Pacific Grand Prix Motegi – Sunday October 15th 2000 Races Roberto Locatelli’s world title is number fifteen for the Aprilia factory in the motorcycle world championship. Roberto Locatelli’s Motegi Grand Prix win is number one hundred and eleven for Aprilia. Jeremy McWilliams (Blu Aprilia MS Team– Rsw-2 500) #99 14th fastest : 1’51’’823 “It was a very difficult race, not one I want to remember. We struggled all week-end and we couldn’t get it right for the day. The problem that’s been plaguing us for a while hasn’t gone away and at some tracks we can’t get a set-up. This has been one of them. The Aprilia suits a more flowing circuit. After Tetsuya came past me I tried to go with him but I couldn’t. It was very frustrating for me.” Marco Melandri (Blu Aprilia MS Team - Rsw 250) #35 3rd place. “It took me two laps to get by Ukawa and that was too long. By the time I moved into third, the other two were gone. I pushed hard but the bike wasn’t working as well on a full fuel load as it did during the second part of the race, when the tank was lighter. After that, I managed to keep Jacque behind him. I’m sorry for him but today, I had to run my own race.” Roberto Locatelli (Diesel Vasco Rossi Racing - Rs 125) #4 Winner and World Champion. “I saw Ui’s crash on the video screens. Actually all I saw was a red bike – a Derbi – and for the rest of that lap I was thinking that if someone had to crash, I hoped it would be him. It’s true that I was lucky today, but I feel that makes up for the technical problem I had in Brazil. Anyway, I knew from practice I could be faster than the others here so I had planned to attack from the start and try to get away.” Brazilian Grand Prix Rio – Saturday October 7th 2000 500 & 250 race Tetsuya Harada (Blu Aprilia MS Team – Rsw-2 500) #31 13th place. “I had a chatter problem throughout the race and even though we managed to get the bike turning a little better today, it still wasn’t good enough for me. With my style, it’s hard if the bike isn’t turning well.” Jeremy McWilliams (Blu Aprilia MS Team– Rsw-2 500) #99 Did not finish. “We were unlucky today. The bike was working well and I felt comfortable enough to follow the others and make a go at having a good race and getting a good result. And then I had an engine problem and that was the end of it.” Marco Melandri (Blu Aprilia MS Team - Rsw 250) #35 3rd place. “That was a hectic race! I led into the last lap only to watch the two Hondas go past me on the straight. I tried to come back at them, but by that point my rear tyre was so worn there really wasn’t anything I could do. I’m third again today but this time, I’m really disappointed. But at least we gave the fans a great show today.”
		Valencia Grand Prix Valencia - Sunday September 17th 2000 500 & 250 practice Tetsuya Harada (Blu Aprilia MS Team - Rsw-2 500) #31 Did not finish. "There's really nothing to say. There was a problem with the engine and I had no choice but to retire." Jeremy McWilliams (Blu Aprilia MS Team- Rsw-2 500) #99 Did not finish. "The engine wasn't working properly for the first five laps. There seemed to be something wrong with it. But after that, it started getting better and I was able to go faster. I tried to catch the others and make up the time I'd lost in that early part of the race. I tried as hard as I could, probably too hard, and I crashed!" Marco Melandri (Blu Aprilia MS Team - Rsw 250) #35 3rd place. "I had a slow start to that race because I'd chosen a hard tyre. Ukawa and Battaini passed me but after that, I was able to up my pace. I was behind Ukawa and I tried to take him but he was really fast so I decided it was better to stay behind and try to see which corner it would be best to overtake him in. I did so two laps from the end and then I just closed all the doors I could. This track wasn't perfect for my Aprilia and Brazil should be better. So I'm looking forward to another good result there.
		Czech Republic Grand Prix Brno – Sunday August 20th 2000 500 & 250 races Tetsuya Harada (Blu Aprilia MS Team – Rsw-2 500) #31 14th place. “We had a problem with the set-up today which meant that with a full tank, the bike was very hard to control under braking. The situation improved a little as the race wore on but not that much. It’s too bad.” Jeremy McWilliams (Blu Aprilia MS Team– Rsw-2 500) #99 9th place. “I had a little problem with the engine cutting out sometimes but nothing serious. The bike was as fast as the Suzuki and nearly as fast as the Hondas so that’s encouraging. I got a diabolical start. I still haven’t got the hang of starting with the new injection engine, but it will come. The V4s were holding me up in the corners but then, the bike would stutter a little on the corner exits. But overall I think it’s an impressive result for a first time with the new injection engine. I’m very pleased.” Marco Melandri (Blu Aprilia MS Team - Rsw 250) #35 4th place “I’m happy and disappointed at the same time. I’m disappointed because I was so close to the podium but I didn’t quite manage to get there. I’m happy because today I was able to run with the top guys all race long. I lost ground on Olivier Jacque towards the end when I had to overtake a back-marker with two laps to go. After that, it was impossible to come back. I was worried at the start because of this morning’s crash. I8t happened in a fast corner, when Matsudo crashed in front of me, and in the race I was worried in that corner at every lap.”
