Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Red Bull Yamaha’s Garry McCoy had mixed results in the first day of the IRTA MotoGP team test at Esotril, Portugal, on Wednesday. One lap after McCoy turned the fastest time of the day on his YZR500 at 1:40.185, just 0.1-second shy of Max Biaggi’s 2001 pole position time, McCoy crashed and broke his right tibia and fibula.

The first day of the test saw many crashes due to what some riders felt was a dirty racetrack. According to MotoGP sources, crashers included Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3 riders Olivier Jacque and Sylvain Guintoli and Pramac Honda’s Tetsuya Harada. Jacque and Guintoli escaped serious injury, but 1993 250cc World Champion Harada broke his left collarbone.

Team Fortuna Honda Gresini’s Daijiro Katoh was second-fastest on his Honda NSR500, less than a tenth of a second slower than McCoy’s time. Katoh was followed by Yamaha riders Shinya Nakano and Jacque and West Honda Pons’ rider Alex Barros.


MotoGP Lap Times:

1. Garry McCoy, Yamaha, 1:40.185
2. Daijiro Katoh, Honda, 1:40.274
3. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha, 1:40.918
4. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha, 1:41.210
5. Alex Barros, Honda, 1:41.226


250cc Lap Times:

1. Fonsi Nieto, Aprilia, 1:42.216
2. Marco Melandri, Aprilia, 1:42.268
3. Randy De Puniet, Aprilia, 1:42.585
4. Roberto Rolfo, Honda, 1:43.213
5. Alex Debon, Aprilia, 1:43.289