ROAD RACE
nlmImola Grand Prix
:
WR
O LDCHAMPIONSHIP
ROAD R SERIES
ACE
than his previ ou s mount, the hybrid
1996 chassis an d 1997 motor .
0 :55.199); 21. Emilio Al7 ora (1:55.35 2); 22. William
..am
CMt~ 0 :55.3481 23. Luca Boscosccrc 0 :55.742); 24.
;
O li ve r Petru cci an i (1:55.900): 25. Davide Bulc ga
Imola Grand Prix
Imo la, Ita ly
Re.u~. : July 6, 1997 (Ro und 80115)
Cavi ra (I :57.b89).
12 5ee QUALI FYING : 1. V..lentin o Rou i
(]:58.886 /92.766 mph ); 2. Tomomi Manako (1:595 20); 3.
Ga rry McCoy (2:00.123); 4 . Fn-deric Pt>t:it (2 :00_102); 5.
Kazu to s........ ta <2:00_355); 6. Nooo ro UN d (2.00..1i1 >; 7.
\h "i l i Tokudom e (2 :00.507); 8. Io rge Mar-ti n e z
a
(2. Xl.5l. ); 9. You ichi Vi <2:00.644); 10. Roberto Locatelli
{
1
<2:00.872); 11. Yoshiaki Katoh (2:01..Jtiij); 12. Cianluigi
Scalvi ni (2 :01. 603); 13. jarce tev Hut es (2:01.751); 14.
Ma !lao Azuma (.2:01. 7 88); 15 . Lu ci o Cecchi ncllc
(2:01.936); 16. Mir ko Cia nsa n li (2:02.166>; 17 . Jua n
Maturana (2:02. 179 ); 18. Ci no Boeso i (2:0 2.373); 19.
Gabriele Dcbbia (2:02.586); 20. Peter Oet tl (2:02.658); 21.
lo
Dirk Raed ies (2:02.715); 22. P.lO 'ressan (2:02.720); 23.
Ange l Nieto Jr. (2:0 2.804 ); 24 . Ivan Goi (2:02.890 ); 25.
Ma nfred Geij;sle r (2 :03 .1 12) ; 26. Igor Antonel li
(2:03.7 46 ); 27 . Io se p Sol rJ", (2:04 _014); 28. Chri ctia n
Pi" lu n i (2:05 .245 ); 29. S te ve Jf'n kn f'r (2: 05.402);. 30 .
Ma u rizio Cu
cchiarini (2:05.439).
125t'c GRAND PRI X: 1. Valenti ne Rossi (Aprl ; 2.
Tomo mi Manako (Hon), 3. Kazuto Sakata [Hon ); 4.
Ga rry McCoy (Apr); 5. Nobo ru Veda (Hon): b. Jor ge
Ma rtinez (Apr); 7. Roberto Locatelli (Hon): 8. Youichi Vi
(Yam); 9. Mosco Azu mJ (Hon); 10. Mirko Gla nsa nt!
(Ha n); II. Gianluigi Scalvinl (Hon); 12. Yoshiaki Katoh
(Yam); 13. ja rosta v Hules (Ho n); 14. Angel Nieto Jr.
(Apr); 15. Peter Oettl (Apr); 16. Ma nfred Ceissler (Hun);
17. Dirk Rau d ies (Hon); 18. Steve Jelllne r (Ap r); 19.
Chri~tid n Pistoni (Hon): 20, Ma urizio C Ul'Thiol rini (lInn).
Timt': 41 min., :iJ .114 M'C.
Di!\ita ncto: 21 laps, 64.33 mill"!!.
Average speed. 92.267 mph.
M.rgin of victory: 1.625sec.
1"lSl~st lap: Lap 15, Valentino Rossi, 1:58.490 / 93.076
mph.
125cc WORLD C'S HlP POINT STANDINGS (After 8
of 15 rounds): 1. Vale ntino Rossi (17 0 /5 win s ); 2.
Noboru Veda (123 / 2) ; 3. Tom om i Manakc (111) ; 4.