		Sachsenring, Sunday July 23rd 2000: German Grand Prix 500 & 250 races Tetsuya Harada (Blu Aprilia Racing - Rsw-2 500) #31 Did not finish. "It seems there was a problem with the engine and that's why I crashed. I'm very disappointed because up until then I was running a good race." Jeremy McWilliams (Blu Aprilia Racing- Rsw-2 500) #99 Did not finish. "I got a bad start and I was pretty angry at myself. I really wanted to get back up there and I guess I just left my braking too late a couple of times. I ended up going wide and everyone got through. I managed to catch up to Checa and the two Red Bull Yamahas and they were holding me up. I could see the leaders in front. The gap wasn't that big between us and them. I was getting angry again behind the Yamahas and I tried too hard. I went off the track and had to throw the bike down because I was heading towards the wall. I've bruised my left arm and a finger on my left hand but apart from that I'm okay. There's no broken bones." Marco Melandri (Blu Aprilia Racing - Rsw 250) #13 Did not finish. "From the very first lap I felt that there was a problem with the front tyre. I was close to crashing on every corner! I had no choice but to pull into the pits. It seems that the tyre was defective, maybe there was a problem with the compound. I'm very disappointed."
		Donington – Sunday July 9th 2000: British Grand Prix 500 & 250 races Jeremy McWilliams (Blu Aprilia Racing– Rsw-2 500) #99 3rd place “Yes I was thinking about the win. In fact, I’ve got to thank Valentino Rossi for being in that position because Kenny Roberts had managed to build up a little gap on me. But when Valentino came past I saw that the grip was actually better than I thought it was. After I took the lead I tried to increase the gap to two seconds, but that number never appeared on my board. I was loosing concentration because I could see on my board that the others were coming back but I couldn’t understand where I was loosing time. It was a fun race but also a very difficult one. I made a mistake on the last lap and that allowed Kenny to come through. But getting a third after starting from the 4th row is a good result. Anybody can win from any position and that shows how competitive this class is right now.” Ralf Waldmann (Aprilia Germany - Rsw 250) #6 1st place “I was very lucky today but that makes up for the bad luck I’ve had recently, and especially at the last race in Holland. This time, the tyre choice was my decision entirely. The team pleaded with me not to go for rain tyres and in the early laps, I was thinking that I had indeed made a stupid tyre choice. But in the end, it turns out I’m a hero for making that choice. There’s really very little between being a fool and being a hero in this sport!” Marco Melandri (Blu Aprilia Racing - Rsw 250) #13 Did not finish “I got caught out by the water. I crashed on the first corner, in a sixth gear corner, it was pretty fast. I’ve bruised my left hand and my backside but apart from that I’m okay. It just wasn’t our day today.”
		Assen, Saturday June 24th 2000: Dutch Grand Prix 500 & 250 races Tetsuya Harada (Blu Aprilia Racing – Rsw-2 500) #31 8th fastest : 2’03’’332 “I started with new tyres that hadn’t been scrubbed in so I had to take things very slowly. It was a difficult week-end for me and I’m very disappointed, but with those tyres there wasn’t much more I could have done.” Jeremy McWilliams (Blu Aprilia Racing– Rsw-2 500) #99 Did not finish. “My bike broke on the first lap. The engine locked up at the end of the straight. The track was pretty dirty out there and there was a lot of debris so maybe my Aprilia sucked some of it up. We don’t know for sure right now but we’ll have to analyse our date and wait until the bike can be taken apart to find out. Because I went out on the first lap, I was not allowed to go out again for the second start.” Marco Melandri (Blu Aprilia Racing - Rsw 250) #13 Did not finish. “The information we were given before the start of the race led us to believe that it would not rain for the next hour so we chose to fit a cut rear slick. It was the only logical thing to do. But when its started to rain, I knew it would be impossible to go on. I was even sliding down the straight. I pulled in and, because it’s rained so much this year, I asked the team to give me rain tyres so I could go out again and get some practice in. My times were good in the rain, but then two laps from the end I went straight at the chicane so I decided to stop there.”
