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World Championship Road Race Series Round 10: Czech Republic Grand Prix lem I had in the race was when a bee got into my helmet. I was afraid it would sting me - but I opened my visor, and it flew out." Even the insects are on the 22year-old former 125 and 250cc champion's side. Brno, the first race after the long summer break, was always going to be crucial. The fans turned out in vast numbers - the official figure of only 44,000 was reckoned to have more to do with tax statements than reality, given the packed hillsides; the weather was blazing sUr]shine and the temperature a baking 93 degrees. And the omens seemed to favor Biaggi. What the omens didn't take into account was just how much faster everyone is going this year - probably because of the improved 16.5-inch tires. Records were smashed in practice, and pulverized on race day. Rossi's winning time was fully 30 seconds faster than Biaggi's last year; Biaggi crashed and remounted to finish tenth, but still went faster than he By MICHAEL SCOTT PHOTOS BY GOLD £, GOOSE BRNO, CZECH REPUBUC, AUGUST, 26 he World Championship is a long way from being over. But if the gods continue to rain blessings down on Valentino Rossi, it might as well be. When the Nastro Azzurro Honda rider arrived at Brno, his lead over Max Biaggi had shrunk to just ten points - and Brno is his rival's favorite track, with six wins in his last seven visits here. By the time the weekend was over, Rossi had the pleasure of hounding race leader Biaggi, and then watching the Marlboro Yamaha rider slide gently into the gravel just in front of him. Biaggi - who was made "Patron of Brno" two days before the race - remounted courageously to finish tenth. But Rossi won his sixth race of the season, and opened the points lead up again to 29 points, giving him a cushion of one race, with six left to go. Is Rossi really blessed - or just talented? Consider this. "The only prob- T 26 SEPTEMBER 5, 2001 • cue I e n.""s had to win 12 months before. The first ten riders all beat last year's race time. And when the pace gets stretched like that, almost anything can happen. "It was a very difficult and a very important race for me today," said Rossi. "I raced at my best, and I am very happy. After my bad result in Germany [seventh] I really needed this win, and now I have the same points gap over Biaggi as if I had not crashed 200 meters from the finish at Mugello. I knew Biaggi would be very dangerous in the first part of the race, trying to open a gap - so I tried very hard to get a front-row start, and pushed very hard in the first laps. My intention was to hold second behind Biaggi and eventually at the end to try and pass him when tire performance had gone down." As it happened, he didn't need to do that. Biaggi was distraught at his costly error, but said: "At least I managed to get the bike going again and score a few points. I was pushing really hard (Above) Max Blaggl (3) loses the front In front of Valentino Rossi (46) In the 500Cc race at Bmo, handing Rossi the win, and extending his points lead to 29 with six rounds remaining. and just lost the front. It's the kind of thing that can happen when you are riding on the limit. You have to take risks if you want to win." Kenny Roberts Jr. had led the first two laps, but had dropped out of contention. He was sixth, still only 11 seconds adrift, after 14 of the 22 laps. But he was still losing places, and the next time around he pulled into the pits, parked the bike, uttered a few expletives and stormed off. He didn't hang around to chat, prompting TV commentator Randy Mamola to quip: "Elvis has left the building." The Telefonica MoviStar Suzuki official statement made no bones about the reason for retirement. "We can understand Kenny's frustration, but the whole team is disappointed that he gave up today while holding a top10 position," said team manager Garry Taylor.