Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Championship Road Race Series Round B: British Grand Prix By MICHAEL SCOTT PHOTOS BY GOLD & GOOSE DONINGTON PARK, ENGLAND, JULY 13 'i? he sun shone benignly, the crowd U reached record levels (72,000, compared with 18,000 in 2000), the racing was fast-paced and excellent, and everybody's favorite hero took the checkered flag first. But the arguments will go on long after the dust has settled at Donington Park. The man who took the flag was Repsol Honda's Valentino Rossi, the Italian overcoming a mediocre start to catch pole starter Max Biaggi and his Camel Honda. Then he nipped ahead, preserving a slender lead after his deadly rival Biaggi lost touch with a slip at the chicane. But Rossi did not win the race. His fight back in the early laps saw him On the track it was Valentino Rossi. But Max Biaggi gets the points. pass several riders. Sadly, one pass (of Loris Capirossi for fourth) took place under a yellow flag, and more than two hours after the race, Race Direction decided to impose a penalty of 10 seconds. Thus Biaggi won hjs first race of the year and his first since switching to Honda, while Telefonica MoviStar Honda's Sete Gjbernau was promoted to second. Rossi ended up third, 1.6 seconds adrift of Gibernau. The problem began when Rossi's former teammate Tohru Ukawa and his Camel Honda crashed out on the first time through the first corner, his second tumble of the day. 'When the pack arrived for a second time, they were still clearing rider and motorcycle, and yellow flags were being displayed. Rossi was engaged in recovering from starting in seventh place. He'd already moved up to fifth at the end of the first lap and was poised to pounce on Capirossi into the first turn, Redgate. He dived inside him, claiming later he hadn't seen any flags. Lots of other people had, however, according to race director Paul Butler. Race Direction had been unaware of it, since they were examining start-line videos at the time. The matter was brought to their attention by a number of people rather than a single protest, he said, and when they investigated the film, he and his colleagues agreed. Penalties are decided case by case - a replacement for the stop-and-go penalties after a couple of years ago. Today's 10-second penalty was based on a computation that had a 30-second penalty been applied at the time of the offense, his best lap times would have allowed him to catch up 20 of those seconds. Biaggi was happy with 25 points but said: "As a rider I can sympathize with Rossi. The same thing happened 26 JULY 23. 2003' cue I e n e _ s to me in a race in Barcelona in 1998. I won on the track but was disqualified. (He had failed to see stop-andgo flags then ignored the black flag too.) The only difference is that decision subsequently cost me the championship. I was happy with second, because we djd some excellent work adapting to the new chassis in only four hours of practice." Rossi, who lost nine points as a result of the ruling, admitted: "The final result is disappointing for me. I didn't see the flags and did nothing wrong intentionally. I didn't take advantage of the situation - but the rules are the rules, and I cannot argue with the law. I hope this doesn't affect the championship in the end. I feel clear ... I won a hard-fought, clean race. I race on the track, not in the office." Qbernau admitted he was beaten. "Max and Valentino set a fast pace right from the start," Gibernau said. "I was losing two tenths a lap out of the corners - we still need to get the best dry settings for this bike, so I concentrated on trying to keep it at two tenths a lap. Even though I am happy with the result, I don't feel I was second. I finished third." The adjustment affected only the first three positions, with Marlboro Ducati's Loris Capirossi fourth and

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