World Championship Road Race Series
Round 12: Valencia Grand Prix
Loris ClIplroal thrvwa It clown the
c.....l... on the _nn-up lap In wet
four-second lead early on, but also
caused him to fade drastically as the
race wore on and his tires wore out.
He fell to 11th at the end.
In his place at the front was Gibe~
nau, with West Honda Pons' Alex
By
HENNY RAY ABRAMS
PHOTOS BY GOLD & GOOSE
VALENCIA, SPAIN, SEPT. 23
pain's Sete Gibernau picked the
right place to win his first 500cc
Grand Prix, the Telefonica MoviStar
Suzuki rider taking the Marlboro Valencia Grand Prix on a changing track surface in front of 120,000 of his rabid fellow countryman in a race of attrition.
The key was patience and tire
choice. The 500cc race began on a
wet, but drying track that caused a
number of high-profile early casualties. Down and out were West Honda
Pons' Loris Capirossi, twice; once on
the warm-up lap and again in the first
corner of the race, Repsol YPF
Honda's Alex Criville, and Red Bull
Yamaha WCM's Noriyuki Haga, who
executed a balletic double highside
with Antena 3 Yamaha-d'Antin's Jose
Luis Cardoso.
Gibernau had no choice but to take
his time at the beginning. The 28year-old went with a front Michelin
slick with thin scalpel cuts on the sides
and a slick Michelin rear. Starting from
second on the grid, Nastro Azzurro
Honda's Valentino Rossi went with a
more conservative choice, intermediates front and rear. It allowed the
championship leader to pull out over a
S
6
OCTOBER 3.
2001 •
cue
•
Barros close behind, and Gibernau's
teammate Kenny Roberts Jr. forming
the lead triumvirate. Barros and
Gibernau swapped the lead back and
forth. Barros holding it until the
penultimate lap when the Spaniard
struck in turn two, a corner he knew
played to his strengths. Gibernau
went for the inside while Barros ran
slightly wide, giving Gibernau just
enough daylight to make a bold pass.
From there, he fended off the Brazil-
V.......no Rossi (461, Heruchlka
Aoki (121, and the rest of the pack
tip-toed around early on In the
500cc ...-. The majority of the
fteId opt8d for
cut slIcIrs,
or
dl
hopI...
.... track
dIy out • making
.-cu.
............. 'r. .c.......
e
n
•
vv s
