Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128232
W orld C h ampionship R oad R a c e Champio n sh ip R ound 1 1 : G r a n d Prix o f P ortugal still have to wait a li ttle lo n g er tha n th e o thers openi ng th e throttle o ut of th e c o rn e rs : the B r idg eston e r id e r said . B arros , N a k an o and Jacq ue we re spaced o ut at the fin is h , wi th Edw ards a fe w seconds a drift after rec o veri ng from a bad start t hat saw him 18th at Tohru Ukawa (11) tries to hold off Bayliss (1 2) a nd Marco Melandri (33) in the battle for f"Jfth. the end o f the fir st lap . " O ne o f th e wo r s t starts of m y c a reer," he said (pe rha ps forg ettin g South A fr ic a , w here he c ra shed in the first few yards) . Troubled at f irst by th e heavy t ra ffi c , he p icked up pl ac es toward ha lf d istanc e . " I t ook man y ri sk s, but I fe e l sa tisfied by my lap tim es," he sa id. H a g a w a s a lo n g way adrift , h i s c hatter problem s o f p ractice a bating , bu t p o or se t u p spo i li n g h is co rner speed . "I n the corners 1 w as a b it clumsy, This wa s absorbi ng - Capir o ssi rid - the finis h , not q u ite able to catch the in g o u t of his skin to stay ah ea d . He w as faster o n th e st raig ht but slower everywhere e lse. On lap 12 h e ran wide into the first corner , and Gib ernau wa s through and seemed set to sixth , but we lea rned a lot today : th e m o ve away . No c h a nc e . Capiross i t h r o ugh fr om a bad sta rt , p a ss in g continued to fo rce th e pace, a ll th e way t o the ir last - lap , last - corn er showdown . Ja cque o n lap eig ht to cl o se on Bar- Honda . " I like w innin g ra c es , not fi nish ing Estoril rookie sa id . B ehind th em Ch e c a h a d mo ve d ros. But it took another 10 la p s t o get by , a nd by now Hayden w as p icking B ayli ss had been n ext in the ear ly lap s , with fast st arters Nakano a nd J a cqu e o n h is h eel s, bu t the y were soon to dro p a way , th e fi rst- na med battl in g shoulder p a in , and th e other up s pee d a n d pl a c e s , hav in g d i s patc h ed Na ka no, T am a d a a nd no w als o J a c qu e s hortly after ha lf d i s ta nce. B a rr o s he ld h im u p fo r a while , bu t then he got h im as w ell o n lap 24 b affl ed by a b i k e th a t felt d i ffe re n t fro m t h e m orn i n g . U k aw a an d and closed ri g ht up on Chec a by t he fi n is h. M e l an dr i w e r e mak in g th e runn in g " A ll weekend I've b ee n st r uggling behind them, the It ali an really fl y in g after fin i shing th e first l ap 10th. B y th e third he wa s sixth a nd cl osing o n B a y liss , with U k a w a b ehind h i m . fi rs t fe w l a p s , " H a yd en said l a t er. Ukaw a was in fr ont again by lap 1 1, ge tti ng faste r and faste r - m y best lap w ith b ot h lean in g on the A u st ralian 's Des mosedici. T w o lap s l a t er b oth w er e ah ead , but Bayliss isn 't the ty pe t o g i v e u p , and he pus hed a nd pushed unt il he got ahead of M elan dri a gain on la p 17. He stayed ther e to was rig ht at t he end: 12 S EPTEMB ER 1 7 , 2 0 0 3 · cue a bit, a nd I didn 't feel to o g rea t in t he " T he n I started to rel ax a bi t an d k ept T he n came Ta mada , also makin g it pa st Barro s by th e fi nish fo r 10 t h . " I wa s push ed to th e o utside at the first co rner and lost so me p laces a n d I we nt i nto a ttack m o d e . B ut I I e n e vv so @fiJ{j)D[f@00Df)0 U!Jf?® [?~.-'--@,---[l f0®w o _ High winds m ercifull y did not bring any rain to this tricky and hi gh ly technical track but did cause problems to all riders. It was not enough to prevent a typically close qualifying battle in the fin al 10 minutes or so, with the order switching back and fo rth, and formerly favo red rid er s lik e Ol iv ier Jacqu e and Marco Melandri got pushed signific ant· Iy back from what had earlier been front -row starts. Th e bigg est factor , however, was the retum of Michelin qua lifying tires , for the first time since 2000 . Four of the final top five made use of them , with Loris Capiro ssi claiming Ducati's third pole of the season by an im pressive margin of three -tenths of a second . "The tire was incredible. I did the whole lap with no wheelspin," he said. "Now mayb e I want a front qualifi er as well." His time was almo st 1.4 seconds faster than last year's pole, whil e the first 15 were inside the twoyear-old lap record , Max Biaggi enjoyed the same effect , using the new power-up three-pipe exhaust system for the first time and talkin g cagily about "how our developm ent plan went well." But if these were im pressive tim es, how much mo re so was Valentino Rossi's slotti ng int o third without using a qualifying tir e. He was less than three hundredths slower than Biaggi and said: "We made good work with the settings, but we mad e a little mistake at the end and did n't have enough time to use a soft tire." Sete Gibemau was alongside, happ y to be on the front row in spite of falling once and runnin g off the track a second tim e. "Th e surface is quite unpred ictable with the wind and the dust. It's going to be a difficult race," he said. Jacque dropped only one row to lead the second after his first fast lap was spoil ed when he was held up. "I tried to get another lap, but the tire was finished before the end," he said. Shinya Nak ano was alongside , impressively, considerin g he is still in pain from the shoulder inj ury sustain ed at Bmo , and then, close as paint , a third Yamaha, ridden by an on-form Carlos Checa, consistentl y fast throughout. Troy Bayliss com pleted the row, saying : "I'm happy with eighth . I've not got a lot of experience here, with one day of testing before the season. " Mak oto Tama da led row three , from Melandri , Alex Barros and Colin Edwards: Kenny Roberts Jr. was pushed down to row four in spite of some improvement to the recalcitrant Suzuk i, som e of it coming iron ically eno ugh from fitting a silence r. "It' s one of those track s lik e Suzuka where the rider can make a difference," he said. "The lines are real important, and you have to be aggressive and do the right things to go fast." He was 1.4 seconds off pole, and two tenths ahead of Nicky Hayden, who had run into a bit of a slum p after running strongl y at the last two races, provin g Roberts' point about circuit knowledge. "I' m kinda struggling," Hayd en said. "I don't have the feel I want, or the consistency, though the bike feels pretty good ." Jeremy McWill iam s was alongsid e, by virtue of a tim e set on the first day after switch ing to the two-stroke when he ran out of working four-strok es. Two more V-five engines arrived ovem ight, and he had alm ost matched that time on the four-stroke on Saturday when a m inor sprocket problem sideli ned the bike . He had intended to have another quick go on the two-stroke to improve his positio n but went out on it earlier than intended... only to crash. "It's not a good idea, j um ping from one type of bik e to another," he allowed. John Hopkin s led row five, from Nor iyuki Haga, Kiyonari and Andrew Pitt. An impressive David de Gea on the brand new WCM four-stroke led the last row, ahead of troubled Kawasaki rider Garry McCo y and Nobuatsu Ao ki's Proton. Chris Bums, nursing an injury, was last on the second WCM.