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Road Race Round 15: Rio Grand Prix WORLDCHAMPIONSHIPROAD RACE SERIES 0"> 0"> 0"> ., "" ~ .Q E ~ o z 12 h o m e, h a ving ru n as a pe rfect pai r th rou ghou t. Gibernau blam ed a certain lack of straight-line speed an d less-thanpe rfect settings for his ina bility to attack. The next group had an exciti ng afternoo n. They'd been locked togeth er since only the fo u r th lap, at which stage McCoy was lead ing Gobert, Criville and Aoki. The two young Australians we re in full-on mode, so it was ha rdly a comfortable spot for Criville, who was trying to rem e mbe r the advice from (among others) Mick Doohan. "He told me jus t to go for a finish that no one w ould rem ember the actual po siti on once I had won the title," said Criville. With this in mind, an d still hampe red by his injured left hand, he wa tched as Gobe rt pushed and shoved and McCoy slid an d slithered . Aoki w as also holding a cautious wa tch at the back of the gang. All but he had a t least one spe ll at the fro n t of th e grou p , albeit b rief in Gobert's case , with McCoy m aki ng most of the running . He was still in front as Okada slotted on to the back of t h e gro u p after his off. In the closing stag es, Gobert dropped away . "My front tir e w as sli di ng so much by then th at I cou ld n' t keep the pa ce," he said , h appy n o n ethel ess with hi s stro ng showing . At the same time, Ok ad a was moving thro ug h. On the penultimate lap, Cri ville finally go t past McCoy for the last time, th e Australian ru nning wi de an d dro pping beh ind O kada and Aoki. A t the finish, he'd passed the Suzuki again, w ith Aoki complaining of a lack of confid ence in the front to rid e aggressively en ough. But it was Cri ville in sixth, then Okada, McC oy and Ao ki, all four covered by less than two seconds. M o re than 10 secon ds back, Reg is Laconi and his Red Bull Yamaha led the next gang, saying h e'd been hu n ting without success for g ri p a ll we ekend . H e had a d isa p poin ted Tet suya Harad a ' s Apr ilia ri ght behin d , th en ca me Kanemoto Honda's John Kocinski , also com p laining of a slidi ng fron t.nnd only just managing to ge t ah ead of David de Gea 's well-rid de n Mod ena s at the finish. TS R H o n da ' s Ha ru ch icka Aoki lost touch w ith this group at the finis h. Ma rk Willis' Mo den as never got on term s, finishi ng 16th and four seconds adrift. Jose Luis Cardoso' s TSR Ho nda w a s a di stant 17th, with T ecm a s Hond a's Sebastien Gimbert even farther back for last place. As well as va n d en Goorbergh , w hose engine stopped abruptly on la p five, Ju an Borja also retired , in trouble with an injured foot after a practice fall. Mike H ale also retired .after his Modenas seized in the early stages. Criville's historic firs t Spanish 500cc Wo rld Championship win sees him on 256 points, with Okada on 211, Roberts on 195, and Biaggi on 174. Cibernau is fifth on 155, with Abe 's 120 points moving past Checa 's 112 after his second-ever GP win - his first was at Suzuka in 1996. 250c c GRAND PRIX O livi er Jacque lea p t aw ay in the lead , but it only lasted for two laps, with Stefano Peru gin i fo llowi ng o n and th en nipping ahea d the third tim e around . By th en Naka no had already suffered his rar e misad venture, falling out of fourth position and rejoining dead last. Rossi had , meanwhile, given himself a rea l hard job. He w as slow off the line and finished the first lap w ay d own in 12th . Perugini' s lead wa s to Rossi's ad van tage, becau se it meant th e pace was not too hot as he picked hi s way p ast th e likes of top pr ivateers West , Vincent and McWilliams. "Then I had a clear track and I could go fa ster to co me b a ck to t he top g rou p," Rossi said later . It took him until la p six to get into fou rt h, w ith Capiro ssi no w briefl y up fro nt. But on the eig hth la p it w as Rossi, goi ng back an d fort h with Peru gini an d Uka w a, ea ch taking turns up front as Jacque strugg led to stay in touch. Uk awa led fro m laps 14 to 19, then Rossi show ed the true form of a cha m pion, seiz ing contro l, and on the last two la ps o pe ni ng u p a ga p of a lmost oneand-a-ha lf seconds. In ty pica l style, he was ab le to slo w over the line, an d pull straight o ve r to the pit w all to receive the acco lades of his team, w ho bu ilt him a bi ke t ha t fa iled o nly o nce all yea r, w hen the chain jumped off the sprocket in France. Rio was his ninth wi n of a brillia nt season, an d he is a truly worthy cha mpion . He is the