The 2002 Motorcycle Grand Prix season was a period of transition, with the new four-stroke, 990cc bikes being phased in alongside the established two-stroke 500s. It was initially felt that the two categories of machine could prove well matched, but this theory was quickly dispelled.

In truth, the four-strokes made the 500cc machinery look out of date, with Honda’s RC211V setting the pace. Extra spectacle was provided by a few heroic performances from some of the 500cc riders but, until Yamaha got their YZR-M1 up to speed, you really needed an RCV - the bikes of Suzuki, Aprilia and, later, Kawasaki were rarely in the same league.

The Honda V5 was a definite race winner, but even that wasn’t quite enough if you didn’t have Valentino Rossi in the saddle. The Italian carried over the momentum from his title-winning year with the NSR500 V4, and he exploited the limits of his new machine to record breaking effect. Rossi’s closest pursuers, Tohru Ukawa, Max Biaggi, Carlos Checa and Alex Barros, were just that step behind, and before long their final target had to be, at best, second position overall. They all had their front-running days, of course, as did the likes of Daijiro Kato, but Rossi was generally a match for anyone - on those occasions when he actually needed to be.

The season began at Suzuka, where Loris Capirossi’s 500cc Honda qualified a promising second, but any chance for true comparison with the bigger bikes went out with the wet track conditions on Sunday. Rossi fought off the local riders Akira Ryo and Shin’ichi Itoh to take victory, and from the next race onwards the RCVs took command, with a series of two-way affairs for Rossi and team-mate Tohru Ukawa. Biaggi and Checa were often not too far behind, and the M1 was developed into a genuine threat by mid-season. The other four-strokes had their moments, but it was usually the best of the two-strokes that fought it out for fifth and sixth places, until additional RCVs and M1s were wheeled out at the close of the year.

Several of the top 500 men were able to make the switch as the championship reached a close, but none more successfully than Honda Pons’ Barros. The experienced Brazilian was a revelation in the last four rounds, giving Rossi cause to re-focus after wrapping up the title in Río, and providing spectators with some exciting conclusive races. In a year of technical reinvention, there was obvious temptation for a variety of different marques to commit to the new formula, which promises even more variety and excitement in season 2003.

The following seasonal ratings are purely personal, and any debate is welcomed on the site forum.

1 Valentino Rossi - Repsol Honda Team
Although the Honda RC211V was surely the best grand prix motorbike in 2002, only Valentino consistently took it to the limits of its performance, even if sometimes he didn’t actually need to. Admittedly, the Italian didn’t improve on Mick Doohan’s tally of twelve victories in a single year (the 1997 season), but he did rack up fifteen more points than the Australian had, along with fifteen podiums to Doohan’s fourteen. The statistics are pretty impressive - eleven wins and four seconds from sixteen races, with a single non-finish due to tyre problems. There is also the figure of seven pole positions from the first eight rounds, and a total of nine fastest laps. Rossi’s strengths were such that he didn’t need to make great starts, as he could always migrate towards the front, and he had the ability to up the pace a notch, and gain the decisive advantage. Luck was on his side at times, but Rossi was genuinely challenged, and beaten, on a number of occasions - although usually not by any great distance. Essentially, ‘the Doctor’ remained the class of the field, and he will surely be the man to beat again in 2003 and beyond.

2 Alex Barros - West Honda Pons
Alex’s experience on the NSR saw him start the season dependably, albeit without the pace that would allow him onto the first two rows in qualifying. Nevertheless, he had his stand out race days when he could live comfortably with the front men, and in Jeréz he went straight into the lead from P2, before eventually being relegated to finish fifth. In the Netherlands, Barros was the only challenger to Rossi, circulating rapidly and holding the lead for much of the race. Second place there seemed likely to be his best result of the year, especially after he managed to take out Olivier Jacque in Germany, where one of the two had a shot at the only two-stroke win of the season. Of course, then we saw Alex supplied with an RCV for the last four races, and he suddenly proved his worth as he gave Rossi the hardest time he’d yet experienced. Motegi saw the Brazilian win, with fastest lap, on his first outing with the bike, and he was on pole a race later. Third and second, from this and the next race, were preludes to another well taken win in Spain, and it was no surprise to see Alex on a lot of teams’ shopping lists as the year ended.

