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
W orld Championship R o a d R a c e S eries R o u nd 6 : Catalunyan Gran d P r ix had dropped ba ck but ca u gh t up aga in , while the Du tchman had his own p rob le m s , after having to work his tires too hard to catch up from his slow getaw a y. "We thought we ' d fou n d a good directio n for the clutch at our Assen tests - but whe n we needed it, it d idn't work ," van den Goo rberg h sa id late r. By the finish, th e V-four was a head a ga in, with Haga 10th, out of tou c h, a nd a fad ing Criville 11th o Ja c q u e ca me n e xt , 1 1 sec ond s away, th en the lon e Walk er , an other 24 seconds behind , an d six ah ead of Card o so , who h ad fina lly o ut pa ced Aok i. T h e J apa nese t o o k the las t po int, but on ly just, with Vincent closing to within ha lf-a -seco nd o ve r th e line . Stigefe lt wa s a no the r five sec o n ds aw a y , wit h a d isp irit e d Mark Willis 18th and last , two la ps down . Th e win put Ross i's title chall enge back o n cours e, 116 po ints to Bia g gi's 90. Ca p irossi ha s 8 1, the n Ab e 74 , Nak an o 6 3 and Cr iv ill e 62 . Rob erts now lies a distant 10th on 37 a fter a second non -finish . "It' s go ing to tak e a lot of catching up from here ," Roberts sa id. 250cc GRANO PRIX Melandri got the jump, but Ha rada led before half a lap wa s done, with the Hondas of Katoh and Alzamora right behind. Katya Poensgen fell, but remounted im me d ia te ly. They finish ed the lap in that ord er; one la p later Katoh was second, and by the fourth he wa s in front, Harada on h is b a c k wheel , Mela nd ri s t rug gling slightly to keep up and Alzamo ra dropping back , with Rolfo co m ing thr ou gh fast from sevent h on la p one. Me la ndri ca ug ht up aga in, but on the 11th lap he wa s down and o ut, leaving just th e two up front . By that stage , Harad a had led br iefly a fte r Katoh "m a k e a mi s t a ke wit h brak ing ," b ut it wa s on ly fo r ha lf a lap . Then business as usual was re su m ed , in preparation for the last- lap battle . "I knew whe n I wa s beh ind Ha rad a at th e st art th at he was faster out of the las t comer, a nd I rea lized when I wa s in front that he would kno w that too, an d would try a nd pass there on the last lap. So I just shut the door," ex plai ne d Ka toh later. In fa ct , Ha rad a ha d a try earlier at the en d of the back straight. but rec e ived si milar trea tment the re too , and th ough he was just a 10th be hind at the finis h, Katoh had done en o ugh . "T he Aprilia is much b e tte r now tha n at t he s ta rt o f the year, an d I am g etting us ed to a 25 0 agai n," Harada sa id. Rolfo had rid de n a b lin d e r. Pa s t Alzamora on la p s ix, he 'd eve n closed the gap s lightly to le ss th an two sec onds , tho ugh by ha lf d ista nce it was o peni ng up a g ai n. Rid ing a lo n e , "I found it very hard to ke e p my c o n centration ," he said. But he manag ed , for a second s uc ce ss ive rostru m , 12 seconds beh ind at the end . As a ll th is was dev e lo ping , a det e rmined McWilliams had be e n he ading th e nex t g roup , d e Pu n ie t st ick ~ng with hi m , Fo ns i Nieto cl ose beh ind , an d Locatelli closing up on the trio . By halfwa y, Locatelli had gotten to th e fro nt and was taking McWilliams with him a s he closed on Alzamora , a nd th e trio was soo n e nga ge d, unt il Loc atelli e sca ped up fron t for fou rth. McWilliams, in his first ra ce with a new te am, was stuck behind Alzamo ra until five laps from the e nd , a nd by the ti me h e 'd gotten b y Nieto ha d brok en fre e from de Pun iet and was closing fast. On the fin a l lap , h e poun c ed , and a ll three crossed th e line a lmost a breast, withi n a ten th of a s ec o n d , N iet o , Mc Wi ll ia m s , Alzamora , with de Pu n ie t a no t he r e ig ht seconds ba ck Alex Hofm an n' s Aprilia wa s n inth , after the Ge rm an had ca ug ht a trio of battling Yamahas a nd moved to the fro nt of it. Matsu do ' s Yama ha was t en th wit h team m at e Yuzi 12th, sandwiching De bon 's A p r ilia . Tw o m o re Yam ah a s S ek ig u ch i and Porto - wer e r ight b e hi nd , with Kla us No eh le s closing up at the finish for the la st po int. In the red comer, representing Marlboro Yamaha: Max Biaggi . In the yellow comer, representing Nastro Azzuro Honda: Valentino Rossi. The two main tiUe contenders (both on and off the track) take the podium with fellow Italian Loris Caplros sl , after a brief confrontation on the way t o the victory celebration. 30 JUNE 27.2001 • c u e I e n eVIl'S: Always the showman, Rossi p rove s to the Ca tal an crowd that even after making a run throu gh the field from 12th t o first, his rear tire had grip left to bum. Poe nsge n fin ish ed la st a fte r a brave afternoon. Katoh now has five wins , but le ads by only 10 points , with 13 1 to Hara da 's 12 1. Me la nd ri is third on 78. 1 25cc GRANO PRIX Elias took his normal flier , a nd led Ueda , Perug in i a n d br iefl y Hules . Ce cchinello had his familiar slow sta rt from pol e , b ut not as bad as usual , a nd he finis hed lap o ne in ninth, a nd c ha rging . He was up to seco nd ah ead of Ueda by lap five, with the first four mov ing away, Sabba tini with them . but soon to drop ba ck with tire trouble . Cecchin ello to o k the le a d o n la p si x , with Ue d a s e c ond and E lia s third . Perugi ni was s till with th em , so wh en Ued a s lid off on la p n ine , he h ad to ta ke to t he d irt to avo id h im , rejoining 16th broken hearted , h is c ha nce o f a firs t Italje t p od ium gone . Th is left just Ce c ch ine llo and Elias up fro nt, a nd to the Ita lian 's su rpr ise he wa sn 't abl e to dro p t he you nge r rider's ostensibly slower b ike , in s p ite of the lo ng stra ight. With five la ps to go , he let Elias through to watch for a couple of laps , then on lap 20 took the lead aga in. Still, Elias couldn 't be dropped. The last lap was nail -biting st uff. At th e end of the ba ck s tra ig ht, Elias was a lm o s t al ong s id e a n d on t h e in si de in t o th e s lo w c o rn e r. Cec chin ell o would hav e none of it, slamming th e door s o firml y th at they b oth to u c he d, a n d b oth almost cra sh ed. " It was very excit ing , " s ai d Cecchinello afterward . But h e g o t t h e bes t o f the en counter, a nd we nt on to win by half a second . Eli a s wa s ha p py with second a ll th e s a me , a nd t h e two e m b ra c e d warmly. "I was so anxious to win at