From a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service:

MOTEGI STARTS A GRUELLING SCHEDULE FOR EVER-IMPROVING SUZUKI

MotoGP – Round 13, Twin Ring Motegi, Japan, October 6, 2002

Improving machines and results have given Team Telefónica MoviStar Suzuki riders Kenny Roberts and Sete Gibernau a boost as they prepare for the three consecutive racing weekends in three far-flung countries, starting next weekend with the Pacific GP at Motegi in Japan.

The Japanese race follows a weekend off after a trip to Brazil, but begins the most intense part of the 2002 MotoGP season. From the circuit in the hills not far from Tokyo, the Suzuki teamsters and their rivals go hot-foot to Malaysia, to race seven days later at the Sepang circuit. From there, it’s direct to Phillip Island, south of Melbourne, for the Australian GP, before returning to Europe for the final round at Valencia two weeks later.

The Pacific GP, the second in Japan this year, takes place under the watchful eye of factory race-department staff. Last time, they saw their new fastest-ever four-stroke racer, the 990cc V4 GSV-R, excel in rainy conditions at Suzuka. Factory rider Akira Ryo led for most of the race, eventually finishing second to Valentino Rossi, the man who would go on to clinch the first MGP title at the last round in Brazil.

Conditions and track knowledge helped the rider to get the best out of the brand-new Suzuki, youngest of the new-generation four-stroke GP racers, introduced this year to run alongside the traditional 500cc two-strokes.

Since then, there have been 11 races of intensive development to the ultra-powerful prototype, pushing it rapidly forward to the point where both riders have been strongly challenging the more mature opposition. The latest step was an improved Suzuki-designed “slipper” clutch, which arrived along with a raft of other detail improvements for the Portuguese GP two races ago.

The result was striking. Gibernau came within an ace of winning that Estoril race, crashing out with less than four laps remaining after building up a substantial lead; and 2000 World Champion Roberts scored consecutive best-so-far results … fourth in Portugal, and a top-three rostrum third in Brazil.

For Motegi, as well as other continuing technical and chassis setting developments, the clutch will be further improved.

“We have to remember that this has been a development year for the new bike, and it’s clear that the team and the factory together have achieved a great deal,” said team manager Garry Taylor.

“At the same time, a lot of the effort is concentrated on next year’s bike. We started this year with a completely fresh prototype. Next season, we will be at the first race with a second-generation machine, incorporating all the lessons we’ve learned this year.

“Motegi is a good opportunity for the factory race-department staff to get some hands-on experience at GP level, and to talk directly to the riders,” he concluded.

As ever, the team will approach the race with confidence, and the aim of achieving the best possible result. Since this is the first time the Suzuki GSV-R and its four-stroke rivals will have raced at Motegi, predictions are difficult.

On the face of it, the stop-and-go circuit favours machines with the emphasis on brute horsepower and acceleration, which in turn means the four-strokes should not expect to be troubled by the surviving two-strokes. But the season has brought many surprises, and every race has to be approached with an open mind.

Nor is the circuit itself very predictable. Even without the changeable mountain weather, results can be unexpected. Last year expectations were not high in the team, in spite of Gibernau’s race win at the previous round at Valencia, because acceleration was not the 2001 machine’s strongest suit. Surprisingly, Gibernau moved through to the top five, losing the position only when he ran short of fuel on the last lap. All three Suzukis entered finished well in the top ten.

KENNY ROBERTS – MAKING IT BETTER AGAIN
“We’re still at the development stage with this bike, though the rain helped us somewhat in Brazil. I’m not thinking so much about results or the different tracks. Just to get the bike improved mechanically. The new clutch was a big step. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to ride even close to the front in Brazil, let alone lead the race. The way the clutch works affects the whole bike in so many ways, and it governs the lap time because it dictates corner entry and corner speed. We’re expecting more clutch development at Motegi. The big aim is to get the bike improved so we can start strong next year.”

SETE GIBERNAU – EASIER THAN BRAZIL
“I’m expecting things to be easier than in Brazil. I raced there two weeks after I dislocated my collarbone at Estoril. It was really a bit of a struggle to ride, though it got better over the three days of the meeting. Now I have had more therapy, and an important two weeks to get a lot better. On the face of it, Motegi doesn’t look like one of our better tracks, but last year I went well there, and this year we have learned to expect the unexpected. I hope the weather stays dry. We know we can go well when it is raining. What the team and the factory has been working towards is getting the bike good in dry conditions, and you could see at the previous races that the performance and results were getting better. We still have some way to go, but we won’t stop working at achieving it.

ABOUT THIS RACE
This is the second Pacific GP, inaugurated last year to give the Japanese factories and riders a second race on home soil, as well as the established Suzuka round. This makes Japan the second country on the current calendar to have more than one GP – the other being Spain, with three rounds. But this is the third visit to the spectacular Twin Ring Motegi motor sports and driver education facility, where a full banked tri-oval circuit is another major feature, along with a museum and extensive other facilities. In 1999, the Japanese GP was held there for one year. Motegi is rather remote, with access by road only, in hilly country surrounded by dense forest and small farms. Its advantage is its proximity to the Tokyo hub, some 60 miles north east of the city sprawl.

ABOUT THIS TRACK
The Twin Ring is actually two circuits – the US-style banked oval, with its own pits, grandstands and infrastructure, and the 2.98-mile road-racing track, with pits and paddock within the oval, and the track looping out under the banking through an underpass, then returning for the final chicane back onto the short pit straight. Precise computer-designed corners loop the track back and forth within the oval, with more of the same outside – slow corners linked by short power-burst straights. It seems a sterile design, but there is enough rise and fall in the terrain to inject interest. “It’s a surprisingly fun track,” said double winner Kenny Roberts Jr.

RACE DATA

Twin Ring Motegi

Circuit Length: 2.983 miles / 4.801 km.

Lap Record: 1:50.591 –97.110 mph / 156.284 km/h. V Rossi (Honda), 2000

2000 Race Winner: KENNY ROBERTS (TELEFÓNICA MOVISTAR SUZUKI)

2000 Race Distance: 25 laps, 74.575 miles / 120.025 km

2000 Race Average: 46:23.257 – 96.463 mph / 155.242 km/h

2000 Fastest Race Lap: see lap record

2000 Pole Position: M Biaggi (Yamaha), 1:49.954

2000 Kenny Roberts: First, qualified second (SUZUKI)

2000 N Aoki: Ninth, qualified ninth (SUZUKI)