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World Championship Road Race Series Round 8: German Grand Prix tight, the noise as they crested the when Rossi made a mistake and ran c!J@@®C!!J@ @[JiJ@ li{JLJ@ hill to run past the pits awe-inspiring. Then Jacque started to attack, wide on the first of the final lefts of the tight section. Jacque sliced f}m@CJ~lif?@[fI@ passing Barros on the straight only for Barros to dive back underneath him through. before the end of lap five. Next time This was not quite the first chance this season for a two-stroke to daim pole position, but it might easily be the last. It was seized by Yamahamounted Olivier Jacque (right), the former 250cc World Champion slotting in to his first-ever dass pole at the end of yet another hectic, recordbreaking session where the position changed hands three times in the final minute. He ousted his teammate Shinya Nakano, who had in tum taken the top slot off Max Biaggi's four-stroke Yamaha. If Jacque had lapped the short and tortuous Sachsenring only 1.6-seconds slower, he would have been 21 st and last instead of first, in the closest ever grid in the history of the premier racing dass. And what of Valentino Rossi, who had been on pole for every race this year so far except for one? Finding the confines of the tiny track rather too restrictive for his bountifully powerful V-five Honda, the best he could manage in the dosing stages was to move up from ninth overall to sixth, on the second row of the grid, and one place down on his back-from-injury teammate Tohru Ukawa. The main reason for Jacque's success, he pointed out succinctly, was quite simple. "There's no real straights here, so we are on more equal terms with the four-strokes," he said. Another reason was at last finding a comfortable setup "for the first time since Jerez." It left him feeling as confident as he could, considering the small margin. "You can't take pole unless you are feeling good on the bike, but the times are dose. I think the race will be a hard fight," he said. Second-placed Nakano had been showing strongly on both days. "Even before the session, I knew I could do something good," he said. "It's been a hard season for me, and I had lost some of my confidence. Now it has come back." Biaggi was next, barely a tenth off pole, and happy to be not only the top four-stroke, but also the fastest through the speed traps. "Everyone knew the lighter 500s would be good here," he said. "I tried everything for one or two laps, because I knew times would be dose. The 500s also have data from the past here, but the four-strokes have to start from scratch, with gearing and everything. I think' can make some more improvements in warm-up tomorrow." The final front-row spot went to another two-stroke - Alex Barros' Honda, after his bid for pole was foiled when got caught up behind Nobuatsu Aoki's Proton at the end of the session. "' don't know if I could have had pole, but it would have been a faster lap. Anyway, the important thing is that I have been consistently fast," he said. Row two was led by Ukawa, who was still stiff and sore from his big Donington crash, and said: "I'm happy with that. When I started I wasn't even sure' could get through the weekend." Then came Rossi, the giant of the year consigned to the second row for once. He was only .234 of a second behind pole, and just one thousandth slower than Ukawa, so the position was not that significant. Just surprising, and indicative of the nature of his V-five versus the pocket-bike circuit. "In the morning, the bike felt strong and I could ride with a good rhythm, but in the afternoon it felt very different," Rossi said. "I am haVing a lot of wheelspin, and I can't hold a tight line. Maybe it's the temperature. We have a lot of work to do." Alongside him was first-day polesitter Jeremy McWilliams, whose hopes of keeping the lightweight Proton on top were thwarted by traffic. "Obviously the circuit suits our bike. and I'm quickest through the first two sections. But I have the lowest top speed - "II need some help around the second part." Garry McCoy spoke about picking up the pace and rhythm of practice in his second race back, and proved that he was doing it by slotting into eighth at the finish. "We had some front-end problems yesterday, and we tried to fix that. I got behind a couple of different riders today just to get an eye on a few of them and lift my speed a bit," he said. Daijiro Kato led row four