Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127860
ROAD RACE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROAD RACE SERIES Round 14: Indonesian Grand Prix fa '- - By Michael Scolt Photos by Gold & Goose SENTUL, INDONESlA, SEPTEMBER 28 he spell is broken . The fascination is reinforced . Just one w e ek T A B ~ l'~ ...... 00 .... Q) ..n o ..... u o 6 b efore hi s home Grand Prix in Australia, Mich ael Doohan's run of 10 wins ha s been br oken. And unlike his only other defeat this yea r, there was no excuse this tim e of mech anical trouble. The magi cian was Tada yuki Okada, Doohan 's Rep sol Honda teammate, in his first full V-four season and onl y his second in the 500cc class. "Ta dy ," who last yea r cam pa igned the prototype Vtwin Hooda for the fact ory , became only the fourth Japanese rid er in hi story to win a GP in the top class. He did so in Samurai style, fighting all th e way, with th e d ecisive move on only the final corner of the 3.965km Sentul circuit, som e 40 kilom eters inland of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta . H e also broke the lap record on his final lap . His victory was onl y the fourth ever for a Japanese rider in th e 500cc cla ss Hideo Kanay a, Takazumi Kata yama and Norifumi Abe have ea ch previously won one each . It wa s a thrilling ou tco me to a race (held in hot, dry and wi ndy conditions) that h ad seen the p air draw s tea d ily ahead of th e r est of the fi eld, w ith Okada leading for eight of the 30 laps in th e middle of the race, then staying in (Above) The Indonesian SOOCc Grand Prix gets under way with Michael Doohan (1) leading his team mat es Tadayukl Okada (7) and Alex Crlville (2) . (Right) The race carr ied on this way until Cr lvllle ran off the track, allowing Okada and Doohan t o pull away. In the end , it was Okada taking the lirst SOOcc GP win 01 his career. pl ace for th e final a ttack. H e pa ssed Doohan thr ee tim es in the fioa l two laps, a n d Doohan pa s sed hi m ba ck o nly twice . Th e only sou r note wa s Doohan' s response. Ok ada accus ed him of making d eri sive gestu res on th e slowing-dow n lap. . "It spoiled my enjoyment of my first win," he told his crew . Doohan, in turn, complained: " ady T w as m i mi ck in g eve ry mov e I m a d e . When he was in front, I could see he had more speed than me. I had to try and get a hea d and win fro m the front, but he stuc k to my back wheel." H e wo ul d pref er, he s t ro ng ly infe rre d , to be beaten fair a nd sq ua re tha n by a narrow margin. This reflects not so much bad sportsmanship as Doohan' s overweening will to win. " I kn ew m y run of w in s w ould be broken some time," he said . But it didn't ma ke it any easier to bear. Alex Cri ville was third, making it an all -Repso! Honda ro strum. He fought back after a narrow es cape when th e front wheel tu cked under a t the first corner at the very sim ple circu it - "a drag s trip, with chicanes," as Daryl Beatti e described it. Th e Spaniard, in only his third race since com ing back from his