3 Max Biaggi - Marlboro Yamaha Team
Max and Yamaha finished 2001 as the second best combination in MotoGP, and the status was maintained this season. However, the new YZR-M1 initially proved rather a tricky machine to ride, and a lot of development was required to remedy the situation. This effort paid off quite quickly, but in the early part of the year it was Carlos Checa who seemed happiest with the bike, and it showed. When things began to turn around, Biaggi reasserted his position, and he qualified first or second in eight of the last twelve rounds. From France onwards, ‘the Roman Emperor’ scored a run of top four finishes, and he was second to Rossi in four rounds, something Checa did only once. When he was confident, Biaggi demonstrated the bike’s pace, and he was duly rewarded with victories at Brno and Sepang. In the second of these, he beat a quartet of RCVs in a straight fight, at which point the M1 had truly arrived. After the slow start to the season, it was no mean feat for the Italian to come through and edge out Tohru Ukawa. At the same time, it was entirely understandable that Biaggi chose to get himself onto an RCV for the future, with the number one plate still his target.

4 Jeremy McWilliams - Proton Team KR
Proving that his determination hasn’t waned with age, Jeremy made full use of his bike’s lively characteristics, despite a significant power deficit. With the two-stroke riders effectively becoming second class citizens this year, there was no reason to expect much from the Proton KR3500, which hadn’t previously matched up to the Hondas and Yamahas in the class. The 2002 version of the machine may have lacked in speed, but it more than made up in its behaviour. 38-year-old veteran McWilliams, in particular, positively thrived on the KR3, and was especially inspired over the second half of the year. If there was one letdown it was that he didn’t seem to crack the art of race starts. Most significantly, his amazing pole in Australia (one of eight starts from the top eight) was instantly lost, but he went on to recover ten places after a further drop from fourteenth to twentieth. It wasn’t the first time, as he’d been running third in the wet in Portugal, before suffering an off. He was able to regain seven places in his fight back, claiming ninth at the flag. A bit more consistency on his new four-stroke could easily make ‘Jezza’ a factor in 2003.

5 Tohru Ukawa - Repsol Honda Team
Having already proved a match for Àlex Crivillé, Tohru was faced with the latest World Champion as his new partner in 2002. The situation in the early rounds meant that the only impediment to his progress came in the shape of team-mate Rossi, such was Honda’s position. With this in mind, Ukawa recorded a first, two seconds and two thirds in the first six races, with two fastest laps. He seemed quite capable of sitting on the Italian’s tail, while the rest were dropping away, and duly wrapped up victory at Welkom when Valentino made a late mistake. However, when the Yamahas caught up to Ukawa’s pace, and he stopped appearing on the front row, it saw him regularly engaged in battles for third and fourth. He finished in one or other position on six further occasions, but never again any higher. There was no doubting Tohru’s pace, but it just didn’t match what Rossi was capable of, and he eventually lost second place overall to the improving Biaggi. In part, this was due to a couple of mistakes from Ukawa, such as the fall in Brazil that lost him any outside chance at the title. On the whole, it was a reasonable but inconclusive season.

6 Daijiro Kato - Fortuna Honda Gresini
Following a dominant display on the 250s in 2001, much was expected of Daijiro in his first year in the bigger class - even that he might prove to be Rossi’s main rival. Although he was by no means a disappointment, Kato was not quite the force that some had envisaged. Practically all riders need adjustment time when they move up and, despite obvious high points, it wasn’t such a major surprise that Daijiro wasn’t a season long front runner. The first sign of his great promise came when he finished second on an NSR Honda in only his third start, although he’d already beaten Checa to fourth a race earlier. There followed a bit of lull, but it was Kato that first received a non-works RCV, in the Czech Republic, and he immediately put it to good use. In the last seven races, Daijiro put his new bike on the front row five times, and the Brno race brought another second place, as well as fastest lap. In Motegi he recorded his first pole position, only to go out with a mechanical problem. Thereafter he remained consistent, but was not quite a true match for the other three RCV pilots, as the bike was extended further by the Barros-Rossi pairing.

7 Loris Capirossi - West Honda Pons
Loris’ credentials were firmly established by finishing third overall with an ‘old’ Honda in 2001, and on the podium nine times. Use of the title-spec NSR500 only saw Loris re-confirm his abilities this season. With seven front row qualifying positions, and all but three of the remainder on row two, he was easily the fastest two-stroke rider. It seems almost inevitable that he would have won races if he’d received the bike a year earlier. Without the RCV, however, Capirossi was pushed more toward the midfield on race days, with rostrum results the exception rather than the rule. After finishing third in South Africa, Loris battled with Ukawa in Spain, ending up fourth, and did a solid job in the next few races. He arrived in Assen placed third overall, ahead of the works Yamahas, and secured another front row start. He went on to run at the tail of the leading group, in seventh, but a bad crash put him out for the next two rounds. On his return there was another run to third, in Motegi, which compared favourably with Barros’ victory on the RCV. By then Capirossi was on his way to Ducati, and there is no doubt that he will be a formidable asset.

