From a press release:

GREAT DAY GOES BAD FOR PROTON MEN

Round 5: Italian GP, Mugello Sunday June 2, 2002

Nobuatsu Aoki: DNF
Jeremy McWilliams: DNF

Proton Team KR riders Nobuatsu Aoki and Jeremy McWilliams both retired from the Italian GP – Aoki crashing out of a superb seventh place on the tenth of 23 laps of the 5.245km Mugello circuit in the Tuscan foothills, and McWilliams pulling into the pits with five laps remaining.

Both riders had engine problems, for different reasons. Aoki’s motor seized abruptly, throwing the Japanese rider off, fortunately without injury. McWilliams’s motor suffered from lubrication starvation as an indirect consequence of excessive tyre wear, and also nipped up – though the Ulsterman was able to anticipate the problem and declutch, to coast safely into the pits.

It was a double disappointment for Proton Team KR, after strong qualifying performances at a track where the very long and fast straight is prejudiced against the three-cylinder 500cc lightweight KR3, which finds its advantage through fast corners and in more technical going. In spite of giving away more than 25km/h in top speed to the new powerful heavyweight MotoGP four-strokes, the Proton KR3 riders had qualified on the third row of the grid.

Aoki capitalised best on his good position, finishing the first lap in ninth, and pushing through to a strong seventh when he fell. McWilliams was not so quick off the line, but was well up in a points-scoring 11th before dropping back two places with tyre wear problems. He was 13th before he retired.

The race was run in baking sunshine and 30-degree heat, watched by 68,000 excited Italian fans, who watched defending World Champion Valentino Rossi’s Honda defeat fellow-Italian Max Biaggi’s Yamaha. Tohru Ukawa was third, on another four-stroke Honda.


NOBUATSU AOKI
“Everything was working perfectly – the chassis, the tyres, the suspension and the engine. I was really enjoying the race, and I had even got past Kenny Roberts Jr. on the Suzuki four-stroke when I crashed. I had a little warning that the engine would seize, but I could do nothing about it. It was just before the last right-hand corner off the hill, and when it locked up I hit the ground so fast. Luckily, I am not hurt. It was a very disappointing end to the weekend.”


JEREMY McWILLIAMS
“I had expected to run into some tyre problems because of the heat – it’s normal. But I had a strange problem as a result. Because the rear had gone away so badly, I wasn’t able to give the bike full throttle, and that starved it of lubrication. In the end, it paid the price – it locked up with hardly any warning. I was right in the middle of the fast chicane at the top of the hill, at about 120mph. I managed to get the clutch in quick enough. I was very lucky to get away with it … and I was going so fast I was able to coast from there to the pits.”


KENNY ROBERTS- Team Owner
“A bad day. Obviously we had a crankshaft problem with Nobu’s bike. The heat didn’t help, nor the long straight. We had a bit of a tyre problem as well, that led to Jeremy’s retirement. The whole thing has to be improved to bring it up to the level of the riders.”