Team West Honda Pons riders Loris Capirossi and Alex Barros are
both looking forward to the start of the MotoGP season after
initial tests on their new evolution Honda NSR500 machines and are
confident of success despite the imminent arrival of the big bore
four strokes. The privateer squad are used to battling against the
odds and will this year face their biggest challenge ever as they
take on the new factory machines, but the 'Team of the Year' from
2001 believe that they will be ready to spring a few surprises once
the season gets underway in Suzuka on April 7.
'The NSR500 that I am riding this year has been significantly
improved and has great potential,' said Capirossi, who was in
impressive form in Sepang last month, where he bettered his
qualifying time from the Malaysian Grand Prix in October. 'I think
it will push the RC211V in the corners and I also believe that the
reliability of the fully matured machine might well prove to be its
greatest asset. At any rate, once the season opens, all I can do is
race to the best of my abilities and I'm sure we will be at the
front again.'
Despite his early optimism, the gritty Capirossi is realistic that
the 500 machines face a difficult challenge in the MotoGP World
Championship this year. 'There has never been an easy season in 500
racing, but I believe the MotoGP class this year will be even
tougher. The new Honda four-stroke is running tremendously fast and
will be very difficult to beat.'
Barros agreed with his Italian team-mate: 'At the beginning of this
year, the race situation will be completely different with
four-stroke RC211V and two-stroke NSR500 running in the same
races,' said the Brazilian. 'To be honest, I don't know what the
season will be like. However, one thing that is certain is the fact
that RC211V has clocked pretty good lap times during the tests and
so undoubtedly it will prove to be a powerful rival for me. At any
rate, I can hardly wait for the opening round as when we will be
able to see more clearly how this year's battle between two-strokes
and four-strokes is going to be. I already feel excited just
thinking about it.'
They must be crazy...Dun they know that 4strokes
rulessssss...HAHAHA
------------------
4Stokes rules the world.....Mess with best and die like the
rest....................This is a computer generated letter,no
signature is required.