Kazu to Saka ta (lO t) ; 5. Jorg e Martinez (77); 6. Garry
McCoy (67); 7. Masaki Tokudome (56); 8. Masao kuma
(54); 9. rne Youkhi Vi/Frederic Pt.'I it (·m ; 11. Roberto
Locate lti (40); 12. Yu~hi.t li Kdtuh (3 q) ; 13_Gian lu igi
Scalvlni (34 ); 14. Mlrlo Gian!Odnti (32); 15. Ivan GeM (18);
16. lJaru ch ika Ne ka jo (16); 17 . (TIE) Lu cio
Ceo: hiOt'lio/ Jat'O!llav Hule5 OS); 19. Peter 0ettI OI) ; 20.
..
Juan Molturana (9),
250c c QUALIFYINC: I. Olivie r Jacqu e
(1:51582/ 98.838 mph); 2. Mall. Biaggi (1:51.758); 3. Rail
W.1ldmann 0 :52 .290 ); 4. Tohru Uka wa 0 :52.376) ; S.
Loris Capiros.llii 0:52.441); 6. Tetsuya Harada 0:52625);
7. Tak~h i Tsu jirnur .. 0 :5 2.656 ); 8: Marcellin o Lucehi
(1:53 .075 ); 9. Stefan o PeruKin i (1:53 .224) ; 10. Je rem y
McWilli.trru. (153.374); 11. Lui.. D'Antin (153.3&.1); 12.
Giu<;t>ppe Fiorillo (1.:53.933); 13 . ~mu ~i ya 7.ak i
0 :54_21.'\); 14. Jow lUl~ Carom.o 0:54.389); b . Fra nco
8dUAini 0;54.655); 16. lIaruchika Aoki 0:54.681); 17.
JAmi~ Robin.
~n 0:54.949); 18. Seba~n Porto 0 :55D63);
19. Noriya~u Numab (1:55.0&3); 20. Cristiano Migliorab
n :5b.203 ); 2b . Eustaqulo GolVlfo1 (1 :56.345); 27 . Id ali o
250cc G RAND P R IX: 1. M~ x Biaggi (Ha n) ; 2.
Oli vier j olcque (H on); 3. Tohru Uka wa (H a n); 4. RaU
Wa ldmann ( H a n) ; 5 . Te ts u y a H arada ( A p r) ; 6 .
Marwllirn..> l ucchi (Apr); 7. JL'remy McWilliamo. (Hon);
8. Haruchlka Aoki (Hon); q. Ckolmu Miya7A i (Ya m); 10.
l
Em ilio Al7...lmot"ol (Ho n): 11. Fra nco Batta ini (Y.lI m); 12.
WilliA m C(Kl:~ ;
l b. Oliver Pct:ruc:oa.ni (Apr); 17. DD"'idc Bulcga (Apr).
T ime 43 mm .. 17.419 scc.
D isu ncc 23 laps. 70.46 miles.
Ave Rge speed: '17
.657 m ph .
Mug in of vict ory: 0.656 sec .
FutKI lap: Lap 16, Tetsu ya H arad a , 1:51.872 /98.582
mph.
2SOcc WORLD C'SHIP POINT STANDL'IGS (Af tl"r 8
o f 15 round,): 1. M dX 8iaggi (13 6/ 3 w jn~ ) ; 2. Ra 1f
W" IJnwnn (131/ 1); ." Trl.. uya lIaradd (117/ 2); 4 . (fi E)
(Ilivier J..cqul"lTohru Ukawa (81/1); 6. Loris Capirossi
(6,) ; 7. Harochika Aoki (58); 8. Takeshi Tsujimura (45);
9. Jeremy McWilliams (42); 10. Stefano Perugini (40); 11.
Noriyas u Numata (33); 12. Osamu Miyazaki (3]); 13.
Mar cel lin o Lucc hi (30 ); 14. Lu is D' An ti n (29); 15 .
Sebastian Porto (26); 16. Daijil'O Kate (25/ ]); 17. Franco
Battaln i (24): 18. Wll1l m Costes (23); 19. mE) Emilio
a
Alzamora lJamie Robinson (5).
500(e Q UA LIF YING : 1. Mich ael Doc han
(1:48.997 /101.1 83 mph ); 2. Carlos Checa 0 :49.374); 3.
Anthony Cobert (1:49.652); 4, Nobuatsu Aoki (1:49.817);
5 . Tild " yu l i O lada (1:49 .92 5); 6. Takuma Aok i
0 :50 .0:30); 7. Noriek Abe (1:50JJ661; 8. Luca Cadalom
0 :50.339); 9. jea n-Michel Bay le (1:50 .348) ; 10. Alex
Barr os (1:50.4 91) ; 11. Sete C iber na u (1:50 .789) ; 12.
