ROAD RACE Round 10: Rio Grand P
rix
W
ORLD C
HAMPIONSHIP
R R ESERIES
OAD AC
PRI X
Vale ntino go t it ba ck , th en Vi too k a
one-lap turn. Th en Veda again, Rossi ,
Manako... and so o n, in a typical brawl
with no certain outcome.
By th e closing laps, ju st fou r we re
sti ll in contentio n, and on the 15th circuit Ued a, who looked the strongest of
all, made his bid for victory, taking the
lead and putting his head down to try to
esca pe . Only Rossi was abl e to go with
him.
Th e crucia l move ca me d own the
back s tra ig ht o n the last lap . His bi ke
clearly faster, Rossi swept past, an d was
then helped by clever use of backma rkers, managing to break Veda'. pursuit
to "in by al mos t 1.4 seconds.
(Above) Doohan, Okada and Cadalora let
t he champagne fly on t he pod iu m.
(Right) Valentino Rossi (46) made the
ueea (7) on the last
lap, o utpowering t he disappointed
Japanese down the back st rai g ht. It w as
Rossi's eighth wi n of th e season.
move past Nob o ru
closed t he doo r . I thought w e we re
going to crash - I had to cu t the gas , but
he was go ing straight across the gravel
and I was able to hold mv line."
Capirossi was likewise sa tisfied , even
though he had played only a peripheral
part in the early struggles . "We d idn' t
have any problems, excep t wit h accelera tio n," Ca pi rossi sa id . "So w he n 1 lost
the slipstream, I cou ld n' t stay with the
lead ers . All th e same, 1 h ad a good
result, so I am satisfied wit h that. "
Ha r uc hika Aoki on h is Ma tteo ni
Honda took seven th behind the lone
Perugini. Behind the Japanese rid e r,
Takeshi Tsujimura prevailed in a good
privateer battle, ahead o f Sebastian
Porto and Jeremy McWilliams. Cristiano
Migliorati had been with this group,
dropping away at the finish to take 11th.
Waldmann took 12th fro m Luca
Boscoscur o's Dee Cee Honda only on the
last lap, with the las t points going to
Emilio Alzamora and Jose-Luis Cardoso.
Both Suzuki rid ers crashed out ,
[o ha n Stigefe lt tw o la p s earlier than
No riyas u Numata.
Biaggi's mi sa dventu re cos t him the
cham pionship lead, with Harada mo ving ahead for the first tim e all year o n
162 points to Max' s 160. Waldmann has
151, then Jacque (126) and Ukawa (107).
125cc GRAND PRIX
Th is time Rossi made an unusually
good start to build up an early lead , and
by lap three he was more than a second
ahead . But th is ti m e th e breakaway
didn' t wo rk, and by the fifth lap he was
under severe pressure fr om a pa ck that
at this time numbered eight bikes .
Veda wa s the first to take th e lead
away ac ross the lin e , on lap fiv e .
Number 7 in a Rio
The surfa ce was a ~ green as could be as pra ctice began, and
ga ined grip rapidly during each practi ce session. Th is w as
de mo nstra ted by the way the time> dropped, by some 3.5 seconds pe r lap from the firs t session to the last.
Th e ma n setting the pace was , as u su al. Michael Dooha n,
who claimed his se ve n th pole in a row aft er being fas tes t in
every sess ion. And he was lucid in pointing out the problems
inherent in having to develop grip on a new surface d uring the
course of a GP week end.
"The bumps are better than last year, wh en it wa'i a real jawsh a tt ert"r , and th e gri p has co me up q uite we ll. though it
changes a lot with tra ck temperature," Doohan said . "'The con~ ~~t~~p ~oo~on~~~I~ .ltwillbe~ ~
~
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CJ'\
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1 slides. Surprisingly,
however, there were not ma ny crashes.
Oooh']I1's pract ice had been a matter of putting milt$ on tin"S
after just finding: a base setting. uSt.-ttings aren't !Ii(} crucial on
this so rt of su rface. You have to let the bike do what it .wants
an yway, and rid e aro u nd the problem. Bumps are a great le\··
pller, " the three--timt"World Champion said, rather paradoxical·
Iy.