		Gp Catalunya, Sunday June 11th 2000 500 & 250 races Tetsuya Harada (Blu Aprilia Racing – Rsw-2 500) #31 9th place. "I made a wrong rear tyre choice! The bike was sliding everywhere, even under power down the straights. There was nothing more I could do". Jeremy McWilliams (Blu Aprilia Racing– Rsw-2 500) #99 12th place. "The crash broke my rear disc off and left a whole in the lower exhaust pipe. Everybody was crashing where I crashed. Something seemed to be down on the track there. I made a mistake in tyre choice. I chose too soft a tyre, against the advice of my team and Michelin. But for me it was the only way to feel confident. I feel like I would have crashed on the first lap if I hadn’t gone for that soft tyre. After the crash, the bike was only pulling 10 500 rpm. When the leaders came past me I could see that if the bike had been working like normal, I would have been able to stick with them. It was just a bad race, a lottery really. I think we could have won today but we still don’t have much experience with this new bike and the Michelin tyres" Marco Melandri (Blu Aprilia Racing - Rsw 250) #13 6th place. "That was my first race in the wet on the 250 and I have to admit that I was really nervous for the first few laps. But after a while, I managed to find a good rhythm and I feel that I learned a lot during that race. I’m disappointed though because I’m certain that if it had been dry, I could have been fighting for the podium in that race. Instead, I lost out in my battle against Franco Battaini in the final laps. It was a hard race".
		GP Mugello - Sunday May 28th 2000: Italian Grand Prix 500 & 250 races Tetsuya Harada (Blu Aprilia Racing - Rsw-2 500) #31 Did not finish "Today was a disaster for me. I struggled through the race with some sort of tyre problem and then, two laps from the end, the engine just stopped." Jeremy McWilliams (Blu Aprilia Racing- Rsw-2 500) #99 3rd place "This race was important for Aprilia so I'm really happy to have been able to bring them this result. It's been a difficult week-end with a couple of crashes but we ended up figuring out what the problem was and the race was better. This was the first time I was racing the new Aprilia 500 so it was important to do well. It works better into the corners than the old bike and this was really useful here because I had to go into the corners so hard to stay with the V4s. I said at the start of the year we could do this. We're still learning about the bike and I'm still learning about riding a 500 so there's more to come. I'll be on the podium again." Marco Melandri (Blu Aprilia Racing - Rsw 250) #13 4th place "My start was okay and when I starting fighting with the two Hondas, for a while it was easy for me to match them. But afterwards, when Ukawa came past me, he spoilt my rhythm a little and that gave the front runners a chance to get away from us. I'm disappointed to have come so close to the podium only to miss it, but I learned a lot once again today and the gap with the front men keeps on shrinking. That's a good sign."
		Le Mans, Sunday May 14th 2000: French Grand Prix 500 & 250 races Tetsuya Harada (Blu Aprilia Team – Rsw-2 500) #31 10th place. "I lost five or six seconds at the start of the race because of the traffic. It was hard to find a way past at that point. But apart from that, today was better than the last race. My confidence is getting better and better and I believe that Mugello will be a very good race for us. I know the circuit well and I like it". Jeremy McWilliams (Blu Aprilia Team– Rsw-2 500) #99 12th place. “I made a stupid mistake on the first lap. I went into a corner too hard, trying to overtake another rider, and I forgot that I was on a full fuel load. I ended up having to let off the brakes and running off the track. It took me a long time to recover from that but the Aprilia worked well. It was fast and I was able to catch the Repsol Hondas. But after I passed them there was nothing else I could do because my tyres were spinning too much. I think that I could have raced with the guys up ahead if I’d been in amongst them from the start. But it’s really hard to come through the grid in a 500 race.” Marco Melandri (Blu Aprilia Team - Rsw 250) #13 4th place. “I’m very happy because I managed to get a good result despite taking a bad start. I was very nervous before the race, maybe that was why I messed my start up. I used a soft tyre for this race and when it started to slide, I decided it would be too risky to try and stay with the leaders. But I was able to follow them for a long time so that’s good. I’m getting better at every race and now I can begin to think about the podium. I hope it comes for Mugello.”
		Jerez, Sunday April 30th 2000: Spanish Grand Prix 500 & 250 races Tetsuya Harada (Aprilia Grand Prix Racing – Rsw-2 500) #31 11th place “I ran intermediate tyres which left me in all sorts of problems because they never really got any heat in them. But my main problem is that I’ve been using a different bike for the past months so now I’m having to get used to a new one. It’s coming but so far this year, you haven’t seen the real Harada!” Jeremy McWilliams (Aprilia Grand Prix Racing– Rsw-2 500) #99 Did not finish “That was the hardest race of my life! I was trying to do whatever I could to stay with those other guys but it was so much work! When I got down into the low 44s the bike was getting so out of shape it was really difficult to ride. I had a couple warnings the tyres might let go but I guess I just wasn’t going to take no for an answer today. I desperately wanted to finish with Crivillé and McCoy. But then the front tyre just let go. I especially wanted to beat Crivillé. I could hear the crowd cheer as we went past and that only spurred me on to try and beat him.” Ralf Waldmann (Aprilia Germany - Rsw 250) #6 1st place “I’m really happy. Some people said that Ralf Waldmann was too old, that he was finished. But this result is great and it’s my way of thanking Aprilia for all the help with machines and sponsors they have given us since last year. I also want to thank Aprilia racing department director Jan Witteveen for believing in me. Now, we go off to Estoril to do some tests before the French Grand Prix because when IRTA organised the tests there this winter, we were in South Africa.
