Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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ROAD RACE ~----- ..,.-------------- ---Round 10: Rio Grand P rix WR O LDCHAMPIONSHIP R AD RACE SERIES O * I ... By Michael Scott Photos by Gold & Goose JACAREPAGUA, BRAZIL, AUG. 3 ichael Doohan put one hand on his fo u rth suc cessive World C ha m p ionship at the N el son Piquet circuit today, w inning by only as much as he needed to on the slippery, resurfaced track. He had to tiptoe to victory because of a lack of grip - th e race was u nique ly ru n in the morn ing so tha t the time lost b y crossing th e A tlantic co u ld be regained as much as possible for European TV schedules; the 250cc race followed, a nd the n ca me th e 125s, the M reverse of the usu al program. A crowd of 32,000 wa tched as he was cha sed ha rd a ll th e w ay b y Re p sol Honda teamma te Tadayu ki Okada, who finished just seven-tenths of a second beh ind the d ominant Australian. But, a lt ho u g h the japanese rider n o sed alongs ide once or twi ce, it was onl y wh en Dooh an let him do so, and there was never much doubt about the final ou tcome. On the final lap, he opened up just enough to be sure of the win . Thi rd went to Red Bull Yamaha's Luca Cadalora aft er a race-lo ng bat tle wi th Rh eo s H on d a rid er No bua tsu Aoki, Rainey Yama ha 's Norifu mi Abe, and Elf-mounted jurgen Fuchs , the latter dropping away in the closing stages but still claiming his and the Frenchbu ilt Elf s best-ever finish. Some way beh ind , Doriano Romboni's Aprilia V-twin esca ped in the clos ing stages from a close battle with Brazilian Alex Barros on h is V-twin Ho nda a nd Ma rlboro Modenas rid er Jean-M ichel Bayle. Then , on the last corne r, the unfortunate Barros cras hed while tryi ng to block Bayle from ta king eighth place. The race brought disaster for frontrow starter Carlos Checa, who cras hed his MoviStar Honda heavily on the second lap and was lucky to escape unhurt. Things weren't much better for the trou- bled Lucky Strike Suzuki team. Anthony Gobert had been fastest throu ghout the morning warmup, d isplaced by Doohan onl y in the closing minutes. But after a med iocre s tart, he narro wly avo ided crash ing a fter bottoming ou t the fro n t forks under braking, and from then on cruised horne to a safe 10th. His increasingly lackluster teammate Daryl Beattie was a lonely 13th. In yet anothe r hea rt -in-t he-m ou th 250cc race, Oli vier jacque followed up his pole position wit h his second win of the season. The French Ch est erfield Hond a rider fended off repea ted attacks from forme r cha m pion Te lsuya Harada ' s fasler Aprilia, the pair changing places twic e in the last lap alone after collid ing earlier right in front of the pits. He crossed the line barel y a quarter of a second a head aft er a race tha t sta rted rather processionally, but finished in the white heat of furiousbattle. ; Six seconds behind was another dramati c spectacle. Suzuka 8 Hours winner To hru Uka wa a nd Max Biaggi were locked in furious ba ttle for most of the race the former with a speed advantage, the la tt er de ter mi ned tha t h e would not succumb. On the last lap, Biaggi braked too late at the end of the long back straight as he strove to fend off the blue machine, running into the gravel trap at high speed . He was lucky to maintain control, but (Top) The Rio Grand Prix gets under way with Norifumi Abe (5) gelling th e jump on Michael Doohan (1). Tadayukl Okada (7). Jurgen Fuchs (16) Carlos Cheea (8) and the rest . (Abo ve) Doohan moved quickly into the lead and would go on to w in his ninth Grand Prix 01the seas on. e Front-row starter Checa (8) cra shed heav ily on lap tw o, unh urt, and would not rejoin th e race .