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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128004
Road Race Round 9: Sachsen g rin WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPROAD RACE SERIES By Henny Ray Abrams Photos by Gold & Goose HOHENSfEIN·ERL'JSfHAL, GERMANY,JULY 18 hey pla yed the American national an them, and it was sweet. Kenn y Roberts Jr. had done it again. For the man his team has d ubbed the "Ameri can Express," the sta rs lined u p on a brilliantly hot and sunn y day at the Sachsenri ng . Team Suzuki's Roberts w as on the right bik e at the right track at the righ t time, and it added u p to his th ird w in of the year, despite relentless pres. sure from Repsol H on da's World Cha mpionship leader Alex Criville. Wha t Roberts did fro m his pole posi tion was cont rol the pac e from the fron t h e led eve r y lap - and wait (or the inevitable onslaught. It came in the form of Criville wi th 17 of 31 laps to go, but he repelled it, and he too k the win before a crowd of 62,200 a t th e German Grand Prix. "When I saw Alex on the pit board with 13 la p s to go, whatever it w as, it ma y have been even 16, 17 laps to go, I was thinking, 'H e got a good start and he w as goin g very w ell in the warmup: " Roberts began, "bu t again, this type of tr ack, yo u can con trol the pace from the front. That's what w e really lack and that's wha t I've been asking Suzuki for - just a little bit mo re acceleratith So iffI do tget indfro~t, I can control ·on. h e pace 0 ano er n er. Saving his best for th e end , Rober ts held off Criville, w hose tires we re begi nrung to be tray him, by .338 of a seco nd. He com pleted the 31-lap, 67.58-mile race in a new race record time of 45 minutes, 59.732 seconds, a t an average speed of 87.964 mph. Cri ville offered no apologie s for finish in g second. He'd strugg led to a very . uncharacteristi c 10th in qualifying, starting fr om th e third r o w o f th e g ri d . Patiently, he worke d hi s w ay through the field , taking ove r seco nd on the 14th la p . Fo r the rema in in g 17 h e was in Rob erts' wake, bu t he had nothin g fo r him at the en d. If[ _I ~ IIiii III Q i. ~ " " .;, ~ ::i"" -5 ..., 18 "Of course it w as di fficult - I w as riding on the limit behind him - but yo u kn ow sometimes yo u ha ve to be sec ond," the Spaniard said . "It' s okay. Now for the champion ship today, I said, 'Seco nd, it ' s o kay: bec ause m y, bike was slid ing a little bit. On the last lap I try to pa ss him, but it was not so good . I said, 'It' s be tter don' t take risk , and second, it's oka y.'" - Th e strategy allowed him to ex pa nd his points lead . Af ter nine of 16 races, Criville ha s 174 points to Roberts' 127. Repsol H o n d a ' s Ta d a yu ki Okada is th ird at 113. Ok ada was among the rid ers o n th e record-setti ng , star-studded crash list. M arlboro Yamaha 's Max Bia ggi wa s first out, followed by Team Biland GP1's Luca Cadalora , Team Suzuki's Nob uat s u Aoki, Mo viStar H ond a Pons' Alex Barros (h e remounted a n d fin ish ed eig hth) , and Proton KR Mod enas' Jamie Whitham. Okada wa s crasher number 69, a new record , 17 more than the second-highest number. Find in g th e p odium a ft er a long a bs e nc e was Ant ena 3 Yam ah a0' Antin's N orick Abe . Th e Japanes e rid er was a th reat to th e top two for much of th e race before settling into a scra p with Marlboro Yamaha' s Carlos Checa. Checa tried him at the end, bu t Abe held his ground and took third, less than a tenth in front of Checa, w ho w as s u ff e r in g wi th arm p r o b le m s a s the resu lt of two practice crashes. Fifth went to Kan emo to Hon da ' s Joh n Kocinski, th ough he deserved better . Kocinsk i w as fast in th e fas t sections, but badly ch unked his rear Michelin, the tir e nearly high-siding him with less than 10 laps to go . Alte ring his riding style to keep the Kan emoto H onda more upri ght on acceleration, Kocinski nursed the bike home. Then ca me FCC TS R's H a ru chi ka Ao ki, his sixth place the best of his year and well better than his brother Nobuatsu, w ho cras hed on lap four. Barros recovere d fro m an off-track excursion, w hile try in g to pa ss Roberts for th e lead, to tak e eig hth. : Rep s o l H ond a ' s Se te Gi berna u, w ho' d been bumped a fe w tim es b y Nobua tsu Ao ki, was ninth, with Mo viSta r Honda Po ns' Juan Borja 10th, bat tling the pai n of a lingering hip injury. There was a dra ma tic tum of eve nts in the 250cc class, w it h It a li a n s howoff Valentino Rossi not only winning his fifth race of the year but also laking over the cha m pions hip points lead w hen To hru Ukawa crashed ou t on the third lap . Th e ra ce fo r th e w in w a s between tw o Italians: Rossi on th e factory Aprilia a n d Lo ris Ca p irossi o n th e ElfAxo Hond a Gres ini mo unt. Ca pirossi led for the firs t 10 laps, and then it was Rossi's turn, and he took it to the finis h, though never with mu ch comfort.