Valencia, Spain

Race Report - Valencia Grand Prix 

An unpredictable day of Spanish weather produced a tension-packed race but also a day of disappointment for Red Bull Yamaha riders Garry McCoy and Nori Haga.

McCoy rode courageously into a painful 12th place while Haga's race was frustratingly short with the Japanese star crashing on lap two. 

But that was not before Haga had made an incredible start on a treacherously slippery track to surge into fifth place from 15th on the grid at the end of lap one.

A rain shower prior to the start made tyre choice a critical decision especially under clearing skies and with a strong drying wind.

Both Haga and McCoy made an identical tyre choice, dry slick rear and grooved intermediate front in the correct anticipation that the track would dry quickly after the opening wet laps.

The tyre lottery was evident from other choices. Race winner Sete Gibernau bravely raced with dry slicks front and rear while world championship leader Valentino Rossi used intermediate tyres, front and rear, and led the opening laps but faded to 11th with tyre wear on a dry track.

Haga, after showing strongly in the Sunday morning warm-up, did not the get the chance to capitalise on his great start and confidence in the conditions.

The opening laps were raced in cautious fashion on the ice-rink like track until a dry line appeared.  The group of Gibernau, Alex Barros and Kenny Roberts quickly chased down Rossi. McCoy narrowly avoided crashes by Loris Capirossi and Haru Aoki in what he described as a "terrible" sequence of opening laps.

On lap five McCoy just saved a high-side slide but suffered a painful jab to the inner thigh of his right leg from the footrest. His leg was tingling and numb for two laps and for the rest of the raced he was in great discomfort and unable to put pressure on his leg through the right hand corners.

From lap 14 to the end McCoy raced alone in a distant twelfth place and unable to defend the race victory he scored at this track 12 months ago. 

Riding through the pain barrier McCoy set his fastest time of the race on the penultimate lap. The struggle proved too much however and tough little Australian had to be lifted from his bike by Red Bull mechanics after the race with a severely cramped right leg.

McCoy had qualified strongly in fifth place and was hoping for a continuation of the dry conditions that had given him and race engineer Hamish Jamieson great confidence in their race tyre and set-up.

Gibernau scored his first career win in his 72nd start after long and tense dual against Honda rival Alex Barros with Suzuki teammate Kenny Roberts in third place. Gibernau's winning margin was just 0.293 seconds.

Peter Clifford, Director of Racing 

"It was one of those days. After the morning warm-up in the dry, both Garry and Nori were looking strong for the race but the weather made it a bit of a tyre lottery. Garry never gives up and we saw that again today when he finished the race in a lot of pain."

GARRY McCOY: World Championship: 12^th with 62 points

NORIYUKI HAGA: World Championship : 15^th with 44 points

Valencia Grand Prix

Garry McCoy 12th (at 1'36.743)

'We ran a slick rear and an intermediate front with a soft dry setting and the bike seemed fine. Unfortunately on the 5th or 6th lap I had a big slide and hit my right thigh really hard with the end of the footrest. For a couple of laps my leg was completely numb and when the feeling came back it hurt so much that I couldn't load the right peg at all. In a way I was happy just to get to the end, but you couldn't call it a great day."

Hamish Jamieson (Garry McCoy' s Race Engineer)

"Garry's lap times weren't too bad towards the end of the race, but by that time he was way behind. He had to be carried out of the box and on to his scooter at the end, so he must have been in a lot of pain during the race."

Philippe Vidal (Garry McCoys Trainer)

"We will have to see how his left evolves over the next couple of day, but at the moment he is unable to straighten it out. I'm just hoping he has just suffered a knock and not torn any muscles."

Nori Haga (Crashed out on lap 2 while lying 4th)

"I went out with an intermediate front and a slick rear and the suspension backed off a little and the bike felt good. Unfortunately I gave it a little too much gas a little too early. A pity because I got a good start and like these kind of conditions."

Colin Davies (Nori Haga's Race Engineer)

"I think the bikes set up was okay to be honest he went out too early for us to judge."

Final Qualifying

Garry McCoy 1'35.305 - 5th (at 0.809)

"Our session was cut short by a couple of laps due to the rain, but to be honest I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing in terms of our final qualifying position. Concerning the bike's set up we seem to have found a compromise between grip and slide by using last years set up with a bit more drive. Our main problem now is tyre choice, as the temperature kept changing and we didn't get a chance to do much endurance testing."

Hamish Jamieson (Garry McCoys Race Engineer)

"Our problem with grip wasn't right at the start of the corner, where Garry is sliding with the back brake, or coming out of the corner when he is on the power. It is more of a mid-corner problem - he seems to need a bit of sideways movement, slip rather than slide, when he is banked right over in mid corner. Yesterday Garry didn't have enough of that 'slip', making it difficult for him to turn the bike. Today we have solved the problem by adjusting the position of the rear swinging arm pivot. We compared the set up we have been using over the last three races with the set up we used here last year and finally it was last years pivot position that worked best. Now, apart from a question mark over tyre choice, we are looking good for the race."

Nori Haga 1'35.906 - 15th (at 1'410)

"This morning the bike was pretty good but this afternoon I think we took the wrong direction. The bike wouldn't turn as well and we need to solve that problem tomorrow during the warm up"

Colin Davies (Nori Haga's Race Engineer)

"We changed the rear of the bike this afternoon to try and help the bike turn better and ended up getting a bit lost. We have a few things we want to try during the warm up but if we don't manage to find a solution we always have this mornings setup as a fall back position."

