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World Championship Road Racing Series Round 3: Spanish Grand Prix From left to right) Max Biaggi, Valentino Rossi and MotoGP rostrom first-timer Troy Bayliss celebrate their 2-1-3 finishes in the Spanish Grand Prix. Elias took the lead for the first time as they started the last lap. De Puniet ran wide at Dry Sack hairpin trying to get it back, dropping to fourth. Now Rolfo attacked, getting ahead into the first of the double-right Nieto bends. only for Elias to pass him back in the second. The quartet charged to the final hairpin for the final showdown, but it was the determined Elias in front on the way out, defeating Rolfo by half a second as the Italian concentrated on keeping de Puniet in third by less than two hundredths, with Poggiali deferring to the more experienced riders by less than a tenth. What a thriller - and what a victory for the 20-year-old Spaniard. "I took it easy until the fuel burned off," Elias said. "My hand was very painful, but when I saw a podium was possible, I put it out of my wind. Then I saw I could win, and I put everything into it." West was 12 seconds back at the end but still two seconds ahead of Porto; Nieto was another eight seconds back, with Matsudo a long way back in a lonely eighth. Poggiali still leads on points, 63 to Rolfo's 40. De Puniet and Porto are equal with 36, with Elias moving to fifth with 33. for the last point, and even further a disgruntled McCoy was last, even behind the re-joined Melandri. "I have a different riding style from the others, and I was getting wheelspin ... which was probably a good show for the crowd," McCoy said. "But I don't really want to get used to finishing at the back like this." Rossi is piling on the points, now on 70 to Biaggi's 56. The rivals were the only pair to finish on the rostrum at all three races. Bayliss has 40, Gibemau 38, then Barros is fihh with 30. 125CC GRAND PRIX 250CC GRAND PRIX Front row starter Battaini got away fast and was disputing the early lead with Rolfo, but by the end of the first lap both Nieto and de Puniet were past the Honda and chasing the Italian. Battaini only lasted one more lap before running into power problems and dropping out of contention. Now Nieto led, but Poggiali had been moving through, though it took two attempts before he took second from de Puniet. He took the lead on lap four, the first nine still within a second and West lying seventh, and immediately started to stretch away, 1.3 seconds ahead on lap six. That was not an indication of superiority, but courtesy of Nieto, who was holding up the pursuit, as it turned out, and over the next few laps de Puniet, then Rolfo and then West pushed past and started to close up on Poggiali again. We had a race aher all. Elias had been in the group, but he was also losing ground and didn't seem to be a major factor. West was the fast one, diving under Rolfo for third on lap 10. "I passed them quite easily, and I thought I could catch de Puniet - but I was already at the limit," West said, with a sliding rear after only getting the front setup comfortable in morning warm-up. Rolfo passed him back next time around, and West started to lose ground slightly. "The harder I tried, the more I spun up and slowed down," West said. At half distance he was a second behind the leading trio, but they were closing up, and Poggiali was under serious pressure from both de Puniet and Rolfo, with the former getting ahead on lap 15 to lead until two laps from the end. By now Elias had discovered a second wind. He passed Nieto and Porto in one lap and started to work on a gap of 1.3 seconds on West. Two laps later he was past and carving away at the remaining gap to the leaders at almost a second a lap. Inspired, he was on them with four laps to go and immediately set about passing them. They went back and forth in a fine display of 250 jousting seldom seen in recent years. 24 n MAV21,2003' eye I B B _ so Lose a bet? Actually, yes. John Hopkins had to wear a wig to the gItd for the Spanish Grand Prix. He's joined there by his girffriencl Desiree. Pedrosa led away and held on for the first seven laps, with Pablo Nieto, Cecchinello and Perugini closing up behind as fast starter Dovizioso dropped out of contention. De Angelis was also with the leading quintet as they quickly opened up a gap on the pursuit. At the same time, Jenkner had recovered from a poor start, 11 th at the end of the first lap and in among the secondary battie, where Casey Stoner, Youichi Ui and Hector Barbera were exchanging blows. By lap six he was at the front of the group, but the gap to the leaders was almost five seconds - a big gulf, ~[? ®f] CfJD@ [j}jil@@WUi1JJg @@[[[QJ[j}jil@@@'i2...t----In 2000, former 125cc rider Gany McCoy looked set to become a major player in the premier class, when his wild tire-sliding style took him to three Grand Prix victories. It all went wrong early in 2001, when he fractured his wrist at the French GP, ruining his season. In 2002 he was back, bealing the fourstroke Yamahas on his Red Bull Yamaha two-stroke at preseason tests. And then crashing and breaking his leg badly in the last of the fRTA tests. That ruined another season, after he came back still injured, only to have to pull out again. McCoy was a victim of the Red Bull/WCM collapse and was released from his contract when he was head-hunted by Kawasaki. Was this a career rescue? It doesn't look like it just yet. Handicapped by the slowest of the new MotoGP four-strokes and further stymied by the below-par Dunlop tires, McCoy couldn't even match the performance of his junior teammates Pitt and Hofmann in Spain and finished an ignoble and undeserved last. "I'm very disappointed. I don't really want to get used to finishing at the back like this," he said. McCoy is a great guy. One can only hope his fortunes are due for another change.