Carlos Checa had been his closest challenger, pulling up to
w ithin just o v ~r a tt!nth in the dosing quarter.hour, before
Doo ha n finally got a dear lap with no traffic to open the gap up
agt'lin to almos t four-t enths. But Cada lorn also was on the move
"It wa s reall y hard work," Rossi said .
"I don't like the track, and it was very
hot. Ve da was fas ter th an me arou nd
som e of the bends, but that was useful
because I was able to learn some good
lines from him. The main thing was that
m y bike was mu ch faster d own the
s tra ig h t." On the slow-down lap, he
bent over the front of the fairi ng to kiss
th e ma chine, and give it a gentle hug
a n d ca ress.
Ved a managed to contain his disappointment ov er yet another defeat - a
tribute to his boundles s good natu re.
"My suspension setting was very good
today, but in th e end, hi s horsepow er
made the differe nce," he said.
by now , and slotted into se
cond with minutes to spare, the best yet position for the Yam aha this year .
"The bike has gr ad uall y bee n improvi ng," Cada lora sa id .
"The chassis is now good and Yamaha is working on the engine.
Bu t honestly, I don't think I can challenge Doohan. There will be
a gr ou p of people racing for seco nd."
Clost' times • second to 10th within the same second (plus a
tenth or so) - bore out this remark. and Checa was the closest
surviving a tumble on Satu rday morning to 'come rock looking
strong .
" It will be tough tomorro w," Checa said. " It' s good tha t the
gap to Doohan has closed, but there are a lot of peop le in the
group. It is very slippe ry off the line, but the re are still a few
puces where overtaking will he pos..sible."
Tadayuki Oka da rompletf'd the front row , promising a good
race. " 1 ft'el bet ter now than a t an y race this year," he said, citing
a combin..1 tion of improved experience a nd , fur o n~, dn d~nct"
of injury. He wa ~ fre~ h from :o.econd p lace in the Suz u ka 8
H OU TS, bu t said there was no diffi cu lty switching back to a twostrok e from a four-stroke. ''That was more d ifficult when 1 was
riding a 2S0," he sa id .
Dorlano Romboni led the second row and was frt.>quently
higher up the li~ting~ during the vari ou s sessions . S~~trap
times showed he w as only losin~ 3 or 4 mph on the long..nearly
three-quarter-mile back stra ig ht, while the tra ck' s medium~pt>t>d com t'r.'tare what su it the V-twin Ap rilia the most. "We're
using the front tire h.1.rder, which shows we'rt> getting a bt:otter
balance as we work to try to so lve the wht.'elie problem," Romboni sa id . "If I ca n get a wa y weH, we ca n have a good rac e
tomorrow."
Jean-Michel Bayle was alo ng...ide, on row two for the second
race in su ccessi on . "It could hav e been bt: :ter," he said. "The
1
bike ran perfectly throughout the sess ion until it broke on the
last lap. I thin k I wo uld have MIl fasrer that time around."
The battle for fifth was another epic,
and a list of names does the riders no
justice. Nonetheless, it wo uld take
weeks to describe all the cha nges of fortune that led them to cross the line like
this: Kaz uto Sakata h ea d i ng M irko
C ia nsa n ti, Jo rge Martinez , Lu ci o
Cecc hi ne llo, Fred Petit and Ma sak i
Tokudome,
Rossi ex tended his points lea d still
further, 220 po ints to Ued a's 143. Mana ko ha s 124, Saka ta 112, and Martinez
96 .
t:\
Circu it Nelson Piquet
Jacarepagua, Brazil
Results : August 3, 1997 (Round 10 of 15)
I.2S« QUALIFYI NG : 1. NobonJ. Ued.J, (2:00.287); 2.Va lentino Ross i (2:00.43 1); 3. Jorge Martine L (2:OO QU);
4. Lu ci o C eccbi ne ll c (2:0 1.030); 5 . Frt"tJt"ric" Pefi t
(2:01.102); b. ~d!>dk.i TuluJolllt" (2:0 1..309); 7. Manfred
Ge i!>sle r ( 2~1.32 4 ); 8. T umo mi M.ln a ko (2:01 .466); 9.
