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Rossi. "When Mick Doohan got 50 wins, I thought, 'How can that be possible?' It's like a dream. But I'm most happy because the bike is working again and I am having fun again." The pair had pulled out enough of a lead for Barros to rejoin without losing second place. "I had a softer tire, so I tried to pull away at the start," he said later. "After Rossi passed me, I tried to get back in front a couple of times, but I had a problem with the clutch in the last laps which made it difficult to change gear, and no engine braking. I tried to muscle past on the last lap, but I went straight on. But it was a great race, and since I've ridden the bike three times I have equal victories with Rossi, and I will try and win again at the last GP." Third went to Rossi's teammate Tohru Ukawa after a sustained threeway battle with Daijiro Kato's Fortuna Honda and the best of the twostrokes - a revitalized Jurgen van den Goorbergh on the Bridgestone-shod Kanemoto Honda. Power prevailed in the end, with Ukawa pipping Kato, and the Dutchman coming in less than a tenth behind. "I could hear Kato behind me on the last lap, and I knew he would power past on the start/finish straight. And he did," said Van den Goorbergh afterward. "But I still feel really good about this result: the balance of the bike was really good, and now the Bridgestones have improved so much 1can ride the bike properly at last and finally show my true ability." Almost 10 seconds behind Max Biaggi and his Marlboro Yamaha finally prevailed after a thrilling and sustained bout with front-row-starter Nobuatsu Aoki's three-cylinder 500cc Proton two-stroke. The Yamaha was miles faster down the straight, and overtook him every time: but much more often than not, Aoki would go flying past a couple of corners later to lead the rest of the lap. "I can't be happy with the result, but it was the best I could do today," said Biaggi, while a glowing Aoki said: "I must have been like an irritating fly to Max, but I could see he was having trouble on the infield, and if I was behind him I was losing a second No, Alex, wrong way! Valentino Rossi (461 grabbed the lead back from Barros (41 when the "lian out-braked himself on lap - runninjj _ _ a lap - so I had to try and get ahead of him there every time." Gauloises Yamaha's Olivier Jacque and Telefonica MoviStar Suzuki's Kenny Roberts Jr. dropped back from this battle, with Jacque nipping past the Suzuki over the line to take eighth. "I had the same old problems - too much torque with the bike on its side, then getting destroyed on the straights," said Roberts. "I was having wheelspin from full lean until the bike was upright: I just couldn't drive out of the corners. It's amazing the tire lasted the distance. I have to hand it to Michelin." Proton's Jeremy McWilliams was 1Oth after a disastrous start from pole position. He finished the first lap 14th, and was charging through the mid-field when his carbon front brake - not yet at full temperature grabbed, and he ran off the track at the hairpin. He rejoined in last, and was setting lap times close to the The battle is now on for second overall, with Ukawa closing to within one point of Biaggi with one race left, and Barros just 20 points behind. Pole starter Fonsi Nieto and his Telefonica MoviStar Repsol Aprilia had to beat MS Aprilia's Marco Melandri to keep his title hopes alive and Melandri had to beat him to win his first 250cc World Championship. The pair dueled alone for the full distance of the 250cc Grand Prix, coming down to a fraught last-lap battle where they changed places no less than four times. At the flag, it was Melandri in front, by just seven thousandths of a second, as Nieto's final bid to draft past fell short by inches. The win extended the Italian's points lead to 32 with just 25 left on the table at the final race. Melandri is World Champion, and not only that. At 20, he is the youngest-ever champion in the class. "It was a tough but exciting race," said Melandri later. "I needed to win, but I could see it would be very hard to beat him, so I used a trick I tried on the 125. Nieto had been studying me on the long curve onto the finishing straight, so I opened the gas differently. Then, on the last lap, I just gave it all I had and kept first place." Petronas Yamaha's Sebastian Porto waited until the very last lap to pounce on Fortuna Honda's Roberto Rolfo for third; early leader Toni Elias and his Telefonica Aprilia had dropped back and was passed by Campetella Aprilia's Randy de Puniet, but reversed the positions again on the final lap. Gilera's Manuel Poggiali came through on the final lap to win an electrifying 125cc GP and to close up yet more on points on Frenchman leaders as he pushed back through again. "It's just frustrating. I could have been battling for sixth or seventh if I hadn't gone off," he said. Marlboro Yamaha's Carlos Checa had switched back to the older chassis on his M 1 to try to solve handling problems, to no avail, and was 11 th at the end, defeating Sete Gibernau, whose Suzuki had lost revs due to a mystery electronic complaint. There were 18 finishers, with John Hopkins 16th after falling and remounting, passing Andrew Pitt's Kawasaki at the line. Red Bull teammate Garry McCoy also started from the front row and was running sixth until his rear tire blistered after 13 laps. He pitted for a new one and rejoined to shadow Rossi and Barros, a lap behind, to finish last. West Honda Pons' Loris Capirossi retired early with terminal front-wheel vibration; Regis Laconi and Shinichi Itoh both retired with mechanical problems. Max Blaggl (31 had his hands full with Nobuatsu Aokl (91 throughout the race, with Blaggl getting the better of the Japanese Proton rider to finish sixth at the finish, one position ahead of Aokl. cue •• n e _ so • OCTOBER 30, 2002 11