First Day of Practice

Garry McCoy 1'36.011 - 8th (at 0.577)

"We have improved rear wheel grip quite a lot and I'm happy about that - but at the same time it has made the bike a bit difficult to turn into the corners. Maybe tomorrow we'll set up the two bikes a little differently.

On one we'll keep the grip and try and improve the steering - on the other we'll reduce the grip a little and let the back slide to help line the bike up for the corners."

Hamish Jamieson (Garry McCoy's Race Engineer)

"For a while now we have being trying to improve rear wheel grip and ironically it is here, were Garry has always gone so well, that we seem to have achieved that goal. At the same time I have been watching other riders today going a little bit faster on their fourth lap, at the point when their bikes are starting to slide around a little! To be honest I haven't fully thought through the implications of what we have learnt this afternoon. One possibility however would be to reintroduce a little less grip tomorrow, so that Garry can go and get the last 3/10th of a second that he needs for qualifying and then revert to the 'grippy' set up for race day."

Nori Haga 1'36.267 ­ 12th (at 0.833)

"Knowing this track from my Superbike days has helped a little ­ now we need to focus on stability under braking and getting the bike to turn in the corners. The biggest difference between riding a Superbike and a 500 is engine braking ­ and engine braking is a big plus here.

Colin Davies (Nori Haga's Race Engineer)

"We've been chasing a compromise between getting the bike to turn and rear grip. This morning the track was very slippery, but as it improved this afternoon the rear suspension became too soft. We ran practice today on the assumption that it would rain tomorrow. It meant that we got through a lot of tyres, but in the end we found a good rear, with just a small question mark concerning its endurance over race distance. Overall though we have had a good session and should be at least as competitive as we were in Estoril."

Valencia Grand Prix Race Preview

Red Bull Yamaha team riders Garry McCoy and Nori Haga are out to defend the teams' unbeaten record in Sunday's Valencia Grand Prix. The two previous 500 GPs hosted at the Ricardo Tormo circuit have both been won by Red Bull Yamaha riders, Frenchman Regis Laconi (1999) and defending race champion Australian Garry McCoy.

McCoy is still in search of his first win of the season and in 2001 is joined by Japanese teammate, Haga who is making his debut GP appearance at the stadium- style, 4 km track on the outskirts of Valencia.

Haga has raced in the Superbike World Championship at Valencia so his track knowledge, combined with a repeat of his fast and robust racing effort in Portugal last week, points to a strong result for the final European race of the season.

Although he failed to finish at Estoril, Haga's late race engagement with world championship contender Max Biaggi, in a battle for fifth place was a highlight and showed that Haga is as tough as any racer in the World Championship.

"Even though I crashed I was happy because when we have a good set-up on my bike I can race it," said Haga who make just his 12th 500cc GP start in Valencia. "It felt good to back there fighting with riders like Biaggi and for a change I am coming to a track where I have raced before so this is a good feeling."

Meanwhile McCoy is looking for a repeat of his impressive Valencia victory of last season and knows that a front row starting spot is the key to that plan. The lightweight Australian believes he is just a race away from his best form after an impressive comeback from injury and that the Valencia GP can be a turning point in a frustrating season.

At last week's Portugal GP, McCoy started ninth on the grid and feels that was factor in not being able to race with the leading group in the early laps. Still, he finished an impressive third in Portugal, his first podium finish since being second to Valentino Rossi in the Japanese Grand Prix.

"I'm looking forward to Valencia, the track suits me and I'm feeling good about going back there," said McCoy. "Valencia I really enjoy but you definitely have to start on the front row and get away with the leading pack in the early laps."

McCoy's victory in this race last year came after he qualified fourth fastest on the front row and passed Max Biaggi for the lead on lap four and won with a comfortable five-second margin. McCoy is quickly returning to the race pace that took him to three GP victories in the latter part of the 2000 season after missing 14 weeks of the current campaign with a fractured wrist.

McCoy's three comeback GPs have seen him finish 11th (Germany), sixth (Czech Republic) and a third place podium finish in Portugal. Following the German GP, McCoy's first in almost 4 months, he was in a state of near-collapse and realised he was still only 90% fit.

Red Bull Yamaha team boss Peter Clifford knows that an improved qualifying performance by McCoy is the focal point for the Valencia weekend.

"There is no hiding from the fact that our qualifying performance needs to be stronger and in company with Garry's race engineer Hamish Jamieson we will address this strategy in Valencia," Clifford said. "I will be surprised if Garry is again starting fromthe third row of the grid and clearly he is getting back to the form we know he is capable of."

The current 2001 500 GP season has been run at a record breaking pace with Valentino Rossi slicing 42 seconds from the Portugal GP race time although McCoy feels that while speeds are up this will be difficult to repeat at Valencia.

"I don't see that amount of improvement at Valencia, I think the lack of wind at Estoril this year was a big factor in the faster times," McCoy said. "Everyone is pushing hard, it'll be a faster race for sure but not that much faster."

The Valencia GP is the 12th round of the 500 GP world championship with McCoy currently 12th with 58 points and Haga 14th with 44 points.

For further team information visit :www.redbull-yamaha.com or e-mail me at donnamwhite@compuserve.com