Rain shows up at the first practices of the season.
Rossi sets the pace in MotoGP, Pedrosa second in 125 GP, and different luck for the rest of the Repsol riders in their respective categories
The 2003 Motorcycle World Championship has started officially today at the Japanese Circuit of Suzuka. The weather conditions, always unstable at the Asian country, were the protagonists of this first day. At mid-qualifying session of the 125 GP, the rain showed up, just when Dani Pedrosa was being second behind the rider of the Republic of San Marino Alex de Angelis. The session finished with Pedrosa second, Héctor Barberá ninth and Pablo Nieto eleventh.In the premier category, the free practices of the morning had a negative side given Marco Melandri’s heavy crash. The 2002 World Champion of the 250GP suffered a crash in a fast section of the circuit, fracturing the femur and ankel of his right leg, as well as his nose. With regard to the sporting aspect, the timed session was marked by intermittent rain, that interrupted the normal development of the session. Valentino Rossi started the season with a firm step, taking the provisional pole on a quite complicated day. His team-mate Nicky Hayden finished twenty-third, after suffering a light crash during the free practice in the morning.
In 250 GP, the rain played a nasty trick on some of the riders, including Toni Elias. At the beginning of the timed session, the track had some dry and some wet areas. Toni Elias, who had started with slick tyres, was surprised by the rain during his fast lap and decided to get back to his pit since he considered it to be a too dangerous situation. His team-mate Fonsi Nieto, who decided to mount mixed tyres, used those initial moments to make his fastest lap, as did other riders. And the final result of this disordered situation was the ninth fastest time for Fonsi Nieto, and his team-mate not qualifying after making a time eleven seconds slower than the best time, made by the local rider and ‘wild card’ Hiroshi Aoyama.
Something similar happened to Joan Olivé and his team-mate Héctor Faubel. While Faubel managed to make the eighteenth fastest time in his fourth lap, Olivé is out of the minimum qualifying time, just behind Elias. Elias, Olivé and other five riders, including Manuel Poggiali, will have to wait fot tomorrow’s session in order to qualify for the Grand Prix of Japan. Sebastián Porto, the YPF rider who was riding for the first time in the class with his Honda RSW 250cc, made the sixth fastest time after showing a constant evolution throughout the first day of practices.
