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World Championship Road Race Series Round 7: Dutch Grand F'Nx from behind, Harada with him. The American concentrated on trying to close up on Roberts, more than halving the gap to cross the line less than three seconds adrift and managing to keep Nakano at bay at the same time. Then came Abe, while Harada had fallen back behind another group Alex Hofmann, Jurgen van den Goorbergh and Daijiro Kato, also locked in combat. At the finish, Van den Goorbergh pleased his home fans by passing Hofmann out on the fast section to claim 10th, his best finish so far this year, but Hofmann's 11th in only his second ever race on a 500 was highly creditable, while Kato's close 12th demonstrates a continuing slump for the fancied 250cc World Champion. Harada was two more seconds back, with Olivier Jacque well out of touch in 14th, never having found good settings for the dry, and Ryo cruising in almost a full lap behind. Regis Laconi's Aprilia retired with 13 laps left, blaming electronic problems; Pere Riba also retired. Rossi's points lead just grows and grows. He now has 170 points and his nearest rival is teammate Ukawa with 108. Then Checa has 72, Barros 71, Biaggi 69, and Capirossi 65. 250cc GRAND PRIX A sprinkle of rain before the start mercifully cleared and the race began on slicks, with Elias surging into the early lead. Melandri didn't let it last beyond one lap, however, powering past for an almost undisturbed afternoon of mastery. The strongest challenge came from Randy de Puniet and the Scrab Aprilia, who had a b'rief tussle with Elias, then finally got ahead for good and chased Melandri hard. On lap seven, when he was poised to attack, the Frenchman pushed too hard, flicked sideways and was thrown over the highside instead. Elias remained unmolested for full race distance; behind him, Rolfo was picking his way through a quartet comprising Nieto, Haru Aoki, on the semi-works Honda RS-W, and Porto, with Locatelli's Aprilia dropping off the back already when Rolfo got to the front on lap 10. The Italian factory Honda man immediately started to stretch away but was too far behind Elias, even though he closed steadily. Casey Stoner made a bad start, 18th on the first lap, but was again moving through impressively with lap times rivaling the leading groups. By half-distance, he had closed on the trio disputing eighth: Battaini, Yuzi and Waldmann; and four laps later the young Australian found his way to the front of the gang, staying there to the line, by then with a small margin over Battaini and Yuzi, Waldmann eight 10ths behind and just out of the top 10. The next one home was Alex (Right) Rossi (center1 has hoisted a lot of hardware this season, wInning all but one of the seven races thus far. BaITOS (left) made his first podium appearance of the season after an excellent ride. Checa (right) made his third podium visit of the year, and sits In thIrd In the standings. (Below) Ukawa gave It everything he had on the last lap - he ended up crashing In the last comer trying to stuff It up the InsIde of Checa. However, he stili managed to get across the line and hang on to ftfth. Debon, alone and 22 seconds behind. The last points went to Jara, Matsudo and Philippe, Checa missing out by less than a 10th in the final scramble through the chicane. So Melandri proved that his title challenge is firmly back on course, taking the lead for the first time from Nieto with 120 points to the Spaniard's 112. Rolfo now has 96, with Battaini and his 67 points sneaking past nonscorer de Puniet's 66. 125cc GRAND PRIX 24 .JULY 10, 2002' cue I • n __ • Pedrosa started from pole and made no mistakes as he led into the first corner and gradually eked out a steadily growing gap for a career-first win. Behind him, a big gang dropped to just five by half-distance, with Cecchinello taking most of the leading, the spirited fast-starting Olive playing an active role, Poggiali lurking menacingly, Vincent catching up to join in 'and Jenkner ever present. The issue remained open until the last lap, when Poggiali fmally imposed the authority endowed by his very fast GiJera, looking increasingly more