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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128009
Road Race Round 10: Czech Republic Grand Prix WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROAD RACE SERIES By Michael Scott Photos by Gold & Goose BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC, AUG. 22 _• • ick Doohan failed to make hi s hop ed-for Brno com eback - and .' th er e w er e a t lea st si x p eople wh ere d eli ght ed . In h is con tip u cd absen ce, they were able to produ ce a classic 500cc Grand Pri x w ith all six of them crossing the line within just over fou r seconds after a thril ling battl e that had a crow d of 60,000 or more rapt w ith attention. T h e s to p w a tch es we re n o t so impressed . Alt ho ugh qualifyi ng times were close and very fas t, the race pace was not. And if Doohan had bee n there to stre tch everybody's legs a bit, they'd likely have been rather more spaced ou t. Never mind . It was a great day's racing, and a spec tacu lar second wi n of the m m m yea r for Tad ayuki O ka da, who cam e from third to first on the last lap, taking Repsol Hon d a tea m mate Alex Criville ell ..c com p letely by su rp rise to push him to E second. ell i:i. A few yards back three-time GP winell tJ) ner Kenny Rober ts Jr. did so me thi ng 8 s imilar to o n e- time ra ce lea d e r Ma x ~ Bia gg i a n d t h e M arlbo ro Yam ah a , pulling a fake out brak ing move in to the last chi ca ne to se n d his riva l running wide to sna tch third . And excitemen t again, ano ther cou ple of seconds down, as second Suzu ki ride r Nob ua tsu Aoki finally managed to ge t past Tetsuya Har ad a' s stor mi ng Vtwin into the las t left-right. He couldn' t make it stick, however, fin ish ing six th behind his countryma n on the Aprilia. The race was d elayed for more than an hou r after a spec tacu lar fireball crash on th e se co nd lap of the firs t start. It happene d near the back of the pack as Briton Jamie Whitham highsided off the Modenas . He fell heavily, breaking his pe lvis and one vertebra. The Mo denas she d its tan k and a fu ll fuel load as it flew through the air, and it all exploded. Jose -Luis Ca rdoso and Seb ast ien C imbert also crashe d, with all th ree rid ers mercifull y clear of a shee t of flame tha t spanne d more than half the circuit, the gravel -tra p, and se t the Air Fence on fi re . It took 10 m inutes b efor e a fire tru ck arrived . Robert s was lead in g a t the time , after overtaking fast-starting Biaggi, who was happy enough to stop, sin ce his rear tire had spun on the rim and wa s vibra ting bad ly . Thos e tw o riders, and Criville, went wi th race d irector Rober to Nosetto to inspect the damage to the track surface, to decid e if a restart wa s possible. O ka da's w in p r o v~ d clea rl y the re were no team orders at Repsol. He flew past Biaggi at the sta rt of the last lap his fas test , and the fastest of the race then took Criville by su rprise at the bottom of the hill. A few yards later he survived a vicio us s lide tha t mi ght hav e taken bo th of them ou t, and hu ng on to the finish: " It was a h a rd ra ce for m e ," th e Japa nese ride r said : "I spe nt a lot of time han gin g ba ck and sav ing the tires, and even so it was hard to get p ast Biaggi because I s till ha d a big chat ter problem. " Criville admitted he had been taken by surp rise . "On the previou s .lap I had almost a fu ll second ," he sa id . "He too k a big ga mble. I was thinking of the champions hip, and second is good for me, so I am hap py." Rob erts was also pleased after bamboozling Biaggi. . "I hu ng back for m ost of th e ra ce, M Biaggi (2), J urgen van den Goorbergh ax (17) and Kenny Roberts Jr. (hidden) got the jump on the field in the first sta rt of the red-flag interrupted Czech Republic 500cc Grand Prix. because 1 couldonly do the lap times by braki ng later an d keepin g higher corn er speed th an them to make u p for their b et te r a cce lerati o n ," Rob e r ts s a id. "When 1 we nt wi th them , 1 was slowe r. Max had a w hee lie at the bottom of the hill, so 1 cou ld ge t alongsi d e him . We bashed fairings all the way up the hill, then 1 had to act as though 1 cou ld ou tbrake him, even thou gh there isn' t really the roo m." Luckily, Biaggi fell for it. "I think 1 deserved a podi um fini sh afte r leading a' lo t of th e w ay, " Biaggi said . "I ma de a mistake in the last esses 1 was absolutely at the ma ximum tryin g to k eep Roberts behin d ." MoviSta r Hond a 's Alex Bar ro s lost tou ch wi th the lead ers to take a lonely seven th. Aus tralian Garry McCoy was im pressive as he led the next trio across the line, his Red Bull Yamaha teammate an d Repsol Honda rider Sete Giberna u only inches beh ind . Pole qua lifier Jurgen