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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127848
ROAD RACE WORLDCHAMPIONSHIP R RAC OAD ESERIES 1 Round 8: Imola Grand Prix J lef t leg cra mpin g an d a ri gh t for ea rm wh ich p umped up fro m h a vin g to pump his failing front brakes. Yama ha Tea m Rain ey' s Sete Gibernau was 11 th after nearly crashing o n the firs t lap and getting away dead last. He go t the better of a du el with MoviSta r Hond a Pons' Alb erto Puig, who fou ght an ill-ha nd ling ma chine all weekend , and with a di spi rited Dary l Beat tie, w ho was 13 th on th e second Lu cky Strike Suzu ki. Bea ttie sw itched to the 1997 XR-87 Suzuki af ter pr acti cin g on the hybrid ' 9f,/ 97 mod el all weekend . Doo han completed the 25-1ap, 76.59mile race in 45 m inutes, 58.9~5 seconds a t an average speed of 99.933 mph. Because of the ne w circuit len gt h, all marks tod ay stand as records. In the absence of cha mp ions hip runne r-u p Alex Criville, Dooh an was able to e xte n d his le a d o ve r the in jured Spa nia rd to 93 points, 195-102. Nobua t- (Left) Onc e he decided to get seri ous, Michael Da ohan simply pulled away to win the Imala Grand Prix. (Betow) Early on, however, Doohan (1) trailed both Car los C heca (8) and Nobuats u Aok i (18). By Henny Ray Abrams Photos by Gold & Goose IMOLA, ITALY JULY6 , ep sol H onda ' s Mich ael Doohan toyed with his on ly pursuer fo r R m o st o f the Imnla G rand Prix , then put on a di splay of power-rid ing that left no do ubt who the best rid er in the world is as he rod e to another win on a w arm and ~ u nny da y in EmiliaRomagna. Star tin g on the 19 th o f 25 la p s, Doo han pick ed up the pa ce and bega n lowering the lap record of lmo la's Au todrama Enzo e Dina Ferrari on successiv e laps, clocking his best time on the penultimate tour on his way to an 8.648seco n d win o ver F.C.C. Te chnical Sports' Nobua tsu Aoki befor e a crowd of 27,000. Aoki, wh o'd led much of the race after he and Dooh an split from the 24-ride r pac k, had done well to hold off the reigning World Ch ampion, but was clearl y not up to the torrid pa ce Doohan se t in the final stages. "The last end of the race I felt I could run 49s if we had to," said Doohan, w ho won his seventh race ou t of eigh t. "During practice some peo ple on ly ran one . 49 to get on the front row and we we re ~ running consistent 495 so I felt comfortable there. I felt the race wou ld probab ly be high 50s. So I set out and I'm doi ng low 50s, lo w 50s, but he (Ac ki) w as coming. So this is when I tho ught , 'Let's 0'\ see w hat he ca n do.' I felt I could go ,...; quicker if need be, but I didn ' t wa nt to -.D ju st d ra g h im a lo ng with me . So I ,...; th ou ght I'd just in terrupt his w ay of >-. thinking a little bit." "I could do nothing ," Aoki ad m itted . ~ " It was my best. Any way, I' m sa tisfied wi th my best result." Finishing behi nd Nobu Aoki was his ~ ~ b\ ::2 8 brother Takuma, on the V-tw in Honda, the first time brothers have finished on a Grand Prix podium and Takuma's first podium since a wi ld-card app earance in the 1995 Japanese Gra nd Pri x. He was involved in the first of a number of spirited scra ps, h is being fo r thi rd p la ce against MoviStar Ho nda Pon s' Carlos Che ca, Checa led in the ea r ly goi ng, then dropped in to a tw o- m a n scrap w ith Aoki, staying in front until the 16th lap. He made-a 22nd-lap bid, getting briefly in front, but ran wid e in Tamburello, the tum at the end of the fro nt stra ight, then d ir t-tr acked throu gh th e g ra ve l trap before rejoining the race witho u t los ing a s p o t. H e did, h o w e v e r, lo se a ny cha n ce o f a p od iu m fi ni sh and w as r a p id l y be i ng closed on by Repsol Honda's Tadayuki Ok ada and th e Red Bull Yama ha WCM m achine of Luca Cadalora . Cadalora, who'd started poor ly, completing the first lap in 10th, had the better of the Hond a V-fo ur rid er until there w ere three laps to go w hen, despite a deteri orating rear tire, Okad a wa s able to pass the Italian. Yamah a Tea m Ra in ey's Norifu mi Abe was nex t, with front-grip problems lea vin g him alone for mo st of the race and we ll in front of Jean-Michel Bayle o n the first of the Marlboro Te am Rob erts Mod enas KR-3s - w hic h was su ffering an ignition pr oblem . His teamma te Kenny Rober ts Jr. finished 17th on the seco nd Modena s, a bike tha t wa s neve r properly se t up . Alex Barros was nint h on the Honda Gresini production Honda V-twi n, we ll in fron t of the fading Ant hony Gobert. The Lucky Strike Suz uki rider had qualified a career-bes t third, an d ran third in the early laps before d ropping precipitou sly aft er having problem s with hi s