October

Year: 2003

Month: October

Abe fastest in practice at Valencia

28 October 2003

Yamaha’s Norrick Abe heads the first practice session at Valencia, riding for Fortuna Yamaha as a replacement for regular rider Marco Melandri. His time is over two seconds quicker than Garry McCoy,...

Rossi and Hodgson latest as it breaks

28 October 2003

The final round of the 2004 MotoGP championship promises some huge news about the coming season. MCN is expecting that Neil Hodgson to confirm his departure from WSB on Saturday to join the D’Antin...

Rossi on provisional pole for Sunday

28 October 2003

Valentino Rossi posted a new qualifying record lap to take provisional pole for Sunday’s Spanish GP at Valencia. The Italian posted a time of 1:33.643 to lead an all-Honda front row. The only other...

Abe replaces injured Melandri

21 October 2003

Norrick Abe will fill in for injured Fortuna Yamaha regular Marco Melandri at the Valencia GP on Sunday, November 2. The 28-year-old Japanese rider will replace regular team member Melandri for the...

Rossi on pole at Phillip Island

14 October 2003

Valentino Rossi has taken his Honda RCV to pole position for Sunday’s Australian GP, beating Ducati’s Loris Capirossi in to second place. The newly crowned world champion beat Capirossi’s...

Rossi wins despite penalty

14 October 2003

Valentino Rossi has won the penultimate MotoGP race of the year in fantastic style, taking the win despite incurring his second time penalty of the season. Rossi had a bad start to the race, running...

McWilliams ninth in qualifying practice

14 October 2003

Jeremy McWilliams, who last year claimed pole at Phillip Island on a two-stroke, is in a provisional ninth place on the Proton V5 for this Sunday’s MotoGP at the Australian circuit. Valentino Rossi...

Rossi plays down F1 move

14 October 2003

Newly-crowned MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi has played down the rumours that he will be driving a Formula 1 car next year. Rossi was offered a no-strings-attached test drive of the Ferrari F1...

Sepang pole for Rossi

07 October 2003

Amidst rumours about a possible switch to Yamaha, Valentino Rossi put his Honda RC211V on pole for the Malaysian GP on Sunday. Rossi created a new pole lap record of 2:02.480 on his way to the front of the grid. Second place goes to Spaniard Carlos Checa, with Makoto Tamada third. 1) Rossi 2:02.480. 2) Checa 2:02.885. 3) Tamada 2:03.138. 4) Biaggi 2:03.254. 5) Nakano 2:03.342. 6) Capirossi...

Rossi keeps world guessing

07 October 2003

Valentino Rossi looks set to keep the world waiting anxiously for an answer on his future for a few more days yet. It seems all the huge speculation surrounding his future won’t come to an end until...

Rossi set for shock Yamaha switch

07 October 2003

Valentino Rossi is looking more and more likely to make a shock switch from Honda to Yamaha in 2004. GP sources claim the deal is already done – but nothing official is expected until Sunday’s...

Rossi is champion again

07 October 2003

Valentino Rossi has won his seventh race of the year to seal the MotoGP championship for the second year running. The world champion sat behind Sete Gibernau for early part of the race but at half...

Rossi on provisional pole for Malaysian GP

07 October 2003

Valentino Rossi underlined why there is so much speculation about his contract for next year by setting a new qualifying record to put himself on provisional pole for Sunday’s race at Sepang. The...

Biaggi’s Motegi win overshadowed by drama

01 October 2003

Max Biaggi has won the Pacific GP at Motegi, beating longtime rival Valentino Rossi into second place. But it was overshadowed by the disqualification of Makoto Tamada and John Hopkins. The Japanese...

Dovizioso fastest in 125cc qualifying

01 October 2003

Andrea Dovizioso heads the timesheets after the first 125cc qualifying session for the Pacific GP on Sunday. Dovizioso posted a time of 1:58.988, one-tenth quicker than fellow Honda rider Daniel Pedrosa. Alex De Angelis is third on the Aprilia, with the Derbi of Jorge Lorenzo completing the front row. Australian Casey Stoner heads an all-Aprilia second row. 1) Dovizioso 1:58.988. 2) Pedrosa...

Biaggi on pole at Pacific GP

01 October 2003

Max Biaggi will start from pole position at the Pacific GP at Motegi on Sunday. The Italian headed the timesheets in qualifying with a new pole record of 1:47.696 with seconds left in the session. The...

Gibernau claims provisional pole at Motegi

01 October 2003

Sete Gibernau set a new pole record at the Motegi circuit today to put himself on the provisional top spot for Sunday’s Pacific GP. The Spaniard broke the existing record, held by former team-mate...

De Puniet on provisional 250cc pole

01 October 2003

Randy De Puniet has put his Aprilia at the front of the provisional front row for Sunday’s Pacific GP at Motegi. The French star heads Spaniard Toni Elias and Japanese wildcard Yuki Takahashi. Championship leader Manuel Poggiali settled for fourth fastest. Britain’s Chas Davies finished in 14th place on the Aprilia Germany bike. 1) De Puniet 1:53.247. 2) Elias 1:53.545. 3) Takahashi 1:54.351. 4)...