Alberto Puig O ;5U.854); 13. Juan Borja (1:51.257); 14.
Daryl Beattie 0 :51.-175); IS. Iu-gen van der Coo rbergh
(1:51.5 30); 16. Doriano Rombon i (1:51.664); 17. Jurgen
Fuchs (1 :51. 890 ): 18. Bernard Ga rcia (1;5 2.514); 19 .
Kenn y Roberts Jr . (1 :53 .367); 20. Luci o Ped e rci ni
(1:53.4 76 ); 21. Kirk McCarthy (1:53.657); 22. Laur ent
Ne vea u (1 :55 .308 ); 23. Frederic Pro ta t (1:55 .890 ); 24 .
F~ Monaco (1:56
.606).
500cc GRAND PRIX: 1. Mich.lt>1 Doohr"sl""
: 9'J,m mph.
M,lITg in 0 victo ry. 8.648 ~.
fullts l I.p: Lap 19, Mick Dooha n, 1:49.436/1 00.776
mph.
.
5OOcc: WORLD CSHlP POL"'IT STANDINCS (After 8
of 15 rounds): I. MICh.le1 Dooh.1n (195/7 wins); 2. Alex
Crivill e 0 02/1); 3. Nobwtsu Aold (] OO,; 4. T.1dayuki
Five straight for
Doohan
I
-.
>.
::l
12
t wa s five poles in a row fo r Re p sol H on da' s Mi chli el
Doohan, the ru naw ay championship points leader m dking
the bes t of th~ Imola bumps to knock MoviStar Honda Pons'
Ca rlos Checa off the provision al po le he'd ta ken Friday. The
time came just pa st halfwa y through a blustery and sunny 5.1t·
urdn y a ft e rn oon sess io n in which e hc ca not only did n't
improve his time, but also cras hed. More import.mtly, .-I look
thr ough the l·omp lete lap times shows that Doohan's times we re
consis tently in the 49s, a ll done on race tires, w here Checa' s wa s
a one -o ff, as was that of th ird -pl aced Anthony Gobert, the
Lucky Strike Suzuki rid er celebrating his arrival on the front
row .
" It' s not.tn edsy face tra ck, Ulis one," Doohan said aUer settin g a f.,st time of 1:48.997/101.1 83 m ph for his 43rd ('i'tret"r po Ie-.
Because the trnck has been fcmcilsurcd, .:l nd the length altered
( ~h ou g h the actual track length didn't change), the tim~ stands
ab a ne w lap record . "It' s a lot of wo rk. There's pretty much only
one line, so if you gel off-line and try to get back down on the
line-, it ('an ca u s~ a few problems. But today, the wind wa s a big
problem bCClUSC it was pu shing you all around and pushing
you off-line a little bit . YllU had to adju:-.t your ril.!ing for thdt d
little bit."
And tht" bumpoq,.
"The bumps have been resurfaced , basically : Doohan said.
"I think the only other track we 'll go to tha t's more bumpy tha n
this i:o. Brdzil, for sure."
Ge tti ng th e bike comfortable u nderneath him was paramount, Doc ha n said , hf'cause of the physical nature of tht" 3.03mile circu it.
-rhere arc reall y no straights here. It's reall y just com er aft er
corner. TIle tires art' go ing to playa big pa rt in tomorrow' s race .
The place is no t only physically demand in~ it's demanding on
tires a nd machi nt"ry. 50 rea lly it's try in g to ma ke su re that
things arc going to last for 50 minutes."
Checa di u n' t come dose to improvi ng the time which would
end up bein g .377 of a second behind Ooohan . An d hi!' best
effort waq laid low w he n he cras hed on what he thought was
his be'St flying lap.
"I expected to do well at the beginning of th is afternoon's
Valent ino Rossi
won the 125cc
Gran d Prix · again.
Here he leads
ru nner-up Tom omi
Mana ko .
Okada us'}); S. Carlos Chcea (83); 6. Luea D da lora. (b9);
7. Nonfumi Abc Ie"); 8. Takuma Ao ki (64); 9. Ale'"
&nos (59 ); 10. Alberto Puig (48); 11. Dorlano Romboni
(42); 12. Daryl Beattie (36); 13. Sete Gibern.1u (29); 14.
Anthony Gobert (27); 15. Jea n. Michel &vle (23); 16.
