Oz Racers around the World - March 2006

 

Moto GP Round One to Ducati


Loris Capirossi won the season-opening Spanish GP to put the Ducati MotoGP Team at the top of the MotoGP points table for the first time in history, just ahead of a stunning performance from Honda-mounted rookie Dani Pedrosa. But it was a day of mixed emotions for the team with Sete Gibernau withdrawing due to a gear sensor problem which affected his bike's electronics.

 

Capirossi and Gibernau had qualified first and second fastest, with Gibernau quickest in this morning's warm-up session, so the team had high hopes of a double podium result. Capirossi led the race from start to finish beating runner-up Dani Pedrosa by 4.375 seconds and completed a perfect weekend: pole position, race win and fastest lap. The victory was the Italian's fourth MotoGP success for the Ducati MotoGP Team, his sixth premier class triumph and his 26th career win.

 

Loris Capirossi: "This is my fourth year with the Ducati MotoGP Team and this is the best start we've had to a season, today's win was just the best. The team has done a great job all winter, especially at the tests we did here two weeks ago. After that we knew we had a good opportunity to win and after practice and qualifying we were quite confident.

 

Disaster for Rossi: World Champion Valentino Rossi had a disastrous weekend, qualifying his Yamaha on the third row of the grid and complaining of problems with his bike. Though getting off to a reasonable start, he was clipped from behind by another rider and speared off the track in the first corner. He remounted and eventually caught up with the tail end of the field. He finished in 14th place.

Good result for Kawasaki: The Kawasaki team finally had something to smile about, with Shinya Nakano putting his green machine – which sounds very different to last year’s bike – on the front row of the grid. He ended up in 7th, just behind Aussie Casey Stoner. The Kawasaki is more used to being at the back end of the pack, and this result would have cheered up the team.

Big day for debuts: It was a cracker of a day for first-time MotoGP racers. Dani Pedrosa was the stand-out performance, with the former 250 and 125 world champ taking a hard-earned 2nd place, wisely deciding not to stick his neck out and challenge the far more experienced Capirossi for the lead. Aussie Casey Stoner rode a terrific race for 6th, at one stage placing as high as 4th while countryman Chris Vermeulen found himself in 12th spot on his Suzuki, three places behind his team-mate John Hopkins.

Moto GP results:
1. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 45’57.733:
2. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +4.375:
3. Nicky Hayden (Honda) +9.996:
4. Toni Elias (Honda) +10.135:
5. Marco Melandri (Honda) +19.547:
6. Casey Stoner (Honda) +21.237:
7. Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki) +21.372:
8. Kenny Roberts Jr (KR211V) +32.414:
9. John Hopkins (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +32.659:
10. Makoto Tamada (Honda) +35.983.
11. Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +39.514,
12. Carlos Checa (Yamaha),
13. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha),
14. Alex Hoffman (Ducati),
15. James Ellison (Yamaha).

 

 

Ups and downs for Gobert


Former Australian superbike champion Anthony Gobert has had an entertaining start to his year. Having admitted to a heroin addiction, last month he faced a Sydney court charged with speeding and driving with a suspended licence. He has now been disqualified from driving until 2010, fined $600 and sentenced to 300 hours of community service. Gobert's lawyer is reported to have said the behaviour was due to his client's drug habit.

 

In amongst the bad news was a glimmer of hope - the offer to ride in the opening rounds of the World Supersport Championship earlier this year, filling in for an injured David Checa. However the Qatar race did not go well, with Gobert ending up 12th in the fiercely competitive class. Things went worse in the second Phillip Island round, where he placed 26th on the GMT Yamaha.

 

Gobert had hoped the ride would revive his career, but must be wondering whether it will eventuate. Prior to Phillip Island, he said: "I would dearly love to race in another world title of some description and if I do well I might be asked to compete in the rest of the Supersport World Championship." He has other commitments this season, including a saddle in the Spanish Formula Xtreme and a shared ride in the Le Mans 24 Hour with Checa.

 

Gobert, now 31, has lost some high profile rides in his career, including with the Suzuki 500cc world championship team and the Honda US superbike championship crew - both through positive drug tests.

 

Mladin takes Daytona


Australian and Defending Champion Mat Mladin headed a Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 one-two at the opening round of the AMA Superbike Championship (USA) at Daytona in Florida today. The six-time series winner beat team mate Ben Spies by less than 300ths of a second after 15 laps at Daytona Speedway after taking the lead early on. Spies briefly led on the seventh lap but the Australian retook him one lap later.

 

Third team rider Aaron Yates moved from ninth at the start to finish in sixth place. Said Mladin: "It was a good race. It's good to get the Yoshimura Suzuki’s up here one and two. In these races you can look really good or you can look really bad. Today came out good for us and now I'm ready to head on to the next round."

 

Thursday's qualifying session saw Mladin capture his third Daytona Superbike pole position by posting a record-breaking time of 1:37.075. Spies came in a close second with a fast 1:37.559 lap time. Yates, still suffering from a shoulder injury and conserving his energy for the afternoon's Superstock race, posted a 1:39.429 time and carded a third-row grid position.

