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| |  Sunday, 2 June, 2002, 19:34 GMT 20:34 UK McWilliams: Tyres must be improved McWilliams is not hopeful for his next race BBC Sport Online columnist Jeremy McWilliams looks back on another difficult day after his retirement in the Italian MotoGP I'm getting tired of saying this but we had another difficult day in Sunday's race at Mugello. The bottom line is that the Bridgestone tyres are not doing the job for the team at the moment. After a few promising signs in France last time out, we opted for a slightly harder tyre for the race this weekend but it proved to be a mistake. The tyres were cutting up badly after about eight laps and with huge pressure being put on the bike, it was inevitable that something terminal would happen before the end of the race. As it turned out, the crankshaft failed with four laps to go and that was that.
The race became a huge struggle once the tyre problem kicked in. It required massive effort not to fall off the bike at each part of the corners and to be honest, I think it's remarkable I went as far as I did in the race. When I did retire with four laps to go I was in 12th place and looking like I might scrape a few points but it was not to be. The heat obviously wasn't helping the situation with the air temperature around 33 degrees and the track boiling up to near the 50 degree mark. On reflection a medium tyre would have represented a better bet for the race but I think even then, it would have been touch and go whether I would have finished. Rossi won his fourth race in five starts this season but there is no point is getting too preoccupied by what the top guys with their four-stroke machines are doing at the moment.
Our only focus should be on getting the bike to race distance which we are singularly failing to do at present. In the short term, which means the next race in Barcelona, things may not get much better. Barcelona is very much a speed circuit and it's doubtful whether we are going to be able to compete any better there. Funnily enough, I was delighted with the time in my qualifying session which would have been good enough for second place on the grid last year. But a year on, I was only 12th quickest which shows how much things have changed this season. I suppose I have to try and maintain a bit of optimism and Assen in four weeks should, on the face of it, suit our bike a bit better. Mobile off Obviously, the tyre situation is going to have to be rectified very quickly. The team held some fairly frank discussions after the race and Bridgestone have assured us that they will have better tyres for Barcelona. All we can do it take them at their word. In the meantime, the mobile phone is going to be switched off for the next three or four days. After this weekend, I think I've earned three or four days with my feet up on the Italian coast not far from Mugello. I'll talk to you ahead of Barcelona. | | See also:  02 Jun 02 | N Ireland 01 Jun 02 | N Ireland 29 May 02 | Motorbikes Top Motorbikes stories now: Links to more Motorbikes stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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