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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128118
"Yes, 1 see Okada today is very strong, very fast. I push very much, every time," Rossi said. Kato failed to make any dent on the distance to Okada during the third hour, but did see the Suzuki lose another twenty seconds on top of the ten they had already lost by the start of the third hour. Gobert was still in fifth, but had to stare at Rossi's exhaust pipes for his final three trips around the track before pitting. Still, Gobert was pleased with how his second tour of duty went. "The second stint I went out and I lowered my lap times by over a second a lap," said the 26-year-old Australian. "I felt really strong, I was pushing hard. I got away, I gapped the 21 guy [Matsudo]. Then I got the blue flag, I looked behind, and Serizawa went past. Serizawa caught me on the Kawasaki, sort of in traffic a bit. I thought, 'hang on, he's behind me, not lapping me!' That kind of got me going. I passed him, and then I pulled away from him, a lot [about five seconds]." As before, Okada on the Honda and Gobert on the Yamaha were the first to pit at the end of the third hour. They went in on lap 79, followed by Rossi, Serizawa and Matsudo on the next lap, and Watanabe and Takeda after that. Kato stayed out until lap 83, leading the race for three laps though riding with empty pockets. Lavilla's return to action, taking over for Serizawa, was short-lived. Within two laps, the handsome Spaniard was on his butt, sitting in the gravel outside of Spoon Curve. "On my second lap, there was a slow rider in front of me at Spoon Corner," Lavilla explained. "I had to go very tight on the inside of the corner. It looks like I was on the dirty, dusty part of the track, because I highside with nearly no throttle. The left side of the tire was not very hot, and the track was not very clean. I just open the throttle a little bit, and I highside very high." A dozen laps later, Yoshikawa would find himself in the same predicament. However, the Japanese rider would get his Yamaha running again and head back to the pits. Don't ask why, but the team fixed the bike and soldiered around for another four hours, fourteen laps down from the leaders. Up until this point, the riders had been conducting themselves like gentlemen, with nobody giving anyone a hard time. That was all about to change. Edwards out lap was number 81 for the team, and the Texan found himself five seconds in front of Barros. Both riders produced mid-2: 10 lap times the following lap, and then Barros did a string of 2:09s the following three laps, the last one to set a new fast lap of the race until that point of 2:09.307. Edwards was still running the mid-2:10 pace, and by lap 85 Barros was within 1.6 seconds. "The last three hours I said I must attack," Barros admitted. "You must change your strategy, depending on how the race is going. The second hour I said I must make the first 10 laps very faster. Now, I know the first 10 laps that the tire is a new one, it's good, the ground is now 46 or 43degree Celsius [115- 11 0 degrees F], so I push to try to make ten laps quickly. After the attack, I keep the pace at 2:10." Barros reduced the gap to marginally less than a second the next time 'round. Edwards and Barros found a school of four backmarkers fishing their way through the hairpin on the following lap, thus allowing Barros to sneak right up to Edwards. Two more backmarkers at Spoon Curve further aided Barros' cause. Regardless, Edwards stayed in front of Barros through laps 87 and 88, and most of lap 89 for that matter. But at the end of lap 89, as Edwards was setting up for the Casio Triangle chicane, Barros bombed up the inside, with wheels sliding and forks bottomed out on the brakes. "He tracked me down from a few seconds back. I was going okay, but he was going fast. When he went by me, I thought he was pushing hard to lead," reflected Edwards on Barros' maneuver. Edwards wasted little time getting back by. At the next point on the circuit where the riders use the brakes, turn one, Edwards went up the inside of Barros. The fight was on. For Edwards, Barros, and all the fans, the backmarkers stayed out of the picture for the next two laps. Barros' Honda went like stink down the back straight and overtook Edwards. The front straight, though, was the property of Edwards, and the Texan swooshed into turn one ahead of the Brazilian. Again, Barros went in front of Edwards on the run down the backstraight drag strip, and on the front straight Edwards put the hammer down on Barros. "Every time he passed me, I passed him right back," Edwards said. "He's fast in the back-straight corner, he gets a good drive, and I get a better drive on to the front straight. " Barros agreed. "He can open the throttle earlier [at the front straight] and have less spinning, on the back straight I have a little bit more traction. It's just a setting difference that makes this difference." Backmarkers were back now, and in plentiful enough numbers that Barros gave Edwards a look on the back Yamaha's number-one pairing of Noriyuki Haga (shown) and Anthony Gobert ran inside the top five for most of the race until losing a chain that put them out of contention late in the race. straight, but declined to overtake. The two Hondas eased through a cluster of slower bikes from the 130R to chicane section of track, with Edwards holding a quarter-second lead over Barros. Edwards and Barros refrained only from overtaking on the next three laps, as lap times continued at a low 2: 10 while the pair overhauled the slow-pokes. Barros used the back straight, again, to get the advantage of Edwards on lap 95. On cue, Edwards passed Barros right back at turn one on the following lap. On the run through the double Degner curves, Edwards was able to scoot past a wobbly Kawasaki ZX-9R X-Formula bike, whereas Barros thought better to wait until after Degner to pick off the slap-happy Kawi. It looked like a lucky break for Edwards, but it lasted just seconds. Come the hairpin, Edwards found Warwick Nowland and Norihiko Fujiwara having their own private scrap, and hogging the track. Edwards was held up all the way to Spoon Curve, and Barros came swooping back. The action stayed just below the boiling point for the next three laps, with Edwards leading the way. On lap 99, the pair went down the back straight, but Barros did not attempt the pass. Instead, Barros decided to let his brakes do the talking at the Casio Triangle, and forged past on the inside. "I preferred leading, just because I didn't want him to get away," Edwards said. "Then, once he got by me, I realized he couldn't go any faster. So then I thought, 'f***, it's easier to follow.'" "I know I can stay behind and just follow, but sometimes I want to have fun," Barros said. "Follow, I don't like. I like to go first." Edwards came in on lap 108, and Team Suzuki rider Ryo on lap 109. Ukawa took credit as the race leader for three laps until he finally surrendered the Honda to Kato. I: U I: I e Rossi and Okada, thankfully, joined the track with as much fighting spirit as Edwards on Barros. Okada was there first, of course, and had a clear view of the young Italian's reentry to the race while having his Honda tapped out in sixth gear on the front straight. "Okay, go! I'm ready!" said Okada after he laid eyes on Rossi. Okada went sweeping past, and by the end of Rossi's out lap, Okada held a 3.5-second advantage. Rossi had this down to 2.5 seconds in four laps, but it was hard work. Okada was working off laps with mid-2:09 lap times, and Rossi dug deep to produce the day's first sub-2:09 lap time - a 2:08.992 - on lap 112. Within three laps, Rossi had clawed back to within a second of Okada. Both riders were staying in the 2:09 zone. One could only wonder how long the riders could keep this pace going. You didn't need to wait long. On lap 117, Okada tipped his Honda to negotiate the chicane, and the bike went all the way over and to its right side. Rossi was hunkered over for the turn, too, but picked up the bike and ran straight over the curbs to avoid the fallen Okada and crashing himself. "I just keep inside line. I come, try to go in the corner, but very sudden1y' lose front," Okada explained. "I'm very lucky, machine almost no broken. Still engine running, so I lift up. Just [left handlebar] getting inside. For riding a little bit difficult, but I try to catch." Okada was lucky indeed. He resumed the race well before thirdplace Kato was on the scene, and lost only 16 seconds to Rossi. "I have very hard work with Tady, because today he is very, very fast," Rossi said. "When I see n e _ S • AUGUST 22, 2001 11