2001 British Motorcycle Grand Prix, Donington Park

Everyone remembers the 500cc race at the British Motorcycle Grand Prix in 2000. Valentino Rossi’s first premier-class victory, Jeremy McWilliams in third place and the riders smoking their knackered wet tyres on a dry Donington Park track. It was incredible. Unfortunately for me, that wasn’t my first MotoGP race. Mine was the following year, 2001.

I’d started following the 500cc GPs when Channel 5 picked up the TV rights in the UK. I think it was 2000, so Rossi’s first season. I can recall watching one race and him crashing quite early on, it might have been the South African GP. I’d been to a few bike races with my Dad by 2001, but all either British or World Superbike rounds. The GPs back then didn’t have a huge following in Britain – I read recently that the 2000 British GP only saw 17,000 show up to Donington!

I’m guessing based on that memorable race in 2000 that 2001 saw a bigger crowd. My old photos seem to suggest that at least, with the track invasion afterwards!

Rossi vs. Biaggi at the front

Going into the 2001 British GP, Valentino Rossi was already well on the way to his maiden premier class title. He’d won four of the first seven races to nearest rival Max Biaggi’s two. Alex Barros had won the other race, at Mugello. Rossi’s championship lead prior to Donington was 21 points from Biaggi following a rain-shortened race at Assen which Biaggi had won with Rossi second.

The rivalry between the two Italians was already well established. The notorious incidents of Suzuka at the start of the year, where Biaggi put Rossi in the dirt, after which Valentino responded with his own block pass and middle finger, set the scene for the season.

With his first 500cc victory having come at Donington a year previously, there was surely little doubt Rossi was the favourite to win again. Biaggi had taken pole though, with Rossi way down in 11th. While looking like a tough ask, Rossi came through in the race to snatch the win from Biaggi. The two Italians taking a 1-2 finish like most of the year, with Barros on the Pons Honda in third. Rossi’s second win in a row at Donington did his status in Britain no harm at all. The wave of Rossi-mania was gathering pace.

Slim pickings for the Brits in 2001

British interests in the main class for 2001 were somewhat diminished from the previous year as Jeremy McWilliams had dropped down to 250cc. Chris Walker and a young Leon Haslam had been paired up on the Shell Advance Hondas. Jason Vincent rode the WCM Red Bull Yamaha at Donington, a replacement for Garry McCoy and teammate to Nori Haga. All three would see the chequered flag, with Vincent the highest in 13th, his only 500cc points finish. Walker meanwhile, in what would prove to be his last race for the Shell Advance team, brought the Honda home in 15th scoring the final point. Haslam, having turned 18 only two months previously, was 17th, and he would take over Walker’s NSR500 for the rest of the year.

I was a big fan of that Shell Advance livery, and I remember having a t-shirt with the bike on it. That red/yellow/white livery looked mega. I recall wanting Walker and Haslam to do well. This was especially true for Walker after the heartbreak of finishing runner-up in the 2000 BSB season. But the bar was set far too high, and in a Britain starved of premier-class success (McWilliams’ heroics notwithstanding) there was too much expectation set on their shoulders. It’d be a familiar trend through the next decade, with Hodgson, Byrne, Toseland and Chaz Davies all treading a similar path.

My memories of the 2001 British GP

As a 10 year old, I’ll be honest in that I don’t remember much of the day! It’s clear my interest in motorsport photography started at a young age though. I have five photos from the day which I’ve scanned and shared below. I particularly like the one of Rossi with the Italian flag and people wandering round everywhere. Different times!

As was the tradition, my dad would always get me one of the printed t-shirts at each race we went to. You know the ones – the cheapish Fruit of the Loom tops with a big design on the front and the season calendar on the back. I bet it was the Shell Advance one I mentioned earlier. Almost every photo of me from the age of 9 to 14 has one of those in it. I had a drawer full of them.

What I always find remarkable about races years ago, compared to the modern era, is how much more ‘polished’ things are now. People ran onto the track at the end of races, the toilets and facilities were truly awful and there was no ‘image’ or ‘show’. It was a motorcycle race, and you either turned up and enjoyed it, or didn’t. There was no try-hard antics from the organisers. All of my early experiences of races were bike events, so I can’t compare to what F1 and other car categories were like at the time. But looking through old videos, it’s clear that both bike and car championships are a lot more refined now. Is that good or bad? Hard to say for sure. I don’t remember much of the 2001 British Motorcycle Grand Prix, so I’ll leave you to make your own mind up about that!