Road Race
Pab lo Niet o C
Oer); 18. Fonsi Niet o {Hon l; 19, Frederic
Peti t (Ap r); 20. Reinhard Sto lz (Ho n): 21. Rand y d e
Pu nict (Apr); 22 Robbin Harms (A pr) ; 23. Brock Parkes
(Hon); 24. Dennis Charlet t (Hon).
Ti me: 38 min.• 7.081 sec.
"The last two laps w ere a li ttle b it
fas te r," Biaggi said. "I coul d he ar the
engine of Tad y was very close to me so 1
tried to close down. Tha t co rner, he
already passed me twice, maybe he had
some advan tage. 1 know so me places
yo u bra ke very hard, also this p lace is
downhill, so it' s more easv to lose the
rea r cont rol."
'
Laconi was third , and strea ming past
next were Checa, Crivi lle, Gibernau, and
McCoy.
"My sta rt was qu ite good but the firs t
an d secon d turns we re a d isaster, everyone wen t crazy and a co u ple of guys
collided with me," said Ch eca.
Criville sa id tha t "the pain (from his
broken left wrist ) was bad during th e
race, but I found I could follow the other
rid ers. I had to fight the pain all the way
th rough, especially on brakin g, where it
was hard to be precise ."
Gibernau felt he could have been
contesting the lead if he hadn't chos en
the wrong rea r tire.
Aoki w as just in front of Kocinski
_
with Roberts a lon ely 10th.
DisLJ:nce: 23ldps. 63.5i miles.
Ave rage speed: 100.065 mph.
M.ngin of victory: 0.035~.
125ee WORLD C H IP PO INT STANDL'IlGS (Aft.r 13
of 16 ro u n ds): I. Em ilio Al zamora (l q l); 2. Masao
Az u ma (178 /5 w in s); 3. Marco Mel andri 0 65 /4 ); 4.
No bby Veda ( B6); 5. Roberto Loc a telli 0 36 / 2); 6.
Arna ud Vincent 0 32/1); 7. Gianluigi ScaJvini (129/ 1); 8.
Lucio Cecchi nello (]()(); 9. Simo ne Sanna (%); 10. Gino
Borsci (7I); 11. Youichi Ui (69); 12. Kazutc Saka ta (55);
13. Steve Ienkner (49) ; 14. Iva n Coi (48) ; 15 . Mirk o
Ci a ns.an ti (42) ; 16 . (T IE) Je r o ni mo Vida l / Ma nu el
Poggiali (37); 18. mE) Hid eyuki Na kajo h / Ra ndy d e
Marco Melandri won the 125cc Grand Pr ix ,
his fourth victory of the season.
Jr. (1:39.444); 15. Steve Ienkner 0 :39.6qo ); 16. Masa o
Azuma 0 :39.898); 17. Kazuto Sa ka ta 0 :39.925); 18.
Pablo Ni et o 0 :40.247); 19. Ivan Coi 0 :40 .5 91 ); 20 .
Al es sandro Brannerti 0 :40 .665) ; 21. Freder ic Petit
(1:41.035); 22. Max Sab batani (1:41.043); 23. Peter G alvin
0 :41.158); 24. Michael Teni wood 0:41576); 25 Rand y
s
.
De Punier 0 :42.010); 26. Robbin Harms 0:42.428); 27.
Reinhard Stolz (1:42523); 25. Andrew Will y 0 :42.1l43):
29. Broc Parkes 0 :43.137);30. Denn is Cba rlen (1:43.6n).
12S e c c r: 1. Marco M el andri (Hon); 2. Lu ci o
Cecchi nell a (H an); 3. Youich i Ui (De r): 4. Gia nluigi
Sca lvin i (Apr); S. MaSclo Azuma ; 6. Ro be rto Loca te lli
(Apr); 7. Jeronimo Vidal (Apr); 8. Gino Borso i (Apr); 9.
Manuel Pogg iali (Apr); 10. Steve Jenkn l'r (A pr); 11.
Mirko C ia nsa nti (Ap r); 12. Simo ne 5.ln na (Han ); 13.
Kazuto Sakata (Hon ); 14. Iva n Cooi (Hon ); 15. Emili o
Alza mo ra (Hon); 16. AI~n dro Bra nnetti (Ap r); 17.
