De l
n
World Championship R o a d R a c e S e r ie s
n
R o u n d 2: South African G r a n d Prix
road race
the rot set in. Two laps later Ross i
found a way past, and another lap
' s a w Capirossi also ahead of him ,
having fought his way back through
the pack after his first-corner brush
with the Suzuki.
Roberts continued to lose place
after place, so he was sixth and at the
bac k of the group by lap 19. By that
time, McCoy was gone. He had gone
off line to run inside Roberts into a
slow left-hander, and the front wheel
had promptly tucked under· he nearly took Roberts with him .
"I could see Valentino and Loris
getting away. In retrospect, it wasn't
a good place to try and pass - I was
just in too much of a hurry ,' said a
rueful McCoy afterward.
(Above) Shinya Nakano had
a solid Grand Prix, finishing
fourth in what was just his
second career 500cc GP.
(Right) Ross i was all smiles
- as always.
(Be low) The 250cc Grand
Prix looked to be a runaway
for Da ij iro Katoh 110), but
Marco Melandri 199) ended
up giving him fits all the
way to the fi nish .
\\ Iii
He got a right tongu e lashing from
his crew chief Ham ish Jamieson.
"We were mo re than capable of
getting on the podium , and if we want
to feature in the championship that is
where we need to be every weekend,"
Jamieson said later.
The two lead ers were in d e e d
breaking away , with a second lead
over Abe on lap 19 , and almost two
seconds one la p la te r. Now began a
fascinating contest. Ross i was comfortable with h is bike since the fuel
load was lighter, and was riding like a
man possessed. On lap 22 he broke
the record for the first time. And on
laps 23, 24 and 25 . But Capirossi
was only fractions slower, and closed
up slightly as the end approached , so
he sta rte d the last la p le ss than ha ifa-second behind.
Rossi , howeve r, had a little bit left .
O nc e again he smashed the record,
leaving Capiro ss i no chance to deliver the cou p de g ra c e.
10 MAY 2 .200 1 • c
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