Pacific Grand Prix

Motegi, Japan

Red Bull Yamaha riders Garry McCoy and Nori Haga left Motegi frustrated that the Pacific Grand Prix did not deliver a happier weekend of racing.

Local hero Haga had high hopes of a top five finish on one of his favourite tracks but crashed on lap seven of the 25 lap race. Meanwhile McCoy, in a repeat of last week's Valencia GP, completed a disappointing visit to Japan in 12th place.

Japanese star Haga had every reason to be unhappy. After qualifying in 15th place he charged to tenth on lap one and was up to seventh and ahead of countrymen Tohru Ukawa and Shinya Nakano thanks to a superb early race burst of speed.  But a mistake on lap seven meant an early end to proceedings for Haga.  

Haga's race engineer Colin Davies echoed the feeling that Motegi could have provided a much better outcome after working through practice to find a very competitive race set-up.

By race day McCoy had three problems combine to keep him from producing his best.

On top of a race morning warm-up session crash and power-robbing broken exhaust after five laps of the race, McCoy feels that the range of harder compound Michelin tyres supplied for this race were not ideal for his riding style and bike set-up.

McCoy raced with bruised elbows, legs and feet suffered in his crash and in typical never-say-die fashion the tough Australian ignored the pain and concentrated on finishing the race and scoring points.

McCoy made a cautious start and was 17th for the opening five laps when an spilt exhaust pipe robbed his Red Bull Yamaha of valuable horsepower.

Despite his physical and mechanical problems McCoy soldiered on for the full race distance to add to his championship points tally.

The race was won Italian Honda rider Valentino Rossi who scored a crucial eighth win of the season. Arch rival Max Biaggi (Yamaha) crashed while leading leaving Rossi just one race away from clinching the world championship.  In an all Honda podium, teammates Alex Barros and Loris Capirossi finished second and third.

Peter Clifford, Director of Racing

"Again Nori showed the huge store of talent he has and it's unfortunate things are not working out for him at the moment. As for Garry we know he never gives up and it is certainly not his riding ability that is keeping him out of challenging for the podium. "

GARRY McCOY: Race: 12th place

World Championship: 12th/66 points

NORIYUKI HAGA: Race: DNF 

World Championship : 15th/44 points

Garry McCoy 12th (at 50.419) - 12th overall with 66 points

"I hurt my elbows, wrists and right foot when I crashed during the warm up, but once the race got under way I didn't really notice the pain. Then after about 4 or 5 laps one of the exhausts started to blow. Obviously the engine lost a lot of power and I expected to be 'black flagged' at any minute due to the noise. As it was no one pulled me in and I managed to nurse the bike all the way to the end to pick up a few points. All in all though not a great weekend."

Hamish Jamieson (Garry McCoy¹s Race Engineer)

"Because we were worried about the standard exhaust rubbing against the larger than usual diameter tyre we decided to run a modified exhaust that gave us a little more clearance. Unfortunately the exhaust pipe broke where the modification had been made. Garry did well to get the bike home but I'm very disappointed with how everything has gone here."

Nori Haga (crashed on lap 6 while 7th) 15th overall with 44 points

"The bike was feeling fine but I hit a bump coming into a corner and lost the front end. It was my mistake and very frustrating because without that I think I could have had a good race."

Colin Davies (Nori Haga¹s Race Engineer)

"We¹re obviously very disappointed. We¹d worked well this weekend and if Nori hadn't lost it he may well have finished 5th or 6th."

Second Day of Practice

Garry McCoy 1'51.630 ­ 13th (at 1.830)

"We were hoping for a different choice of tyres for today but unfortunately they didn't turn up. The increase in temperature helped us a little in terms of grip, but not by enough ­ the range we have to chose from here is just too hard for my riding style. By lowering the back of the bike and lifting the front we improved front grip a little, but in the end we weren't able to put in the sort of qualifying time we need for tomorrow."

Hamish Jamieson (Garry McCoy's Race Engineer)

"Garry always runs a very short swinging arm setting, so as to put as much of the engine's weight over the back wheel as possible. Unfortunately the best tyre available to us here has a slightly larger than normal diameter and this morning it as such a tight fit we were rubbing paint off the inside. For qualifying a little bit of paint isn't too much of a problem, but with the increase in temperature this afternoon we were actually eating into the metal! Obviously it meant we had to make some major changes to the set up, right in the middle of the session and in all we must have lost about 20 minutes. I reckon that by tomorrow we'll have an OK race bike, but we'll be too far back to do much with it!"