Phillip Island Circuit
Phillip Island, Australia
Results: October 3,1999 (Round 13 of 16)
12Sce Q UALIFYING : I. No bo ru Ueda O :38.bOO); 2
Lu cio Ce c cbinel lo (1 :38 .6 20); 3 . Ma r co M elandr!
(1:38.646); 4. Youi ch i Ui 0:38.922); 5. Arnaud Vincent
0:39.045); 6. Roberto Locatelli 0 :39.(63); 7. Gin o Borsoi
0:39.244); 8. Gia nl uigi Sca h:i ni 0 :39.268); 9. Manuel
POggi.lli 0:39.281); 10. Jer onimo Vida l 0 :39.337); I I.
Em ilio Alza mo ra (1 :39. 360) ; 12 . Mirk o Gi a nsa nti
0:39.365); 13. Simont" Sa nn.a (1:39.409); 14. Angel Nicto
Punier (20); 20. M.J. Sebbatani (14).
x
250cc QU A LI FYING : 1. Je re my M cWill i am ~
(1:.33.919); 2. Olivier Iacque (1:34.272 ); 3. Lori... Capiros si
(1:34.10); 4. Shinya Nakano 0 :34.236); 5. Tohru Ukawa
0:34 .482); 6. Jay Vincent 0 :34.527); 7. Valentino Ros si
(1;34.54 1); 8. Ralf Waldmann 0 :34.629); 9. Sebastian
Porto 0 :34.69 3); 10. Stefa no Pe rugini 0 :34.738) ; 11.
Franco Bat raini 0 :35.2 11) ; 12. Tomom i Man ako
(1:35.315) ; 13 . Ant ho ny West 0 :35 .458); 14 . Julien
Allemand 0 :36.193); 15. Luc... Boscoscuro 0 :36.402); 16.
Ale x H o fm a nn 0 :36 .488); 17 . Mauri ce Bol w er k
0 :36 .985); 18 . Sha u n Ge ro n imi 0 :37.045) ; 19. Fo ns i
Nieto 0 :37.(80); 20. Mas.ak i To kud o rne 0 :37.205); 2 1.
David Garcia 0:37.302); 22. ja rno Iansse n 0 :37.427); 23.
Scott Smart 0 :37.806); 24. Kevin Curt ain (1:37.847); 25.
joha n Stigefelt (1;37.967); 26. JdY Tay lor 0 :38.003); 27.
Roger Harrison 0 :38.996); 28. Ma tias Rics (1:39.315).
250ce CP: 1. Valentino Rossi (Ap r); 2. Olivier Jacque
(Yam); 3. Tohru Uka wa (He n): 4. Shin ya Nakano (Yam);
5. Ralf waldmann (A pr); b . Loris Capirossi (Hon): 7.
Hon ); 8. Franco Bat ta ini (Apr); 9.
Stefano Pe rugin i C
Seba stian Porto (Yam ); 10. Anthony West (Ho n): 11.
Tomomi Mana lo (Ya m); 12. jason Vincen t (Hen): 13.
Ale x Hoffman (Hon) ; 14. Luca Boscoscuro (He n): 15.
Masaki Tokudomc (He n): 16. Fon si N il-to (Yam) : 17.
David Garcia (Ya m); 18. [arne Ianssen (Hen): 19. [chan
Stigefe lt (Ya m) ; 20 . Matia s Rio s (Apr); 21. Roger
Harrison (Han).
Time: 39 min ., 28.278 '>t."C
.
Di. tan ce: 25 1.l ~, 69.1 miles.
s
Aver.lge speed: 106.894 mph.
M.rgi n of vidory: 0.103 !'tt.. .
'C
250cc WOR LD C HIP POINT STANDINGS (Afo.r 13
of 16 round ,",): 1. Valen tino RO!'oe;i (243/7 ",; ns ); 2 Tohru
.
.
Anthony Gobert had a less-than-auspicious debut on the Team
Biland GPl MuZ ·Weber 500 . Gobert had to take ellasive action in
tum two on the first lap and ended up running off the track and
crashing. ' My start wasn't too bad. and In the first' corner I even
went inside of a few guys and got past. When we got to tum two.
the pack was so slow again that I decided to get around them on
the out side line and -gain a feW more positioris. but then
Chec a got hit by someone else. and crossed my line. so all of a
sudden there wa~ no plaCe left on the race track . .1 hit the brakes
hand. the rear came around and I wa s nearly thrown oller the handlebars befor e I wen t through the grass and hit the tire wall In the
end.,I,bit my tongue and even wa s knocked out for a moment. so I
feel a bit shaken up' and concusse d. but' otherw ise I'm okay."
