W o rl d C h a m p io n s h ip Road Race Series
Round 7: Dutch Grand Prix
Early In the Dutch 500cc O...nc1 Prix, It _
Iaat rear'.
I'lIC8 winner Alex Barros (41leac1lng the W8J ower Max
BIaggI(31 8ncI the real of the ftelcl.
By M ICHA EL
S COT T
P HOT OS BY G O LD & G OO SE
ASSEN, HOUAND, JUNE30
istory was cut short at Ass en. Th e
last-ever 500cc ra ce at the cla ss ic venue in the north of Holland a nd
th e las t e ve r GP on th e curre nt 3 .76 mil e c ircuit, on ly ra n t o thre e-quarte rs d istanc e .
H
Bu t t ho ug h t he resu lt of t he
Dut c h TT m a y ha ve been d iffere nt
if th e race d irectio n h ad le t it run
full di s ta n c e , nob o d y co uld h a ve
asked fo r a better race o r a closer
fini s h . Re sul ts were ca lled afte r 15
of t h e s c hedu le d 2 0 laps , wit h th e
first fou r cove re d b y just ov e r o ne
s econd.
FIve _
slntaked
away at the start of
th e ...ce: Barros (41,
hi s teammate Lorts
Capiro. .1 (651, Blaggl
(3 ), Valentino Rossi
(4 61 and Kenny
Roberts Jr. (11
.
20
J U LY
II, 2 0 0 1 •
eye
I e
neVIl's
At that t im e Max Biaggi was in
front, the Marlboro Yamaha man jus t
a bo u t to lose the lead fo r t he first
time since half distance . De a d ly rival
Va le n t in o Rossi was his attacker ,
a nd' in fa ct the Nast ro Azzu rro Ho nd a
di d le ad for ha lf the d is c ounted 16 th
la p . Bia gg i wa s b a c k in fro nt when
t h e re d fla g c a m e o ut , a nd in any
case the m ove ca me after th e officia l
finish .
Pole sta rt e r Lo ris C ap iro s s i wa s
righ t behind , a n d h is We st Pon s
Honda te a m m ate Alex Ba rros on his
back whe e l - a nd a nyone of th e four
m igh t have been a can didate to win
wh at was s ha ping up to be a n e p ic
final battle .