Youichi Ui (2:01.554); 10. G i.mluigi Scalvini (2;01.706);
11. Gd rry McC o y (2 :02 . 11 5 ); 12 . Kat zu to Sa kol la
(2:02 .12R); 13. Mi r ko G ia M a n ti 12:02 .255); 14. G ino
BOr.'\Oi (2:02.&H ); 15. juan Maturana (2:02.~); lb. Ivan
Go i (2:02.943); 17. jercela v Hulcs (2:03.244); 18. Dir k.
Raudies 12:03.4Hl); 19. M (2;[)q.4%); 30. Eraldo Tom .. (2:10.4(.. );
"
31. Rena te VdluJu (2:10.614)
tzsee GR AND PR IX: 1. Valentino Rossi (Ap r); 2.
Noboru UrJ" (Hon); 3. Vou ichi Ui (Yam); 4. To mo rm
Ma na ko U lo n) ; 5 . Kat luto Sa ka ta (Apr); b . ~lrk o
G ian santi C n) ; 7. Jorge Martmez (Ap r) ; 8 . Luc io
Ho
Cecc n mc llc (Ho n); 9. Fred eri c Petit (Ho n); 10. M,lsaki
Toku d omc (Ap r); I I. Rl'berto Locate tlt (Ho n): 12. Steve
fcn Mer (Apr); 13. CarTy McCoy (Apr) ; 14. Gino Borsot
(Ya m); 15. Jua n Matunna (Yam); l b. YO!>hia ki KAtu h
(Yam); 17. MaS (Hun); 24, Re na to Vejludo (Hu n); 25. Era ldo
To me Il-lon) .
T ime:.42 min., .12.2111 12. No riya ..u Numala (1;56 .127.1;
;
13 jo-e Luis Cardoso (1;56.528); 14 . GiW!c1'pe Fio rillo
0:56.699 ); 15. O liver rrtrucriani (1:56 .745); 16. Jere my
Mcw ilhems (1;56.7H2); 17. Lu is D' Annn (1:57.110); 18.
~sa m u Mi ya zaki 0 :57 .129); 19 . Lu ca Bosc osco eo
The n cam e No bua tsu Aoki, su rvi vor of a big cra sh on Saturda y morning. "Tha t one was scary, ' the v -Iour-rnounrcd Aoki
said . " It happened because one of m y rear-bra ke pads fell out a t
th e end of the b ack straigh t."
Suzuki's Da ryl Bea ttie concluded the row , his bes t pos itio n
a ll season , thou gh it wa sn't eno ugh to cheer him up. " It d oesn 't
matter if you're one second beh ind the lead er or two seconds,
it's equally frus tra tin g." Beattie said.
But his team was p leased enoug h, taking it as a good sign
that he was unhurt in his fan on Friday, his first spill since the
on e in Fran ce last yea r tha t ruined his seaso n and possibly his
career . "If they all felt like that. I wo uldn't mind crashing." he
said.
Tea m ma te Anthony Gobe rt was ninth and bitterly disappointed, having be-en third a nd fou rth, respect ively, in both
morning "untimed" sessi on.... " f h4 d some engine trouble, and
1
when my crew got it go ing th ree kph better a t the e nd of the
sessi on, 1 had Uuan) Borja in my way o n my fa~t lap," G()bcrt
said. "He often seems to be on the line w hen he's on a slow lap .
Ewn so, tha t was stil1 my best lap, so I feel I could have been in
the tup four or five."
~tt' Gibe mau was an ela ted lOth~fastest .. sayin~: "For the
first time , I feel I know what to do to ge t the best out of a 500."
Teammate Norifumi A~ was alo ngs ide and unhappy, still
stnJ gg ling to find the bike se ttin g that wilJ give him confidenl"'t:'
in the front wheel. Then came Jurgen Fuchs, 12th and in his
best-ever position, for once ah ead of Elf 500 teammate Ju an
Borja.
A disgruntled Alex BaJ'TOS led row four on the top Honda V·
R~ Laroni wa s 15th, one p18ce a hea d of
Jurgen van den Goorbergh. Fred Pro tat was the last of 23 qu alifiers .
PNin. Comeback man
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