Nori Haga 1'51.664 ­ 13th (at 1.864)

"The (bike's) feel is fine, we worked step by step and have been going in the right direction all weekend. Things were looking good and then in the last 10 minutes everybody started going faster and I was unable to stay with them. Now all I can do tomorrow is open the throttle wide and go for it!."

Colin Davies (Nori Haga's Race Engineer)

"We knew we would have to improve our time by at least one second to hold our 6th place on the grid, but in the end we could only manage 2/10ths. I think we have an OK race set up but we're a long way down the grid."

For more information e-mail me at donnamwhite@compuserve.com

First Day of Practice

Nori Haga 1'51.858 ­ 6th (at 0.914)

"I still need a few changes to the set up, but overall I have a good feeling on the bike. Obviously I know this track well and would like to do well at 'home' but I think the fact that we have a good set up is the most crucial factor. Tomorrow though we'll have to go quite a bit quicker to keep the same grid position."

Colin Davies (Nori Haga's Race Engineer)

"He looked happy on the bike, though we still needs to improve rear grip and corner finish. Tomorrow the forecast is for warmer weather and logically, lap times will go down - but I reckon we should at least hold our position."

Garry McCoy 1'52.629 ­ 12th (at 1.685)

"We had a good session this morning. It was the first time we've done a complete session on 16'5 wets and I was pleased with how well they worked. This afternoon, on a dry but cold track, we only found one tyre that really suited us. Hopefully the temperature will increase tomorrow and our tyre choice with it!"

Hamish Jamieson (Garry McCoy's Race Engineer)

"The ground temperature was 24 degrees centigrade during this afternoon's session and this meant we didn't have a great choice of tyres. The one that did work okay had a slightly larger diameter than normal and we lost time changing the ride height and gearing to suit."

Pacific Grand Prix Race Preview

The Motorcycle World Championship returns to the country where the season started six months ago with Japan hosting its second race, the Pacific Grand Prix at Motegi.

For Red Bull Yamaha star Nori Haga the 13th round of the 500 GP Championship is his second 'home' race of a season that opened at Suzuka in April. That was Haga's 500cc grand prix debut and a race that saw his Red Bull teammate Garry McCoy make a storming start to the 2001 campaign with a brilliant second place to Italian youngster Valentino Rossi.

Since then there has been frustration for both Red Bull riders. McCoy missed five races due to a wrist injury while Haga, by his own admission, is still on the learning curve from superbikes to  the grand prix .

Both Haga and McCoy are still in search of their first race wins of the season and have by no means written off their chances of success in the end-of-season, long-haul flyaway races commencing with Motegi this weekend.

There is an eagerness to make up for the disappointment of last week's chaotic, rain-affected Valencia GP here McCoy struggled with a leg injury to finish 12th while Haga crashed out on lap two. Haga intends to go out and enjoy himself in a bid to ignore the home race pressure of racing not only in front of friends and fans but the scrutiny of the Japanese factory bosses.

"Winning is important but for me the first priority is to enjoy myself while racing," Haga said "Sometimes racing motorcycles can by stressful and I have found GPs more serious than superbikes so I'm trying to relax and just have fun while I am riding."

Although he fell victim to the slippery conditions in the opening wet laps at Valencia Haga is unconcerned that the often unpredictable Japanese weather may provide less than ideal racing conditions.

"I don't mind the conditions like we had in Valencia and although it was pity my race was over in two laps I am confident to race when it is like that," Haga said.

Meanwhile McCoy has recovered from the bruising and cramps he suffered when his right thigh was hit by the footrest of his wildly sliding Red Bull Yamaha in the opening laps at Valencia.

"The leg is okay, it was just bruising that made it difficult to walk for a little while after the race in Valencia, it won't be a problem for Motegi," McCoy said. "Despite the disappointment of Valencia I'm still looking for some results before the end of the season and the flyaways are sometimes unpredictable. I had a good race in Japan at the beginning of the season but being on the podium six months ago doesn't count now, everybody is running harder every weekend, it's pretty flat out."

The Twin Ring Motegi complex, which combines an Indycar oval and a 4.8 km road course, is a contrast to much longer and faster Suzuka track which traditionally hosts the Japanese GP.

"Quite a few of the corners are stop-go and there are no really long fast straights so I think like the past few races it is going to be really competitive, a lot of very close times" added McCoy. "Again starting up the front is going to be an advantage so I'll be looking for a decent qualifying lap. I just hope it's not cold and raining."

Twin Ring Motegi is located about 100 kms north west of Tokyo near Mito City.

In the world championship Garry McCoy is 12th with 62 points and Nori Haga 15th with 44 points.