Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

. -.,' AULOISES AFRICA 'S NDPRIX - '0I01 0gp Marco Melandri (le ft). Daijiro Katoh Icenterj and Tetsuya Harada celebrate on the rostrum after the 250cc Grand Prix. "The race was much harder than Suzuka , because my settings were be tte r there. With a full tank, I was pushing the front, so I had to wait before I could rid e at m y maximum ," Rossi sa id. Capirossi was happy e no ug h with second . "My st art wa s p e rfe ct but Ke nny pushed me wide in the first turn, and tha t pu sh ed m e d own to s ixth : he sa id. "It is s o d ifficu lt to o vertake her e . I jus t ke pt tryi ng , and fin ally I got with Ross i. He rod e so we ll, and didn' t make a s ingle m istake. Ev en though m y tires were 100 pe rc ent, I couldn't g et c lose e no ugh to pass . But second is still fa nt a s tic ." Th e p a c e of th e two leaders had opened th e gap to 7 .5 s e conds o ver the ba ttl e for t h ird . A be h a d bee n caught with 10 laps to go, a nd Ukawa passed him with four left. He ma naged to open up a o ne -s e cond gap at the finish to make s ure of a pod ium in only his se cond 500cc GP. "I enjoyed mysel f a lo t," he s aid la te r. "My an kl e bo thered me a b it , and it wa s hard to kee p c o nce nt ratio n - but it was wo rth it to grit my teeth ." Abe s ucc um bed also to the very im pressive Nakano with two laps left. "My front tire started to d ie halfway through the ra c e, and I a lmost ra n off the tr ack: A be said. "Aft e r that, I dec ide d not to push so hard, and to finis h the race ." Nakano explai ned t h at h is bike had sta rte d to fee l better in the sec ond half of the ra c e . "I wo uld h a ve like d the podi um , but I am th e best-placed Yamaha," he s a id . Another four seconds behind came Criville , who said: "I knew in advance that it wa s going to be ve ry d ifficult to stop the le a di ng g roup m ak ing t he break from the th ird row of the grid ." He had caught and passed Rob erts on lap 22 , but he c o uld n 't get a way, a nd by th e finish Biaggi had tagged on behind , and th e y cross ed th e line in that order. Biaggi 's e ighth wa s d isappo inti ng to s a y th e lea st , to the Ma rlbo ro tea m already down to on e rider, with Ca rlos Checa abse nt. The 1999 winner here m ade a poor sta rt in 14th place, and was ba ttling im pe rfe ct settings and a s mall ho rse po wer problem. "I coul dn't ride fluently , a nd t hat m a de the race very difficult for m e ," he s ai d . Alex Barros was a nothe r th ree seconds d o wn , a n d th e n ca me Se t e Gibern a u o n th e seco nd Su zu ki. He 'd also be en pushed off on the first lap, then had handling pr ob lem s , pus hing the front whe n he trie d to catch up. "I d e cided to settle down and go fo r th e finish," he said, desperately d isappoint ed. Jurgen van de n Goorbe rg h wa s 11th on th e Proton , losi ng to uc h with the fast m en from the start, wh en his cl utc h grabbed. "It just wa s n 't o u r weeke nd," he said, as gea rsh ifting and e ngi ne problem s also pla g ued his race . Ha ru c h ika Ao ki was 12th , to p Vtwin , then came J o se -Luis Cardoso's Yamaha, just five s eco nds ahead of An thony West, scoring points in his debut in the class on a V-twin Honda. The last point went to Shell Advance Honda 's Chris Walker after a bra ve ride with a broken shoulder. O livier J a c qu e , a lso inj ured, was 16th afte r a stop -a nd -go pe na lty for ju m ping the start; then came Leon Ha slam o n the Sh ell V-twin , Johan Stigefe lt (Sabre V-four ) , Dutch Vtwin rider Barry Veneman , and 20th and last Mark Willis , in th e Pulse V- perfec t 5 0 . Biaggi , Abe a nd Naka no have 24 po ints ap iece , McCoy 20 and Robe rts 18 . fou r' s firs t race finish. Willis wa s a doubtful sta rte r right up u nt il Sunda y m orn ing , after a he avy c ra s h the da y befo re . "I decid ed jus t to go for a fin ish, " he sa id. His t e a mmat e Ja y Vin c ent was e ve n les s luc ky - h is Pulse de vel oped an electric a l fa ul t o n th e s t art lin e after runni ng perfectly o n the sighting lap , a nd th e y could not get it started ev en after pu shing it off the line and into the pits. Rossi 's second win was ominou s for his c hamp ionship riva ls . Capirossi is c loses t, wit h 2 8 po ints to Ros si 's 2 50c c G R A N D PRIX Mela ndri was first off the line , then Ha rad a a n d Kato h , but t h e Hon d a m an wa s u p to sec o nd as th ey ran o nto the ba c k stra igh t , a nd took the le a d with typ ic al a s su ra nce as t hey