Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128110
myse lf," Roberts sa id . "It' s d isappo inting , becau se the lap times in the ra c e we re not fa s t , a nd I be lieve I c o uld have had a rostrum finis h." Alex Bar ros was an eq ually strong candida te for the rostrum , but also crashed out, on e lap la te r, just a fte r moving into second plac e past fast starter Na kano behind teammate Capiross i. Anthony West (De e Ce e Ho nd a ) was the only other non-finish er, pulling in with a sick engine, ha sti ly rebuilt a fter a seizure in morni ng wa rm -up threw him over the highside. Earl ie r, the 250cc Grand Prix wa s e ve n close r for the lead, but the re su lt was th e same as at all bu t one ra ce th is year - Daijiro Katoh a nd his Tele fon ica MoviStar Honda cla imi ng h is fifth win o f th e yea r b y just over a te nth of a sec on d from Ita lian GP winne r Tetsuya Hara da and the MS Ap rilia. Priva teer Robe rto Rolfo wa s a fine th ird, 12 seconds adrift, followi ng up his seco nd place in Italy, with Roberto Lo c a t e ll i fourt h , and F ons i Nieto stealing fifth on th e last lap from J e remy McWillia m s . MS Aprilia 's Marco Melandri was a close third when he crashed out unhurt on th e 11th of 23 laps. In the 125cc GP, MS Aprilia's Lucio Cecch inello took his first win of th e season after a fierc e ra ce-long battle with Spanish youngster Ton i Elias and th e Te lefonica MoviStar Ho n d a . Gilera 's Manuel Poggiali le d th e next battle over th e line for thi rd , taking the points lead a s a result. Former leader Gino Borsoi finished out of the points after an off-track excursion on the first lap ; former leade r Masao Azuma (Liegeois Ho nda ) crashed out on the last lap , while Youichi Ui (De rbi) was fifth. Noboru Ueda crashed out of the battle for the lead with 13 of 22 laps remaining , putting Stefano Perugin i (lta ljet ) off th e track in th e process. Distraught after cha lleng ing fo r the brand 's first win, he rejo ined and finis he d 11th. 500cc GRAND PRIX Ab e led away from Nakano, with the pack funn e ling into the first t ight Loris Caplrossl (6 5) . Biaggl (3) . Gibemau (1 5). Norick Abe (hIdden). and Ukawa battled all race long. The top seven riders were covered by only '-rve seconds after 25 laps of c lose racing. corner, an d the usu a l p u s h- a nd sh o ve . The wo rst victim was Ross i, after Giberna u and Criville had so met hi n g of a tang le , and he ran wa y wide a nd a lmost off the trac k whi le th e re s t filed off up the h ill. By th e end of the lap , Rossi was 12th, but not before he'd had another narrow escape as Pulse rider Jay Vincent had a huge slide and out -of-the -saddl e moment just in front of him . Nakano led the first lap , with Capirossi and Barros clos ing hard , then Abe ahead of Roberts, Gibernau , Ukawa . Biagg i and the re st, nose to ta il and jo st ling 125cc style. Normal for the first la p, but this time it carried on fo r the full race d istance. Cap irossi sli ced past Nakano to lead la p three , with Roberts c rashing at turn o ne as they started the next la p, and Barros one lap la te r, j ust after taking sec ond off Na kano . Rossi was making sure he stayed cool , content to pick up one place a lap , for th e first four, by whi ch time he was in the thick of it. Next time around , he set a new lap record as he passed Biaggi and Ab e in one lap, a nd by the sixth he was past Nakano a nd up to th ird, everyone pressing e ve n closer behind him in what wa s still a relativel y slow- pa c ed race. Now ca me a new phase , with Ro ss i hang ing beh ind Cap iross i and t he conspicuously determin ed Gibernau, who said later: "I rode at 120 pe rcent the who le ra ce. " As at pre viou s ra ce s , however, the Doctor was ju st waiting for th ing s to se ttle down , and t he t hree leaders gradually drew away from the brawl beh ind . By lap 10 , Criville had dropped to the back of this group after having h is own ne ar crash at the t ight Turn O ne . It was Ukawa at the front now , from Na kano , Biaggi , Abe , Checa , Haga a n d van den Goorbergh , wh o had closed im p re s si v el y on the pack. Som e way beh ind C riv ille , Olivier Jacque was running steadily for h is first points of the y e a r, with Chris Wa lker some way beh ind , then a big gap to a scrapping Cardoso's V-fou r Yamaha and Aoki's V-twin Honda . Then came Vincent o n the Pulse , s tart ing to close up slo wl y as he rega ined momentum , h is tire now warm e no ugh to grip. Now Rossi upped th e pace some what, passing Gibernau easily enough and then outbraking Capirossi into the fir s t c o rn e r at the s ta rt o f lap 13. Gibernau tried to s tay with him , also passing Capirossi for a couple of laps - but that only helped Rossi open up a full second in just one lap . There were no more questions , and noth ing to sto p Ross i from moving steadily away. (Below left) Loris Caplrossi. Gibemau and Abe chase Blaggi. (Be low right) Kenny Roberts Jr. ha d a ho rrible day at Catalunya. Roberts crashed on lap four trying to keep his uncompetl tlve Suzu ki up w ith the leaders. Gibemau had a fantastic ra ce fi nis hing fifth after leading e a rlie r in th e race and he now le ad s Roberts by th re e po ints In the standings. c u e I e Biagg i wa s a ls o o n the mov e b y now , as t h e pursu it pack shuffled around , Abe tak ing ove r from Ukawa before ha lf-d istanc e, and Biagg i fol lowi ng h im through , then p a ssi ng under brakes for th e firs t comer. The gap to Cap iross i ha d b e en al mo st two seconds, bu t no w it shrank rapidly as Biagg i pulled them up with him , closing o n Capirossi on lap 16, and riding very a gg re ss ive ly. Even so, it too k him four laps to pass Capirossi , b y wh ic h t im e both h a d p ow e red past G ibe rn a u on th e st raight so th at it loo ked as thoug h th e ro t ha d begun, Roberts style, for the S pa n iard . But he closed up a gain o n Ca p irossi as Biaggi moved a way ahead, up to second on la p 20 , some four seconds adrift. The Yamaha m a n kept pu s hing, but he was clo sing only by a 10th or two each lap, a nd sa id later th at he had settled for second. Cap irossi stayed third , wit h just one more change , as Nakano chang ed h is s t y le to ada pt to tire wear - a mark of growing familiarity with the te c hniques needed to ride a 500, according to Michelin technician Ja cque Morelli - and moved steadily forward from seventh, at the back of th e lead pack. When the last lap began, he was behind Gibemau , and at the end of it ah ead of him. Abe t r ie d a nd tried to p ass the S uzu k i, bu t couldn't make it; with Ukawa be hind him . A little wa y b a c k , Haga a nd va n d en Go o rb e rg h had caught Ch e c a before ha lf di stance , and the three were going back and forth. Ha ga didn 't stay there forever, though . He 'd lost a knee s lider in the ea rly stages and it was hampering his style. "I didn 't real ize before how important they are," he sa id. With five la ps left, va n den Goorbergh a nd Chec a were batt ling hard. Th e Spaniard , fighting tir e chatter, n e _ S • JUNE 2 7 , 2001 29