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Czech Republic Grand Prix - Brno
Red Bull Yamaha - Weekend Race Report
Brno, August 26 2001.
Red Bull Yamaha riders Garry McCoy and Nori Haga both scored world championship points in a record breaking Czech Republic Grand Prix.
In just his second race back after a long injury lay-off McCoy finished in sixth place with Haga coming home 11th. The race was won
Valentino Rossi
who sliced 30 seconds from the race winning time set just one year ago by his Italian rival Max
Biaggi, who despite crashing finished tenth. Rossi won ahead of Spaniard Alex Criville with
Loris Capirossi in third place.
Fifth fastest in qualifying McCoy was a little disappointed with his race result which he anticipated could have been in the top four following an
impressive two days of practice on the super-fast Brno circuit with lap average speeds of 160 kph.
But a less than perfect start and a bumpy ride that dropped McCoy to tenth place on the opening lap made the Brno race run in heat wave conditions a
real test of endurance for still only 95% fit Australian rider.
After charging into fifth place on lap four McCoy raced with podium men Alex Criville and Loris Capirossi before a lack of rear tyre traction
dropped him to sixth at the finish.
And after a whirlwind two months of travelling, racing and testing both in Europe and Japan, Haga was pleased to complete a grand prix weekend in his
first ever visit to Brno.
Brno was another positive chapter in the steep learning curve of Haga's rookie GP season after his switch from superbikes. Following a frantic
start Haga was 12th on lap three and passed fellow Yamaha rider Olivier Jacque on lap 16 to secure his 11th place finish.
Haga has now scored points in his last six GP outings and hopes to boost his confidence with the set-up of his factory Yamaha when he stays on at
Brno for a two day test session.
Peter Clifford, Director of Racing - Red Bull Yamaha
"Given that Garry has been injured and has completed only two race distances in the 16 weeks since the Spanish GP at Jerez sixth place at Brno
is a good result in a very competitive race. But of course our sights are
set much higher than this, we know Garry can win races and now that he is approaching full fitness I expect that it won't be long before he will back
challenging for the podium."
GARRY McCOY: Race Result: 6th place
World Championship Position: 14th with 42 points
NORIYUKI HAGA: Race Result: 11th place
World Championship Position :12th with 44 points
RACE DAY - CZECH GRAND PRIX - BRNO
Garry McCoy 6th (at 7.344)
"I got boxed in big time at the start. There are so many riders 'in with a shot' that nobody was giving an
inch. At one time I hit Barros simply 'cos I had nowhere else to go and at the end of the fist lap I was
down in 10th. Over the next couple of laps I picked up a few places but after that the tyre dropped off
really quickly and when Caparossi and later Ukawa came past me there was nothing I could do. Maybe it
was because it was a few degrees hotter than in practice, or perhaps because I had to abuse my tyres
early on, but whatever the reason I just didn't have the drive out of the corners. I suppose, given that I
was not too far off the 2nd and 3rd placed riders, it wasn't too bad a result, and at least I didn't chuck it
down the road, but I can't say I'm exactly thrilled about how my day went."
Garry celebrates his 100th with the team
Hamish Jamieson (Garry McCoy's Race Engineer)
"To be honest I'm a little disappointed - given how we went in practice I expected us to do better than we
did. The laps times of the other riders were pretty much what I predicted, while we were about 0.5 of a
second slower than we should have been. This morning I was hoping that it would be hotter than in
practice, in the expectation that we would have an advantage over the others in terms of tyre endurance.
What we actually saw was that we suffered more from the heat than our competitors. As we were the
first to start using the 16.5 tyre we had an initial advantage, but now the others have caught us up. Even
in hindsight I would have used the same tyre, so now we'll have to look at other ways of getting an edge."
Nori Haga 11th (at 42.667)
"Eventually we managed to get rid of almost all the chatter, but I still didn't have a good feeling from the
front and here, with all the off-camber corner, that makes life very difficult. Still I made it to the finish,
so it wasn't so bad. Now we will stay another two days in Brno and hopefully we will be able to improve
our base set up and try a few tyres Michelin have been developing."
