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Round 15: Rio Grand Prix WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROAD RACE SERIES By Michael Scott Photos by Gold & Goose 14 !ilii ::Iii ~ lIii III .. U :at " .. • '" '" '" ~ M .8 E ~ z 8 RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL, OCT. 24 lex Criville is World Champion . LJ, Although the still-injured Spaniard played only a supporting ro le in the Rio GP with a d istant sixth place, six wins earlier in the season w e r e e no ugh to make h im th e first Spa niard to win the premier title in motorcycle racing. "Tod a y is the happiest day of my life," he said later. "When I came into the pit and saw the H on d a with the n u m ber one o n it, I t ho ugh t it was Mi ck 's bike . Th en I r eali zed it was min e." What a pity he couldn' t underline his ac hievement by finishing the race up front _ for he missed out on one of the mos t exciting finishes of a brilli an t year of close SOOcc-class racing, wa tched in brilliant sunshi ne by a big crowd of 34,000 ferve nt Brazilian fans. Victory w ent to An tena 3 Yama ha's jiJ Norick Abe , by inches from Marlboro Yama ha 's Max Bi a ggi and Suzuki's Kenn y Roberts Jr. All three had take n a tum up front on the fina l lap, changing places right up until the exit from the final comer. Valentino Rossi is also World Champ ion, at the age of 20, the you nges t ever to w in the 250cc title. And he d id it in fine style, the Ap rilia rider takin g a decisive victory in a fierce 250cc GP, pulling clear in the closing laps to underline his superiority. Only the 125cc title remains to be settled in the final round - next weekend in Argentina. Givi Honda's Noboru Veda took h is fir st wi n o f th e season af ter a nothe r nail-b itt er of a ra ce, ous ti ng longtime lead er Marco Melandri and his Benetton Honda in the last laps, with points leader Emilio Alzamora a close thi rd on the Via Digital Ho nda. Earlier poi nt s leader Masao Azu ma was six th o n th e Ben e tt on H ond a . A lza rno ra, Melandri or Azuma ar e still in line for the ove rall victory. The SOOcc race might have had a d ifferent resu lt if Rob erts, star ting from po le and lead ing for the first ha lf of the race, had not run into engine problems. He su spected a damaged reed valve as a result of ingesting dirt, and from th at point he had a rela tively easy ride. Heading Tadayuki Okada's Re p so l Honda became mu ch harder af ter th e problem, especia lly after the two Yamahas joined the party. ' Okada was eliminated after collid ing with Abe just after he had lost second place. He di d not crash, but ran straight, rejoining to work his way back u p to seven th . Bu t Rob erts was ou tpo we red on the Nelson Piquet Circuit 's very long straigh t, though he man aged to stay in touc h a nd lead once more on th e last lap. "Even though I d id n' t win, that was the funnes t race of th e yea r," he sa id later; a se n ti me n t ec hoed by So u t h Afric an GP winner Ma x Biaggi, w hile winn er Abe was almos t overcome with joy. Kenny Roberts Jr. (10) leads the Rio Grand Prix over Tadayuki Okada (8) and Alex Barros (5) on the open ing lap. Race winner Norick Abe Isn'1 even in the picture yet. "The last lap was so hard , but I tried everything to w in," Abe said. "I touched Max on the last corner, and I' m sorry bu t 1rea lly wanted to win." Alex Barros was a disappoin te d fourth after qualifying the MoviStar Honda on the fron t row for his home GP, fending off Sete Gibernau' s Repsol Honda all the way. A lo n g way ba ck , Criv ille led th e next gang across the lin e, with Ok ad a right behind , as we ll as Red Bull Yam aha's Garry McCoy and Suzuki's Nobua tsuAoki. Anthony Gobert had been in the thick of this battle in his third ride on the MuZ, but faded at the finish on sliding lires. Ma rlboro Yam ah a's Carlos Checa cras hed out again on on ly th e second