 

“The new Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 is working beautifully," said Mladin after qualifying. "It's fast, the suspension is working well and the tyres are good. It's a great motorbike to start the season with." In Saturday's 15-lap race, Mladin showed exactly how good of a motorbike the GSX-R is by getting a great start and pulling quickly into the lead. On the last lap, Mladin let Spies go by but then passed him right before the finish line.

 

"With about five laps to go, I figured that's what I would do," Mladin said of letting Spies by at the end. "I tried to catch him by surprise. After I got going, I gave him a little more room on the banking because I wanted to make sure I didn't pass him too soon."

 

Daytona Superbike Results: 1 Mat Mladin (Suzuki), 2 Ben Spies (Suzuki), 3 Miguel Duhamel (Honda), 4 Neil Hodgson (Ducati), 5 Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki), 6 Aaron Yates (Suzuki), 7 Ben Bostrom (Ducati), 8 Jake Zemke (Honda), 9 Jason Pridmore (Suzuki), 10 Jake Holden (Suzuki).

 

 

World Superbikes – Valencia Testing

Strong winds met WSB riders as they tested for the second day at the Valencia circuit. Once again Ducati's Troy Bayliss topped the timesheet, as he has throughout most of the testing season, securing a fastest lap time of 1'34.987 before crashing in the afternoon session. Following Bayliss was fellow countryman Troy Corser. The reigning World Champ was in turn followed by Yamaha's Noriyuki Haga and Kawasaki's Chris Walker.

Bayliss is no stranger to striding atop the testing timesheet on the Ducati and is the current championship points-leader. The Australian rider was unhurt after an afternoon crash, which could have spoiled an otherwise excellent day, as Bayliss was a full half-second faster than his nearest rival Corser. Bayliss's Ducati teammate Lorenzo Lanzi, who has had a disappointing year thus far, was faster on Day 2 but dropped on the timesheet to finish seventh fastest.

Corser remains a strong competitor, but will clearly be challenged by Bayliss in his run for the title. Corser and teammate Kagayama were second and fifth after the Day 2 results were tabulated, with both riders feeling positive about the progress made at the circuit where the WSB will return to race in April.
Haga headlines Yamaha's effort this season and confirms his ace status for the manufacturer by sitting third-fastest after Day 2. Haga's Yamaha Motor Italia teammate and the second-best R1 performer, Andrew Pitt, finished the second day 10th. Yamaha's second team, the three-man Yamaha Motor France squad, languished in the back of the pack with its highest ranked rider, Norick Abe, way back in 20th! Kawasaki has two riders in the top ten, with Chris Walker fourth and Fonsi Nieto sixth. Meanwhile Regis Laconi lingers in the back half in 17th place.

Four different manufacturers in each of the top four positions reflects the competitive nature of this year's WSB season. The lone exception at Valencia being Honda, which marks a conspicuous absence from the top 5. Honda's ace so far, Winston Ten Kate rider, James Toseland, finished the second day of testing back in 12th as he struggled with chatter problems. Honda's other top performer this year, Alex Barros, bears the dubious distinction of being the sole rider to regress in his time on the second day of testing, sitting 11th on the results sheet. The top Honda man right now is Karl Muggeridge who was 8th fastest. Steve Martin, the top Foggy Petronas rider, finishes Day 2 13th-fastest on the 900cc triple as the undergunned Foggy squad labors on in perhaps the most competitive WSB grid ever. The other Petronas rider, Craig Jones, is way, way, way, back. In fact he is the slowest rider out there in 28th.

The WSB paddock will conclude testing tomorrow and then convene another test during the second week in April at Misano before returning to Valencia for Round 3 of the championship April 23rd.

 

Speed run washed out


Australia's chance of hosting a new FIM land speed record has been foiled by the rarest of outback occurrences - rain. The planned attempt, using an American-backed, Suzuki Hayabusa-engined Streamliner, was to have taken place during the 2006 Lake Gairdner Speed Trials from March 6-10, but excessive surface water on the 160 mile-long lake - after 30mm of pre-event rain - meant that conditions were just too hazardous for the 900 horsepower TOP-1 Ack Attack to show its full potential. "The conditions at the lake were such that we could not make a serious attempt at the record, and we will be returning to Bonneville this summer for another FIM attempt," said project honcho Mike Akatiff. "On the upside, we found the people of Australia… willing to help us in any way possible. We now hope to return some day."

 

The quickest pass for the TOP-1 Ack Attack, on day four, was 251.144mph (404.166kmh) - way short of American Dave Campos' 16-year-old benchmark of 322.165mph (518.450). However, that pass was made on a 'short' circuit by 62-year-old Streamliner stalwart Sam Wheeler, which heightened expectations that a successful attempt would be made on the final day. That was until excessive winds picked from the north-west on the afternoon of March 10, shifting water back onto the circuit. The operation was then abandoned shortly after.