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World Championship Road Racing Series Round 3: Spanish Grand Prix Multi-time World Champion Angel Nieto joined his son Fonsi on the victory podium following Fonsl's first-ever win in the 250cc class. last lap with fuel starvation, although there was still petrol in the tank. Even so, he was still far enough ahead of Roberts to hang on to his second seventh-place finish of the year, by two seconds. Then came Roberts, Gibernau, Harada and Jacque - who had also jumped the start but had made it to the pits for his second stop-and-go of the season. He had passed van den Goorbergh on the last lap, with both of them also getting by Laconi and McWilliams, who had slowed in turn one with fuel starvation, fearing a seize. The order behind them on the road was McCoy, McWilliams, Hopkins and Laconi, but this was later altered by the controversial protest - Hopkins, Laconi, McCoy, McWilliams. The displaced riders were bitter. "He was so far off the race pace I thought he was stopping... and in fact he did stop just over the finish line," said McWilliams; with McCoy adding: "I was staring down his exhaust pipes ... there was no way I could see the yellow flags." McCoy's team manager Peter Clifford commented: "Our contention was that passing an ailing machine should not be seen as a flaunting of the yellow-flag safety rule, but our view was not shared by the FIM." A long ways back came Nakano, who had fallen earlier in the race but remounted; Riba retired the Antena 3 Yamaha after two laps, overcome by pain from his shoulder, injured in practice for the first race at Suzuka. Rossi now leads the championship by 29 points over Ukawa, 70 to 41; with Kato up to third, with 39, then Capirossi with 36, Abe with 30 and Checa with 27. In the absence of Kato, close 250cc racing resumed at Jerez, though Kato's lap record remained as a reminder of his dominance in the class. Melandri led away, but Nieto took the lead before the lap was out. Then Roberto Locatelli put his yellow Aprilia up front from laps three to six, while Battaini pushed to second, and Rolfo's Honda closed up from behind. Melandri led briefly again on lap seven, then Rolfo moved through for a long spell while the others went back and forth behind ... Alzamora closing gradually from behind so that after 17 laps there were five in the leading gang, swapping back and forth here and there. French Aprilia rider Randy De Puniet had been among them until he crashed on lap 15. Nieto had been down to fourth, but then started to move through decisively, and to close a gap on Rolfo that he had never been able to stretch to more than seven tenths of a second. On the 21st lap, Rolfo appeared to let Nieto through quite easily into the far hairpin... the Spaniard now the fastest rider on the track. From there on, the Spaniard stretched the gap steadily, with Rolfo settling for second. '" couldn't go any faster," Rolfo said later. Nieto was overcome with joy at his first victory. "I shouted out loud and wept as I crossed the line," he said. The battle for third was resolved on the last lap. Battaini had been there, but Melandri slipped passed into turn one, only to crash in the next corner. He said he'd been hit by Battaini, but paid the greater price, falling while his countryman took a qUick trip across the gravel. Alzamora, close behind, could hardly believe his luck as he was gifted a rostrum finish. Battaini regained the tarmac and managed to fend off Locatelli, who had faded after his early run up front. Another five seconds behind came Casey Stoner after a fine ride - running with the leaders early on in spite of an obviously slower bike, then hanging on to the finish after fending off Sebastian Porto's