Colin Davies (Nori Haga's Race Engineer)
"Basically we are juggling chatter and feel - we haven't found a way of getting good feel without
reintroducing chatter and as long as Nori lacks confidence in the front and is unable to tell when he is on
the limit - he isn't going to be able to compete with the front runners."
GAULOISES GRAND PRIX - CZECH REPUBLIC - BRNO
FINAL QUALIFYING
Garry McCoy 2'01.092 (5th at 0.745)
"I am a little disappointed not to be on the front row. At the beginning of this
afternoon's session we had a problem with chatter and put it down to tyre choice, whereas in fact it was almost certainly
caused by a change we made to the front suspension during this morning's session. In all we probably lost about 25
minutes sorting the problem out and I think without that I could have got in the top four. Still I have a
respectable position on the grid for tomorrow's race and providing I get a good start I see no reason why I
can't finish on the podium."
Garry celebrating his 100th GP
Hamish Jamieson (Garry McCoy's Race Engineer)
"We have had such an excellent choice of tyres here that we still haven't made our choice for tomorrow's
race. At the moment we have 3 maybe 4 good options and we will sit down this evening and try and
narrow it down. Obviously a lot depends on temperature. Hopefully it will be a bit warmer tomorrow,
which will give us a slight advantage in terms of endurance.
Tomorrow is Garrys 100th Grand Prix and if everything goes according to plan he should be on the
podium. He loves riding these bikes so much that he always comes back to his top form very quickly.
You could see on the TV monitors this afternoon that he was clearly enjoying himself - which is always
a good sign for race day."
Nori Haga 2'02.823 (15th at 2.476)
"We have tried a lot of different solutions but I still don't have a good feeling from the front and
sometimes chatter - and without a good set up I can't put in a good lap time. This evening we will sit
down and try and sort the problem out and hopefully we will be to m make progress tomorrow morning
during the warm up"
Colin Davies (Nori Haga's Race Engineer)
"We've improved stability under braking but Nori is still not comfortable on the bike -and without that he
can't get a good lap time. He is calling the problem chatter but I think it si more like a general feeling of
harshness. Now we will have a talk and look at the data and see what we can come up with."
CZECH GRAND PRIX, BRNO FIRST QUALIFYING
Garry McCoy (5th at 1'318)
"I trained hard over the break to get all my strength back and today I felt fine on the bike. I won't really
be able to tell if I'm 100% fit until I've done and entire race, but at the moment there seems to be no
problems - I just need to get back into the groove."
"Right at the end of this afternoon's session I went out for a couple of quick laps when I came up behind
a couple of slower riders. I got past the first one okay but went in a bit too tight to get past the second.
Maybe the track was dirty or perhaps I was just going too quick - whatever, the front went first and then
the rear. A pity because I'm pretty sure I would have improved my time."
Hamish Jamieson (Garry McCoy's Race Engineer)
"Apart from the end, it was a good session. We ran the bike pretty much as we raced it here last year and
it seemed to work fine. I don't think we'll be making many changes to the set up tomorrow - we'll just
try and improve rear tyre endurance as much as possible."
Nori Haga (14th at 2'775)
"Unlike most of the other riders I didn't have much of a break, with the Suzuka 8 Hours and other stuff I
had to do. I am also a little bit ill and generally not feeling as fresh as I could be."
Colin Davies (Nori Haga's Race Engineer)
"Nori's position isn't great but he made a big improvement this afternoon, going 1'3 seconds faster than
this morning. Given that he has never ridden here before I think we still have a good margin of
progression."
"Regarding the set up, we need to improve stability under braking and get rid of a bit of chatter, but we
are avoiding making too many changes so as to allow Nori to put in as many laps as possible.
RED BULL YAMAHA WCM RACE PREVIEW
CIRCUIT - BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC
RED BULL RIDER McCOY CLOCKS UP ONE HUNDRED GP
STARTS.
Refreshed after a mid-season holiday, Red Bull Yamaha rider Garry McCoy is determined to kick-start his
injury-interrupted season at his 100th Moto GP start in this weekend's Czech Republic Grand Prix.
A five-week European summer break in the 500cc GP calendar has proved a welcome bonus for McCoy, who expects to
be close to 100 per cent race fit after a frustratingly long recovery from a broken wrist.
