Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Daljlro Katoh (74) ran _ q with his seventh 250Cc win of the par, here he leads Marco Melandrf; (5) eart)' In the race before leaving the Italian youngster In the dust. resist the Japanese rider's final attack. They were the last riders on the same lap as the leaders. Then came Stigefelt's Sabre and the V -twins of Brendan Clarke and Barry Veneman, both in the points because of the depletion of the field. At 17 years and 198 days old, Clarke ousted Shell Advance teammate Leon Haslam as the youngestever rider to score 500cc-class points. Haslam, meanwhile, had crashed out of a lowly position. Criville also added to the long list of retirements, pulling in with his engine sick after being involved in the first-comer melee. Rossi now has 220 points, Biaggi 177 and Capirossi 147. Barros and Nakano are equal in fourth on 107. Abe is next with 100. 250cc GRANO PRIX The end result may have been By the finish, Biaggi was slowing, and Roberts had broken free from harder to ride if we want to do that. " his companions to close to within A little way back, van den Goor- one second - the first time all year he has finished a race strongly, bergh was hounding Jacque, until the Frenchman missed a gear on the last rather than fading. He explained: lap and he could get past. "We made an engine-management change that slowed the lap time a "That was a great race," said the gleeful Dutchman - seventh being bit but meant I wasn't punishing the tires, so I could do consistent laps. But it's not what we need to win his best finish of the year. "I was trying a bit too hard into the corners races - we have to make the bike to try and make up time again, so 50 percent of the time I was running After the winds of last year, Estoril was in a relatively benign mood for practice. Benign, but very hot - with temperatures soaring to 95 degrees on Saturday, and track temperatures up to 120 degrees. The pace - likewise. The first 12 500cc riders were all within the same second, and the front row covered by less than half of that time, on a track where a 186-mph straight interrupts an almost continuous string of slow comers, U-turns and chicanes. And the man on top, for the fourth race in succession, was Max Biaggi. Biaggi had been struggling somewhat, he said, on the first day, with recalcitrant steering, though in fact he hlld been third fastest. "The bike wasn't steering so well, and turning is- so important here: A late-night session had made a big improvement, he said, though he was still worried about a lack of speed and acceleration. "It's going to be a tough race," he said, doubtless with memories of his defeat at Bmo by Valentino Rossi still fresh in his mind. Rossi WllS third fastest, after having been on provisional pole after the first session, blaming some misdirected setting changes. "We tried to make the bike better under braking, but in fact we only spoiled our corner speed," he explained. "I still have a few doubts about the bike that we hope to fIx in moming warmup," he continued. "We also have to find the right tires. If we can do that, it should be possible to make a good race." Not if countryman Loris Capirossi had anything to do with it. The Italian trio again dominated the front row, with Capirossi second, ~nd bullishly saying: "I could have been faster, but I spent the session concentrating on race settings and tires. Then, when I put on a soft tire at the end, I found too much traffic to set a good time." Fourth man on the front row, for the first time on a 500, was ex-250 star Tohru Ukawa. His big improvement, he said, had come from getting the balance of the bike better. "Now I can go into the comers with more confidence, with some safety margin," he said. Jurgen van den Goorbergh just missed a second successive front-row start by less than a hundredth of a second. The Dutchman was on the front row here last year on the V-twin Honda but spoiled his first day with a crash that wrecked his favorite bike. The team made him a new one ovemight. "It felt just like the old one - which was good," said the Dutchman who was also fighting a stomach ailment. Times were still very close, just over a tenth to Alex Barros, who had managed to improve his time even though he'd gone wrong on setup. wide. It was a good fight all the same." Shinya Nakano was ninth, another 10 seconds away after a pa infu ( weekend; Jose Luis Cardoso was a distant 10th. Then came a close V-twin battie for 11 th, won at tne last gasp and by inches by Haruchika Aoki from Anthony West, who had been well clear at mid-distance but fad~d with sliding tires, so he was unable to entirely predictable, but it took a few laps to settle down, as Harada surged into the lead past fast starter Melandri, with Katoh third. On the third lap, the two Aprilias changed places. Harada was in trouble already. "I chose the same rear tire that had worked well in practice and in the morning warmup, but it was sliding badly from the start," he said. "( think there may have been a fault with that tire. " "If we can't find something better tomorrow moming, I'll go back to what I had yesterday. At least I know what I can do with that," he said. Sete Gibernau was alongside, battling as usual with his Suzuki's reluctant throttle response. He'd been third fastest in the morning warmup, but explained: ·In the heat, you lose a little power and response - and it makes a big difference to how you can ride." Carlos Checa was alongside, completing row two; Garry McCoy led row three, baffled as to why he wasn't able even to match his qualifying time of last year, when he had won the race. "I put on softer tires at the end of the session, but I just couldn't go any faster on them. At least," he added, clutching at straws, "I was able to run consistent laps." Norick Abe ended up alongside, missing the second morning after his big crash the day before, and running slowly and painfully in the aftemoon at much reduced speed. Only then came Kenny Roberts Jr., back on the 90-degree "Screamer" configuration after his disastrous Bmo outing on the pre-Big Bang motor, and complaining: "I just can't get comfortable with the bike." Eleventh fastest, it was his first time out of the top 10 since joining Suzuki three years ago. Alex Criville was 12th and another to crash, and claiming comfort from being less than a second off pole. Noriyki Haga and Shinya Nakano were next, then Olivier Jacque and Jose Luis Cardoso. Nakano was still troubled by his hand injuries from Bmo. Estoril should be a bad track for the snappish disc-valve 250cc Aprilias, coming suddenly onto the power. It should make the bikes a handful on the many slow comers, but it didn't work out that way. And Tetsuya Harada much enjoyed the effect, claiming his sixth pole of the season after leading on Friday as well. "It's not bad - considering I did my best time on race tires," he said. "I can run a race pace in the 1:42s, and victory is possible." But his margin over rival Daijairo Katoh's Honda was not large enough to be overly comfortable - just over two-tenths of a second, with his countryman saying: "I could do consistent lap times at that speed. I haven't won for two races, and I want to win again here." Last year, he claimed his first foreign GP win here. Jeremy McWilliams was alongside, his Aprilia another quarter of a second slower - unlike the 500cc class, only the first seven riders were within a second of pole. The Ulsterman crashed once again in the fmal session, blaming "tourists" - a common complaint. "There are too many slow riders out there who create obstacles," he said. "I crashed trying to avoid getting a fast lap spoiled - running a wide line under brakes - and I overdid it a bit." Aprilia privateer Fonsi Nieto was alongside, his first time on the front row after a season in which he has gotten stronger and stronger. Factory Aprilia man Marco Melandri was next, leading row two, and also railing against slow riders, his best lap ruined in the last section after being on target for pole. All the same, he had serious setup problems. "The bike goes where it wants to go, and I can only do one fast lap, " he said. cue' • n __ S • SEPTEMBER 19, 2001 11

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