From a press release issued by Team Suzuki:

SUZUKI READY FOR TIGHT SACHSENRING

Team Suzuki MotoGP will have no secret weapons for this weekend’s German GP – the secret came out at the Rio GP two weekend’s before. Not only is Suzuki’s quest to return to racing success obviously moving forward fast, but Kenny Roberts Jr. is still as dedicated a rider as he was when he won the World Championship in 2000.

Roberts has had three downbeat seasons on a bike that was not ready to give its full potential and many with short memories may have overlooked this. But he reminded them all in Brazil when he qualified on pole position, led the first lap of the race, and then stormed to sixth, his best-so-far in a very competitive season. It was a happy return to form at the same circuit where he confirmed his title in 2000.

Kenny’s first pole since 2000 was tangible proof that this year’s programme of development on the powerful 990cc V4 GSV-R is bearing fruit. He was helped by the latest Bridgestone tyres which went on to win the brand’s first GP at Rio. And the American will be taking all these new strengths to the tight and twisty Sachsenring, for the halfway race of the hectic 2004 MotoGP season.

Rio was Roberts’s third race on the latest revised-firing-order upgrade to the four-camshaft 220-plus horsepower engine. Team-mate John Hopkins will be using that motor for a second time at the German race after scoring points at Rio in his first outing with the easier-to-ride machine.

Hopkins is on a road to recovery after suffering injury and misfortune both before the season and again after it started. Now back to full strength, his Rio race was spoiled by an off-track excursion on the last lap after he and Alex Hofmann collided while disputing 11th. Hopkins actually slipped off after hitting the tyre wall on the escape road but remounted to finish the race 15th – a typical example of the 21-year-old Anglo-American rider’s determination.

Team manager Garry Taylor described how the short and maniacally twisty Sachsenring circuit could give the Suzuki teamsters an even better chance than Rio to demonstrate the progress.

“Everyone could see at Rio how well Kenny was riding and how well our bike handles in the corners. Obviously the package of tyres, engine and rider were working together and getting very competitive,” said Taylor. “That’s down to a lot of hard work, at the tracks and especially in Japan.

“Everyone could also see that our bike is short of top speed on Rio’s long straight. Our riders have to make up time in the corners.

“That means we’re all looking forward to the Sachsenring. It’s all corners with hardly a straight worth the name. It should play to our strengths,” said Taylor.

The Suzuki teamsters will have another boost to their confidence in Germany: 1993 World Champion Kevin Schwantz will again be in the pit and at the trackside to offer advice and encouragement – and his unique brand of humour – to his old team. Already at Catalunya, Schwantz commented on how much the Suzuki had improved. Now he will see that the GSV-R project has clearly gained even more momentum. Schwantz is in Germany for the latest of his Suzuki Riding School track days.

The next race, a week after the German GP, is the British round at Donington Park, bringing to an end a hectic schedule of six races over eight weekends.

KENNY ROBERTS – MAKING HEADWAY:

“I said after Rio that I had no idea what to expect in Germany. We have the bike working better though we still need acceleration; Bridgestone have made a big step forward and we’re making headway. At Rio, we showed everybody that if we get some engine underneath us, we’re going to be right there. For Germany, we’ll see what the race brings.”

JOHN HOPKINS – A TALENT FOR TURNING:

“I’ve been hanging out in Ireland with Jeremy McWilliams and Ian Gilpin, our crew mechanic having a good time and keeping fit. Germany isn’t one of my favourite tracks – I’ve had setbacks there the last two years. Last year’s Suzuki was hard to turn and it’s a really twisty track. This year’s bike is a lot different and a lot better in that regard and it should be okay. I’m expecting a good race.”

ABOUT THIS TRACK:

The modern Sachsenring circuit came into being by stealth in 1998 – local enthusiasts pressing ahead in spite of being denied official backing. The makeshift circuit centred on a driving training centre and an industrial estate and the original track used part of the old public-roads circuit, dropped from GP racing in the Seventies. That was finally dropped in 2002, when a third circuit revision substituted a spectacular downhill swoop. At the same time, a new pit lane and permanent circuit buildings were installed. Sachsenring is the shortest but not the slowest track of the year (that is Estoril). Each hectic lap begins with a difficult bottleneck downhill right, leading via a hairpin to a section with seven successive left-hand corners, posing technical problems as one side of the tyre overheats and the other cools down. With almost the whole lap taken at part throttle and at high lean angles on low overall gearing, good engine response and delicate throttle control are paramount; and overtaking is particularly difficult.

ABOUT THIS RACE:

The East German GP ran from 1961 until 1972 attracting vast crowds to the long public-roads Sachsenring track. The West German GP had an even longer history. After unification, however, the older race ran into difficulties, with spectators deserting the event at Hockenheim, and failing to return when it was moved to the Nurburgring. In 1998, enthusiastic new promoters took over the event at the makeshift new circuit on the site of the old East German race. Pits and paddock buildings were tents and marquees. But race-starved crowds responded in vast numbers with tickets sold out months in advance, and year by year, the track and facilities have been upgraded and the status of the event enhanced.

RACE DATA:


Sachsenring, Germany.

Circuit Length: 2.281 miles / 3.671 km.

Lap Record: 1:24.630 – 97.031 mph / 156.157 km/h. M Biaggi (Yamaha), 2003.

2003 Race Winner: S Gibernau (Honda).

2003 Race Average: 42:41.180 – 96.187mph / 154.798 km/h.

2003 Fastest Race Lap: see record.

2003 Pole Position: Biaggi, 1:23.734.

2003 Kenny Roberts: 15th, qualified 14th (Suzuki).

2003 John Hopkins: DNF retired, qualified 22nd (Suzuki).