Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Champ ionsh ip R o a d R a c e S e r ies R o u n d 5 : Italian G r a n d Prix on both t he track a nd on c o m bined time, but he couldn 't ho ld it. Roberts came by , Ba rros goi ng with him . then Abe jum ped into the fra y. Having finished e ighth in the first segment. Abe needed a m ira cle to c a rd a good finish . Th at didn't stop h im from moving into th e lead on th e 1 7t h lap, b y Robe rts e arly on with Aoki pu s h ing the V-twi n past as well. Ba rros fell as far ba c k as fourth , then Roberts fell while in third , and Barros moved up o ne spot. "At least I was raci ng fo r victory instead of s ixth place ," Roberts said. Aok i took over the lead on the track with four laps to go , Ba rros in second before dispatching Capirossi to third o n th e penultimate lap, th e Itali a n fall ing prey to Criville on the final lap. Still, it wa s good en ough for second beh ind his teammate. "I de d ica t e th is vict o ry to all the people around m e ," Bar ros said after his first win since last year's Ge rm a n GP. "The ra ce has been ve ry difficult an d hard be c a use of th e we ather cond itio ns a nd the litt le sta b ilit y of the positions. It is reall y exciting to be on the podium with my teammate." Capiross i, like Bia gg i af ter h im , was confused at the end of the ra c e, thinking he'd won. "Alex ha s made an extraordi na ry race and it is fa ir th at he ge ts the vic to ry," sa id th e Ital ian, who wo n here last year. "Logically I wanted to win at m y c o u nt ry, bu t , a s h e [Barros ] said , it has be en an incr edible experie nc e ." Bia gg i, who wa s fifth o n the road , said: "I was a bit su rprised to find I was third. It was such a ha rd race - if yo u were b eh in d someone , y o u couldn 't see a thing, you had to brake by m em ory. And I wa s getting wheel s pin even in sixth , just like ev eryon e else, I'm sure. I had two big m oments as th e rai n got heavier , lo sing the fron t the first time and then the rear , wh ich is w he n C r lv ille and Rossi c a me by . The y wer e going ver y fa st, then Rossi c rashed where I'd lost the fro nt the lap be fore . It wa s so difficult that I'm happy enough with third , it's goo d for the team and for the ch am pions hip." Rossi thought the race was like a movie a nd he didn 't like the opening, Aoki (f 2) goes for a wild ride early In the restarted race i n dismal conditions. Roberts (f), meanwhile, gives chase to Aokl, B laggi, and Ba rros . 8 JUNE 13. 200 1 • cue I e nc 'UV s (Above) Haruchika Aoki (f2) took the checkered flag first on his V-twin NSRSOOV Honda at the finish, but it was Barros (4) taking the win on corrected time from the two legs. Aokl ended up in fifth. not whe n he c rashed h is m achine in the rai n. The end wouldn 't be much better. "T h e second pa rt was very h a rd beca use t h e rain wa s so he avy," Ros s i s aid. "We we re ru n n in g in a cloud of s pray. You could see a lmost noth ing . It was not possible to see the pit b o a rd when pa s s ing t h e p its at 280 km h [174 m ph], so 1 ha d no idea a bo ut m y position in the ra ce ." The crash was du e to poor visibility. "I put my wheels o n the white line . La st yea r at Mugell o I c ra s h ed o n e a nd a ha lf kilometers be fore the en d of the ra c e , tod ay hal f a kil omete r fro m th e c heckered fla g . I will win next ye ar. " Ross i's c ras h h ad mov ed Biaggi a nd the oth ers forwa rd . Cr ivllle wa s fourth on track and fourth overall, a bout half a se cond be hin d Biagg i on com bi ned t im e . T h e Span ia rd s ai d the ra c e "wa s like a lottery, be ca use without any wet practice, it's a g ue ssing game to choose the right set-up." The ra in a nd m ist m eant visi bility was nil , Crlville said, a nd he had to ta ke more chances than he would have liked , "and I even banged into [Valentino] Rossi and [Loris] Capirossi." Aoki was fifth overa ll, and first on the track, a substantial accomplish -

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