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World Championship Road Race Series Round 14: Pacific Grand rix !liJffJ[JiJ @(] Um@ !liJ@@(JD[JiJ[fj& WmD@m @[JiJ@f[J Barros was ecstatic after his first win of the season· In his first race on the RC211V. Afterward, Melandri explained. Takahashi was safe in third, with "In the early laps, I'd worn my tires with a full tank - I'd chosen a softer Nieto narrowly fending off Alzamora for fourth. By the fmish, Rolfo had caught rear, and it was maybe a mistake. At the end, I saw Elias coming really hard. I tried to close all the holes, but in the last two laps I was also thinking about the championship. I managed to get back after two attacks, but in the last corner I was expecting him on the left but instead he was on my right." right up, with Battaini holding seventh two seconds adrift, Porto close behind. Another 15 seconds back, Locatelli took a lonely ninth, then Debon managed to defeat race-long rival Aoyama's wild-card Honda for 10th. Yamaha wild card Nakasuga held off Aoki's Honda for 12th; another Yamaha wild card, Ryuki Yokoe, was 14th, with A tough one. Alex Barros was brilliant. But his teammate Loris Capiross;'s achievement was even more impressive. At a track where the accelerative four- strokes held the high ground, and where he'd been passed over by Honda with a chance on the four-stroke, he was buming with anger, and would not be denied. He threatened for pole in practice, and sprang into the lead into the first corner. By the finish, only three four-strokes had managed to pass him, and one of them (Kato's) failed to finish. Thus he was on the rostrum, at a track where the next· best two-stroke, Jacque's Yamaha, was another 25 seconds behind. Capirossi, 29, has had a colorful and very varied career, scaling the heights and plumbing the depths. He won the 125cc title for the first time in . 1990 at 17, and again the next year. He almost won the 250cc title in 1993, narrowly beaten by Tetsuya Harada; and in 1996 moved to the 500cc class on a Rainey Yamaha, winning the Australian GP. But he was already courting controversy, dumping Rainey after signin9 a contract to go to a factory Aprilia 250cc ride. He won the title in 1998 only after a collision with teammate Harada in the last race. He was stripped of the points for dangerous riding, but given them back with a successful appeal to the F1M. Aprilia fired him anyway. More trouble followed in 1999 when he collided with Marcellino Lucchi on the startline at Mugello, getting a one-race ban as a consequence. But he was too good to be ignored, and joined Team Pons Honda the next year, winning his second GP. Since then he has stayed out of trouble, and now has won the coveted Marlboro Ducati contract for next season. Jara Hules taking the last point. Stoner had been with this pair, but was battling with poor settings, and lost touch after a trip across the gravel. "I tried my best to get back into the points, but there weren't enough laps left," he said. Melandri now has a 52-point lead with three races left and 75 more points on the table. He has 248, Nieto 196, with Rolfo on 170, then Porto (143), with Elias closing on 141. 125cc GRAND PRIX Vincent led the first lap, with Pedrosa poised on his back wheel, attacking firmly on the second lap to take a lead he would keep until the end. The gap gradually stretched to almost two seconds, and when Vincent put the pressure on to close up slightly just before half-distance, pole starter Pedrosa was able to respond. The field was unusually spread out on the stop-and-go circuit, with one of only a few battles for third, between Poggiali and Jenkner, a couple of seconds adrift of Vincent. Jenkner was suffering from a severe cold, he said later, otherwise he might have been more aggressive. He did get ahead once, briefly, but never over the line. By then, the battle was for second. Vincent's exhaust had started to disintegrate on the 19th lap, the hapless rider almost climbing out of the seat to try and spot the problem, before soldiering on at much-reduced speed, saving one point for 15th place. There was minimal excitement in the procession behind. Andre Dovizioso was third at the end of the first lap, but flew off in a massive highside on the first corner of lap two. This left Hector Barbera battling with Poggiali, dropping away to be passed by Jenkner, and then finding himself among Pablo Nieto and Lucio Cecchinello, until Nieto drew away Arnaud Vincent (21), Pablo Nieto (22), and Hector Barbera (80) got the Jump on the field in the 125cc race. Daniel Pedrosa (hidden) took his second win of the year. 14 OCTOBER 16,2002· cue •• n e _ s