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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128152
World Championship Road Racing Series Round 2, South African Grand Prix 11te Gr8nd PI1x of Africa gets under way with Valentino RoaII48I Jumping Into the ..... from pole position. RoaI Is c:IuIsecI by LorW C8p1..... INI, Tohni Ukawn 1111, Max . . . . (3), .....,. ~ 1HI'" the rest of ......IDGP c:I8A. choice, he could do nothing but follow the gleeful Ukawa over the line. "It was just like when we raced each other in 250s, but the result was different," the Japanese rider beamed. "I could see in the middle of the race that his rear tire was sliding and mine was not, so I knew I could try for the win." Rossi's response was goodnatured. "It's good for the championship. I lost control under braking for one hairpin on the last lap, then again later on I was too fast into the hairpin, and I could hardly make the corner. Next time ..... Loris Capirossi was a valiant third, his West Honda NSR the first twostroke to finish. For almost the full 73.64 miles, he chased the two fourstrokes, the gap only growing to By MICHAEL SCOTT PHOTOS BY GOLD & GOOSE WELKOM, SOUTH AFRICA, APR. 21 fV. n ominous race had a surprise [;,J. finish at the Phakisa Freeway in South Africa. For most of the 28 laps of the high-altitude circuit outside the gold mining town of Welkom, Valentino Rossi stamped his and the Honda V-five four-stroke's authority on the event. With Repsol Honda teammate Tohru Ukawa with him every inch of the way, it looked like a demoralizing Honda one-two. That part came true. But it wasn't Rossi who took the checkered flag first. For once, he proved human, and on the last lap two flawed overtaking moves almost put him in the straw bales instead. Victim of a risky tire 6 MAY 1. 2002· eye • e n _ vv s more than a second in the closing stages. "I tried very hard to tuck in with Rossi and Ukawa and stay with them, but I was really riding at the maximum," Capirossi said. "When I saw what a big gap had opened up behind us, I decided to settle for third and let off the pace. It's still a fantastic result for me and the team." The tortuous circuit, a power-sapping 4,400 feet above sea level, had been billed as one place where the two-strokes might get on terms with the more powerful new four-strokes. So it proved ... up to a point, and a crowd of 40,000 watched Carlos Checa push his Yamaha four-stroke through to fourth, only to be caught and almost engulfed by the best of the rest of the two-strokes. Daijiro Katoh passed him on the last lap on his NSR Honda twostroke, with Olivier Jacque's twostroke Yamaha right behind in sixth, narrowly unable to do the same thing. Fifth was a great deal better than any other four-strokes. Telefonica MoviStar Suzuki rider Kenny Roberts Jr. retired after a pit stop - he'd suspected tire problems, but in fact his steering damper was jammed; teammate Sete Gibernau had been running fourth, but an off-track excursion dropped him to the back, and he also pitted to change his completely wornout Dunlop rear, finishing 16th and last, a lap behind. Max Biaggi's Marlboro Yamaha was a lackluster ninth, with the two-stroke Yamahas of Norick Abe and Shinya Nakano seventh and eighth, the Italian blaming a