Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

keep Jay Vincent's private Honda behind him. Matsudo then had a slip that halved his lead, but he was still well clear of the drama behind. And there was plenty of it. Nieto had nipped into second on lap 13 when he lost it on the uphill chicane. He kept hold of the bars and managed to get going again in seventh after his pirouette. Battaini lasted only three more laps before he also fell and remounted, but well out of touch. Almost at once, Aoki also fell, remounting only to retire in tears. At the same time, Vincent had finally managed to get past Melandri into what was now third, only to slip off half a lap later. Nieto had been forging through, setting fastest lap as he went past Locatelli and a cautious Porto, then also Melandri on lap 17. He was 13 Roberts (10) bied to hold off Checa (7), but couldn't. Stili, It was Junior's best result of the year • a fourth. Prior to crashing, Glbemau looked like a world-beater. seconds behind Matsudo, and started to carve awayt at the gap. By lap 21, it was down to less than seven seconds. Matsudo was pushing hard, survived one slip, then lost it in a big way under braking, his dreams of a first victory shattered. Thus Nieto found himself leading, with rival Melandri almost five seconds behind. The downpour redoubled, and the Spaniard raised his hand a couple of times, hoping the race would be stopped. Melandri had his head down behind him, and by the start of the final lap was just over a second behind and closing fast. He might have managed an attack but for an awkward run past a backmarker, and was just over half a second behind at the finish. Porto's cautious approach yielded a well-earned third place; Rolfo had charged through to fourth after rejoining in 13th following his stop-and-go, Rain almost spoiled it for anybody who had big plans for Saturday - there was only a spattering, but it looked as though it would be enough to enshrine times from the first timed session the day before. And to secure the second pole position of the year for a twostroke, Alex Barros. It was not to be, as the track dried at the end of the session, giving a 20-minute window to anyone who was ready. The readiest was Carlos Cheea, who'd fallen heavily on the first day but bounced back undeterred. "With the short time, it was like an Fl session," he said. Just time for an out lap, then go for it. You couldn't waste your chances: His biggest benefit was the latest changes to the Ml chassis, In tests after Bmo, where they had made a big step forward in giving the riders front-end feel. Ironically, Checa's first pole in the class and the Ml's second in a row came at the track where they had some of their worst preseason tests, soundly beaten by the two-strokes. Including the preholiday German GP, where Olivier Jacque's two-stroke was on pole, this was Yamaha's third consecutive pole. Cheea was just seven hundredths faster than Daijiro Kato, who had been challenging strongly throughout the two days, after having added two days of testing at Valencia to his brief but fruitful experience on the two-stroke. "I should have done better, because we improved the bike a lot today, but with the short time available I'm satisfied," he said, having outqualified Valentino Rossi for a second race. The champion was almost two-tenths slower, but alongside on the grid, having (he said) solved braking problems that saw him sliding wildly into the turns, especially on the first day. Now under pressure from Kato and the Yamahas, and with a title lead to worry about, Rossi had plenty on his mind, but said: ·We seem to have found some better settings now: Barros completed the front row by virtue of his first-day provisional pole time, having spent what time he could on the second day getting a new engine set. In the dry window, he said he'd been trying too hard. "I was attacking the bike, and I wasn't as fast as yesterday, when I was smoother," he said. Max Biaggi led the second row, still just three-and-a-half tenths from pole, and still complaining about a lack of front-end feeling. "It's better, but I need to find some more settings in morning warm-up to make the steering more positive," he said. Sadly, he was thwarted by rain on race morning. Jeremy McWilliams was alongside, equaling his best-thIs-year qualifying position with a couple of banzai laps on soft tires at the end. "I have to thank Bridgestone for the time, and Rossi, because he gave me a tow' on the fast sections. I only had to ride round the comers," h.e said. Unexpectedly, he and Proton teammate Nobuatsu Aoki had ditched the latest rear suspension link developments that had paid dividends at Bmo, ending up going back to settings used at pre-season tests. "That's progress," growled team owner Roberts. "Different things work at different tracks: Loris Capirossi was alongside, his attempts at making the front row thwarted by a slow Kato on the first attempt and by an error on the seeond. "I hope it is raining, or very hot. These mixed conditions are very difficult,· he said. Tohru Ukawa completed the second row, battling to get settled and match the other Hondas; Sete Gibemau led the third on his first-day time. "At the end of the session, I was having little problems - especially with gears and getting false neutrals," he said. "It's frustrating when you only have a few minutes to go for it, and the bike isn't right," he said. Jurgen van den Goorbergh was alongside, gradually improving somewhat late in the year, then Aoki, who jumped up on the second day from almost last. And then Kenny Roberts Jr. on the second Suzuki, confident that his qualifying position wasn't an accurate reflection of his race potential. "We've been working on refining the settings with the new clutch, and we have the bike better. And I set the time on a race tire,· he explained. Norick Abe led row four from Regis Laconl, John Hopkins and Garry McCoy, all but ApriJia-mounted Regis Laconi on two-stroke Yamahas that were seriously out of kilter, for some reason. Three more were behind: Shinya Nakano heading Tetsuya Harada's Honda, then the Yamahas of Olivier Jacque and Riba bringing up the rear. finishing 23 seconds adrift of the leader. Since he had lost 30 seconds with the penalty, this lent some weight to his claim that he might have won. Locatelli was almost 25 seconds behind him at the finish; Alzamora trailing in behind him. Leon Haslam was seventh, the co U co • e n best finish of his career, but a disappointment, since he might have done even better, because he was one of several to fall and remount. David Checa and Dirk Heidolf were the last Checa's charge led him past Tohru Ukawa 111), but Ukawa stayed with the Spaniard to the very end. e _ S • SEPTEMBER 18, 2002 11

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