8 Carlos Checa - Marlboro Yamaha Team
Carlos’ racing talents were more than evident during 2002, especially in wet conditions, but the good moments still seemed to come in bursts, and not in a sustained flow - and a third career victory remained elusive. Nevertheless, Checa’s early form on the new M1 looked rather more convincing than did Max Biaggi’s, and he followed a rapid run to third in Japan with fifth at Welkom. As Biaggi’s dissatisfaction with the Yamaha lifted, he began to get the better results. The Spaniard scored in the top five a further seven times, but errors cost him more of the same. The British GP saw Carlos lead until two-thirds distance, when Rossi’s pressure caused him to fall. In Portugal, where he recorded his second career pole, Checa was one of the fastest guys as he recovered from a poor start to finish a brilliant second. He could have gone one better in Brazil, where another fumbled getaway inspired a recovery from fifteenth position. He found his way to the front but was a faller once again, just after taking the lead. Fastest lap was scant reward for his efforts, but perhaps his fortunes will change as he becomes the team leader for next season.

9 Norick Abe - Antena 3 Yamaha d’Antin
With the Yamaha being probably the second best 500cc bike, Norick was unlikely to get near the four-stroker riders, and he was duly kept off the first two rows of the grid throughout the season. Despite this handicap, his ever consistent racecraft brought him a hatful of decent scoring finishes, and sixth position in the championship. In fact, Abe necessarily made a feature of moving through the field, and his best form saw him run on the tail of the top three in France. He also came through for fourth in Britain, and this pair of results were his best of the year. There were a further nine top eight placings altogether and, overall, Norick was comfortably ahead of any other YZR500 riders, with almost fifty points more than Olivier Jacque. Abe’s year had started with him coming home as the leading two-stroke rider in Japan, and it ended with a late switch to the M1 Yamaha. Unfortunately, he was immediately ruled out by a practice crash in Australia but, undeterred, he came through for yet more points when he returned for the Valência season-closer. As a test rider for 2003, don’t be surprised if Abe pops up near the front in a race or two.

10 Kenny Roberts - Telefónica MoviStar Suzuki
The Suzuki four-stroke programme was brought forward a year to allow for vital development work to be done in company with the opposition. The GSV-R was therefore not ready to take on Honda or Yamaha, but it provided the team with a platform to build from. Kenny’s performances on the bike were solid, but also decidedly promising at times. He qualified it in the top ten from the outset, with a best of third in the Netherlands, and scored well in a number of rounds. Roberts was Suzuki’s results man in 2002, and was particularly useful in the wet races of Portugal and Brazil. Fourth in Estoril was followed up by an even better run in Río, where he was fastest in warm-up and led the race. His final third place there was one of only two podiums for the bike - the other having gone to Ryo at home in Japan. Altogether, the American had top eight results in eight rounds, and it added up to a respectable ninth in the championship, an improvement over the previous year. If his machine is properly ‘ready’ in 2003, it could mean a return to the front-running ways of Kenny’s 1999-2000 campaigns, which brought him the World Championship.

Other notable performances
Most of the riders in the field had at least fleeting moments of mastery, but Sete Gibernau’s were chief among them. The Spaniard gave Suzuki more than their share of excitement, but was essentially his own worst enemy. He had a number of promising rides, especially in the wet, but had a tendency to run off track, such as when he was placed fourth in South Africa. In Suzuka’s rain he rose from fourteenth to third, where he looked the most menacing member of the lead group, only to fall off with a possible second win in sight.

He was even better in Estoril, where the saturated track allowed him to lead for much of the way, putting in some very fast laps, but once again he lost it when it seemed he had the rest covered. Other moments included qualifying third in Catalunya - but again falling in the race - and in the end he had to be content with sixth in Britain and fourth in the Czech Republic. Both were strong rides, but it seems unlikely that he would have been satisfied, given the chances that slipped away.

