beginning to close up on West, who
said later that he was having trouble
keeping his concentration high in a
very lonely ride. Guintoli was safe in
third, but Nieto had gone from the
next group after his chain had
jumped off the sprocket.
West was able to respond to Battaini's threat, and the gap had opened
up to six seconds again when the Italian lost his knee slider, a serious
problem on a track where you need it
to gauge lean angle and find the limit.
The conditions made a processional race for West's first win, and he
coming into the frame on 78, the
same points as Battaini.
125cc
The rain came just in time for the
race, luckily a proper drenching - and
just what Jenkner needed for the convincing start-to-finish win he has
been threatening for some time.
Jenkner and Stoner were pulling
away from the start, and after two
laps the German already had a lead
of more than three seconds, with
Stoner even further ahead of the rest.
Until he crashed, adding to an
With four laps to go, Glbernau knew
he had his third win in the bag.
_increasingly worrying crash record as
his bad luck turned worse. Once
again, his own press statement gave
rise to questions as to whether he
should have been allowed to race.
Unable to take the medicine he needed for a viral infection due to doping
controls, he rode anyway.
"During the race I could not concentrate at all, n Stoner said. "I was
not able to read my pit board. I unfortunately hit the white line and
crashed."
This left
13 seconds
head down
serve more
the finish.
Jenkner with more than
in hand, and he kept his
and pushed on to preor less the same gap to
"I've waited a long time, so J didn't
(Above) Max Biaggi rode well and
finished second, his third runner-up
finish of the year.
(Right) Suzuki wild card rider Yuklo
Kagayama (71) crashed out of the
race. Marco Melandri (33) pitted with
mechanical problems.
could ease through the last laps and
still beat Battaini by three seconds.
Guintoli was another seven away, and
Poggiali four more.
"Today it was important to get to
the finish and think about the championship, n Poggiali said. "I have no
experience on the 250 in the wet. n
Porto trailed in fifth, five seconds
clear of Rolfo, and then the rest of an
undistinguished 250 field: Erwan
Nigon a career-best seventh ahead of
Christian Gemmell; Hugo Marchand
narrowly ahead of Johan Stifefelt,
and Elias down in 13th.
Poggiali has broken into three figures, with a score of 101. Rolfo has
86, Elias dropping to third on 84, de
Puniet and Nieto tied on 81, and West
cue' e
n
e
_
S
•
JULY 9,
2003 21