Rt'):tis uconi (20); 17. Juan Borja (14); 18. Troy Corser
(1)); 19. Jurgen Fuclui (9); 20. ~y Roberts Jr. (8)
Upcoming Rounds:
Round 9 • NUrburgring. Germany. July 20
Round 10 - Rio de Janiero, Brazil, August 3
~siun ~m.e immedidtdy I Wd~ alm~ t as fast dS yes terday
.md then, when I was trying to improve my best lap time , suddenly I lost the front and I crashed," Checa said. "1 think that it
wa s because of the wind and , though 1 wasn 't injured, my nurn~">f-one bike wa s damaged and I .couldn't USt' it aga in during
practire."
His bes t time of 1:49.431 had ('Ome on the lap pri or to his
crash and , afterward, he cou ldn't get below 1:50.
Lucky Strike Suzuki's Gobert also cra shed , about halfway
through the one--hour !'~:!>ion, dud he .tlsu only d id on~ litp in
the 1:41Js late in the session, but it was ~ood pnoug h to put him
third on the grid in his fifth Grand Prix. The 22~ycJ, r-old Au s ~
tralian put it dmVTl to pa ticncc, something he had n' t had m uch
of in the earlier races.
"Every time I've gotten to d trdck a nd did . '1lte
bumps an d the u ps and downs do n' t bother me like they do
so me othe r rider s . I'm an ex-motocrosse r, so perhaps that's
why."
On the front row, yet again, wa s Team Elf Rheos FCC's
Nobuatsu Aoki, the oldtc'St Auki brotheT the first of a string of
four Japanese riders. Aoki said he'd only reached 95 percent of
the bike's potential due to hrakp problt"mQ in thf' final qua lifying
session.
Nex t up was Re p so l Honda 's Tadayuki Oka da, who 's
~a med the two pole positions this yea r which Doohan hasn't.
Okada ~ id his team mad e great improvemenN betwt't>n the
morning a nd afternoon sessions, and he thought he was ready
for the race.
HN ow I hope th.at I have chosen the correct tire and that I
will make the rostrum again like I did last year," Okada said. '<
'
thi n k the- heat w ill be thp higgest problem in the race, but of
course it is the same for all of us."
His Rcpsol Honda teammate Taku ma Aoki was sixth, quick.
Iy up to b~.J on le,arning ,the circui t on the Honda NSRSOO Vtwin, thou~ he knew there was little chance of victory :
"The trouble L. Michael Oooh.:m - he is always so fast!" Aoki
a
problem .
CaualoTd could n' t sol .... e h is problems : a difficult y to chan ge
direction through the chiCclne and wheeJies on the exit.
'" gu ess that'~ the prohl em wi th this sort of circuit with so
many slow comers, but I'm having trouble controlling the throttle to keep the-front d own." Cadalor a said.
A qUdlifying bt.ost put Fren chman Jean -Mich el Bayle in ninth,
first on the third row and only .009 of a sE"COnd off the second
row, which he was bumped from by Cad.dora in the fin.U two
minutes of qualifying. Marlboro Team Roberts ' Bayle sa id that,
beci:lu~e the Moo enas is down on power, the wind affected him
more than m05t. I lis lig hter bike broke in the afternoon sessi on ,
so he was forced onto the heavier bike which wasn 't set up as
well.
Like Bayle , Honda Gr~ini's Alex B.UTOs hdd proble ms wit h
his best bike a nd was dropped to 10th just in front of Abe' s
team ma te Setf:' Gihe m au .
MoviStar Honda Ponq' Alberto Puig filled out the third row,
the Spanish vcteran bla ming the wind and too mu ch time spen t
testing tire compounds. Farther back, Lucky Strike Su zuki' s
Dary llkattie struggl~ home 14th fastest after not finding any
improvement \o\-'ith a new sll!'pe'Jlsion hnkage.
On the TOW be h ind him ca me Kenny Robe rts Jr., who'd
crashed hca vily in the morning session when his engine seized
in the- first chica ne.
"Normally yo u C('I n hear whe n an engine's abou t to seize ,
bu t it wa s !'OO wind y I did n't hea r a thin g':' he said afte r qualifying 19th. " My bod y wa s a little sore this afternoon and, wi th the
time we los t yes te rday and gt::'tting thrown d ow n the TOdd, I
d idn' t feel like J knew w hat the bike was going to do."
