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/127728
have been better, but once he knew he had th e race in hand he ba cked off to win by 9.746 seconds. The 125cc race started off uncharacteri stically with HE Team Raudies Dirk Raudies see mi ng to pull away. But he was soon ca ug ht by the pack and the second ha lf of the race was the most h ard -fough t contest of the weekend. It was only fitting that the finis h wo u ld be a classic also w ith Blu mex Rheos Racing's Haruchika Aoki drafting past Tea m IPA Aprilia's Stefano Perugini on the run from the last comer to the flag to wi n by half a w heel len gth, officially O.012-of-a-seco nd . Raud ies was thi rd , 0.73-of-a-second la ter, th en a p ack of fo ur covered by seve n-tenths - Marlbor o-Ap rili a-Eckl' s Pet er Oettl in fro n t of Givi Racing ' s Noboru Veda and Team Krona -Aprilia's World Champion Kazuto Sakata. out for Doohan , w ho n ow had better than two seconds. " I closed the ga p to t wo seco nds, then one. The only thing I cou ld d o is p ress ure him into making a m istake," 'Puig said. Abou t eight second s behind Pui g and Cadalo ra came the battle for fourth, a spot held by Kanemo to Honda 's Alex Barros u ntil the 16t h lap wh en th e Spania rd Criville came pa st , lea ving Barros to fend off the advancing Loris Capirossi. . Out fro nt Doohan was holding his advantage and gai ning abo ut a tenth of a second a lap. He crossed the line on th e 20th la p wi th better th an 2.6 sec onds, but thr ee tu rns in to the lap he was ou t of th e sa ddle and into the ai r. The rea r stepped ou t as he accelera ted fro m a midspeed left, caug ht, then launche d him. (Left ) Alberto Puig won his fi rsteve r Grand Prix , becoming the first Spaniard to win his home SOOcc GP. (Above) Nor ifumi Abe (17) and Alex Crlvllle (6) fought to the bitter end over third place; Criville got the nod. (Below) The 2SOCc GP gets underway with Ralf Waldmann (28) leading the World Champion Max Blaggl (1) and Jean-Phillipe Rugg ia (6). The win, Aoki 's th ird in four races this year, extends his champ ionship . points lead considerab ly. He now head s Sa ka ta, 75-49, w ith Akira Saito, eighth today, thir d at 41. 500cc GRAND PRIX The race started tentatively for Doohan; he was sixth at the end of the first lap amid signs that th e da y wa s starting badly. " The grip really wa sn 't what it should have been righ t from the start," Doohan said . Still, he made the inevitable ma rch to the front, picking off one position a lap until he wa s in front on the sixth, dropping early-race leader Cadalora to second . Tha t's as good as he though t he would be today, so th e Italian didn't mind, un til he came under attack from behind . By then Doohan was beginning to edge aw ay, not by much and it wasn't increasing, though his rear tire troubles were. By the 12th lap he had 1.37 seconds, the n ca me Ca dalora with Puig now ready to challenge. It wo uld take a few la ps, but on th e 16th he was p as t and "Luckily 1 seem to have got a way with a few bruises, but I've go t to start again to get the championship lead ," he said after making his w ay back to the pits. That left Pu ig in the lead and nea rly thre e seconds in front of Cadalora when they bega n the 22nd lap . There were five lap s to run and th e partisans were watching anxiously, because a Spaniard had never won h is home GP and no Spaniard had won a 500cc GP since Alex Criville won at Assen in June of 1992. "After that," Pu ig said, referrin g to Doohan's crash, "l just tried to keep my head down becau se [ didn't want to lose concen tration and let Luca catch me ."