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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127572
GROADRACE World Championship Road Race Series: Round 3
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Kazuto Sakata (3) finished second in the 125a: GP, but couldn't keep up with Dirlc Raudies.
first time on the sixth lap. Harada moved
straight back in front. Okada motored
past again on the straight on lap seven;
Harada attacked straight back, looking
really wild and coming close to a crash at
the chicane. Then Capirossi came back
again, taking the lead once more on lap
eight
It was furious battling, all three frequently abreast into the comers, and the
lead changing hard too often to keep
count. But Harada took the lion's share of
it, with Okada able to playa waiting game
and hope his speed advantage might give
him the win on the final lap.
Then on the 17th lap Capirossi once
again made a bid to buck the Japanese
odds, seizing the lead into Tum One, and
staying in front for that lap and the next
18
Now it was the last lap, and everybody
held their breath.
Then it happened, in the same place as
on lap two. Capirossi wound the power
on out of Degner, the bike flicked one way
and then the other - but this time he
couldn't hold it. He still didn't let go, and
slid up the track under the bridge, head
down on the tarmac and his hand apparently trapped under the bike.
Of course Harada and Okada flashed
past, and Harada held it to the finish to
lead the Honda across the line by just over
half a second. "I'd already decided to settle for second when Capirossi fell," he
admitted. "The Honda was too fast for me
to beat"
. Okada's head fell in disappointment as
he crossed the line. His problem had been
tire choice. ''The rear was sliding from lap
five. It spoiled my chances."
Behind this fine race, Romboni, Aoki
and Ruggia were locked in battle, and
inspired to greater efforts for a podium
finish when they saw that Capirossi had
crashed. "1 guess Aoki had the same idea
as me," said Romboni; and the Japanese
rider passed him on the straight only to
run too fast into the chicane, giving
Romboni just enough room to get back in
front. He secured the rostrum finish by
five-hundredths of a second, with Ruggia
delighted to have kept his Aprilia a similar miniscule distance behind, the group
20 seconds behind the leaders.
Another five-odd seconds down came
Helmet Brad! on the HB Honda, who had
been caught out by the erratic starting
procedure once again, and was working
hard to catch up before he decided to cool
it after almost crashing at the hairpin.
Pier-Francesco Qilli's Telkor Yamaha
was seventh, then came the younger Aoki,
named Takuma, in an impressive wild
card outing. (Haruchika Aoki, brother
number three, scored points in the 125cc
GP, the first time three brothers have done
so in a World Championship event.)
Kocinski trailed to a solitary ninth,
short of performance and sadly disappointed after his promising preseason
testing performances; Capirossi remounted and coasted across the line in 10th, also
deeply depressed.
Then came a strong five-bike battle,
won by Andy Preining from Patrick van
den Goorbergh, both on Aprilias, Spanish
Honda rider Luis d'Antin, German Jochen
Schmid on a Yamaha and Ducados
Honda's Alberto Puig, all five covered by
just over it second.
Former MX champion Jean-Michel
Bayle was 21st; there were 28 finishers.
Retirements included Bosshard, who
crashed; and Reggiani, who survived a
spectacular high-speed excursion off the
track, but then decided to retire since he
had no chance of any points.
Harada now leads the championship
with 70 points to 49 each for Aoki and
Okada; with Kocinski and Romboni equal
fourth on 38, and Brad! fifth on 28.
125cc Grand Prix
Dirk Raudies made his third successive
win look similar to the two previous runaways, but said later it had been harder.
"This time 1 was 200 rpm down, so 1 had
to rider harder in the corners," the
German Honda rider said.
The problem came as the result of
over-jetting to compensate for overrevving due to the tail-wind down the
straight, and it meant that when the pUJ'suit caught up to within less than three
seconds at the end, it was not because
Raudies had backed off.
However, those chasing were deeply
involved with one another, in a fearsome
six-bike battle that seemed certain to end
in tears. Amazingly, however, all stayed
on, to cross the line with Kazuto Sakata in
front, then Takeshi Tsujimura, Akira Saito
and Noburo Veda. Defending champion
RaIf Waldmann was sixth, with from second to sixth places covered by less than
two seconds. AlI were on Hondas except
Waldmann who rode an ApriIia
It was also Sakata's third second place
in succession.
The youngest Aoki brother had lost
ground at the finish, but was a save seventh ahead wild card Najajyo. Then at last
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