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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127794
ROAD RACE World Championship Road Race Series Round 9: British Grand Prix (Above) Alex Crlvllle (4) hugs the Inside line with Kenny Roberts Jr. (10) on his left shoulder et the stert of the British 500cc GP. Loris Caplrossl (65), Norlfuml Abe (9) and Michael Doohan (1) give chase. (Left)'Doohan won again, beating teammate Crlvllle again. By Michael Scott Photos by Gold & Goose DONINGTON PARK, ENGLAND, JULY 21 he Samson Effect didn't work on Michael Doohan. The Repsol Honda rider had sacrificed his hairstyle for the Riders for Health charity day at Donington Park. But if his rivals hoped some of the defending double champion's strength might have been sapped in the process, they were seriously disappointed. Doohan qualified on pole, then bided his time in a frantic British GP as first Kenny Roberts Jr. and then Loris Capirossi made the early pace. Then the reigning world champion moved through to show yet again just how much the 1996 season belongs to him. His only challenge came as usual from teammate Alex Criville, who moved thro'ugh from a slow start to niggle at Doohan's leading margin. Though he did dose up slightly, he was on the edge, and at the finish the Australian still had almost 3.5 seconds in hand. Third place was hard-fought in a race of many subsidiary battles, and in which the top 10 remained within a space of 10 seconds for the first third of the race. Run in perfect sunny conditions all weekend, the Donington Park circuit with its sweeping lawns made a fine venue, and while only 30,000 people came to watch the race, this at least (if only marginally) reversed the trend of falling crowds here. The last rostrum spot went in the end to Japanese GP winner Norifumi Abe on T ,......... C"') .E::" . .E. ~ 22 the Marlboro Yamaha, just ahead of Tadayuki Okada's Lightweight V-twin Repsol Honda and a charging Scott Russell's Lucky Strike Suzuki, the trio covered by less than a second. Russell had fought through from a third-row start, taking fastest lap on the way, just fourthousandths outside Schwantz's '91 lap record, and even more frustrating, slower than Corser's Superbike race record, after the same rider's "all-time best" practice lap had been comprehensively beaten by the top SOOcc machine. Capirossi was sixth, then Pileri Honda's Alex Barros managed to hold off Juan Borja. Eighth was the ali-European Elf SOD's best finish yet, beating German GP winner Luca Cadalora by less than a second. Shinichi Itoh's V-twin Repsol Honda was 10th after the lightweight machines had failed to find the advantage they had hoped for at this technical circuit.. But the Aprilia was not here to help the cause: With regular rider Doriano Romboni nursing injuries from the last GP, there was no replacement rider for Donington Park. The race brought triumph and disappointment for Kenny Roberts Jr., who claimed his first-ever front-row starting position, and then led the first two laps of the race. He had dropped back to sixth when he crashed out on the 10th lap, at the sam'e corner as teammate Jean-Michel Bayle had tumbled out of the top five shortly before.. Earlier, Chesterfield Aprilia's Max Biaggi had marked his return to fitness following his Assen crash with his sixth win of the season, working on extending' his title lead again over second-placed J RaIf Waldmann and his HB Honda, who had overtaken pole qualifier Chesterfield Elf Aprilia rider Olivier Jacque in the early stages. This top three stretched ~ apart in a processional race, enlivened only by a dogged pursuit of Jean'PhiLippe Ruggia by slow starter Jurgen Fuchs. The German caught up to claim . fourth; Ruggia promptly fell off. Tetsuya Harada failed to capitalize on his improved practice form with a freak engine failure on the warmup lap. The Marlboro Yamaha rider did not start. Stefano Perugini waited until the closing laps before clearing off for emphatic 12Scc victory, his second this year. The Nastro Azzurro Aprilia rider an