YAMAHA ENDS TOUGH WEEKEND IN RIO
05 July 2004 - Yamaha Racing

Fortuna Gauloises Tech3 rider Norick Abe rode to a gritty eighth place here in sweltering Rio; the Japanese rider finding himself the first Yamaha across the line after Rossi crashed out on lap 13.

The result has left the championship wide open after Rossi’s main rival Sete Gibernau (Honda) also ending the day in the gravel trap in the early stages of the 24-lap race. Interestingly both riders fell on the same corner.

The 24-lap race began brightly for Rossi, the reigning World Champion, as he jumped from a starting position on the third row to fifth place at the very first corner. Sooner after his main championship rival Gibernau crashed out on lap two, just as Rossi began to really turn up the pace on his Yamaha YZR-M1. Moving up to fourth and past pole position man Kenny Roberts (Suzuki) after passing up the inside at turn one, Rossi seized a chance to pass Alex Barros (Honda) and began the task of reducing the 1.6 second gap to race leaders Max Biaggi (Honda) and Nicky Hayden (Honda).

Simultaneously Rossi defended pressure from eventual race winner Makoto Tamada (Honda) while still cutting the gap to 0.8 seconds on lap ten, a mistake on the 12th lap allowed Tamada to pass for third. Pushing hard to stay in contention for a podium, Rossi fell the following lap – at the last left hand corner on the 4.933km Jacarepagua circuit.

Excellent progress from the determined Checa, 12th in qualifying, put him up to ninth after a quarter race distance, until Marco Melandri (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3) ran both riders onto the grass while attempting an out-braking manoeuvre. Battling his way back on track Checa was to finish tenth overall. The race win was taken by Tamada, his first win in the premier class, Biaggi second and Hayden third.

Melandri eventually finished 13th after struggling with his vision – due to leaking coolant getting onto his visor. Despite his raceday misfortune Rossi still leads the championship, sharing a 126-point total with Gibernau – ahead because of his better win ratio of 4 to 2.

Norick Abe (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3), eighth
“A tough race. I made so many mistakes at the start. I was on the inside on the start grid, where the track was dirty, and I just got so much wheelspin that I was way down the order. Then I got going and passed a rider each lap. But by mid-race my rear tyre had gone off and although I was sliding a lot I knew Shinya (Nakano) was behind me and I couldn’t make any mistakes. I really wanted a podium and I thought I could get one because I like this track so much.”

Marco Melandri (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3), 13th
“The bike never felt good here. This was a tough race for all the Yamaha riders. I ran into Carlos (Checa) early on, and I’m really sorry about that. As for me, every time I was on the straight I kept getting some liquid on my visor and about seven or eight laps from the end I just couldn’t see, I couldn’t concentrate, and the grip had gone too. We’ve just got to move on now to Germany.”

Hervé Poncharal, Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 team director
“We knew it would be a difficult day – and it was! Norick rode a good race, he was steady from beginning to end and he managed to stay in front of Shinya. It was a shame for Marco; it was not his weekend. On the last few laps he had a problem.

“I feel sorry for Valentino, but it was good that Norick was first Yamaha finisher. This was a tough weekend for Yamaha, but we move on now and we’ll surely get some better results before the summer break.”

Carlos Checa (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha), tenth
“We seemed to change everything through the weekend and in warm-up, but I still didn’t feel comfortable. It was a difficult weekend. Here in Rio we had a very negative feeling from the beginning and this has not been the case anywhere else this year. During the race Melandri lost the rear and then could not brake properly as he tried to pass. He went straight on and then we touched. Luckily I saw him coming just as I was about to flick it in, I stood the bike up, we touched and then ran off the track. Luckily nothing happened and I don’t think it changed my race result. At that moment maybe I could have caught Capirossi but I could not have kept doing the lap time, as I was already at the limit.”

Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha), DNF
“We made some modifications before and after warm-up this morning. Even though I was riding better the set-up was still not quite right. What a shame. I lost the front and that was it. I haven’t fallen in a race since Mugello 2001. We’ve been having problems all through the weekend, but we were having a strong race and I felt I was catching the leaders. Even though I was up with the front group it was very difficult on the left hand corners. If I had managed to finish in fourth place it would have earned us some good points.”

Davide Brivio, Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha team director
”Not a good day for us and we’ve had a difficult weekend trying to find the best settings for our machine. Valentino’s fall brought it to an end but that’s racing. It’s a missed opportunity because we could have gained some points on Sete. Valentino is a fighter and that is probably what has helped him get so many victories in the past but today it didn’t work out that way. The main thing is that we restart in Sachsenring still leading the championship, so that is the positive side of the story. For Carlos, he didn’t manage to get a good feeling from the machine, struggled all the race and could only finish tenth.”

Race classification MotoGP

Round: 7 - Rio Grand Prix
Circuit: Rio
Circuit Length: 4933
Lap Record: 1'' 49.789 (Makato Tamada, 2004)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'' 49.789 (Makato Tamada, 2004)

Race: 24 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 M. Tamada Honda JPN 44'' 21.976
2 M. Biaggi Honda ITA +2.019
3 N. Hayden Honda USA +5.764
4 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA +11.145
5 A. Barros Honda BRA +12.951
6 C. Edwards Honda USA +13.904
7 K. Roberts Suzuki USA +23.493
8 N. Abe Yamaha JPN +27.498
9 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN +27.802
10 C. Checa Yamaha ESP +36.808
11 A. Hofman Kawasaki GER +37.713
12 R. Xaus Ducati ESP +48.924
13 M. Melandri Yamaha ITA +57.102
14 J. McWilliams Aprilia GBR +1'' 3.046
15 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA +1'' 10.296

Fastest Race Lap:
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 M. Tamada Honda JPN 1'' 49.789

Championship standings MotoGP

Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points
1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 126
2 Sete Gibernau Honda ESP 126
3 Max Biaggi Honda ITA 113
4 Colin Edwards Honda USA 64
5 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 62
6 Alex Barros Honda BRA 59
7 Marco Melandri Yamaha ITA 57
8 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 55
9 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 54
10 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 44
11 Norick Abe Yamaha JPN 41
12 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 36
13 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 27
14 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 23
15 Kenny Roberts Suzuki USA 21

Manufacturers standings MotoGP

Pos. Manufacturer Points
1 Honda 155
2 Yamaha 141
3 Ducati 67
4 Kawasaki 32
5 Suzuki 26
6 Aprilia 16
7 Proton KR 7
7 Harris WCM 7
8 Moriwaki 2

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