Yamaha braces for tough battle against Honda
Yamaha braces for tough battle against Honda
JAKARTA (JP): The Marlboro Indonesia Grand Prix at the Sentul circuit from Friday to Sunday, will once again represent a classic rivalry between the motorcycle giants Yamaha and Honda.
Honda has a slender edge after Italy's Luca Cadalora won the 500cc season opener in Shah Alam, Malaysia, last Sunday, but Yamaha can exact sweet revenge if Loris Capriosi, Norifumi Abe and Jean-Michael Bayle are on top form.
"We look forward to doing our job well this time, even though Honda is very tough," Yamaha Roberts Team manager Kenny Roberts said yesterday.
The former three-times world champion said that the two companies have developed the same standard of technology.
"Winning the race is a matter of finding the right combination very early in order to make the riders feel comfortable with their bikes," he said.
Roberts will bank on the 20-year-old Abe and the former world motorcross champion Bayle in the 500cc race. The team will miss Kenny Roberts Jnr who is taking a four-week rest after he broke his ankle just before the Malaysian GP.
Roberts junior is expected to return to the track for the Japanese GP on May 20.
Honda swept the top three placings in the 500cc race in Shah Alam, with Cadalora finishing first, Brazil's Alexandre Barros second and Australian defending champion Michael Doohan third.
The three seasoned riders will again lead Honda's challenge at Sentul.
The 3.964-kilometer circuit, situated near Bogor, West Java, is hosting a world championship for the first time, but Roberts said he did not anticipate problems with the new track.
Capriosi, who will don the Yamaha Rainey Team's racing suit, agreed with Roberts. "I do not find it as difficult to handle the Sentul track as some of the other ones," he said.
"It will be an important race for me and the rest of series this season," Capriosi said. However, the former world 125cc champion, who will celebrate his 23rd birthday today, set a modest target of just finishing the race.
Capriosi crashed out of the Malaysian GP after only nine laps. (amd)