From a press release issued by Repsol Honda:


South Africa opens the door to the most expected world championship

The first of 16 rounds of the 2004 Motorcycle World Championship will take place next weekend at the South African circuit of Welkom. As every season, the winter has been much too long and all riders, teams and fans are looking forward to the first race of the season.

With the switch of the reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi to Yamaha, the Repsol Honda Team will make its debut with a new formation after the arrival of Alex Barros as new teammate to Nicky Hayden. Barros, who had a difficult season last year in Yamaha, a season full of injuries and crashes, gets back onto the bike with which he managed a superb end of the season in 2002. After a slow but positive recovery of the shoulder he got injured in 2003, the Brazilian rider gets back to Honda, this time within the Repsol Honda Team and with the firm objective of fighting for the 2004 title. His teammate Nicky Hayden will face his second season and, as his results during winter have shown, he will be aiming to everything this season, which is just about to start. Hayden, who this year won’t have the burden to race on circuits he doesn’t know, has had an impressive progression since he arrived at the World Championship last year. With two podiums and the final fifth overall position in the last Championship, the young North American rider from Kentucky has set the title as his aim for 2004.

Nicky Hayden
“I’m so excited about this season and can’t wait to go racing now. The winter testing has been good and I think we’re in real good shape for the season. The 2004 RC211V is awesome, by far the trickest bike I’ve ever ridden. I feel now I’m riding much nearer the limit where as last season was really a learning year. Now I know the tracks; I feel very comfortable with the team and I know the competition. It’s going to be super competitive this year as no one has really stood out in testing. That’s what is so great about GP. The best riders in the world on the best bikes every other Sunday. Sure going to be a good show.”

Alex Barros
“In all the years I’ve been racing I can really say that I have never felt as positive as do now at the start of this very exciting year. I have a strong team, a fantastic bike and a real opportunity this season. Back in February when I first ride the RC211V we make a plan to get to the first GP in good shape after the surgery I have to my shoulder over the winter. So in Sepang, Phillip Island and in Spain we learn a lot about the bike and my condition comes better and now we are ready to race. It will be a long season and very close. All points will be very important at the end. We are ready now!.”

GP venue: Phakisa Freeway
Brought about through an initiative of the South African government in early 1998, the Phakisa Freeway in Welkom is one of the newest race circuits on the World Championship calendar. Phakisa means “hurry up” in Sotho, the local language, and that’s the way it was built: in a hurry. The first National race event was held a mere 6 months after the work had started and the entire facility was completed in time for the 1999 Motorcycle Grand Prix, five months later. Designed in conjunction with officials of the FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme), the Phakisa Freeway is considered as one of the safest circuits of the calendar.

With 5 left and 9 right-hand corners and relatively short straights, the top speed on the 4242 m of this track, is usually slower than on most of the tracks. This circumstance is compensated by the altitude (1350 m above sea level), which reduces around 20% of the engines’ power turning the races into a question of skill rather than horsepower. The layout includes a classic racetrack and an oval for car racing. Being a fast track with some of the most challenging corners of the calendar, turn this race into one of the most exciting events of the year.