Almost certainly the most notable two-stroke outing was provided at the Sachsenring, where Olivier Jacque took the last pole position for a YZR500. The race proved it was no fluke, as he led the field and held at least one fastest lap. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, he was rudely taken out by Alex Barros, with a great win - for one of them, and ahead of Valentino Rossi - only a couple of laps away. Jacque’s team-mate Shinya Nakano converted second on the grid into fifth in the same event. As if that wasn’t enough, the Australian GP saw an all two-stroke front row. In the race, only one of the four riders was able to convert this into a top six finish, but Jürgen van den Goorbergh was only just beaten to fourth place by Daijiro Kato.

John Hopkins made his GP début for the Red Bull Yamaha team, proving he was more than up to the task. The youngster scored points in twelve of sixteen rounds, with a best of seventh, and his speed was underlined by qualifying on the second row three times - the first of these coming in only his sixth race. The Suzuki team were impressed enough to pick him up. Unfortunately, team-mate Garry McCoy had another trying year, interrupted by injury, but his bike started from the first row four times, and the second row twice, in only twelve attempts. Neither WCM rider was blessed with a run on the Yamaha M1.

Amongst the rest were the traditional rapid Japanese wildcards, with Akira Ryo (Suzuki) and Shin’ichi Itoh (Honda) starting the four-stroke era impressively. This pair ran one-two in the early stages at Suzuka, and embarrassed many of the regulars with a two-four finish. Both had further outings, but were not quite so adept away from home ground.

Melandri’s 250cc title; Rossi wins in GP1
 

By Dan Moakes - October 20 2002

With his eighth 250cc win of the season, Italian Marco Melandri won the first Grand Prix title of his career. Meanwhile, an all two-stroke GP1 front row led, once again, to a Honda RCV race for victory.

The 250cc World Championship had boiled down to a two-way race between Melandri and Spaniard Fonsi Nieto, both on Aprilia machinery. It was this pair that took control of the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, leaving their nearest challengers to fight it out for third. Melandri needed only to finish within two points of Nieto to tie up the title, while Fonsi had to make sure of the win.

Nieto duly went in front early on, but with the Italian right on his tail. The following group, comprising Toni Elías, Roberto Rolfo and Sebastian Porto, could not keep up. Indeed, Elías was eventually dropped by the Honda-Yamaha pair, at which point he came under attack from Randy de Puniet. Roberto Locatelli went out of contention when he crashed his Aprilia.

The leading duo continued to increase the pace, and Melandri took the lead from Nieto. But, as the race wound up dramatically, Fonsi made his move. These two managed to swap places on almost every other corner of the final lap, and Nieto was sat right behind as they approached the line. Attempting to draft his way past at the finish, the Spaniard was virtually alongside Marco, but lost out by 0.007s. Porto was third, from Rolfo, Elías and de Puniet.

The main GP1 event started with the unexpected sight of four two-stroke machines on row one, three of which were on Bridgestone tyres. The flowing nature of the Phillip Island course allowed for the Michelin-shod four-stroke race winners to be relegated to the second row, against most expectations. Pole sitter Jeremy McWilliams, on the Proton 3-cylinder, was joined by team-mate Nobuatsu Aoki, third, as well as Garry McCoy, second on a Yamaha, and Jürgen van den Goorbergh’s Honda. For this group, the start would be all important.

Row two saw Alex Barros, Tohru Ukawa, Valentino Rossi and Max Biaggi, in that order, with Loris Capirossi and Daijiro Kato making up the top ten. Régis Laconi was well placed on the Aprilia, next to Kato, with Honda wildcard Shin’ichi Itoh among those on row four. Norick Abe, on an M1 Yamaha for the first time, would not start, due to a spill during practice that left him last on the grid.

Unfortunately for the 500 teams, McWilliams in particular failed to anticipate the lights, and it was the RC211V Hondas that came to the front initially. Barros led from the Repsol bikes of Rossi and Ukawa, with Kato heading the front row mounts of McCoy and Goorbergh. Seventh was Kenny Roberts, in front of a close tussle between Suzuki team-mate Sete Gibernau and Yamaha’s Biaggi, which the Spaniard initially won. Aoki had dropped to tenth, ahead of Capirossi, Laconi, John Hopkins, and McWilliams, who had lost thirteen positions off the line. Behind ‘Jezza’ came Shinya Nakano, Carlos Checa, Olivier Jacque, Andrew Pitt, Itoh, José Luís Cardoso and Tetsuya Harada.

As the first lap was completed, Barros was already putting a bit of gap between himself and Rossi, and Ukawa was now fending off Goorbergh, from McCoy and Kato. This battle for third was where much of the early action was to be seen, with Jürgen passing Tohru and countryman Daijiro also putting on the pressure. This allowed Rossi to move clear, and turn his attention to latest nemesis Barros.