in his last race on a two-stroke, from Carlos Checa, Yukio Kagayama (replacing Roberts on the Suzuki) and Sete Gibemau, who had two engine failures in the two days. He was still only six tenths off pole, with times remaining dose behind him: Aoki heading row five from John Hopkins (who withdrew from the race), Norick Abe and Regis Laconi, less than nine tenths down. Hopkins' absence moved Jurgen van den Goorbergh up onto row four. Then came Tetsuya Harada, Alex Hofmann, Jose Luis Cardoso and wild-card Ryo, still only 1.547 off pole. Given the lack of passing places and the tightness of the circuit, an exciting first comer was guaranteed. Fonsi Nieto dominated all four 250cc sessions for his fifth pole of the season, with times much more widely spread in the second dass, the front row covered by half a second, the 29-strong field by almost 5.8. His pole came on the first day, with traffic problems on the second preventing any improvement. His dosest adversary Marco Melandri was in the same situation, staying second on his first-day time. Then came Roberto Locatelli, with Rolfo spoiling the Aprilia front-row party by slotting his Honda into fourth, pushing Franco Battaini to head row two from Sebastien Porto's Yamaha, then the Aprilias of Randy de Puniet and Debon. Toni Elias led row three; Casey Stoner was at the rar end of it after crashing again. He was still two places ahead of Ralf Waldmann in his second GP this year. 18 JULY 31, 2002' a U c I e n straight past, and Barros followed e _ s This was something to see. How around, the both of them passed Ukawa at one time. Necessary, long would it take Rossi to get back in front? Nobody would ever know, because by now Rossi had worked his but it might not have happened, way up to fourth, and one lap later because Jacque started to inch away third, easily passing Ukawa. The order up front stayed the up front. At the end of lap 27, he was a couple of lengths clear of Barros same for the next 10 laps. Then Rossi and Rossi was possibly beginning to started to move again, passing Jacque into the first corner then Bar- fade, with a half-second gap. Now came Barros' murderously ros at the bottom of the hill. A famil- (and suicidally) over-ambitious move iar sight as they crested the hill again to finish the 19th lap . Rossi in front. on Jacque, at the end of the straight. Less familiar was the proximity of the think , could have won," said Barros pursuit· Barros, Jacque, Biaggi (now getting comfortable and moving for- ing me every time on the main ward), Ukawa, Checa, Abe and Nakano, all within less than two seconds, McWilliams now starting to lose "I was having a great race, and I afterwards. "But Olivier was overtakstraight because his bike was faster than mine. He was 20 meters in front of me, but I couldn't wait until the end ground behind. Later he would say: of the race. I had to take a huge risk, "That's when it got easier for me - and I made an error. It was my mis- when' lost some side grip. Before that they were passing me so fast on take, and I feel sorry for him." the straight it was frightening, then I'd be running into them in the twisty section again, spoiling my lap time. I And Jacque felt sorry for himself. "He left his braking way too late. I lifted my bike up to let him through, but he locked up his front and shunt- nearly hit Biaggi once, and I was wor- ed me off. I'm bitterly disappointed, ried I might make a fool of myself." but I hope I proved today that my By then, Gibernau, Kato and motivation is as strong as ever, and Kagayama had crashed out together, Cardoso had made a stop-and-go that I am more than capable of bat- visit to the pits after jumping the start, rejoining way at the back, and Harada had pulled into the pits, his Dunlops offering not enough grip for him to want to continue. Ten dramatic laps remained, with Jacque pushing through into second tling up at the front." Anyway, there was Rossi, in the lead, willing and able to stay there, with Biaggi chasing him as best he could, Ukawa following on. By the finish, Checa had lost a little ground but was holding of Abe, whose own attempts at getting in and starting to work on Rossi. In the twists he was all over him, but riding the wheels off his bike; on the faster sections, Rossi would gain a little breathing space again. Until lap 25, Barros (4) put his NSRSOO In the lead before crashing with three laps to go, ruining both his and Jacque's bid to stop the Rossi freight train.