firs t one u nder 21 yea rs of age to win the 250cc title . The previous youngest-ever was Mike Hailw o od , w h o was 21 w hen he w as the 1961 250cc World Champion. Uk awa was seco nd, w it h Capirossi push ing him all the way and Jacqu e just no t qu ite able to get on term s. He did pass Pe ru gin i on th e last lap as so me consola tion . Sebastian Porto's privat eer Sernp ru c- (Above) Valentino Rossi ' (46) leads Tohru Ukawa (4), Stefano Perugini (7) and Loris Capirossi (1) in the 250cc Grand Prix. (Right) Rossi won his first 250cc World Championship in style , winning the race his ninth of the year. In doing so , the 20-year-old Rossi became the youngest-ever 250cc World Champ ion. ci Yamaha had been well up w ith th e lead ers in the ea rly stages. "I could run wi th them until the tires we nt off, th en it became too ris ky ," he sa id . A prilia 's Ralf Waldmann was three seconds ad rift a t th e end, one of many victims of a shortage of set-u p time. " I made some gu esses in se tu p for the race, an d they w ere wrong," he sa id . He just managed to hold off Tomomi Manako' s Kurz Yamaha all the wa y to the flag. Rob erto Rolfo w on a goo d m idfield privat ee r battle from Luca Boscoscuro and Jason Vince nt. West had been with this grou p, but then lost power and had to pull in . "I thin k it w as igni tion," he sa id . Rossi no w ha s an unassailable lead , 293 points to Ukaw a' s 241. Ca pirossi has 209, m o vin g a head of N a kano' s 196. Perugini has 141 w ith Waldmann sixth, with 126 poin ts. 125cc GRAND PRIX The last race of the da y was as thrilling as th e first, a nd even closer . Mela nd ri took a flyin g start, leading from Roberto Loca telli a nd Gianlu igi Scal vini, w it h _ Scalvini taking second on lap fou r only to crash the nex t tim e around . Freq ue n t falle r Lucio Cecchin ello had a lready crashed out as we ll, on the second lap, rejoini ng in last p lace. His teammate Ued a was on a charge, fin is hing the fi rst lap in eigh th , bu t charging throug h, di spl acin g fro nt-ro w starter Manue l Pog giali's Kappa Ap rilia as we ll as Locat elli to tak e seco nd on lap five. Both of them fough t back, pu shing Ueda back to fourth briefly, while Mirko Giansan ti, in sp ired by the sig h t of his yo u nger team mate go in g so w ell, also came into the picture, getting u p to seco nd a couple of times as th e lea di ng g rou p kept on closing. M el andri rem ai ned in fron t, in his usual sty le, seem ing unruffled by th e 'fea rso m e pres sure . When bo th Ueda and Giansanti took advan tage of a slip and pus hed him to th ird with two la ps rem aining, he go t straigh t back in fro nt again . Bu t Ueda w ould not be d enied , taking the lead earl y on the final lap and hanging on grimly to the finish . Alzamora had been at the back of the lead grou p , te nth o n the firs t lap, bu t gra d ually moved forwa rd . Rid ing with his usual determination as the gaggle of 125s swa p p ed back a n d fo rth, h e claimed third by less than a tenth from Ciansanti, with Gino Borsoi on his back w heel. A zuma had a g r im ra ce , getting a dreadful start from th e fro nt row to finish the first lap a d istant 16th. He mo ved through to n inth by lap five, but he'd had to punish his tires, and he also compl ained tha t h is eng ine seemed to be lacking po wer , and he w as stuck behind Simone Sanna's Polini Honda until jus t after half-distance. At this po int he was more than a se cond off the back of the lea d g ro u p , a n d try a s h e mi ght, h e never cou ld get close r. At the finish, he passed th e fad ing Poggiali for sixth, barely enoug h to keep his title hopes alive. Am erican hopeful Jason DiSalvo was 25th and the second-to-las t finisher in the 15-year-old's first-ever G P. He was the las t rid er o n th e s a me lap as the leaders. Alza rno ra n o w h a s a s le nder sixp oint lead , 207-2 01 , over M elan dr i. Az u m a ha s 190, Ue da 17 1, Loc a te lli, eighth today, has 157, and 13th- placed Arn aud Vincen t ha s 155 poin ts. eN Nelson Piquet Circuit Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Resu lts: October 24, 1999 125« QUALlFY1NG: 1. Marro Mela nd'; (1:59.490); 2. Masao Azuma (2:00 .267); 3 . Manuel Pogg ia li (2:00. 295); 4. Rob er to Loca tell i (2:00.311); 5. Mirk o C iansa nti (2:00.410); 6. Noboru Veda (2:00.547); 7. Youich i Vi (2:00.63 1); 8. Gi no Borsci (2:00.648); 9. C ian lu igi Sca lv ini (2:00.691); 10. Luci o Ce cchinello (2:00.707); 11. Si mone Sa nn a (2:00.896); 12. Emili o

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