Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Sanna's cut slicks on the dampest corner on the treacherous track. 500cc GRAND PRIX The race for victory came down to just two men: Checa (7) and Rossi (46). The pair diced hard in the final laps and the race went down to the very end. And it was so close that he didn't know he'd done it until he stopped in his pit. "Now I am looking forward to a big party tonight, and a one-month holiday," he said. Checa had the opposite experience. "I thought I was the winner. When I found out I was wrong, it was the worst feeling of my life." The Spaniard, who hasn't won a GP since 1998, blamed Australian Vtwin Honda rider Anthony West for spoiling his exit speed out of the final corner. "He looked around and saw us, but then I met him in the middle of the turn, and I couldn't open the throttle as early as I usually do. I don't know what he was thinking. It was enough to lose me the race. It's such a frustrating way to lose, and the people who run the sport must do something about the blue-flag system. On Friday, I complained there were no blue flags to wam slower riders to move over - but it hasn't made any difference." With the order on the track not necessarily the same as on aggregate time, and with the field spread out some riders had been lapped twice, including Roberts on full wet tires - it was not an easy race to follow. But third-placed Max Biaggi and his Marlboro Yamaha was also third on the road, enough to save second overall from the challenging Loris Capirossi (West Honda), who finished fifth behind disappointed teammate Alex Barros, who had been charging toward the front in his home GP in the first leg. Antena 3 Yamaha's Norick Abe had passed them both in the final corner, but finished less than two tenths behind on aggregate. Other riders faced massive disappointment too. Gauloises Yamaha's Shinya Nakano had started from the front row, but in the very first corner his teammate Olivier Jacque fell off right in front of him when his clutch declined to disengage, and Nakano was forced out into the gravel, where he tipped over at low speed. He rejoined, but way out of contention, finishing ninth, the last rider on the same lap as the leaders. Red Bull Yamaha's Garry McCoy and Telefonica MoviStar Suzuki's Sete Gibernau both chose rain tires, front for McCoy and front and rear for Gibernau, and paid the price, finishing 10th and 12th, with Leon Haslam between them on the Shell Advance V-twin, the top two-cylinder rider. Anthony West was 13th, also on full wets. The earlier 250cc GP was run in mixed conditions, but with a mainly dry line on the well-drained circuit. And for once it was the closest and most exciting race of the day. No change in the result, though. In the last laps, it became clear that new champion Daijiro Katoh and his Telefonica MoviStar Honda had been toying with the Aprilia riders as he moved firmly to the front. Even so, MS Aprilia's Marco MeJandri was only half-a-second behind, with his teammate Roberto Locatelli less than a The first race was set to be a hummer, with Roberts leaping straight into the lead, and Ukawa for once getting off the line fast to follow him around the first lap, as Jacque and Nakano crashed out in turn one a couple of feet behind. The two leaders changed places twice over the next couple of laps, with Rossi in third, and Barros charging through from eighth on the first lap. On the fifth, to a huge cheer, he passed Rossi for third and was peering over Roberts' shoulder. But the rain was about to begin, and the move didn't count, with the restart position s taken from the end of lap four. Unlucky for him, but lucky for Gibernau, who was up to ninth and moving forward when he found out about the rain the hard way, falling off. But he had finished lap four, and was able to restart. Everything was different when they formed up again. The drizzle was just about to stop, and tire choice was crucial. Most of the factory riders went for an intermediate front, with McCoy and the two Suzukis on full wet fronts, and Biaggi and Checa going the other way, to cut slicks. Rear choice was full wets for the Suzukis, and intermediate for McCoy, and cut slicks for the rest, except for Biaggi on a full slick. Rossi took off in the lead, on the road and on aggregate. Ukawa held second on corrected time for the first two laps, before he slid off, remounting only to go to the pits. This left Barros in second, with Rossi almost three seconds ahead by the third lap. That didn't last long, with Barros closing up again over the next few laps; But the men on the move were the Marlboro Yamahas, Biaggi ahead past the great Mike Hailwood, who won 10 races in 1966. The first race of the day was the wettest of all, with the 125s spread out widely for once in the fraught conditions. The race was won by Derbi's Youichi Ui, but the title went to Gilera's Manuel Poggiali, who finished fifth. With parts of the track wet and a narrow dry racing line, there were nine crashers, and Poggiali was very nearly one of them, surviving one early narrow miss when Lucio Cecchinello fell off right in front of him, and saving a horrendous frontwheel slide a couple of laps later. For most of the race, he was in the thick of a risky group, only spreading out toward the end. Life was hardly less risky for winner Ui, in front for almost the full race, but under pressure at first from Stefano Perugini, until he crashed, and at the end from Simone Sanna, who actually passed him on the penultimate lap, and again going into the last corner. Ui bravely held the outside line to win by one tenth of a second - his rain tires better than second behind him. Another two seconds away, pole starter Fonsi Nieto passed Jeremy McWilliams on the last lap, after dogging his wheel tracks. Tetsuya Harada fell back to sixth at the finish; Roberto Rolfo was eighth, enough to preserve fourth overall in the championship, ahead of rival privateer Fonsi Nieto. "I've never won a race in the wet before, and I am happy to finish my season in the best possible way," said Katoh, whose 11 th win moved him Loris Caplrossl (liS) leads his teammate Alex Barros (4) and Norlck Abe (II) In the closing stages. cue' • n e _ S • NOVEMBER 14,2001 11

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