' .
.
..
"
'Proton KR Modenas' Mike. Hale had a s~ary mo":'eni inFriday's
first free 'practic e session, Heading for a hard-braking downhill
right. one of his brake calipers broke off the fro nt fork leg, forcing
him to abandon 'the motorcycle . Hale threw the Mod enas .down.
and escaped unhurt. It was just the beginning of his problems. The
Texan seized both of his mot ors in Saturday qualifying and would
tie one up again In the race: ·- It was tying up on the warm' up lap.Hale said, ·- At the start of the race it almost stalled. - Hale is finishing the first year of a two-year coritract : "A lot depends on the
futur e and the direction we go. To be honest. I'm still focused ori
right now. I really. really wanted to get a good result for the team
before the season 's oller. - The team is committed to the threecylinder engIne for the rest of the year. though Hale tested the
Swissauto fo ur at Brno . The first day ther e were a number of
problems with the' EPROM chip and tfiere was no one from Swissauto at the test. Hale said when they looked at the data from the
.engine. it w as runni ng at abo ut 65 percent. . .
.
Ha ; ~ wasn't the only cras her. Repsol Honda had a pair . both
World Championship leader A l e x C r iville . who broke a small
bone in his left wrist. and Sete Gibernau. who had a violent high.
side which launched him into an orbit from which he landed mostly
unhurt.
Yo u can never have too many stunt riders. That' s' the lesson from
Phillip Island. where three riders were hired to prollid e thrills for
the fans. The number was reduced by one when A ,C. Farias, a
lIeteran Brazilian. cra'shed on Thursday while practicing his routine. Farias broke his collarbone, the firSt bone he'd broken in his
. 18-year stu'nt.riding .career.
.
0>
0>
0>
~
12
Kenny Roberts Jr. was using Ohlins fo rks again on his Suzuki
RGV Gamma. a significant change. since the team is contracted
,to Showa . Robert s.,who used the fork s on both the M odenas and
Yamaha 500s. had tested them in Brno. afte r the Czech Grand
Prix. and decided to fit them to the Suzuki ,for the Valencia GP,
where he finished seco nd .
.
M i ck Dooha n had this to. say about wheth er or not fatherh ood
had changed his outloo k on racing : ·' People halle been haili ng
children for'centuries and get on with their lilies. so'seriously. it's '
.
..
Upcoming Rounds :
Round 14 · Welkom, South Africa. October 10
Round 15 " Jacarepgua, Brazil, October24
.
.
Brieflv...
Uka wa (208 / 2); 3. Loris Ca p irossi 0 82/ 3); -I. Shinya
N akano (175/ 1); 5. Ste fa no Peru gin i (121); 6. Ralf
Waldmann (117); 7. Franco Battaini (115); 8. Jeremy
·
:vIcWilliams (83); 9. O liv ier J.:ICqUl (68); 10. Sebastian
Porto (65); 11. Jason Vincent (56); 12. Luca Bcecoecuro
(52); 13. Anth on y W~t (Hon). 14. Mauro Lucchi (49); 15.
Robert o Rolfo (46); lb . AJn Hofmann (38); 17. Masaki
Tokudome (34); 18. Tomomi Manakc (33); 19. Naoki
Mat sud o (21); 20. Dai jiro Katoh (1 I).
SOOcc Q UALI FYIN C : I. Kenn y Roberts Jr .
(1:32.319); 2. Tetsu ya Harada (1:33.080); 3. Regis Laroni
O :33.ln); 4 . Alex Barro s 0 :33 .229); 5 . Ma x Bia ggi
0 :33.274); 6. Se te Gi be me u 0 :33.333); 7. Tad a yuki
O kada 0:33.417); 8. Norick Are 0 :33.452); 9_Juan Borja
(1:33.498); 10. Carlos Checa 0 :33.511); 11. No buatsu
Aoki 0:33.623); 12. Ale Crivil le 0:33.757); 13. Anthony
-x
Cobert 0:33.911); 14, John Kocinski 0 :33.914); 15. Garry
McCoy 0:33_
956); 16. J""" Luis Cardoso 0:33.962); 17.
