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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128229
World Championship Road Race Series Round 10: Brno Circuit By HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTOS BY GOLD & GOOSE BRNO, CZECH REP(]BLlC, A(]G. 17 alentino Rossi hadn't won a race in over two months, and life as he knew it had ended. The rabid Italian press had declared a crisis after he'd gone four races without a victory, the papers filled with doom and gloom. It was the longest winless streak since his first premier class victory in the British Grand Prix at Donington Park in July of 2000. Now he was in second place, and Sete Gibernau wasn't giving an inch. The pair went back and forth most of the race, with nothing decided until the very end. In the same corner where he'd passed Jorge Martinez to win his first 125cc Grand Prix, Rossi got by Gibemau then held him back on the run to the line to win by .042 of a second before a crowd of 44,865 at the Brno Circuit. Marlboro Ducati's Troy Bayliss was a close third, .668 of a second behind. "Today, I think, for sure, for me, but also for everybody, is one of the best races of the year, because for the first time this year or the second, we. fight without tactics or without thinking," Rossi said. "We go 100 percent from the first lap to the end straightaway without thinking." It was the 54th GP victory of Rossi's career, putting him into a tie with Mick Doohan with the fourthhighest total. In the premier class, 500cc and MotoGP, Rossi has 28 wins, good for fifth best and three behind Eddie Lawson's 31. "I tried my best to do the best I could; I wanted to win more than him, but he won," Gibernau said. As to whether Rossi was in a crisis after not having won for so long, Gibernau said, "If this is his crisis, I don't want to know what he can do if he's not in a crisis." Rossi had a scrap on his hands the whole way, running second early to Marlboro Ducati's Bayliss before taking the lead on lap 11, then losing it to Gibernau two laps later. From then on it was a dogfight, Rossi in front on laps 16 through 20, Gibernau by on 21, only to lose it on the final lap. Bayliss took advantage of a new chassis and fairing to finish a fighting third, after having led for the first 10 laps of the race. Teammate Loris Capirossi was a close third when he went out with a suspected electrical fault with less than three laps to go. "I'm very happy to be this close to the front at the end of the race," Bayliss said. "I'm used to winning races, and this year has been a little bit difficult for me. It's been a bit of a learning year; we are coming slowly. I'm happy to be at the front of the field, and this is where I think I should be all of the time." Fourth went to Fortuna Yamaha's V VALENTINO ROSSI STOPS THE BLEEDING IN 8RNO