World Cham p ionsh ip Roa d R ace S e r ies
R o u nd 3 : Spanish G r a n
Nortck Abe (81 got the hole
t at the _rt of the 500ce
Orand Prbl at .Jerez to lead Valentino Ross i (461. Shlnya
Nakano (581. Kenny Roberts Jr. (tl and the rest of the pack.
C!5Rossis
B y MIC HAEL S COTT
PH OTOS B y G OLD & GOOSE
Abe (81-ud .... ~ _nd Roal (48) at IIbout the"'-", point In the
race. He led for _ n laps before .-ntuaI1y giving in to the 1t8IIan, Who_n
his third auenaa. lIOOcc OP.
JEREZ, SPAIN, f/IAY 6
h o can st op Valentino Ross i?
Certa inly nobody at Jerez for
the Spanish Gran d Prix , first round of
the Eu ropean season. The golden boy
from Italy didn 't lead the whole race,
with a sp irit ed Norifumi Ab e and hi s
A nt ena 3 Yamaha managing to push
p ast for seven o f the 2 7 laps . Bu t
Rossi never look ed as though he was
n o t in compl et e c ontrol - an d he
proved i t b y scorchin g past and
p ull ing away for th e next seven laps.
Game over.
It was the Nastro Azzurro Honda
rider's th ird win in success ion, and
th e hat tr ick was o mi n o u s for h is
ri val s - an d fo r anyo ne who hoped
that 200 1 would give the same sort of
v ariety as 2 000, a sea son with a
record seven rac e winners.
It may have looked easy , but Rossi
said it wa s not, on a track that va ries
un predictably in grip wi t h ch an ging
co ndit ions. Th e race was dry , but tire
choice wa s still di fficult .
W
22
MAV16,200 1 '
cue
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