Haruchika Aoki 0 :34 .56 9); l B. Iurgen va n der
Coorbergh 0:34.738); 19. Mike Hal . 0 :34 .750); 20.
Sebastren Gi m be r t 0 :35. 72 0 ; 21. Da v id De Cea
0 :36.169); 22. Michael Rutter 0 :36.247); 23. SteVE' Martin
0 :36.440); 24. Mark WJlJi, 0 :37.875).
.
500cc CP: 1. Tadayu ki Ok....da (Hon ): 2 Ma x Biaggi
(Yam); 3. Regie; Laco n! (Yam ); 4. Carlos C beca (Yam); S.
Alex Crivtll e (Han); 6. Sete Gi bc mn u (Hon) : 7. Ca ry
McCoy (Yam): 8. Nob uats u Aoki (Suz); 9. John Kocinski
(He n): 10. Kenny Roberts Jr. (Suz); 11. Ha ru chika Aoki
(Hen): 12. Ju rgen van der Ccorbergh (MuZ); 13. David
De Gea (Mod); 14. Steve Marti n (He n): IS. Mar k Willis
(Mod) ; 16. No rick Abe (Yam); 17. JU01n Borja (Hon) .
Ti me: 42 m in., 9.271 sec.
Dista nce: 27 laps , 74.63 milt'S.
Average speed: 106.219 mph.
M ,argin of vidory: 0.085~.
500cc WORLD CHIP POINT ST ANDl NGS (Aft.r 13
of 16 rounds): 1. Alex rivill e (230/ 6 win s); 2. Tadayuki
Okada (189 / ) ; 3. Kenn y Roberts Jr . (179 / 3); 4. Max
Biaggi (129); 5. Se te G ibe rna u (24); 6. Ca r los Checa
(02); 7. John Kocinski (97); 8. Teesu ya Hamad (94-); 9.
Regis Laconi (92/1 ); 10. No rick Abe (88); 11. Alex Barros
s
(84); 12. Juan Bor ja (74); 13. Nobuatsu Aok i (62); 14.
Ha ruchika Aoki (48); 15 . Gary McCn y (46); 16. Mlck
Doohan (33); 17. Iurgen van d er Coorbe rg h (3 1); 18.
Simon Cre fa r (9); 19. Sebastien Gimbert (6); 20. Luea
Ca da lura (14).
fantast ic to halle a child. but. hey. there's a lot of other people. - Team Biland GP1 's Anthony Gobert qualified 13th. just behind
who do ."
Alex Crillille. afte r knocking 1_2 seconds 'off his Friday time to end
with a 1:33.9 11. - I'm,cimy;ng a lot more corner speed than yesThough he continues to deny it. the rumors that Doohan will be
tenday. my entry speed is a lot higher. and I still think a top 10 finrunning a team with Apii lia's V alentino Rossi next year simply
ish would be a nice result for us." Gobert said. ' The only 'shame
woo't die. At Phillip Island they gathered steam with new detai ls
is that I mi'ssed ' out on the third ro~ because I felt I "ad a time of
emerging . The team is likely to be backed by Shell. and the riders
1:33.5 in me. but when I went oui for my fi·nal run. the. tire didn't
· mentioned are Rossi. on a 500 . and current Shell Adv ance rider
work the way it was suppos ed to. When I had some slides on i he
ohru ·Ukawa. Ukawa is said to be keen to get on a 500. and
first lap. I thought it was just too cold, But it sWI didn't work on lap
there were reports that he may even make the move to W orld
tw o . and . as it had a funny-looking color, there was definitely
Superbike with Honda. Yet another rumor was that Hond a and
s9mething wrong ...
Yamaha may swa p World Superbike riders . Castrol Hond a' s
Aaron Slight mOiling to Yamaha in exchange for Yamaha's Noriyu For the first time in 20 years. a Brit was on the pole of a 250cc
ki Haga.
GP. and it took a lIeter an to do it: Jeremy McWilliams ,·35. put
tli e QUB Optimum Aprilia on the pole with a time of 1':33.9 19. a .
