Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127723
he hadn' t made a better start. He was 11th at th e end of lap one, and by the tim e he'd cau ght u p, his back tire was past its bes t. " If I'd made a better start [ a m su re I cou ld have bea ten some o f them," he sai d . The Aprilia was visibly slowe r o n th e st ra igh t, but all over the V-fours on the tw isty sect ions. Juan Borja narrowly won a sustained battle with Bernard Garcia, b oth on ROCs, an d almost 40 seconds beh ind the factory bikes. The n came Frederic Protat's ROC, all alone; lik ew ise Cristia no M ig lio ra ti 's Harri s and Ma rc Garcia's ROC. Th e last po ints were fiercely contested , w ith 14th go ing to Je re my M cWilliams and 15 th to A n d re w Stroud . Bernard H aen gell i missed th e last point by ju st h alf a seco nd . Jean [eandat wa s 19th and last. There were 10 non -fini sh ers. As well a s retiree Cadal o ra a nd crasher Abe, Loris Cap irossi cras hed on the first lap , a fte r gettin g a lit tle nudge from Abe. " He apologi z ed a fte r ward, which of cours e we ac cept e d . Bu t it w a s n o t necessary to be so aggressive, " sa id the Italian. Oth ers t o r e t ir e in clud ed Se an Emmett, w ith brake failure; James Hayd on an d Scott Gray. Dooh an ex tended his title lead to 10 po in ts over Bea tti e, 50 -40 . Criville is third on 32, Schw an tz fourth on 24. (Opposite page) Michael Doohan was again superior in winning his second successive 500cc Grand Prix, this one com ing at Shah Alam In Malays ia. (Right) Daryl Beattie backed up his secondplace finish In Australia with another second in Malaysia. (Below) Kevin Schwa ntz ended up fourth after using up his tire. Here, the Texan confers with crew ch ief Stuart Shenton. H e w as ne ver challen ged, bu t ke pt h is head down nonetheless, and ca me d e sper at el y clos e to colliding w ith Andrew Stroud's ROC as he cu t through a g ro u p of backmarker s, It w as an unnecessa ry risk, fo r th e same g ro u p also d el ayed h is pursuer, and C ri ville was almost four seconds down at the finish. Schwantz w a s a si m ilar d istance behind, ha nging on grimly to his vibra tin g bik e to avoid being caught by th e group behind. They h ad provided one of th e best d ices of the ra ce, with Barros dukin g it out with Itoh, Reggiani han gin g on desp eratel y, and Puig pl ay in g a w ait ing game behind. Then in the last se ven laps he picked th em off one by one, to nar rowly cla im fifth. H is la st v icti m w as Itoh, on th e last lap; and as he moved past the Jap anese rid er, Barros followed him through and made his ow n bid . They w ere alm ost a b re as t as th ey crosse d th e lin e - Pu ig , Ba rros, ltoh covered by Jess th an three tenths of a second . Reggiani was a lmost three se conds down by now, both glad at the Aprilia's best fin ish ever and di sappointed th at 250Cc GRAND PRIX Biaggi's ra ce was exciting only for his dis play of artistry. He led from start to finish, hauling away at one second a Jap in the earl y stages before easing o ff slig htly, so th at he had achieved a 10second advantage before half-distan ce. He kept on stre tching. to make it 15 by lap 25, and only then did he start to play up for the cro wd , h is w hee li e s a n d w aves dropping h is lead to ju st over five seconds at the end . " The b ik e a n d m y Dunlop s w ere working perfectly tod ay," he smiled afterward . " The o nly little probl em I had was keeping my concentration." He broke hisown lap record by almost four tenths, and th e w in moved him in to a narrow le ad in the World Championship . Th ere w as pl enty of ac tio n behind him, the most im portan t of it in a fasci nating four-bike battle for second . Waldmann led th e grou p at first , consigne d to second on lap three by H arada. But O kad a and Ruggia wer e hard up behind, and th ere wa s p lenty of swapping around, with Ruggia the only one who never passed an ybody, except once briefly when Waldm ann overbraked and ran wide. The focus was o n the tw o Ja pa nese rid ers: dour Ok ada on the faster Hon da, and the superb Harada, th e e pi tome of riding skill and tact ical.brilliance . Okada moved into second on lap nine , his bike clea rly faster; and then began a game of two-wheel poker, with Harada hold ing the aces. Time and again he'd shaw Okad a his front wheel on the bends. Twice he go t ah ead on the final twi sts, only to be out powered on the sp rint to the lin e, almost as th ou gh he w as revealing his last-lap plan. But there was much more to h is ga me than that, and w ith 10 lap s left he decided to let hi s rival do th e pu shing and probing ... if he co uld . H e moved pa st decisively as th ey ran into the final twists, fended off an immed iate countera ttack, and managed to answer every o ne o f the Hond a-rid er' s challen ges whether m ade under p o w er o r under b rakes, usi ng hi s Ya mah a's superior h andling w ith th e fi nesse tha t ha s become his trademark. f1 a ~ ........ ...... $-< 0... -c 23