Preview - Africa's Grand Prix.

The MotoGP community will compete in the Africa's Grand Prix on Sunday to honour the memory of the one of their favourite sons, Daijiro Kato, who passed away last Saturday following his accident at the Japanese Grand Prix.

As such, the second round of the 2003 Championship will be a sad occasion for the close knit GP circus - and the wider motorcycling world - whose thoughts will be of the former 250cc World Champion, who won the 2001 race at Welkom (pictured).

Meetings between riders and officials are expected to take place, and tributes will be held for Kato throughout the weekend, whilst the customary pre-event promotional activities held in the build up to the Grand Prix have been cancelled out of respect for the rider and his family.

With team manager Fausto Gresini still completely devastated by Kato's death and currently in Japan for his funeral, Team Telefonica MoviStar Honda will compete in South Africa with just one rider - Spain's Sete Gibernau. Again out of respect, no discussions for the future replacement of Kato have taken place as yet.

On track, the bumpy and slippery Welkom circuit will provide a very different challenge to the opening round, with World Champion Valentino Rossi, the winner in Japan, admitting it's not a personal favourite track - although he's taken both 250 and 500cc victories there.

Last year, Tohru Ukawa beat his team-mate Rossi on the final lap of a thrilling Repsol Honda one-two, one of just five defeats for the Italian on his way to the World Title, and Ukawa's only MotoGP class victory to date.

Ukawa will be hoping to again outpace Rossi after taking a disappointing last place at his home Grand Prix in round one, whilst few riders will be more determined to put up a challenge than the Japanese rider's new team-mate Max Biaggi.

The Italian finished second to his great rival Rossi at Suzuka, and will be looking to go one better in the country he scored his first ever Grand Prix victory, in the 250cc race at the Kyalami circuit in 1992, and at the circuit where he clinched 500cc victory in 1999.

The Ducati team of Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss, who stormed to sensational third and fifth place finishes in Japan, will once again be fighting against the odds at this tight and bumpy circuit which they have yet to complete a lap on aboard the impressive Desmosedici.

However, Capirossi is used to pressure and the Italian has finished on the podium on his last three visits here, including a stirring ride to third place last season on the two-stroke Honda. For Bayliss it will be a first trip to Welkom, one of thirteen circuits on the MotoGP calendar that the former World Superbike Champion has yet to visit.

Ducati proved to be Hondas nearest rivals at Suzuka, and so contributed to the record-breaking race pace - which some suggest forced Rossi to stop on his slow down lap.

It appears 'The Doctor' had been riding a such a speed that his RCV had used nearly all the (regulated) amount of fuel in its tank, which was why it ground to halt at Spoon curve, resulting in Rossi taking a lift back on Noriyuki Haga's Aprilia.

Nevertheless, the notoriously bumpy and slippery Welkom circuit, with its extremely high altitude, is likely to make things more difficult for Ducati this weekend, while Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Aprilia and WCM, will all bring either vastly modified or completely new prototypes compared to their models from last season.

One team who could find themselves at an unusual advantage will be Proton Team KR, who again roll out their lightweight three-cylinder two-stroke after experiencing delays with their V5 four-stroke. Despite a 13 km/h disadvantage down the straight, the only remaining two-strokes on the MotoGP grid could hold the key through the fourteen tight and technical corners.

Also likely to impress will be current World Superbike Champion Colin Edwards, who took a hard fought sixth at Suzuka on both his Aprilia and MotoGP debut, just fending off fellow rookie, and AMA SBK Champion, Nicky Hayden. Hayden had a much better race than was widely expected and both he and the Texan will be eager to build on their strong start to the season when the lights to go out on Sunday.

For Yamaha, Alex Barros will race after three weeks of intensive physiotherapy on a small fracture, bruising and stretched cruciate ligaments in his knee, sustained in the warm-up session ahead of the Suzuka race. He and Fortuna rider Carlos Checa will have access to a new frame in addition to the exhaust and fairing modifications that at the moment remain exclusive to them.

Africa will also be an important race for the American Suzuki duo of former World Champion Kenny Roberts and rising star John Hopkins. They finished just 13th and 14th respectively at Suzuka and will be looking for a major improvement on Sunday.

Australian Garry McCoy returns to the scene of one of his greatest triumphs, when he won the 500cc race three years ago in dramatic sliding style on a two-stroke Yamaha. His expectations will be much lower this year and a point's finish would ease the pressure - slightly - on the Kawasaki team.

Meanwhile Marco Melandri, who broke his leg during the first practice session at Suzuka, will have to wait until the third round at Jerez at the earliest to make his MotoGP race debut and is replaced this weekend by Yamaha veteran Norick Abe.

Reliably hot and dry weather at the Phakisa Freeway should rule out a repeat of the surprising 250 and 125 races witnessed at Suzuka, when variable conditions during qualifying made for a jumbled grid and unusual results.

Manuel Poggiali will be keen to show that victory on his quarter-litre debut was no fluke, whilst prospective title rivals such as Fonsi Nieto, Toni Elias, Roberto Rolfo and Sebastian Porto all have ground to make up after conceding vital points to Japanese wildcard riders in round one.

Italian veterans Stefano Perugini and Mirko Giansanti will also be looking to consolidate their surprise early form after taking first and second place respectively in the controversial 125 race, whilst young guns Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner, who crashed out of second place in the 250 race at Welkom last year, are just two of a host of riders sure to pose a threat.