started the th ird lap . It was a fam iliar p icture as he pull ed ste a d ily awa y m ore than a s ec o nd ahead at the e nd of that lap, and contin uing to draw ahead un til he was 4 .5-s ec o nds clea r o n la p 10 . With the circuit in much better condition than in previous years, in spite of the a number of new bumps , lap times were fast from the first day, with records smash ed in an electrifying final session as the two Italian Honda riders Lolis Capirossi and Valentino Rossi battled for pole. . Rossi was fastest for most of the session then , with just two minutes to go, flrst-day leader Capirossi put on some new tires and flew around the track in less than J :35 . the first rider ever to do so. Rossi, however, wasn't finished yet. As the dosing minutes ticked away he followed suit, slashing another quarter of a second off Capirossi's time to post his first-ever pole in the class. His Nastro Azzurro crew had prepared a surprise when he retumed to the pit. Instead of a room fool of jubilant mecha nics, they were all hiding next door, and Rossi came back to a bare pit. Rossi was riding superbly , having now fully developed a 500c c style reminiscent of Mick Doohan - noticeably picking the bike up soon after the apex and opening the throttle early to let wheelspin complete the turn - this in spite of the 200] chassis offering better traction and less wheelspin than the old one. "That was an exciting session for everyone," said Ross i. "I went for a good time midsession, because it can be difficult later on when the track is more busy. I knew I would be on the front row, so I could relax and have another go at pole at the end without worrying too much." Cap ircssl was surprised, to say the least. "I have a new app roach this year - in the momings I work only on set- up without worrying about lap time, then go for times in the afternoon: he said. "I thought I had done enough - but Rossi's 200 ] bike is very fast, and 1am still on a 1999 bike. But I can race on the same tire I used for the time, and I think the race will be very dose. It is still possible for me to win." Remarkable rookie Shinya Nakano , smooth and consistent, was on the front row for a seco nd race, another three tenths adrift; last year's Phakisa winner Garry McCoycompleting the front row, entertainingly deploying his wild sideways style. This year, however, he was not so sure he could win. "Everyone else has cottoned on to 16.5-inch tires now," he said , rather ruefully. McCoy's win here last year triggered the wholesale move to the smaller rim size. The front row was covered by fully eight tenths of a second, but behind them things were closer as a brawling pack of V-fours jostled for position. Best of the rest was Kenny Roberts J r., the Suzuki man thank ing his crew for a revised rear -suspension geometry that was something of a chassis brea kthrough. "It's a drastic improvement in the way the bike comes out of the comers. We're not where we want to be, but it's an improvement: he sa id. Tohru Ukawa was next, only two hundredths slower and also looking strong in his first 500 year. "My light ankle [hurt in a Suzuka crash ] is still painful, and it bothers me in' light-hand comers: he said, adding: "This circuit is very complicated for a 500 - very bumpy , with little grip. Compared with riding a 250, it also seems very much more twisty." Norick Abe was next, finally after all these years seeming to come to glips with the need to qualify well, rather than just race well; Max Biaggi completed the seco nd row. overcoming chatter problems on day two only to have an engine problem instead in the last sessio n, Alex Criville led row three from Noriyuki Haga, Sete Gibemau and Alex Barros - all four within the same two tenths of a second Jur gen van den Goorbergh's Proton triple was just two hundredths slower to lead row four, after a troubled final sess ion mostly spent in th e pits with engine prob lems. Then ca me Haru Aoki, on the best of the twins, with the row completed by Olivier Jacque's Yamaha and Chris Walker 's Ho nda . J a cq ue was havi ng probl em s with his right wrist, still not fully healed - he fitted kneepads to help him under braki ng, "but I ca n only use t he m when the bike is upright, and the tr a c k is so bump y it makes my wr ist ve ry pain ful," he sai d . Wal ker was also car rying an injury . a fractured shoulder from his Suzuka cras h, and he aggravated that with a high-side crash in practice . cue I e n eVIl's MAY 2. 2001 11

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