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Laconi lands Aprilia GP four-stroke ride

09 December 2001

Regis Laconi will ride the gorgeous Aprilia four-stroke GP bike in next season’s world championship. It seems his one-off victory in last year’s final WSB round did him a truck load of favours. He may...

Capirossi’s first test scheduled

09 December 2001

Loris Capirossi’s works Honda 500 team have confirmed five pre-season tests for the Italian despite rumours that he is poised to make a surprise switch to Aprilia’s four-stroke effort. Capirossi, who...

Four Brits secure 2002 GP rides

02 December 2001

JUST when it was looking like there might be no British riders in GP racing next season, FOUR riders from the UK have secured rides – all within a few days each other. Jeremy McWilliams will ride for...

Aprilia’s stunning GP four-stroke triple goes public

02 December 2001

PICK your jaws off the floor – Aprilia’s gorgeous new four-stroke GP bike uses a British-developed 990cc, 220bhp inline triple with pneumatic valves. And something not too dissimilar could be in YOUR...

Exclusive: First pictures of Katoh on the NSR500

02 December 2001

New world 250 champion Daijiro Katoh hasn’t had much time to dwell on his record-breaking 2001 season as he was back on track testing a works Honda NSR500 for the first time today. Katoh, who beat Mike Hailwood’s long-standing 250 record with 11 wins last season, got his pre-season campaign underway with the first of a two-day shakedown test at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit in Japan. The Telefonica...

Full transcript of webchat with Suzuki GP boss

02 December 2001

Suzuki GP boss Garry Taylor took the time to join us for a live webchat on Thursday November 29. In it, he revealed that he only applied for the job thinking it was a Formula One team, that he thinks...

Katoh and two-stroke NSR blast back at Jerez

25 November 2001

DAIJIRO KATOH blew away the myth that the four-strokes will blitz old two-stroke 500s with an awesome performance at Honda’s test yesterday in Jerez. With only his second appearance on the works NSR...

Rossi smashes Jerez lap record in first four stroke test

25 November 2001

VALENTINO ROSSI’S first serious test on Honda’s new V5 four-stroke GP at Jerez saw him demolish his own lap record by over half a second. Rossi completed 46 laps on his RCV on the first day of the...

Video exclusive: Rossi tests 2002 GP bike

25 November 2001

Click on the link on the right for our unmissable video exclusive of Valentino Rossi as he gets to grips with his new RCV four stroke around the Jerez circuit in Spain. At this test Rossi sliced over...

First pictures of the Suzuki XREO GP bike

18 November 2001

SUZUKI’S all-new GP four-stroke will be a surprise entrant to the new-look 2002 world championship series. The Japanese factory initially said it would use 2002 as a development year for the bike code...

Rossi and Bayliss collide

18 November 2001

World champions Troy Bayliss and Valentino Rossi will race head-to-head on equal machinery for the first time next month although sadly it will be on four wheels and not two. World Superbike champ...

Haslam forced to 250s

18 November 2001

LEON HASLAM is expected to confirm this week that he will ride in next year’s world 250 championship. The 18-year-old British rider has been forced to drop into 250s after he couldn’t secure a ride in the 500 class. After an up and down rookie season in the world 500 championship, he looked like he would be retained by the Shell Advance Honda squad to ride a production Honda NSR V-twin. That...

Grand Prix attendance breaks records

18 November 2001

The biggest crowd at the British GP in years helped break new attendance figures for a world championship season. Official figures released by series organisers Dorna said 1,588.635 attended GPs to...

Watch the video part of the interview

11 November 2001

Max Biaggi answers your questions at the NEC Show. Choose from Quicktime (MOV) or Real Player (RM) downloads.

Listen to part one of the Max interview

11 November 2001

Biaggi answers your questions. Choose from RM (Real Player) or Quicktime (MOV) downloads.

Criville on course for Yamaha GP ride

11 November 2001

Former world 500 champion Alex Criville will find out later this week if his career has been saved by a shock move to Yamaha. The Spaniard appeared to be heading for enforced retirement when he was...

McWilliams and Haslam in line for Team Roberts

11 November 2001

British riders Jeremy McWilliams and Leon Haslam are the among the contenders to land a ride in Kenny Roberts’ Banbury-based Proton GP squad next season. McWilliams is a free agent following the late...

Exclusive video and audio interview with Max Biaggi

11 November 2001

While at the NEC Show, we hooked up with GP superstar Max Biaggi for this exclusive video and audio interview, based on the questions you wanted to ask. Your e-mailed in questions were added to our...

Honda loses race to get V5 to NEC Show

11 November 2001

Honda’s hopes of putting the 2002 V5 race bike on display at the NEC Show have been dashed by red tape. It had hoped to get the RC211V, which will be its four-stroke entry on next year’s GP grid, to...

GP four-strokes won’t test together until February

11 November 2001

Honda and Yamaha won’t go head-to-head against each other with their new four-stroke GP bikes until the middle of February. So far the Japanese factories have kept tests of the RCV and YZR-M1 separate...

Listen to part two of the Max interview

11 November 2001

Max Biaggi answers your questions. Choose from RM (Real Player) or MOV (Quicktime) downloads.

Could you be our next GP star?

11 November 2001

Entries close on Thursday for a Pop Idol-style competition designed to find two GP stars of tomorrow. So if you can ride and are aged between 14 and 18 (or know someone who is) read on and be prepared...

McWilliams’ 2002 deal collapses

04 November 2001

Jeremy McWilliams is facing another uncertain winter after negotiations to sort out a works 250 deal in 2002 collapsed. McWilliams and his team enjoyed instant success in 2001 when he became Britain’s...

£10 off British GP tickets

04 November 2001

Next year’s British GP may be nine months away but plan ahead and you can save a packet. The race, on July 14, will be our first chance in Britain to see the new Honda and Yamaha four-strokes racing...

Haga: I thought toothache would kill me

04 November 2001

Noriyuki Haga’s toothache in Rio turned out to be more serious than first thought. When he returned to Japan he needed emergency surgery. The tooth infection forced him to miss the final round of the...

Haslam’s GP future in jeopardy

04 November 2001

Leon Haslam might have scored his best ever 500 finish in the rain-hit Rio GP, but that hasn’t been enough to secure his ride for 2002. He looked certain to be retained by the Shell Advance squad for...

Ukawa stuns by claiming pole for final 500GP

01 November 2001

Tohru Ukawa pulled off one of the biggest shocks of the GP season on Friday when he claimed pole position for the Brazilian 500 GP, ending Italian domination of qualifying this season The Japanese...

Rossi claims 11th win by 0.1 seconds

01 November 2001

Valentino Rossi’s midas touch didn’t desert him in Rio this afternoon when he won a rain-affected Brazilian GP after a dramatic race with Carlos Checa. It had looked like Spaniard Checa would create...

Poggiali on course for 125 title in Rio

01 November 2001

MANUEL POGGIALI looks odds-on to win the world 125 championship in Rio on Saturday despite suffering a scare in Friday afternoon’s final qualifying session. The 18-year-old Gilera rider only needs to...

Poggiali crowned 125 champion in Brazil

01 November 2001

Manuel Poggiali was crowned world 125 champion in Brazil this afternoon – but only after a massive scare. The Gilera rider knew going into today’s 21-lap race that he only needed a top 13 finish to...

Katoh can’t stop winning

01 November 2001

Daijiro Katoh may have already wrapped up the world 250 title but he still managed to rub his rivals noses in it again with yet another success in Rio today. It might not have been the typical runaway...