		GP Japan (Suzuka) Sunday April 9th 2000: Japanese Grand Prix 500 & 250 classes Tetsuya Harada (Aprilia Grand Prix Racing – Rsw-2 500) #31 Did not finish. “Today was my hundredth GP. I hope the next one will bring me better results! I had the usual problems with the tyres and the bike. I knew today would be hard for me, but I hadn’t expected it to be that hard!” Jeremy McWilliams (Aprilia Grand Prix Racing– Rsw-2 500) #99 8th place. “The best way to describe that race is frustrating. I could see the leaders up ahead of me and I knew that without the traffic I would have been able to be up there as well. I tried all I could to pass Barros, but it was impossible. His bike just settles on the brakes a little easier than mine. Still, I’ve finished just over four seconds behind the winner, which would have been a dream a while back. But after being consistently being in the top five all week-end, that’s where I wanted to finish. We didn’t have quite as good a set-up as yesterday. I was getting some chatter that was slowing me down in what was my best section – the T1. But the tyres were consistent.” Marco Melandri (Aprilia Grand Prix Racing – Rsw 250) #13 5th place. “A got a good start and ran the first couple of laps with the leaders. But then, on the third lap, I had a slide in a fourth gear corner and thought it was better to play it safe from then on. I’m very happy because the bike is working well and I’ve never brought so many points back from the overseas GPs. I’m learning all the time. I don’t know when I’ll be able to run with the others, but in Malaysia I ended the race 40 seconds down on the leaders and here I’m only 20s seconds away.”
		Sepang, Sunday April 2nd 2000: Malaysian Grand Prix 500 & 250 & 125 classes Tetsuya Harada (Aprilia Grand Prix Racing – Rsw-2 500) #31 12th place. “We had no time in practice to set the engine and the chassis up properly so the bike was far from perfect today. I had some vibration in my rear tyre as well. I’m just hoping for a better race in Suzuka.’” Jeremy McWilliams (Aprilia Grand Prix Racing– Rsw-2 500) #99 10th place. “The rear tyre was as we expected. It was always going to be hard work from about six laps into the race. I was doing okay until I lost the front a few times. At that point I was about three seconds off the group in front of me but I thought it was better to back off a little. Then the engine got a little hot and that slowed me down some more. But the important thing is that today, two Aprilias finished the 500 race.” Marco Melandri (Aprilia Grand Prix Racing - Rsw 250 ’99) #13 5th place. “ We had a little luck today with Ukawa’s crash but in any case, we couldn’t really hope for a better result. I learned a lot during that race while I was fighting against West. I learned more during that race than during ten practice sessions! Physically I was okay. I just felt a little dehydrated there at the end and I had to open my visor during the final laps to take in some air. But I feel more confident.” Roberto Locatelli (Diesel Vasco Rossi Racing - Rsw 125) #13 1st place. “The Aprilia is perfect as far as the chassis is concerned, but the engine is not quite 100% competitive against the Hondas. Because of this situation, I’m very happy with my race because I was fast through the corners but loosing time on the straights. I was careful to save the tyres during the race so I slowed a little mid way. Then, at the end, I was able to catch Ui.”
		Welkom, Sunday March 19th 2000: South African Grand Prix 500 & 250 classes Tetsuya Harada (Aprilia Grand Prix Racing – Rsw-2 500) #31 Did not finish. “I had to stop on the third lap, there was nothing else I could do! The bike was simply unrideable. The front was sliding so much it was tucking under in every single turn. I’m very disappointed." Jeremy McWilliams (Aprilia Grand Prix Racing– Rsw-2 500) #99 Did not finish. “I had no choice but to pull in. Staying out there would have meant taking way too many risks. I was close to crashing in three different places in every corner, on the entry, in the middle of the corner and on the exit to the corner! I’m very disappointed because we had a good shot at getting a good result here after taking a spot on the second row in practice. I think that the team and I really deserved a better result.” Marco Melandri (Aprilia Grand Prix Racing - Rsw 250 ’99) #13 13th place “I got a good start but from about the second lap, my rear tyre started sliding badly. I really don’t understand what happened. This is a tyre which we endurance tested this morning, during the warm-up. I did twenty laps on it without a problem. But in the race, it was bad, especially in the left-hand corners. I’m disappointed with this result of course, but I prefer to finish than to make a mistake and crash. For sure, I couldn’t win today, but I had hoped to finish closer to the leaders. Someone asked me if finishing 13th when you have the number 13 is a good omen. I don’t think so… look at Nakano, he has the number 56!”