Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128176
. , ~~I "; ~ i -- I .- =J <: t: ~ ! <:I ~roadrace - World Championship Road Race Series Round 14:Pacific Grand F1i"ix ------~ MoviStar Repsol Aprilia took a superb first class win in the best 250cc race of the season, passing long-time leader Marco Melandri's MS Aprilia three times on the final lap. The first two times Melandri passed him straight back: the final attempt was a brilliantly aggressive move in the very last corner, giving the' Italian no chance to respond. Elias, in his first 250cc season, denied Melandri the chance of claiming Italy's 600th GP win. Third went to 18-year-old Hondamounted Japanese wild card Yuki Takahashi, after a challenging ride on an evolution version of the production bike. Elias made a veiled reference to accusations published in Spain earlier this year, that various people including at least one Dorna director had spoiled his 125cc title chances last year by taking away his special parts at the end of the season, after he had declined to renew his contract. "I want to dedicate this win to my family, my team - and to those people, and they know who they are, who tried to destroy my career." Melandri's second place took him one step closer to the championship, with closest rival Fonsi Nieto starting from pole, but able to manage no better than fourth. Casey Stoner and his Aprilia finished 17th, out of the points after slipping back from a close battle for 14th place. Telefonica MoviStar Honda's Daniel Pedrosa claimed a resounding win in the 125cc race, taking the lead on the second of 21 laps and pulling away steadily to defeat Gilera's Kenny Roberts Jr. (10) and Cartos Checa (7) battled throughout the race, with Checa getting the better of Roberts In the end. They finished fifth and sixth, respectively. 12 OCTOBER 16, 2002' c u e I e Manuel Poggiali by eight seconds. Aprilia-mounted Steve Jenkner was a close third. But the first race of the day brought disaster for points leader Arnaud Vincent. The Frenchman held a safe second until three laps from the end, when he slowed suddenly with a holed exhaust, to limp to the finish in 15th, for just one point. His points lead over Poggiali shrank to just eight, with Pedrosa also closing up to revitalize the title battle. MotoGP Problems started for Regis Laconi before the warm-up lap, when his MS Aprilia four-stroke declined to start, and he was condemned to a start from pit lane. Capirossi led the rest of them into the first corner, but by the end of the lap he was fourth behind the fourstroke Honda phalanx - Rossi heading Barros and Kato, then Capirossi, n e _ s with Biaggi behind the two-stroke after nipping ahead of fast-starting Roberts. One lap later, Ukawa was also ahead of the Suzuki, with Gibernau tucked in behind his teammate until he blew up on lap six, and Checa in arrears ahead of the twostrokes. Kato and Barros were to and fro, then on lap five Barros nipped inside Rossi before the first bridge. One lap later, Kato did the same thing, and was leaning on the Brazilian for the next two laps, looking like a very serious threat. Then, on lap eight, it was all over. At the bottom of the hill before the second bridge, he suddenly slowed and cruised to the pits, his clutch gone.. Capirossi was still well in touch, and the leaders held formation until lap 15. A little way behind, Biaggi and Ukawa were close together until the Yamaha gave off a puff of what turned out to be tire smoke, and Biaggi dropped out of contention, leaVing Ukawa alone. Now Capirossi started to lose touch slightly, the gap up to a second on lap 16 and gradually stretching to the finish. Up front, Rossi was sliding a lot going into and out of the corners, but such is his mien that he still seemed as if he was in control. In fact, Barros was taking it easy, and on lap 19 seemed to let Rossi past, though he later denied it. But it was not for long. Two laps later, as Rossi ran a little wide at the bottom of the last hill, he was firmly through again on the inside, and now Rossi started to look a little flustered. All the same, he was Proton teammates Jeremy McWilliams (99) and Nobuatsu Aoki (9) batued durin9 the race with the pair both eventually finishing inside the top 10 • Aokl was ninth and McWilliams 10th.