MotoGP 2002 - Round 16 - Valencia

Jeremy McWilliams: Eighth
Nobuatsu Aoki: Crash, did not finish
David Garcia: Retired

Proton Team KR rider Jeremy McWilliams claimed his seventh top ten finish of the season at today’s Valencia GP, and narrowly missed being top two-stroke after a bitter struggle in the last laps with sliding tyres and four-cylinder two-stroke Honda rider Jurgen van den Goorbergh.

Team-mate Nobuatsu Aoki was denied his chance of claiming his eighth top ten finish of the year when he was knocked flying on only the second of 30 laps of the 4.005km Ricardo Tormo circuit outside Valencia. He was circulating with McWilliams at the time after a good start.

Close behind, wild card entry David Garcia avoided the melee and was running strongly in the championship points when an arm-pump problem struck on the 14th lap. Unable to operate the controls properly or ride safely the 24-year-old Spaniard was forced to retire.

Today’s race, watched by a crowd of 120,000 Spanish fans, was the last in this season’s new MotoGP championship, which opened the premier racing class to a new generation of powerful 990cc four-strokes, up against 500cc two-strokes like the lightweight three-cylinder Proton KR3.

It was also the last race for the KR3, after the machine’s best ever season in six years of development. Nobuatsu Aoki’s non-finish meant that he lost 11th place overall by just five points, but 12th was still the machine’s best position yet, while McWilliams claimed the KR3’s first pole position and several fastest-ever two-stroke laps during the year.

Next season, Proton Team KR return with the same outstanding pair of riders and an all-new 990cc four-stroke of their own … and exciting V5 design that is already nearing completion for bench and track testing before the end of the year.

JEREMY McWILLIAMS: That was as hard as I can push, but I lost so much traction in the last couple of laps that I had to back off, otherwise I would probably not have finished. As a result, I lost the top two-stroke position, which was disappointing. But I was having major chatter problems, and on the few fast corners where I had really been making up a lot of time I had to slow down and just ride around. It’s still encouraging to finish in the top ten, on tyres that raced for the first time in this class at the beginning of the year, and on a bike with a top speed deficit of 25km/h or so.

NOBUATSU AOKI: Not much to say. I got a good start and I was right with Jeremy at the start of the second lap when I felt a huge bang from behind and I was crashing in the gravel. Regis Laconi’s Aprilia ran into me, and I didn’t have a chance. What a pity.

DAVID GARCIA: I am so disappointed. I really wanted to finish. I got a good start – my first racing start on this bike, and I was behind the other two Protons at first. Later I was able to repass Harada and Pitt on the Kawasaki, and I was looking ahead to catch and pass Hopkins when my left arm seized up. I had the problem a little in the 250 GP I raced at Brno, and a little in races since then – but today it was impossible to ride. I will have medical tests in two days to see if I need surgery.

CHUCK AKSLAND – Team Manager: Jeremy really rode hard today. Unfortunately Nobu was knocked off and didn’t have a chance, then David ran into the arm problem. We still got one top ten finish in the bike’s last race. I’d like to thank all the staff who helped with this project. There’s been a lot of work over the past five years to get it here for this final year, with a lot of people involved. Now it’s time to look forward to our new project, and dedicate ourselves to that.