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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128108
500cc GRANO P R IX Roberts (11 lead s Blaggl (31, Caplrossi (65), Barros (4 ), Rossi (461 and Crlvllle In the first part of the 500cc Grand Prix. onsh ip le a d e r couldn't, survrvinq a 21 -la p , crash -filled race on a wet but drying track to win his first ra c e in nearly three y e a rs . The Japanese rider got aw a y qui c kly with teammate Ma rcellino Lucch i and Aprilia 's Jerem y McWilliams, with th ose two fa lling off on the fifth la p. Lucchi wa s th e first t o g o , wh ile in t he le a d , t h e n McW illiams h it th e deck severa l turns lat er. The effect was to give Harada a cle ar path to the winner's ci rc le th at he glad ly took , winning handil y b y 12 .729 seconds. His last win came at Brno in the Czech Republic in 1998 . Harada 's wi n e n de d t h e p erfe ct s e a so n of T el e foni c a Mov iSt ar Hond a ' s Da iji ro Ka toh at fo ur , th e Japanese rider guessing wrong on his tire choice and struggling to a l Othplace finish. Katoh 's championship lead shrank to five points , 106-10 1, over fellow Ja pa ne se rider Harada a fter five of 16 races . As for the ra ce , Harada sa id after Lucch i crashed it was a "b it sca ry . Not a n e asy race . Th e m ost difficu lt thi ng in the race was some parts of the track were dry a nd it wa s d ifficult to judg e how close to come." Maki ng hi s first p od ium a p pe a rance ever in second was Safilo Oxydo Race's Roberto Rolfo, the Ita lian some 25 seconds in front of MS Aprili a Racing's Marco Melandri, another Italian , this one riding with an inj ured left shoulder. History was made when Dark Dog Racing Fa ctory's Katja Poengsen fin- ished 14th, becom ing the first wom a n ev er to score points in a 2 50cc Grand Prix. "I ha d some luck for sure, but I'm very happ y to have scored points today ," the German sa id. "I rode carefu lly so as not to c r a s h and destroy th e good work of th e we ek end. Th is is the first tim e I ha d ridd en a 250 in the wet, s o I had no idea of the reaction of such a powerful bik e in these c ritical co nditions. " Th e 12 5cc GP was started t h en stopped , the n started , then stop ped , and finally started for the fina l time at 12: 27 p. m ., more than an hour aft er the sc he d ule d 1 1: 15 a.m . start. Rain was the pr oblem , fa lling sl ightly early on th e first try , then harder when they tr ied to restart. T h e th ir d try was declared a wet ra c e , with ra in fa lling lightl y a n d a comple tely we t tr a c k that wou ld b e g in to dr y befo re rain began to fall a g a in with about five laps to go . Off the start, th e ra c e u p f ro nt developed in a trio of two-rider spats, the lead pai r appea ring to get aw ay, then a surpr ise as FC C-TSR 's Nobby Ueda started to make his way through the field. Ueda was up t o third at the end of the 10th la p , then into sec ond ea rly o n the 14 th , and into the lead a lap la ter having set th e fa s te st lap o f the race as he passed LAE UGT 3000's Gino Borsoi . Ued a 's lea d ex pa nded the n cont racted a s the ra in bega n to intens ify, Ue da getti ng wo rd t h a t Borso i wa s cl os ing an d pic king up th e pa c e to win by 3 .801 seconds at the e nd of the 20-lap race. "I didn 't think if I ca n catch h im e ithe r," Ued a said of Borso i. "He wa s so , so, so far fro m me ." By fin is h ing second , Bo rs o i took o ver the ch a m pionship lea d with 75 points, three more than Uegeois Com petition's Masao Azuma an d third-place finisher Manuel Poggia li, of Gilera , tied with 72 after five of 16 races . Inc lement weather during the 12 5cc ra ce p ushed the whol e d a y ' s p ro g ra m back , the o rigi nal 2 p .m . 500cc race sta rt c ha ng ed to 3 : 15 . Roberts kn ew his best chance wa s to try to get away a t the start, a nd he tr ied , but it d idn 't work. Afte r three laps , Biagg i m ade h is wa y pa st, soon fo llo we d by Capiross i, Bar ro s and Rossi , the leaders rac ing o n a pa rtial ly wet track at speeds about three seconds off their qualifying marks. A light rain bega n to fall o n th e sixth la p, and on the ninth Biagg i put his ha nd up to s ignal the dange r, a nd the others soon slowed . Th e restart wa s s cheduled for 4 :0 5 p. m . , wit h full wets all a ro und , the rai n drench ing the track . As the race wa s g ridd in g fo r th e re st a rt , Ross i crashe d on the warm-u p lap, th e rear of his Nastro Azzurro Honda stepping out a handful of turns fro m the g rid . The recalc itrant NS R50 0 wou ldn ' t fire , and the Ital ian caught a lift on a s cooter back to his garage where he was forced onto his s pa re ma chine. Th e grid was formed fro m finis hing posit ions at the end of the s eventh la p , with Barros in the lea d over Ros s i b y .046 of a second with Capirossi a nd Roberts making up the fro nt row of th e grid . Barros ju mped o ut to th e lead on the track, but Biagg i was in th e lea d o n corrected time, the whole s ituation mo re t han a little confusing , but e xpected . What yo u ne ed ed to know was th a t the lea de rs we re a ll o nly a few s econds apa rt a nd pi t b o ard m on itor ing wa s pa ramou nt. Th e ea siest wa y fo r Ba rros to win was to win , which is wh at he set out to d o . By the th ird lap of th e resta rt, and 10th overall , he was in the lead (RIght) The 500cc race was red-flagged on la p nine . The teams swi tched to fu llwet ti res for the remaining lap s, wi th the starting order reverting back to the finishing order on lap seven. BarTOS (41 stayed at the front on aggregate ti me to win his first race since last year's German Grand Prix. eye I e n e _ s • J UN E 13, 2001 7