Capirossi was the race’s first retirement, due to front suspension problems, and twelfth placed McWilliams also had an early moment of difficulty. The rapidly progressing Ulsterman, trying to make up for his start, went into one bend too fast, and forced himself off track temporarily. He was faced with a fight back from P20. At the front, Barros and Rossi began trading fastest laps, but it was the Brazilian who was able to stretch out his lead. The remainder of the field began to break up into separate groups.

Still very close were the third to fifth placed riders, with Kato going ahead of Ukawa on the start-finish straight, and a little way behind vd Goorbergh it was McCoy and Roberts together. Eighth was now being disputed by Biaggi, Aoki and Gibernau, and the next runners were in the order Jacque, Checa, Laconi, the advancing Itoh, Nakano, Cardoso and Hopkins. McCoy began to move clear of Roberts, with Gibernau, having lost out to both Biaggi and Aoki, now coming under pressure from Jacque.

As Itoh retired, interest remained centred on the trio of fellow Honda riders going after third place. Both Ukawa and Goorbergh were able to get past Kato in one go and, meanwhile, Aoki’s Proton was getting the better of Biaggi for eighth. As Laconi’s Aprilia became the next bike to withdraw, the race up front began to get very lively, and Rossi soon drew right up onto Barros’ tail. For several laps Valentino attacked the Pons team rider, especially into turn one and the downhill hairpin corner, but always Alex’s smooth late braking kept him in front. At one point, Vale almost backed his bike into the other RCV on the brakes, but somehow he kept things clean.

The riders in places six to ten now came together as one close group, thanks to McCoy’s slowing Red Bull Yamaha. The Australian was quickly pushed to the back of this queue, behind Jacque, whilst Biaggi and Aoki both passed Roberts in the same short period of activity. The reason for McCoy’s difficulty became apparent when he pitted to have his rear Dunlop changed, and dropped a lap behind in the process. Following the now ninth placed Jacque at this stage were Checa, Gibernau and a very fast McWilliams, then Nakano, Hopkins and the place swapping duo of Cardoso and Harada.

Barros maintained his lead from Rossi, who looked to be just holding position, with home rider McCoy now sitting right behind them, although out of contention. Kato was able to quickly pass both Goorbergh and Ukawa for third, whilst Aoki moved his Proton into sixth at the downhill hairpin, only for Biaggi’s M1 to breeze right back past on the straight. A little way down was McWilliams, who backed up his qualifying performance by passing both Gibernau and Checa to run tenth. This form made his poor start look particularly costly.

As the race neared it’s conclusion, with four laps to go, Rossi made his move and took the lead away from Barros. The Brazilian had a small ‘moment’ as he tried to respond, but managed to get back on terms with the champion. An attempt to re-pass saw Alex run too wide, and he had to slot into second again. Action behind was no less exciting, as Ukawa passed Kato into the final lap, and Aoki continued to look for a way past Biaggi.

Barros remained intent on adding a sixth GP win to his CV, and he shaped up for one last late braking attempt to retake the lead. As the pair approached a right-hander, Alex dived onto a very tight inside line. There was no way he could make the corner, and he was forced to run straight into an escape road while Rossi continued on, still shadowed by McCoy. The quick thinking Barros had enough in hand to rejoin in second place, and he duly salvaged that position, while Rossi added his eleventh victory of 2002.

Third went to Ukawa, with Kato grabbing fourth from the impressive van den Goorbergh on the line. Behind this trio came Biaggi and Aoki, with Jacque also making a place on Roberts at the last. McWilliams salvaged tenth place, ahead of Checa and Gibernau, but Hopkins was a late loser having run off the road and had to pick his Yamaha up to continue. These results allowed Ukawa to close to within a point of Biaggi, for second, with one race left to run.

The 125 race began life as a seven way struggle, until second placed Alex de Angelis had to pull out, and Simone Sanna was dropped off the lead pack. Nevertheless, the racing was highly entertaining, with plenty of overtaking to be savoured. Early leader and champion elect Arnaud Vincent was somehow demoted by Lucio Cecchinello, Daniel Pedrosa, Manuel Poggiali and Pablo Nieto. Then Nieto came through from fourth to second, while Pedrosa went the opposite way. The final lap saw Poggiali pass Cecchinello for the win, from Nieto, Vincent and Pedrosa. The result gave Vincent an eight point advantage over Poggiali, down from twenty. Sanna, Jenkner, Azuma, Olivé and Dovisioso completed the top ten.