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/128011
Earl ier, ElfAxo Hon d a ' s Lor is Cap irossi, the su rvivor of a was p attack in practice, made good his threat to humiliate Aprilia at hom e wi th a massive run.away 250cc Grand Prix win. Points lead er Valentino Rossi and his Aprilia we re left trailing in second, and he left the rest trailing by a similar distance in his fru itless pursuit of the flying Honda rider. He also stretched his title lead , a fter Toh ru Ukawa tumbled out of an epic battle for third on his Shell Advance Honda. Third ev e n tua ll v w e nt to Olivier Jacqu e, recovering from a ro tten start on the Ches terfie ld Yam aha to come storming through . He had Stefano Perugini's Fila Honda on his tail, bu t held off his last-lap attack. Jacq ue's Yamaha tea mma te Shinya Nakano lost ground by the finish in fifth. A d esper at ely d isa ppointed Uka wa - rem ount ed to cla im 12t h, narrowl y ( ahead of Jeremy McWilliams, w ho had also crashed out of the bat tle for thi rd , and remounted. Shell Adva nce Ho n d a ' s A nt ho ny West barely topped Masa ki Toku dome's Dee-Cee Hond a for 15th, to claim the last point. Benet ton Pl a yli fe H ond a ' s Marco Melandri claimed a resounding th ird wi n in su ccessio n in the 12Sec GP, leadin g fro m s ta rt to finish a fte r th e firs t start was aborted less than a lap in after ra in s ta r te d sp ottin g . C lass r o o ki e Simo ne Sanna won a fears ome battl e for second , wit h Fren chma n Arnaud Vincent th ird , a nd Emilio Alzamo ra a nd obo ru Veda close up beh ind. Rober to Locatelli forced his wa y to the front of the grou p af te r a s lo w s ta rt , on ly to crash ou t on the las t 1.1 P for a second race in succession. 500cc GRAND PRIX The track was alm ost completely dry b y th e t im e the la s t ra ce of th e d a y began, and Rob erts jetted off into the lead into the first corner, with Criville and Okada close beh ind . Carl os Checa missed the pa rty, his Yamaha suffe ring a major p iston failur e after just on e lap. T hi s tr io mad e th e earl y run nin g until Abe and Barros sor ted out betwe en them w ho shou ld lead th e next group, bu t Roberts w a s clea rl y s lo w in g the pa ce, albei t unwillingly, making him self more than hard to pass. The first to try was Oka da, who led over the line on lap seven , only for Roberts to blow straight by again in to the next tu m . By the n the Su zu ki was head ing an eig ht -coac h fre igh t tra in - Barro s in fo u rth, th en Ab e, Biag gi , Lacon i and Nobuatsu Aoki . "O nce I saw tha t, 1 knew on ce on e guy p as sed me it w ould be a ll over," said Roberts. All the same he made Criville rea lly work for it, repassing him di rect ly after the first attem pt on lap ยท12. Crivi lle was ahea d aga in ove r the line, but Robe rt s fought back once again. Criville's next attem pt came two laps lat er, and this tim e it w or ked, because Barros had moved past a slow ly fad ing Ok ada , and was mi xed up with the lead ing pair. Robert s had his hands full holding him at bay , and Criville was awa y. Th is signa led th e e nd of th e close g rou p, wi th all eig ht rid er s covered by less tha n two se co nds from lap eig h t. But t h ou g h Rob erts s ta r te d to lo s e ground soon afterward, Barros came piling past and took up a pu rsuit that was to last right to the finish , by far his best race of the yea r. The race came down to a duel between Criville (3) and Alex Barros (5) - a battle that ultimately went to Crlville. "I wa n ted to be first , but second is good a nyway," he said lat er, after his despera te last-lap attack saw h im run wid e a nd recover to push Criville all the w av, The next big shuffle cam e on lap 18. Rob ert s had su ccu mbed to Abe. Then Roberts and Biaggi tou ched on the wa y in to the Acqu e Minerali chicane and the Su z u ki ran o n to the g rass, lu ck y to avo id cras hing . .T his also let Ok ada by, w h ile both Laconi a nd Aoki overtoo k the Amer ican soo n afterward . Ab e wa s pu shing really hard , and w a s within less than a seco nd o f th e leaders wh en he finally pushed too hard on lap 24, slidi ng off and run nin g back to the bike to remount. By th e fini sh , Bia ggi was a lone in third with Ok ad a a little wav back, and th e n ca m e Laconi. thrill ed with the resul t, an d wit h a strange tale . " My sea t padd ing ca me off, an d 1 was glue d to the sea t," La~oni sa id . "I ll) ~ ~ . ._ _ ---..;;;8. C1> ~ C1> _ _ .............._ ..I _ ......__ 1 .... ~ Q. ........" C1> lJ) 7