Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128152
World Championship Road Racing Series Round 2: South African GlO'and Prix Proton teammate Aoki was looking for his own way past Biaggi when an oil leak sent him looping over the high side instead. Rossi missed out on a sixth consecutive win, but retained the points lead, on 45, with Checa on 27, Ukawa 25, Capirossi 23 and Ryo and Abe both 20. 250cc GRAND PRIX .......................... - Thlt_............ _ _ IU) ........ .,11_;' tile'" ...... ~ .... tInt change the front as well. After that, it was almost impossible to steer the bike." It turned out that the problem all along had been a seizing steering damper, which h.ad become even worse as the bike was parked for the tire change from the heat rising from the engine. Checa had gained a bit of clear air after all this, with McCoy a little ways back, leading a gang of two-strokes: Katoh, Jacque, Barros, Abe and Nakano, nose to tail. Just like the good old days, just last year. At two-thirds distance, Jacque attacked Katoh just for the Japanese class rookie (Jacque's successor as 250cc World Champion) to reverse the ]nove on the way out of the corner. This was his signal to ge~ going, while at the same time McCoy was growing increasingly tired and troubled by his injured leg and started to drop off the pace. Katoh and Jacque both got past and took off in pursuit of Checa, lapping steadily about 1.5 seconds ahead. By the last lap, they were on him, and Katoh dived underneath into a slow turn to lead Checa ov·er the line by two 10ths, Jacque less than three-quarters of a second behind. The next trio had outdistanced the fading McCoy but were a couple of seconds adrift of Jacque. Barros had slipped to the back of the group after falling victim to Phakisa's notorious surface: "I made a couple of mistakes, and when you go off-line here, you have to slow right down, because it is so slippery," he explained. With two laps to go, he hit one bump too many and crashed out. Abe led the trio and managed to fend off Nakano to the line. By the finish, Biaggi's four-stroke had caught them up after overtaking McCoy for a lackluster ninth . . "I was having {rouble with going into the corners, and because of that. 8 MAY 1 ,.2002 it was difficult to overtake anybody," he said later, still clearly unhappy with the machine that teammate Checa is using to far better effect. Twenty long seconds behind came Jurgen van den Goorbergh on the Kanemoto Honda. Still tentative on the V-four and the Bridgestone tires especially the front - he explained his strategy. "It was my aim to lap in the low 1:37s, because if I went faster I wouldn't have been able to finish. I took it especially easy in the beginning. It was important for Bridgestone and the team to go the full distance in the dry." The reward for a steady job done: 11 th place and five points. I . . - .. .... Harada was 13 seconds adrift after an unimpressive race - though he did manage to overtake the injured Pere Riba toward the end; American rookie John Hopkins was next, in the points again after an adventurous afternoon including an off-track excursion, but no fall. At the end, he was behind Laconi's bellowing Aprilia fourstroke, but the French rider (himself twice off the track) slowed on the last lap to give him 14th. McWilliams had a promising afternoon spoiled when his gearshift drum seized - he'd picked up three places (passing, among others, Biaggi) and was closing on Nakano when he had to call it a day abruptly on lap five; Melandri led away with Stoner on his heals, then Locatelli and Rolfo, and the Italian was already opening a small margin when Stoner had his looping straight-line high-sider. By now, Nieto and Battaini were moving up through the leading group, and the race settled into a dull display for a while - Melandri steadily pulling away up front, Locatelli a lonely second, then Battaini heading a group from Nieto, Randy de Puniet (Aprilia) and Rolfo. . Over the next laps toward half distance, Battaini steadily closed on Locatelli, de Puniet hanging on about a second behind, Rolfo and Nieto dropping back. It was lap 16 when it all came alive. Battaini attacked Locatelli into a slow turn, and the two touched. Both ran wide and de Puniet was close enough to dive through to take second. This didn't last long, when three laps later the Frenchman succumbed to the constant pressure from Battaini, who then also gradually drew away for a safe second. There was plenty of action behind. De Puniet clearly had tire trouble and kept running wide - giving Locatelli