2001 Grand Prix 500 - Round 13 - Twin Ring Motegi

Frustrated and a little angry, Red Bull Yamaha rider Garry McCoy believes he has been forced to concede defeat even before the start of tomorrow's Pacific 500cc Grand Prix at Motegi.

McCoy has blamed a lack of suitable tyre choices for his uncompetitive lap times at the 4.8km Motegi track and he will start a distant 13th, on the fourth row of the grid, with a qualifying time almost two seconds off the pace. Loris Capirossi (Italy, Honda), Max Biaggi (Italy, Yamaha), Alex Barros (Brazil, Honda) and world championship leader Valentino Rossi (Italy, Honda) form the front row of the grid. A lack of rear tyre grip has ambushed McCoy and race engineer Hamish Jamieson who have "thrown everything" at their factory Yamaha in a bid to find a solution.

Even a burst of sun generating warmer track temperatures in final qualifying failed to assist McCoy's predicament. McCoy feels a range of harder compound tyres supplied to all factory teams by Michelin for Motegi puts him at a disadvantage.

"I'm a little angry about the tyre situation, I've got no real chance in the race, the compounds available here are just too hard for me and I just cannot get any rear grip," McCoy said.

"The disappointing part is that I got the 16.5-inch Michelin tyre back winning races and now the development seems to head in the direction of suiting all the other riders."

Until McCoy rose to prominence with three GP victories in 2000 exclusively using the Michelin 16.5-inch rear tyre this rubber had been almost totally ignored by all factory riders for almost a decade including five time world champion Mick Doohan.

In the record breaking 2001 season the 16.5 inch tyre has dominated with all riders following McCoy's lead in using the tyre. "I've got to be lucky with the weather even to get a pick of two, maybe three suitable tyres whereas most of the others have up to four or five different tyres that can work for them.

"I know the championship is over for me this year but I still want to have a chance of winning races and it would nice if Michelin could just bring some softer compounds along for me."

And while world championship leader and Honda star Valentino Rossi is a regular user of harder compound tyres the Italian is also concerned about the Michelin allocation for Motegi. "I lost a lot of time trying times that didn't work well here," Rossi said. "Only when I put a tyre in that I have used many times this season was I able to find acceptable grip."

McCoy's spectacular speedway sliding style and unique suspension set-up is now famous for allowing the use of higher-grip, softer tyres which the lightweight Sydney can make last a full race distance. Red Bull Yamaha race engineer Hamish Jamieson tried every imaginable solution to try to find a set-up that would generate more grip for McCoy at Motegi. "We threw everything at the bike, three different rim sizes, shock absorber settings and ride heights but we don't have an answer with these harder compounds tyres," McCoy added. McCoy's time of 1m 51.63s for 13th on the grid was 1.8s slower than pole position set by Honda rider Loris Capirossi.

Anthony West qualified the fastest of the V-Twin riders after clocking a 1m52.259s lap around the 4.8km circuit. He set the time in today's second and final qualifying session, held in dry conditions, and will start the 13th round of the championship from 18th position on the fifth row of the grid.

However, in yesterday's rain-affected opening practice session the 20-year-old from the Gold Coast was eighth quickest, after being second at one stage. It was the first time he had finished in the top 10 in a practice or qualifying session in his debut 500cc season.

West has made two previous grand prix starts at Motegi, in the 250cc world championship, finishing 10th in 1999 and sixth the following year. He previously made his racing debut on the circuit in 1998 when riding for the Japanese-based Moriwaki team.

Westy - "My best hope is if it rains. Yesterday (in practice) the bike was going really well in the wet. The weather has been dry since then, but this track is near mountains and forests so it won't be a surprise if it rains again. It's a strange track. It's grippy when it's wet, and in the dry also. We had some carburettor problems yesterday, but it's much better now and the bike is easier to ride. I'm still having a little trouble with wheelspin when I stand it up out of the corners, but nothing like yesterday. The big change is the bike is running sweetly and pulling well, with good throttle response. After this morning's session we tried to get a bit more grip, with suspension changes and that worked. The main thing is the engine is running better, and that makes riding it easier, and I can concentrate on set-up and lap times. I really tried to out-qualify (Jose-Luis) Cardoso's Yamaha, but I couldn't quite make it. This is a stop-and-go track with drag strip straights. It shouldn't really suit the V-Twins, but I've been pleasantly surprised. I thought we'd be way behind the four-cylinder bikes, but we're not far off some of the factory guys. I'm aiming to be the top two-cylinder in the race, and maybe beat a couple of the V4s as well. If it's wet I think we can do even better because we can get the power down better."

Pole-sitter Capirossi had this to say - "We've been working hard all week after a bad time in Valencia," said Capirossi. "We changed the system a little bit and the bike has been working really well. This morning we ran on a race tyre but tried some different compounds this afternoon and in the last ten minutes I was able to set a really good time. Tomorrow will be difficult because the track is a lot more slippery than last year but hopefully we will see a good race."

A mid-session crash meant that Kenny Roberts was unable to improve on his best effort from yesterday, although his provisional pole time was good enough to seal a final grid position of sixth. Roberts will start behind highest placed home rider Nakano in fifth and one place ahead of Suzuki team-mate Gibernau in seventh. The second row is a two-team affair, with Nakano's colleague Jacque lining up in eighth spot. Japanese riders Ukawa, Haga and Abe qualified in ninth, fifteenth and sixteenth respectively whilst Suzuki wildcard rider Kagayama will start from fourteenth.