Yamaha, which dropped back toward the finish, crossing the line almost eight sec- 30 n 250cc GRAND PRIX MAY 15, 2002' cue I e e "" s onds adrift of the young Australian. "I had some problems with too hard tires at the beginning, but then I got a good pace and felt quite comfortable," Porto said. Alex Debon (Aprilia) dropped even further back after running with this pair but managed to defend eighth narrowly from Naoki Matsudo (Yamaha). Another 11 seconds away came ex-125cc star Toni Elias (Honda) in 10th, his best result so far in the class. South African GP winner Melandri was disconsolate after no points in Japan and no points in Spain. "Now it's going to be really tough," he said, contemplating his eighth place overall. Nieto led on points, with 44, with Rolfo having 41, then Battaini with 39, Alzamora with 38, Porto with 28 and de Puniet with 26. 125cc GRAND PRIX Poggiali led the field away from the start, with Steve Jenkner (Aprilia) taking over the point from laps six to 11, before slow starter Cecchinello caught up and took over. But there was a close pack of six up front by then, and plenty of racing in it. De Angelis was eliminated by Poggiali's attempted assassination on lap 21, while Arnaud Vincent remained close to the end, just losing touch on the final lap as Poggiali embarked on his attack on Cecchinello. This came to a head at the last hairpin, with the Aprilia rider taking a smooth, sweeping line, and Poggiali losing his head and falling off mid-corner after his outbraking attempt had failed. He scrambled back for 10th, only to be 86'd. This left second to Vincent, half-asecond ahead of Jenkner for an allAprilia podium. Local hero Dani Pedrosa (Honda) had been with the leaders, but struggled to stay there, and was six seconds back at the finish, but still five seconds ahead of the next group, which was led over the line by the impressive Finnish rookie Mika Kallio (Honda) from seasoned veterans and race winners Youichi Ui (Derbi), Simone Sanna (Aprilia) and Masao Azuma (Honda). Cecchinello set fastest lap, two tenths short of the record. Vincent leads the championship, with 65 points. Poggiali has 41, Pedrosa 37, Cecchinello 32, Jenkner 30 and Sanna 28. eN &ran Pnlmlo Mar1boro De Espana Jerez, Spain Results: May 5, 2001 125cc QUAUFYING: t. Pablo Nieto (1 :49.018): 2. Arnaud Vincent (1 :49.186); 3. Manuel Poggiali (1:49.227): 4. Alex De Angelis (1:49.248): 5. Steve Jenkner (1 :49.287); 6. Lucio Checchinel10 (1:49.494); 7. Gino Borsoi (1:49.786); 8. Daniel Pedrosa (1:49.799): 9. Simone Sanna (1:49.831); 10. Andrea Dovizioso (1:49.936); 11. Youichi Ui (L50.029); 12. Joan Olive (I :50.074); 13. Stefano Perugini (1:50.089); 14. Angel Rodriguez (1:50.130): 15. Mirko Giansantl (1:50.157); 16. Hector Barbera (1:50.335); 17. Mika Kollio (1:50.541); 18. Stefono Bianco (1:50.568); 19. Masao Azumo (1:51.054); 20. Jakub Smrz (1:51.101); 21. Noboru Uedo (1:51.104); 22. Gober Talmocsi (1:51.144); 23. Milx Sabbatani (1 :51.306); 24. Jamo Muller (1 :51.632); 25. Jaroslav Hules (1:51.777); 26. Alvaro Bautista (1:51.806); 27. Kious Nohles (1:51.833); 28. Chaz Davies (1 :51.849); 29. Julio Simon (1 :52.273); 30. Andrea Ballerini (1:52.297); 31. Alex Baldolini (I :52.388); 32. Michel Fobrizio (1 :52.661): 33. Jorge Lorenzo (1:52.734); 34. Mottia Angeloni (1:53.395); 35. Imre Toth (1 :53.751); Ruben Cotolan (1 :53.885). 250cc QUALIFYING: 1. Franco Battaini (1 :44.803); 2. Fonsi Nieto (l :45.268); 3. Marco Melandri (1:45.323); 4. Sebastian Porto (1:45.499); 5. Roberto Rolfo (1 :45.580); 6. Rondy De Puniet (1:45.596): 7. Cosey Stoner (1,45.648): 8. Alex Debon (1:45.694): 9. Emilio Alzomoro (1:45.915): 10. Toni Elias (1 :46.170); 11. Roberto Locatelli (1:46.253); 12. Naoki Motsudo (1:46.293); 13. Raul