· Doohan was back on a moto rcycle and back on track for the first
new ' track record by a fair amount on the resurfaced Aus tralian
time since his crash 'at Jerez in May. Riding one of teammate Alex
lIenue. " It' s one of the circuits that suits the bike perfectly ' and :
· Criville's NS R500 Hondas, wit h his number one plate, Doohan did
suits my 'riding' sty le. as I like fast: flowing circuits. as 1 prolled .
'lIe
two laps ' of honor. at surpiising speed. pulled in. then we nt
by being the only guy under '.:33 all weeke nd:back out for one final lap witho ut his helmet. all playing to a stand·
irig ollation from the crowd of 44.500. ' That was really fantastic ., It
TNT Transpo rt . the 'fre ight carrier for. the GP s. used ap~ir of '
was hard to mOlle on the bike: when I wa s trying to mO e around.
ll
Boeing 747 jumbo J
ets to ferry the bikes and gear from Europe
my feet. were getting caught on the footpeg s. But apart from that.
to Australia. then on to South Afri ca. and back ,to Europe . There
elleryth ing feels exactly like It did before. I wanted to take it easy
were 153.000 kilos <333.600 Ibs.. or 168 ,3 tons) of gear to move. '
because that bike was set up for Sete Gibernau and not for me. I
with HRC canyi ng 18.7 tons .
just asked the guyS before we set off what tIT they'd put in. and
es
they said. 'new ones'! I had not ridden a bike or a bicycle or anyThe pole time of Team Suzuki's Kenny Robert s was ellen more
thing since my acciden t so I really enjoyed that . Maybe I should
impressille considering the top·speed numbers of the front - .
have gone a litt le slower on that flying lap. but I just wanted to see
runners. The allerage of Roberts' five , best top-speed runs was
what it was like to ride the bike again. I really 10lle riding the bike.
182.878 mph. well off the fastest 't op-speed average of 189.03 '
That' s what has kept me racing for so long." It was fitlJng that the
turned in by Red Bull Yamaha WCM 's Gany McCoy.
firs t corn er he roll ed th roug h was Daohan Corne r. the new ly ·
renamed firs t t urn of the Phillip Island track. where he' d ridden
P h illip Island is prob ably the hardest circuit In the worl d on
ellery race since 1989 . Gillen the state of his health. and the
ti res . especially since an aggr essive new track surface was laid
speculation that he may not race aga," . this may halle been the
at t he sta rt of the year . - W e reco rd the hig hest rear-tire tem, '
last time he'lI be seen on a 500 .
perat ures of all here . - said M ic helin GP manage r J acqu es
M or ello. Five·hundr edcc runner -up Max Biaggi used the same
Regardless of what Dochan decides . he's retained his sponso r·
rear tire whieh se veral oth er s. incl uding Team S uzuki' s Kenny
shi p by Qantas . the A ustralian aITline. Q ant as CEO James
Robert s . had trouble with . He adde d that - Tady Okada , Max
Strong. a bike enthusiast himself. said that the sponsorship deal
Biaggi and Reg is Laconi wer e all doin g' high 32s or low 33 s at
will co ntinue through 200 1. "We hall e been discussing a range of
the lIery end of the rac e. and that showed their tires were still
promotional activities with MJ
ck. designed to furt her enhance our
working verywell. Okada chose 'a 16.5-inch rear elle n though it
· support of the 500cc Qantas Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. "
doe sn't suit the Honda so well . and ,Biagg i always look s after
S trong said .
'
his tire s.: Okad a get s some chatt er with' the 16.5: but he preferred to choose it. because he knew it would be good right
D aryl B ea tti e put some laps in on Phill ip Island, but only' in his
through the race. ' Both MOll iStar Honda Pon s riders 'chose
. capaCity as a tel elli si on .commentator. The form er Rothmans
the wrong rear . and bo th owned up to it. -, didn 't choose the
Honda. Marlboro Ya·maha. and Lucky Sin'ke Suzuki rider strapped
co rrec t tir e. and It w.as i m p o s~i b l e for me to ' stay out there. "
00 a backpack full of electronics and did some fast laps on an MV
Alex Barr os said . Teamma te Juan Borja said, ' 1 make a big
Agust a outfi tted with an outboard television ·camera. Beattie w as
mi stake ch oo sing the tire I c hos e. There ' s no t muc h I can
Voiorl