Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

[1@~@f? @]J tJTJD@ [lj)@@liD[jiJ[;ff]g r!lCiJD@[jiJliD[jiJ@ fXJ@~~D For once it is Valentino Rossi - although Alex Barros made a strong bid, innocently injured in 'a morning warm-up crash, and so did Dan! Pedrosa, knocked out of a likely rostrum finish on the last lap of the 125cc race. Rossi was likewise robbed, and though the penalty may be considered fair - there was no doubt that he had passed Capirossi as they went by a waved yellow flag - the delay in applying it meant that he never really had a chance to react. . Rossi is incredibly blessed: by talent, obviously, but also by the most amazmgly good luck. We've seen it over and over again. This time, it tumed against him. Hayden were closely engaged, and by half distance they had caught the Spaniard again, with Bayliss nipping past. Jacque was lining up to attack on lap 19 when he had a massive highside crash out of the slow Melbourne Hairpin. He blamed a lack of rear traction, a problem that fellow Yamaha rider Checa also mentioned after the race. It was about now that Edwards lost his right knee slider. On a track of mainly right-hand corners, this was a major drawback, and when Haga joined the group from behind, he was powerless to resist. Haga was on top form and picked his way through, taking seventh off Hayden with five laps to go and immediately moving ahead to threaten Checa. "By then my back tire was almost finished," he said later, "so I preferred to avoid any stupid mistakes." He finished half a second behind the Yamaha, with Hayden eighth a little way back. Haga had come through from the second group, led on lap seven by fast-starting Hopkins, running into handling difficulties once the tires warmed up. Behind him and Haga, Nakano and Kagayama were up close, Tamada hanging on grimly behind. Nakano was the fast one. He passed the determined Hopkins at half distance and followed Haga through to the next lot, some way in arrears, catching Edwards with five laps to go and pushing hard before nipping past to take ninth on the last lap. Hopkins was 11 th, Kagayama 12th, with Tamada five seconds back at the finish, his Bridgestones not coming up with the goods in the hot conditions, as they usually do. Kiyonari prevailed over the next group, who all had problems of their own. Aoki, on the badly set up twostroke, had his charge finally blunted by clutch failure in the last laps and finished 15 seconds behind his young compatriot. The Kawasakis were a lap down, McCoy ahead of Pitt. As well as Ukawa, Melandri and Jacque, WCM rider Chris Burns also crashed his Roc Yamaha heavily on lap two, breaking his collarbone. Teammate David de Gea started from the pits after mechanical problems in the warm-up and returned there on the ninth lap. McWilliams lasted four more before he ran off at the chicane after hitting backshifting problems. "I wanted to ride the four-stroke, and to be honest I didn't want to bust my balls riding a bike we won't be using until the end of the year," McWilliams said. Rossi's misfortune made little difference to the championship, and he still has a margin of more than one race, 167 points to Gibernau's 133. Biaggi has 130, Capirossi 84 and Bayliss 64, overtaking nonscorer Barros on 62. lightened, and he started to close inexorably on the leaders. At half distance he was with them, livening up their battle to the extent that Elias mounted an attack on Poggi ali into McLeans, only to run onto the dirt at the exit, recovering quickly but dropping to third. West was now coming into the picture in a big way. "I got a good start, but when I opened the gas out of the first corner I almost crashed ... I was out of the seat," West said. That dropped him out of the top 10, but he was moving through steadily on his ex-factory Aprilia, up to fifth by half distance behind Rolfo and ahead of Porto. He tried to pass at the chicane but ran wide and lost the place again, so then he decided to follow the Honda, because he was closing on Elias up front. This was partly because Elias was losing touch with the leading pair, and this was because on lap 20 Nieto had passed Poggiali at the Melbourne hairpin and was forcing the pace. Now West attacked Rolfo again, and this time his hairpin move was successful. Now he had Elias, a formidable opponent. But he was equally determined. He passed him for the first time on lap 23, at Melbourne. At the very next corner, the Goddards Front-row starter Naoki Matsudo was never on the pace, finishing ninth; British wild card Jay Vincent was 11th in his first race of the year. Henk van Lagemaat and teammate Katja Poensgen were 18th and 19th, a lap down and the last finishers. Poggiali's points lead shrank a little, 121 points to Nieto's 106. Elias and Rolfo are equal on 97; West moved up to fifth on 94, with de Puniet on 89. 125cc GRAND PRIX Dovizioso took off in the lead, with Barbera, Pedrosa, Cecchinello, Perugini and Ui close behind. Also in the leading group were first-time front-row qualifier Simone Corsi and Steve Jenkner. They didn't make the end of the lap, colliding at the Old Hairpin and both crashing out. Ui fell away behind, later to crash out; the remaining five were together almost to the end of the race and pulling out a clear advantage by only the second lap. They were swapping back and forth, with Barbera taking the lead on lap five and then losing it to CecchineJlo shortly before half distance. The older rider started to push the pace, the others hanging on grimly over the next three laps. Then fjijillilliiiiliilliiliiililillili~ Although the order was different upon review, Biaggi (left), Rossi (middle) and Gibemau (right) were the podium finishers when all was said and done. 250cc GRAND PRIX First away was Elias, grabbing a onesecond lead on the first lap as teammate Nieto in second took time to get gOing. Rolfo was third at the end of the first lap, but Poggiali was on his tail and about to pass, and the San Marino rider was second by lap two, on Elias' back wheel by lap four and ahead next time round. The pair was almost two seconds clear of Nieto, with Randy de Puniet now ahead of Rolfo and pushing hard. The Frenchman never did get past Nieto, however, and on lap 12 ran straight on at the chicane in the attempt. Now Nieto was starting to feel more comfortable as the fuel load hairpin, Elias pushed ahead again. On lap 25, West did the same thing again. This time, he made it stick. But there were still two laps to go, and obviously those same corners would be the scene of the final showdown. Elias held off through Melbourne then dived inside into Goddards. He got ahead, too, but West had judged the speed better and was able to dive inside as Elias ran wide on the exit and to take a fine third by less than half a second. Rolfo was a close fifth, Porto more than 20 seconds back in sixth, with Battaini close behind, then de Puniet a little way back. cue I u Lucio was gone, losing the front at the exit of the final hairpin, and sprinting back to his bike to re-join as the leading quartet disappeared. Barbera took over again, but there was plenty more action. At one point last-placed wild card Chester Lusk fell at the chicane just ahead of them, his bike sliding back across the track and almost taking all four down. Then Barbera got the best of more backmarkers and got a little clear air only for the others to catch up again. The last lap was predictably busy. Though Barbera led from start to finish, it was hardly a comfort zone. Perugini was pushing hard, then ran short of brakes into McLeans, dropn e _!IS • JULY 23, 2003 29

• Cover