February

Year: 2002

Month: February

Criville up all night to solve fainting fits

25 February 2002

Alex Criville will be locked in a room and made to stay awake for over two days in a bid to pinpoint the cause of the fainting fits which forced him to take a break from GPs this season. One of the...

First blood to two-strokes at GP test

18 February 2002

Yamaha’s supposedly ” best ” bike, in the hands of its ” best ” riders, was left trailing in the wake of Gary McCoy’s two-stroke at Valencia’s opening ITRA test. In fact, McCoy’s YZR (a full 14kg...

McCoy faces race to be fit

18 February 2002

TOP GP rider Garry McCoy has been flown by private plane to Austria for a specialist assessment on a double break of his right leg. The Red Bull Yamaha 500 rider was airlifted from Estoril in Portugal...

Criville: I’ll be back… I hope

18 February 2002

Former world 500 champion Alex Criville’s ” retirement ” will be short-lived, if he can win his battle against fainting fits. Criville revealed his decision to pull out for at least six months, on...

Davies, 15, makes GP test debut

18 February 2002

Chaz Davies clocked the 29th fastest time on day one of the 125cc IRTA tests at Valencia, which conclude on Tuesday. British schoolboy Davies, 15, only completed 27 laps but managed a respectable time...

Harada crashes in testing

18 February 2002

Honda rider Tetsuya Harada’s 2002 world championship preparations have suffered a massive blow after he highsided his NSR500 and broke a collarbone in tests at Estoril. The former world 250 champion...

Details of Ducati GP bike emerge

18 February 2002

Details of Ducati’s GP V4 four-stroke are emerging and there is now confirmation that a road bike based on it " is in the plans " . First pictures of the race bike are expected to emerge in three to four weeks. They will show a Ducati unlike any other. The bike is currently being wind-tunnel tested to ensure optimum efficiency. It will have a long nose, a minimalist five-tube trellis frame and be...

Roberts’ test feedback inspires next XRE0

11 February 2002

Suzuki is already working on the next generation of its XRE0 four-stroke engine based on feedback from Kenny Roberts and Sete Gibernau current winter testing at the Eastern Creek circuit in...

Suzuki & Kawasaki four-strokes have it all to do

11 February 2002

SUZUKI and Kawasaki look to have their work cut out to catch Valentino Rossi and the Honda V5 this season… or the next. All three factories tested at Sepang last week, and while Rossi and the RCV were...

£10m Rossi THREE seconds under lap record

11 February 2002

VALENTINO ROSSI and the new Honda RCV four-stroke have gone an incredible THREE SECONDS faster than lap record pace in tests at Sepang, Malaysia. The reigning world champ’s unprecedented performance...

Criville announces retirement

11 February 2002

Former world 500 champion Alex Criville is retiring from racing. Criville, who became Spain’s first world 500 champion in 1999, was expected to hold a press conference during the second day of the...

Ducati reveals plan for V4 engine

04 February 2002

Ducati has broken with its V-twin tradition with its proposed GP engine: It’s going to be a V4. And while company bosses were giving little away when they released the news at 3pm CET on February 4,...

First pictures: Kawasaki’s GP four-stroke

04 February 2002

KAWASAKI’S new four-stroke GP bike has tested at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia – and this early prototype is said to have a lot in common with the firm’s ZX-7R superbike. Underneath the fairing is a...

MZ unveils ‘250bhp’ V4 GP bike

04 February 2002

THESE are the first pictures of MZ’s contender for the new four-stroke MotoGP series. At the bike’s launch in Leipzig, Germany, the firm announced that a version of the bike’s 250bhp, 90-degree V4...

Rossi ends row with Honda

01 February 2002

Valentino Rossi ended his contract row with Honda on Friday and signed a two-year deal to ride the four-stroke RCV. The 22-year-old Italian will fly to Japan tomorrow to officially sign and attend a...

Sauber GP project is revived

01 February 2002

SAUBER’S four-stroke GP project is definitely back on – and the bike could be tested again within six weeks. Development of the GP1, which was given its public debut by Niall Mackenzie in Malaysia...

GP noise limit raised to 125dB

01 February 2002

NOISE limits for the new four-stroke GP class have been raised to make the series more appealing to fans. There had been a concern that under the current limit of 113dB post-race (110dB pre-race),...