Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Hie"" Hayden (69) battled throughout the race with • group of five riders, Including Carloa Checa (7) and Olivier .Jacque (partially hidden). Rookie Hayden eventually finished seventh for the second race in a row. Rossi simply wasn't close enough to mount a serious attack at the track's few passing places and was still behind at the end. "I knew Valentino was using different tires, and I felt if I kept my pace, he couldn't catch me," said Gibernau. "I just followed the instructions on my pit board, and everything went according to plan." Rossi in turn blamed his tire choice. "I chose the hardest possible rear, and it was consistent all race long. Consistently bad," he said. "I was sliding everywhere, and I never felt comfortable. I really enjoyed the battle with Bayliss, then when I saw I had a chance to catch Gibernau, I did my best. Maybe if I'd had one more lap, I could beat him, but I'm not sure. But if I had to lose any race, this was the best one." reJommg miles behind only to retire. But the worst victim was McWilliams. Edwards fell right in front of him. "No matter how hard you brake, you can't slow down as fast as a sliding rider: he said. "It's a nightmare." He did hit Edwards, but only a glancing blow on the helmet, and he also crashed out as his swerve took him onto the dirt. Bayliss and the powerful Ducati had taken a flier to lead the first lap, and the Australian ex-Superbike World Champion stayed there until lap 10, showing all his wild-man flair as well as the Ducati' s superior- turn of speed as Gibernau hung behind him, unable to find a way past. But the DucatL..is hard on ires, and {]jJffJffD @(] uDD@ {]jJ@@(1ilffD@8 ~f1@ @ilf2J®!JDDffJGD Sete Gibemau is an unusual racer. On the one hand, he comes from a privileged background - his grandfather was Don Paco Bulto, and many people think he has had an easy route into racing because of this influence. On the other side are the facts: that in truth he has had more hard times than easy ones in his career and had to work very hard on his own account to get into GP racing at aU. Most remarkable is a streak of luck that has put him twice in the right place at the right time to take over a coveted factory bike. At first it was with Team Rainey, when he was drafted in to take over the factory YZR500 left vacant by Loris Capirossi. Then he had joined Honda just at the right time to take over the factory V-twin 500 after original rider Takuma Aoki was injured in preseason tests. Then he inherited Mick Doohan's factory NSR, after the five-time champion's career-ending crash. It has to be said that Gibemau did justice to these opportunities, but consistently strong results didn't come his way. Then he joined Suzuki for two years at just the wrong time, when the factory was entering a slump after winning the title. This year, things were different from the beginning. With the backing of Telefonica, he switched to a V-five Honda. And in his first two races he has emerged as a very aggressive, fast and talented rider, cuJmi- nating in his fine win at Welkom. Articulate and intelligent, Gibemau was deeply upset by the accident that killed his teammate Kato. He responded in typically positive and constructive fashion, drawing strength from the disaster and passing it on to the whole team. Will Gibernau now get Kato's factory bike? It is rather tasteless to make the suggestion, but at Welkom he did everything he could to deserve it. QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND Loris Capirossi (talking about the Ducati): "We have a great future behind us." when Bayliss ran wide off the clean line, that gave Gibernau the chance he needed. Biaggi had been losing ground gradually in third, with Rossi pushing him close behind but still waiting for his hard tire choice to payoff. The pair caught the Ducati on lap 13, but while Biaggi passed him cleanly, Rossi had a hell of a time. Bayliss responded to his every attack, the pair changing places four times on lap 14, before the champion finally got clear. This spaced out the leading trio, and Rossi took five laps to close a gap of almost two seconds on Biaggi, who said later: "My engine problems of practice returned - I was about 10percent down on power. It's a pity, because it meant I couldn't fight properly, especially when the tires were gone away a bit." Rossi passed him when he ran wide. Now he had a 2.44-second gap to Gibernau and five laps left to close it. He needed half a second a lap, and he was gelling it, too, as Gibernau started to look a little flustered. They started the last lap less than six-tenths apart, and Gibernau's fate seemed sealed. But it was not to be. cyclll! Biaggi and Bayliss had settled fol"":: • third and fourth places, but there was a heated battle for fifth lasting for much of the race. Ukawa had been in control, with Abe (standing in for the injured Marco Melandri) on his back wheel, then Checa, Hayden and Barros going back and forth, Jacque on the back of the group. Abe took over with 10 laps to go, but the man gaining the most speed as the race wore on was Barros, who got ahead on lap 22 and stayed there to the finish. Abe had another misfortune - a misfire on the final lap, which meant he lost sixth to Ukawa and seventh to Hayden, who said later: "I got a good start, but some guys passed me, so I just stayed cool and went to school on these riders. I'm happier about this seventh than at Suzuka. I rode my hardest, did my fastest lap at the end of the race and I felt I really earned this one." Checa was ninth, still not comfortable enough to ride with full aggression, although still three seconds ahead of Jacque at the finish. Nakano was 11th after recovering from his bad start. He'd had Nobuatsu Aoki's Proton inches behind for most of the race. n e _ S • MAY 7, 2003 9

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