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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128164
World Championship Road Race Series Round S: Donington Park Norick Abe (6) equaled his best result of the year with a fourth-place finish. Kenny Roberts Jr. (10) was off to another strong start, before fading back to 14th. Jacque's clearly a little less severe than Gibernau's, and with three laps to go he dived past under brakes for the chicane and held fifth to the finish. "Considering the problems we had in qualifying, I'm pleasantly surprised to get my best result of the year and finish second on the two-stroke podium," said Jacque. "But the bike was really hard to ride ... I kept losing the front and nearly crashed 10 times." Gibernau was no more flattering. "We hadn't solved any of our practice problems. The main thing was the bike kept running the same all race long, and I kept working really hard. With Suzuki top brass here, I think I proved that we're all doing our best and that we need some help." Kato was next, complaining that although his hand injury hadn't troubled him in the race it left him short of set-up time. Aoki was losing ground then, both tires long past their best, so that he couldn't use the lightweight Proton's good braking. Hopkins was thrilled to pass him under brakes for the chicane to finish half a second ahead. "I was concentrating so hard I didn't even know it was the last lap, so it was lucky I got by when I did," he said. Aoki's ninth was some consolation after three non-finishes. Nakano had an undistinguished race, 10 seconds behind Aoki and eight ahead of Harada, who had lost ground running off briefly at the chicane. Another four seconds back, McCoy was happy to finish without pain or other problems after his long absence, and happier still to have 36 JULY 24, 2002' cue I e held off Ryo's Suzuki by less than a second. Roberts was just behind Ryo, avoiding the final indignity of being passed by van den Goorbergh's Bridgestone-shod Honda two-stroke by less than a second. Laconi was another seven 10ths behind after another up-and-down race on the Aprilia, searching for grip to match its power; Alex Hofmann, substituting for Capirossi on the West Honda, was another 10 seconds adrift, losing ground at the end after the tires faded. Rossi now has a massive total of 195 points; non-starter Ukawa has 108, with Biaggi next on 89, swapping places with Barros on 87. Checa and Abe are equal fifth on 72. 250cc GRAND PRIX Porto's turquoise Yamaha got the jump from the front row - his firstever time to lead a GP - and rather surprisingly he even stretched it to almost a second after six laps, staying in front for 12 laps until his back wheel locked going down the hill. He managed to avoid falling, but his race was done. Nieto and Melandri had been behind him, trading places a couple of times, but with Nieto making most of the running, his Italian dueling partner poised close behind until just after half-distance, when he took over. Behind them, Rolfo had been fourth, with Aoki having a strong run behind him on the "works-private" Honda heading Alzamora, Battaini and de Puniet off the start. Battaini was the strongest of them, and moved through to overtake Rolfo on lap 10. He was less than two seconds behind the leaders, and gradually closed the gap until he was in a challenging position by lap 18 or so, though then he started to lose ground again. A bigger dose of excitement was coming from Toni Elias, who had messed up his start from the second row by finding neutral instead of second. He was 14th at the end of lap one, and already well engaged in a stirring charge. By lap 10, he was already up to sixth, after passing Aoki and de Puniet in one lap, and was closing rapidly on Rolfo, who was chasing Battaini as best he could. The class rookie passed the Italian also on lap 15, now 2.7 seconds behind Battaini, a gap that promptly grew when he got tied up behind a lapped backmarker. Nothing daunted, the young Spaniard redoubled his efforts, finally catching and passing Battaini on the very last lap. By then also the battle for the lead was taking its final shape. Nieto had seemed to lose heart when Melandri kicked again with four laps to go, and was almost a second adrift. But he was just biding his time, and on the 26th lap set fastest lap of the race (short of Kato's 2001 record) as he closed up for the final showdown. His attack came the last time through the chicane, outbraking Melandri to head him through the left-right flick. But Melandri was equal to the situation, Garry McCoy (8) was back in action at Doning1on. despite still feeling a bit rusty after his long recovery from his early-season injuries. Jurgen van den Goorbergh (17) rode the Bridgestone-shod Honda to a 15th-place finish. n __ s