Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Rossi chased Barros for most of the race, but in the end it was Barros taking the win over the newly crowned World Champion. into the corners. His Repsol Honda teammate Tohru Ukawa also complained of clutch problems after the race, after finishing out of touch in fourth. And pole qualifier Daijiro Kato didn't even finish, touring into the pits after a major clutch failure on his Fortuna Gresini mount. They were not the only mechanical victims in a race of attrition. Marlboro Yamaha's Max Biaggi retired from fourth after 14 of 24 laps of the 2.97mile circuit an hour or so outside Tokyo, after his front Michelin tire flew to pieces. Sete Gibernau had already retired from eighth after five laps, after his Telefonica MoviStar Suzuki blew up in a cloud of smoke. And Akira Yanagawa crashed out spectacularly in his first race on the new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR after his engine blew up and seized as he tipped it in to a corner. None of this takes anything from Barros' achievement. He was in the hunt from the start, following Rossi for the first four laps, leading from the fifth to the 18th, then letting Rossi past for two more before finally putting his head down and seizing control. "I have to thank Honda - they gave me a fantastic machine, so easy to ride," he said. "My only worry was tire life, so I took it fairly easy at first. Only at the end, when Rossi passed me, I decided it was the time to take risks." His fastest lap, a new record by more than half a second, was his last, and he crossed the line 1.6 seconds ahead of the clearly defeated Rossi. The new MotoGP Champion admitted he'd been soundly beaten. "Today's settings were not perfect, and my feeling with the bike was not very good," Rossi said. "I could see Alex had a good rhythm, and I had some big problems with my clutch. The bike was very difficult to stop. I wanted to attack, but I made a mistake before the tunnel in the last few laps, and I nearly crashed many times." He added with a grin: "Every time I fight with Alex, he always f&%*s me. I really hope he goes to Kawasaki next year." The other ride of the race was from Loris Capirossi, Barros' West Honda teammate, who passed over for a four-stroke and with a big point to prove. He stuck with the two leaders for most of the race, losing touch only toward the finish and still barely six seconds behind His teammate Carlos Checa was a lonely fifth, blaming mystery setup problems that left him short of frontwheel grip, with Kenny Roberts Jr. bringing the Telefonica MoviStar Suzuki home sixth after a steady ride, "doing the best I could with what we have right now - the bike's not at the level where I can ride it at 100 percent, and use my talent and knowhow to make it faster." Three seconds behind, Olivier Jacque celebrated his last ride on the two-stroke Gauloises Yamaha by nipping past Norick Abe's Antena 3 Yamaha on the last lap, after following him all race long. Close behind, the pair of Proton KR3s finished 1.5 seconds apart, Nobuatsu Aoki ahead of Jeremy McWilliams at his home GP. MS Aprilia's Regis Laconi was 11th, and wild-card Wataru Yoshikawa put his M1 Yamaha four-stroke back in front of a charging Jurgen van den Goorbergh's Kanemoto Honda NSR on the last lap. The Dutchman had overtaken him after a stirring ride through from 17th in the final laps, after they had alleviated persistent tire-chatter problems on race morning. "It was better than we expected. I was able to pass [Tetsuya] Harada, [John] Hopkins and Yoshikawa at the end, but the Yamaha had the power to pass me on the last run down the straight," he said. Hopkins was 14th, with Harada taking the last point: Gauloises Yamaha's Shinya Nakano and the still off-form Garry McCoy trailed in behind. Earlier, 18-year-old Spanish bright hope Toni Elias and his Telefonica Rossi, well inside last year's twostroke race-winning time. "I am a little bit angry with Honda, for giving Alex a four-stroke and not me," Capirossi said. "I have no problem with Alex - I'm happy for him. But Honda should have given two bikes to the team. I am so happy that I am going to Ducati next year." Ukawa was more than 10 seconds adrift, relieved of pressure by Biaggi's retirement. He had been behind the Yamaha when Biaggi's bike gave a puff of smoke and he slowed, then pulled off. The Italian had gone against Michelin's advice to use a soft dual-compound front tire, and the center hard-compound strip delaminated and flew off, ripping a center strip out of the fender. cue' • Max Biaggi's (3) choice of running a soft dual-e:ompound tire backftred as the tire delaminated, forcing him out of the race. Note the harder compound ridge of rubber down the mlcklle of the tire prior to it coming apart. n • _ S • OCTOBER 16,2002 11

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