McCoy will be joined by Red Bull Yamaha team mate Nori Haga for the Brno encounter, traditionally one of the fastest and
toughest races of the season.
Japanese star Haga returns to grand prix racing after his most recent outing with the factory Yamaha superbike team in the
famed Suzuka Eight Hours. The recent holiday period was welcomed by Haga, one of a number of riders who punished
themselves with a combination of GP racing and travelling and test sessions for the classic Suzuka four-stroke race.
Haga is now determined to improve on his impressive fourth placed finish in the British GP at Donington, his best result in the
opening nine races after making the switch from superbikes.
During the GP vacation McCoy has completed an intensive training schedule at his alpine retreat in Andorra, on the border
of Spain and France, as a platform for his campaign in the final seven races of the 16-event world
championship season. McCoy now just wants to "try to win some races" to make up for the disappointment of his long time on the sidelines.
The traditional heat-wave conditions of Brno (45-degree track temperature in 2000), where McCoy finished third after a
breathtaking battle with Valentino Rossi last year, is an ideal starting point.
Brno also marks McCoy's 41st 500cc race start from which he has scored three victories over the past two seasons with
the Red Bull Yamaha team, the first of which was last year's season-opener in South Africa. McCoy also won the Portugal and
Valencia GPs in a purple-patch of form in the second half of the 2000 season.
Of McCoy's 51 starst in 125cc GPs, from 1993 to 1997, he took two wins in Malaysia in '95 and his home GP in Australia
in '96.
"The championship is over for me this year but there are still seven races to go and I'm aiming to get some good results to
finish the season on a high note," McCoy said "There are some tracks coming up that suit me and the Red Bull Yamaha and
the warmer summer weather seems to work in our favour, especially with tyre endurance."
In 2000 McCoy followed his podium finish at Brno with consecutive victories in the Portuguese and Valencia GPs.
"When the temperature stays really hot I have a good set-up with tyres and chassis and we have a good base to build on from
last year at Brno," McCoy said "It was a fun race with Valentino a year ago and hopefully we will both be up the front again.
"The 500 class is now so competitive experience really counts, so hopefully I've got a good starting point right from Friday
morning practice. The hot weather and the fast track make Brno pretty hard work but good fun.
"The best part is that the 500s are wide open on the throttle for most of the lap and you really have to concentrate on getting
everything right with the bike and tyres." After McCoy's tyre-smoking battle against Rossi into third place at Brno last year the Italian superstar, who is this season's
world championship leader, paid McCoy the following compliment : "It's very funny to be racing with Garry, he is so
spectacular. It is such a good show following him that you would pay for a ticket to watch this and, if finally you are able to
pass him, it is even more amazing."
Rossi, Honda's crown prince, is set to resume his battle with fierce Yamaha rival Max Biaggi, who is regarded as a Brno
specialist. Biaggi won this race last year and goes to the Czech Republic full of confidence, having beaten Rossi in two of
the three most recent GPs this season in Germany and Holland. After nine weeks on the sidelines McCoy made his return to racing with an exhausting 11th place in last month's German GP.
"I felt really bad after the German race," McCoy said. "It was a bit of struggle even to finish as I was probably only 70 per
cent fit, because I couldn't do any proper training with my broken wrist. "But the doctors say the fracture has healed
according to plan and I've been able to do a lot more training in the break, so I'm keen to get back to racing."
Only three riders have won GPs this season - Rossi (5), Biaggi (3) and Brazilian Alex Barros (1).
Sunday's race at Brno will be 14 weeks since McCoy crashed and fractured his wrist during practice for the French GP at
Le Mans. Since then McCoy has completed just one GP (Germany at the Sachsenring), a race distance of 30 laps.
Nori Haga is currently 13th in the world championship with 39 points just one place ahead of McCoy (who missed five races)
with 26 points.
For other Year 2001 Grand Prix reports
Sachsenring, Germany 2001
John Hopkins
Donington, UK 2001
Assen, Netherlands 2001
Barcelona, Spain 2001
Mugello, Italy 2001
Le Mans, France 2001
Jerez, Spain 2001
South Africa 2001
Suzuka, Japan 2001
Testing 2001
For more old GP Reports go to
Year 2000 Grand Prix
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