Jake
April 28th, 2003, 06:45 AM
An oil pipe fracture caused Team Suzuki’s Kenny Roberts’ GSV-R to oil up the track and delay the start of the South African Grand Prix at Welkom by nearly an hour, a senior team member disclosed after the race.
Team supervisor Yasuo Kamomiya said the pipe had fractured on the warm-up lap, spraying oil at high pressure over the machine and onto the track. This was something the team had never experienced before, Kamomiya said.
The delay came as the track was cleaned; Roberts switched to his spare machine, and finished a disappointed 15th.
“At the first try, my bike leaked oil,” Roberts said. “That’s all I know. And that this bike is unrideable for me the way it is at the moment. I’ve nothing else to say, except congratulations to Sete (Gibernau). It shows what a good rider on a good bike can do.”
Teammate John Hopkins had an equally eventful race. In his second GP with the Suzuki team, Hopkins was broadsided by the out of control Colin Edwards on the start line. Hopkins survived the impact, and raced to 13th place, identical to where he’d finish in the season-opener at Suzuka.
“ That wasn’t a typical race,” Hopkins said. “At the start, when Colin Edwards got sideways, I was the first one he hit. My clutch lever came back and smashed the hell out of my fingers. My hand was pretty sore for the whole race. For the first laps I saw a few people in trouble on the oil and dust on the track, and I made sure to keep myself clean from that.”
Hopkins ran 11th early in the race behind Gauloises Yamaha’s Alex Barros and Olivier Jacque. He then battled with Marlboro Ducati’s Loris Capirossi, before Capirossi retired his Ducati to the pits. Just past midway Japanese riders Shinya Nakano and Nobu Aoki got by Hopkins and after a short battle he rode a lonely race in 13th to the flag.
“I tried like crazy to stay with Nakano and Aoki,” Hopkins said. “But I was taking too many chances and they were still pulling away. There was a 10-second gap back to Makoto Tamada (in 14th) so I just settle in and brought it home safe and earned a few points.” It marks the second straight MotoGP that Hopkins has finished 13th, but he feels this race was much better than the opening round in Suzuka, Japan.
“We’re definitely moving in the right direction,” he added. “This week we were able to do consistent lap times and got the bike feeling a lot better. We’re supposed to have some major updates for the bike at Jerez. I doubt if we’ll make a big leap there, but we have testing scheduled afterwards and I’m sure the Suzuki will improve as the season progresses.”
Team supervisor Yasuo Kamomiya said the pipe had fractured on the warm-up lap, spraying oil at high pressure over the machine and onto the track. This was something the team had never experienced before, Kamomiya said.
The delay came as the track was cleaned; Roberts switched to his spare machine, and finished a disappointed 15th.
“At the first try, my bike leaked oil,” Roberts said. “That’s all I know. And that this bike is unrideable for me the way it is at the moment. I’ve nothing else to say, except congratulations to Sete (Gibernau). It shows what a good rider on a good bike can do.”
Teammate John Hopkins had an equally eventful race. In his second GP with the Suzuki team, Hopkins was broadsided by the out of control Colin Edwards on the start line. Hopkins survived the impact, and raced to 13th place, identical to where he’d finish in the season-opener at Suzuka.
“ That wasn’t a typical race,” Hopkins said. “At the start, when Colin Edwards got sideways, I was the first one he hit. My clutch lever came back and smashed the hell out of my fingers. My hand was pretty sore for the whole race. For the first laps I saw a few people in trouble on the oil and dust on the track, and I made sure to keep myself clean from that.”
Hopkins ran 11th early in the race behind Gauloises Yamaha’s Alex Barros and Olivier Jacque. He then battled with Marlboro Ducati’s Loris Capirossi, before Capirossi retired his Ducati to the pits. Just past midway Japanese riders Shinya Nakano and Nobu Aoki got by Hopkins and after a short battle he rode a lonely race in 13th to the flag.
“I tried like crazy to stay with Nakano and Aoki,” Hopkins said. “But I was taking too many chances and they were still pulling away. There was a 10-second gap back to Makoto Tamada (in 14th) so I just settle in and brought it home safe and earned a few points.” It marks the second straight MotoGP that Hopkins has finished 13th, but he feels this race was much better than the opening round in Suzuka, Japan.
“We’re definitely moving in the right direction,” he added. “This week we were able to do consistent lap times and got the bike feeling a lot better. We’re supposed to have some major updates for the bike at Jerez. I doubt if we’ll make a big leap there, but we have testing scheduled afterwards and I’m sure the Suzuki will improve as the season progresses.”