- Valentino Rossi - 1st - "This is
the first time I ever had any luck at Suzuka, now I finally had some
good luck and my thanks to Honda and my team. I've only won three GPs
for Honda but now I will be in the history books! "I got a
good start but after a few laps I felt pretty tired, so I just kept
pushing. I had a big fight with Nori (Haga, Yamaha), Alex (Barros,
West Honda Pons) and Max and then finally I had the track to myself. I
found it hard to pull away but suddenly I saw I had 3.5 seconds on
everyone. I had a few scary moments touching other riders, including
one time when I went on the grass! The 500 class is so tough now, no
one wants you to overtake, especially guys like Haga, Barros and
Biaggi. As soon as they see you, they let their brakes off!"
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- Garry McCoy - 2nd - “I think I just left it all a little too late, I knew this wasn’t a track where you could really make a break and pull away so I opted to sit back and settle into a rhythm. When I started seeing everyone else moving around I felt it was time to make my move and went after Rossi. I felt comfortable, and I could see I was catching him, but I just couldn’t do it in the time I’d left myself.”
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- Max Biaggi - 3rd - “I’m glad to have finished this race, it was hard racing out there and no one wanted to give anything. There were many different lines out there, and plenty of contact going on, so I’m more than happy with third. “For the past two years I have not scored points at the first GP. It’s been on my mind that I must finish the first two races without injury. Since it was the first race of the year, and the last race here at Suzuka for a two-stroke only GP, there was a great deal of pressure.”
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- Norick Abe - 4th - “It has been a very difficult weekend and I’m not too happy because my goal was to win, you can be fast in qualifying but the important
issue is to be fast in the race. For me it was rear grip problems making it difficult to overtake.”
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- Shinya Nakano - 5th - “The start was good today, but I did play it safe and let Biaggi through to second. For the first half of the race my bike was perfect, but after that my front tyre started to feel tired and I settled for fifth place, we’ll have to get used to racing with harder compound tyres in the future, but I’m very happy with our debut.”
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- Kenny Roberts - 7th - "I had some sort of a vibration problem from the warm-up lap - I asked the guys to check to see if the tyres were out of round on the start line, but that wasn't it. I guess some of the other guys also had chatter problems. We also have a problem of a lack of development to the motorcycle. In spite of a lot of hard work, we need to keep working to improve. Adding it all up, I got lucky. I should have done worse, but other people falling off gave us places."
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- Alex Criville - 9th - “I started well, but at the end of the main straight, I had to hit the rear brake, and several other riders got past me. I overtook Gibernau in the following lap, and when I found myself riding behind Checa, I upped the pace a bit in order to stay with him and the group in front of me, and I ran off the track. I managed to hold on and stay upright, but obviously I dropped far back. From this moment on, all I could do was to maintain a consistent pace and pass other riders, which finally rewarded me with ninth position. The result isn’t good, but at least I’m leaving this Grand Prix with confidence, and it is clear to me that this was only the beginning.”
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- Carlos Checa - 10th - “We’ve had some issues this weekend, namely the fever I had during the first two days, after I had dealt with Kenny Roberts I had my sights set on Barros. I tried to make up time in other areas of the track because the bike didn’t feel quite right in the chicane, but as it ended up I lost the front anyway. I think we can hope to do much better at Welkom.”
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- Jurgen Van Den Goorbergh - 11th -
"It went more or less as expected, and the points are very welcome.
We were at a disadvantage all weekend, with just four hours of practice to get the bike set up, where the others already had three days. We had a reasonable set-up, but the standard of 500 racing is so high now that you need a good set-up to get a good result. The best part was how I was able to stay with Alex's Honda until I lost his draft. Until then I could stay with him on the straight. Then I was alone again, and the lap times were not so good. The most important thing was to finish and get some points. I'm really looking forward to the next round in South Africa. We will start off more equal, because nobody has tested there - and the track should suit us well."
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- Tohru Ukawa - DNF - “Fortunately, I didn’t break any bones, I’m just bashed and bruised all over my body and my left ankle is hurting. Today was a great day for Honda, because they could celebrate their 500th victory in Grand Prix racing at their home event. Today was my first race in the 500 class, and I realised quickly that it has nothing to do with 250 racing. In the 250’s, there were only four or five riders able to fight for victory, but in the 500 class, there are many more competitive riders. I had a lot of fun during the race today, and I did the fastest lap just before I went down. I thought I
could make the break and get away from this group, but then I crashed. That’s racing, but I will be perfectly okay for the South African Grand Prix.”
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- Sete Gibernau - DNF - "The first laps were chaos, and without the horsepower I was having trouble passing people. Then I started to push the front and rear tyres real bad. Without more development, the bike wasn't ready to race with the leading group, and I understood that and decided to follow Kenny and go for a finish. Then I kept making the same mistake out of the chicane, taking neutral instead of second gear, which was losing me almost a second every time. That really upset my
rhythm, and I was trying too hard to make up the time again each lap. That's why I ran off at another point on the track."
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- Olivier Jacque - DNF - “I got a good start, but the idea of being surrounded by others, especially into the first corner was pretty stressful. For the first few laps I spent more time looking behind me before I realised I was strong enough to rider harder. But after eight laps my wrist support started to bother me, so I
pulled in.”
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- Noriyuki Haga - DNF - “I’m disappointed. I did the best with what I had on the day but when I hit the white line there was nothing I could do to save it.”
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- Jean-Luis Cardoso - DNF - “I had made a good start and was getting settled in when suddenly a bike hit me as I went into the chicane and I crashed. That’s racing and these things can happen, but I hope not to me, again.”
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