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/128162
World Championship Road Race Series Round 7: Dutch Grand F'rix with earlier points leader Fonsi Nieto able to manage no better than a close fifth. Comeback star Ralf Waldmann was 11 tho Sixteen-year-old Daniel Pedrosa claimed his first GP win in invincible style at Assen, leading from start to finish with a comfortable gap over a fierce fight for second. Second was won at the last gasp by defending champion Manuel Poggiali and his Gilera, with Pedrosa's Telefonica MoviStar Junior teammate Joan Olive, 17, impressively squeezing his Honda in ahead of the Aprilias of seasoned veterans Arnaud Vincent, Lucio Cecchinello and Steve Jenkner. MataGP The rain held off as they lined up for the start, delayed by an hour and a half to accommodate a World Cup game... and Biaggi took a flyer off the front row to lead into the first corner. Soon, it was Roberts in front, and he kept the Suzuki there for two more laps as Rossi moved past Biaggi. Barros was the man on the move. Sixth at the end of lap one, he flew past Ukawa and Capirossi on the second, and on the third pounced on Biaggi into one corner, and Rossi on the way out. Later on the same lap, he moved inside Roberts as well, and led from the third lap onward. Rossi took another lap before getting past Roberts, who then started to lose places, disappointed that the improvement he thought they'd found at Barcelona tests still weren't enough for him to maintain race pace comfortably. By the end of lap five, he was down in sixth, where he would 22 JULY 10, 2002' cue • III languish until the finish; while up front, Barros and his new companion Rossi had already taken a gap of 2.5 seconds on Ukawa, now ahead of both Yamahas, as they turned the race into a private duel. The contest was fascinating. Rossi left before the first corner; at other sections of the track, Barros would open out a gap, holding tight lines as the four-stroke slid and struggled for grip. Was Rossi playing with him? Or was he really bamboozled? No surprises in the end, however, clearly had a speed advantage down the front straight, but he couldn't when with two laps left Rossi finally seem to do more than draw alongside surge past down the front straight, and proceeded to pull away. before they braked for the fast right- n _ "'" s used the full power of his RCV to The two Yamahas and Ukawa had been jousting happily for much of the race, with Checa doing most of the leading. Then Biaggi pounced on lap 12, only to make a mistake a little further around, dropping behind again over the line. Then "I made a little mistake at turn one and got a wheel on the grass - and that's when I lost them," he explained later. The remaining pair fought to the end, Ukawa following closely and clearly preparing for a last-lap mugging. He left it until the very last corner, but the attack was flawed and went badly wrong. He was lucky to lose only fourth to Biaggi before a marshal helped push the V-five back under way, and he cruised over the line narrowly ahead of Roberts. Behind all this, the two-strokes had been hard at it. McWilliams was heading the next group, fending off a persistent Sete Gibernau, moving through from the fourth row of the grid. They swapped places several times until it ended in tears for Gibernau, touching the grass under hard braking at the chicane at the end of lap six and falling off. He blamed McWilliams at first, but later said: "It was just a racing incident." McWilliams was a clear seventh, and started to work on a four-second gap to Roberts when "the gearbox just exploded." His race was over. Hopkins had been watching this from behind after a good start, and then found himself well clear of the next group, where Aoki's Proton was leading Nakano's Yamaha, with a struggling Abe gradually closing up