ll be on it. There are a lot of variables so it is hard to speculate at this point in time, but when we get the machine sorted out, I’m sure John will surprise a lot of people. He has the talent and the desire, so with competitive equipment and a year of experience on the circuits, I think he’ll be up there next year for sure.

This just in from Trevor Hedge of MCN Australia:

Mat Mladin was on the pace aboard his Suzuki GSX-R1000 during (untimed) Friday practice for the final round of the Australian FX Tri-State Series at Eastern Creek, Australia.

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Stopwatches in the paddock had Mladin dipping into the 1:33 bracket, along with a few of the regular local competitors.

From a press release issued by MonsterMob Ducati:

Round 13 – 2002 MCN British Superbike Championship – Donington Park – September 29th

HISLOP DRAWS FIRST BLOOD

MonsterMob Ducati rider Steve Hislop silenced his critics by setting fastest time in all three sessions at today’s practice day in readiness for Sunday’s British Superbike Championship showdown at Donington Park.

37 points to the good in the series, the 40-year-old Scot posted a fastest time of 1:32.616 in the first session, one-and-a-half seconds quicker than his nearest rival, to maintain his mantle of the fastest-ever Superbike racer around the 2.5 mile Leicestershire track, bettering the 1:32.651 he set at the 2001 World Superbike meeting on his way to pole position last May.

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“The track conditions were perfect in the first session but we were still working on the fuelling and gearing so to set that time without an ideal set up was fantastic, plus we had some new tyres to get used to also. The humidity meant the track was slower in the second two sessions but I was still fastest by a decent margin and we’ve got some improvements to make overnight so I’m really looking forward to Sunday. Hopefully, it’s shut one or two people up!” joked Hislop.

Fellow Ducati rider Michael Rutter ended up second fastest in each session, eventually finishing half-a-second down on Hislop whilst main championship rival Sean Emmett was third-fastest on his Yamaha, nearly a second down on the MonsterMob man.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

West Honda Pons rider Alex Barros will race a Honda RC211V four-stroke at the Pacific Grand Prix at Twin-Ring Motegi, Japan October 4-6.

A report appearing Friday on the West Honda Pons website quotes Barros as saying, “I am very excited about my chance of riding the RC211V. It is clearly one of the fastest bikes around at the moment and finally I have the chance of competing on the same level as Valentino Rossi and the other four-stroke riders. It will not be easy to be competitive immediately because I have had no time to familiarise myself with the bike. The first time I get on the bike will be during Free Practice on the Thursday of the Grand Prix. However, I have a lot of experience riding four-stroke Hondas in the 8-Hours of Suzuka races every summer where I have always performed very well. For this reason I am confident that I will adapt quickly to the bike and maybe I will be in with a chance of a podium finish on race day.”

Barros’ West Honda Pons teammate Loris Capirossi will remain on his Honda NSR500 two-stroke at Motegi. Capirossi has announced that he will be riding for the Ducati MotoGP team in 2003.

With the previous announcements that Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3’s Shinya Nakano and Olivier Jacque will be on Yamaha YZR-M1s and that Kawasaki’s Ninja ZX-RR will make its MotoGP race debut with Akira Yanagawa, there will be a total of 12 four-strokes and only nine two-strokes on the grid at Motegi.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

This just in from CCS Southwest Regional Race Director Randy Stem:

“There has been some confusion about whether or not there will be a (Lockhart-Phillips USA) Sport Rider Day in conjunction with our scheduled CCS Regional race at Firebird (International Raceway, October 4).

“Just to confirm, there will be a Sport Rider/Track Day held on the big Firebird track on October 4, 2002. This will be followed by our season finale CCS regional race on Saturday and Sunday, October 5 & 6, 2002.

“As stated in an earlier (Roadracingworld.com) post, the Team Challenge event, scheduled for this weekend, has been canceled.

“Thanks,
Randy B. Stem
CCS/SW
Regional Race Director”

For more information, call CCS at (817) 332-4822, FAX (817) 870-9790, e-mail [email protected], or go online at www.ccsracing.com.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

New Yamaha recruit Jason DiSalvo will race a Yamaha-factory-team-prepared Supersport YZF-R6 at the CCS Race of Champions at Daytona October 16-20 and at the WERA Grand National Finals at Road Atlanta October 23-27.

DiSalvo will test on the Yamaha during a track day on the Las Vegas Classic Course this Sunday, September 29.

From a press release issued by Daytona International Speedway:

Daytona International Speedway Modifies Chicane

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.¯ (Sept. 27, 2002) — Daytona International Speedway announced today modifications to the chicane that is utilized by motorcycle competitors during both Daytona 200 Week in March and the upcoming Fall Cycle Scene on Oct. 17-20.

The modifications, which were made in conjunction with the American Motorcyclists’ Association and Alan Wilson, a noted track designer, include a change in the exit of the chicane so riders will re-enter the track prior to NASCAR Turn 3. This change should potentially enhance competition while not affecting the distance of the 3.56-mile road course. The chicane and Turn 6 will also be repaved in order to give riders a smoother transition between these areas and the tri-oval.

These modifications to the chicane and the paving will be completed in time for Fall Cycle Scene on Oct. 17-20 and could also be utilized by sports cars during their upcoming events.

Tickets and more information on Fall Cycle Scene are available online at http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or by calling the Speedway ticket office at (386) 253-7223.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Friday’s European Superstock Qualifying Times:

1. Vittorio Iannuzzo, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:54.770
2. Gianluca Vizziello, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:55.646
3. Fabrizio De Marco, Honda CBR900RR, 1:55.767
4. Walter Tortoroglio, Honda CBR900RR, 1:56.073
5. Giacomo Romanelli, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:56.073
6. Lorenzo Mauri, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:56.155
7. Ilario Dionisi, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:56.282
8. William De Angelis, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:56.363
9. Olivier Four, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:56.531
10. Koen Vleugels, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:56.606