Grand Prix 2000 - Round 16 - Australian

1st - Max Biaggi - “That was a real race, win or lose, it was so exciting, I got a not-so-bad start and everyone was fighting from the first turn. One lap you could cross the line in the lead, then next time fourth or fifth; the fast straight here means that it’s easy to use the slipstream, so there was a lot of passing. There was also a lot of touching - I touched Barros and Capirossi, and many times with McCoy. Near the finish it was just the three of us - me, Capirossi and Rossi. Capirossi was very strong but it was my day. My thanks to the team and I’m happy Yamaha have won the constructors’ title. It’s important because we race for the factory but next time I want the riders’ crown too. This race will give us a lot of enthusiasm for winter testing.”

2nd - Loris Capirossi - "My bike set-up was very good today, so my tyres worked well all the way to the finish," said Capirossi. "I fought as hard as I could, but in the end Max just got it. I've enjoyed this season, my comeback to 500s, but I had a few too many injuries to challenge for the title."

3rd - Valentino Rossi - "Max and Loris were fighting very hard, so my plan was to attack on the last lap but I didn't see the last-lap board!" he said. "Anyway, I'm second overall in my first 500 year, I won two races and got more podiums than anyone else, so I'm happy."

5th - Garry McCoy - “Unfortunately I couldn’t give the crowd what they wanted, a win today, but I did the best I could. It was a tough race for me and towards the end I didn’t want to risk everything with a desperate move and go down and not score any points at all. I nearly high-sided early in the race trying to pass Regis and that slapped me around a bit - my legs were flapping around and that’s what broke the fairing on the bike. I got up to third at one stage but selected neutral and Jeremy McWilliams got past me and it was hard getting back in front of him because I had the speed on the straights and his twin had more mid-corner speed. And then, towards the end, the front guys were just out of reach. It would have needed some desperate stuff to win and I was really struggling with my rear tyre. “Today I just wanted to score as many points as possible. I am happy with the season overall with three wins. I started out wanting to be in the top five and I’m fifth so I can’t be too disappointed with that. I’m really
looking forward to next year as we made some mistakes this year and that won’t happen again.”

6th - Norick Abe - “I made a good start but encountered the same problem I’ve had in several races: While I’m concentrating on trying to pass a rider, another rider passes me,” said Abe. “This has been a continuing problem for the past few races. I feel my riding has been good all season, but my results haven’t. I aim to win in Suzuka next year for a good start to the season.”

7th - Kenny Roberts - "I'd been getting speed down the straight by drifting while I was shifting up out of the last corner. My biggest problem came with three laps to go, when I tried to out-brake Garry McCoy and I got into the hairpin too hot. Until that point I was in the leading group, still in touch, and aiming for the podium - but that lost me too much time. I made some mistakes at critical times, and that cost us a podium finish."

8th - Jeremy McWilliams - "I had a really bad chatter problem. Unfortunately, we just didn't put together enough laps at race pace yesterday and the tyre choice turned out not to be good. I was having big problems on the brakes because of chatter. I don't really know why we had that problem. Everything else was fine. The bike had great speed. So I'm very disappointed."

9th - Tadayuki Okada - "The first part of the race wasn't too bad. I had a little chatter on the right hand turns but the set-up of the bike still felt the best it's been all week-end. We just didn't have enough time to find the right set-up for this race. At the end of the race, I was getting big slides on the left handers and by then, there was nothing I could do to stay with the leaders. I think our suspension set-up wasn't right".

10th - Nobuatsu Aoki - "We made a lot of changes from practice, but it was wet in the morning so I couldn't test them. There was nothing to do in the race but open the throttle and hope. One change was a different rear suspension link, and I think that helped the feeling for me. For the first two thirds of the race everything seemed okay - then I found neutral instead of second gear several times at Siberia corner, and that cost me a few tenths every time. The backshift seemed to be sticky as well, and in the last third of the race I lost touch with the front group."

11th - Regis Laconi - “I made a great start and knew I was on the pace straight away. Whenever another rider passed me I could come back past them almost anywhere on the circuit. Then on lap 19, on brakes into the hairpin, I touched Capirossi from behind and went off the track. That was the race for me. It is very hard to swallow this result as I honestly believe I could have won.”

DNF - Mark Willis - "The problem was running out of power halfway down the straight, at the point where the engine was demanding more fuel than the system could deliver. It was okay round the rest of the track, but there really wasn't any point in continuing. I might as well have been going backwards. It was really disappointing. This was a track that should have suited the bike really well, and that I knew really well. First I had a problem with my shoulder injury - then the bike stopped. That's racing."

DNF - Sete Gibernau - "I didn't have a good start. I lost contact with the front guys pretty quickly but after a while, I started to come back towards them a little. I was behind Aoki and everything seemed to be going well. But then my bike started sliding a lot. I could see I was sliding more than the other guys. Towards the end of the race, the rear started chattering badly and I nearly crashed twice. That's when I thought it safer to pull in. It's a shame because I thought I could get a good result".

DNF - Alex Criville - "I crashed in that downhill part of the track. I was behind Sete and Tady and I lost the front. I'm very disappointed. This is obviously not the way I would have liked to end my season. I felt good this week-end and I was hopeful of a good result. I was very focused on that at the start of the race. Now the season is over, I was to concentrate on this winter's testing program. We'll be staying here and testing on Tuesday and Wednesday, then we'll do some more tests in November. After that, I hope to be able to have a long rest because I want to be in top shape for 2001, when I intend to be back up there fighting for the title".

DNF - Carlos Checa - “I wasn’t going into the turn fast - slower than normal, in fact, because it was the first lap, but as soon as I got off the brakes, the front went. I kept the clutch in and the engine running and got going again to pass as many people as I could. Then the same thing happened, the front went when I released the brake into turn one.”