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 o r ld C h a m pi o n s h ip R o a d R a c e C h ampio n sh ip R ound 1 1 : G r a n d P r ix of P o rtu g a l flilCiJ[JiJ @lJ f]{jiJ@ flil@@f]o[JiJ@g fl@DDO §OOCiJ0 One may not approve of a practice that allows a rider to come back and race one day after he was so bad ly concussed that he co uldn 't ta ke pa rt in final pract ice, but you have to take your hat off to a rider who does so - and then wins the race. Ton i Eli as , fo rme r terro r of the 12 5cc class , is t hat m a n . He was knocked off on Saturday moming, "and my bike hit my head hard." Dizzy and sore, he pulled out of practice but was nonetheless passed fit for the race. He still looked dazed the next day, speaking slowly after the race. But his riding wa s sup erb , and after he regained the lead , he just pulled away to the finish. The 20 -yea r-old Elias , from Manr es a, near Barcelona , has ha d a checkered but impressive past. Three years ago he was a member of the favored Telefonica MoviStar 125 team and seemed set for the titie. Then he declined to sign up for another yea r, and suddenly he wasn 't getting the results any more. The fast engines went to team mate Dani Pedrosa instead. He was too good to lose, however, and the same spo nsors enlisted him in their sepa rate 250cc team last year, teammate to Fonsi Nieto on Aprilias. Nieto was a champi. onship ca ndidate, but it didn't take long for Elias to outpace him. But he had to stick to team orders, and it wasn't until the end of the year, with Nieto's title out of reach, that he was able to overtake his countryman. Sure enough, he won his fi rst race. Son of a noted motocrosser, Elias has added three more wins this year, overcoming injury to become a real title ca ndidate. He surely has a very big future. Especially if he manages not to get conc ussed again. g o t h is h e a d d o wn , wi th a gap of m ore than a s econd three la ps later, m o re tha n two seconds a fte r a no ther th ree . He wasn 't messing a round and wa s a ble to slack off o n th e last la p a nd still win by a lm ost five s ec o nds . I "I am really happy, altho ug h I still ha ve a he ada che a nd a m feeling a bit d izzy ," he sa id la te r, loo king daze d on th e ro stru m a n d aga in ca lling in t o q ue stio n a m edi c a l po licy th at takes no acc ount of co ncuss io n . He h a d g o od reaso n to be h ap py , wit h th e win pu tt ing him up to second o ve ra ll. De Pun ie t seemed to lo s e to uc h , dropp ing to fifth at ha lf distance , then d ro pp in g a second behind with four la ps to go. But he was just bid ing his tim e for the last-lap battle . It was a good o n e. Poggiali h a d jus t rega in ed sec ond from Rol fo as th ey started it , with Porto also pa s s ing th e Italian and De Puniet cl os ing up again . Ro lfo got ba c k ahead of Porto before they go t to th e chicane and had cause to regret it, be cause the Arge ntine r ider went piling stra ight into the b a c k o f h is b ike . Po rto fell ; Rol fo stayed on but was knocked wide , spoiling hi s plan of attacki ng Po g g ia li through the last corner and lett ing De Punie t past into the ba rg ai n . "Sometim es these things happen in racing , and toda y it was my turn, " Rolfo sa id ph iloso phicall y. Thu s Poggia li hung o n to s ec o nd , a nd De Pu niet to o k thi rd , with Rolfo half a seco nd behind . Po rto s cram ble d ba ck o n boa rd to hold fifth , his b atte red Hon d a two tenths a head o f Ba tt ai ni ' s A p rilia . S ylva in Gu in t oli was a nother two s ec onds away , get ting ba ck in front of Matsuda 's Vam a - (Fro m left to right ) The MotoGP podium: Biaggi, Ro ss i and Ca p irossi. ha on the last lap . Bot h had ca ug ht and passed a troubled Nieto in t he early stages. T he Sp an iard usua lly picks up spee d when t he fuel lo a d lightens , but not t h is ti me , and h e was losi ng g rou nd hea vily at the e nd . Not quite fa st e no ugh fo r Ab ruzzo Ap rilia 's Antho ny West to catch him , sa dly. The Australian had taken some t ime to d ispe nse with a persistent Debon. "He stayed with me and even g ot a head agai n ," he sa id. " I jus t didn 't fe el like I co u ld p ush t o th e lim it. Only towards th e end , wh en th e tires sta rte d to s lide a bit, I fo un d I could p us h a b it h a rd e r. I ne e ded a not he r c o rner to pa s s Nieto . I was just a bo ut to pull o ut of his s lipstream when we reac hed the fin ish line ." He was less than a tenth be hind . Pog giali still leads , but the cha m pio ns hip is int er estingly cl o se. He ha s 165 points and Elia s 15 1, with Rolfo o n 148 , De P u n iet 146 a n d Nie to 143. 125cc GRANO PRIX Th e first s ta rt s a w De An gelis le a d aw a y , but Ui ' s cras h h app en ed o n !1@{B@[l @1J just th e th ird corner, and the ra c e wa s stopped as he lay close to th e tr a c k. Abruzzo Aprilia ' s Pe rugin i led from the restart, bu t Pe d ro sa was with him a nd took over for a long s pell , with a bi g group r ig h t b eh in d . Lu c io Ce c c h in e lla was no t a mo ng th e m . The Apr ilia ride r had cr a s hed o ut o n the first la p , with countryma n Gino Bor so i. After eight la ps , the first 10 were c ove re d by just over 1.7 seco nds, wit h De Angelis jus t hav ing ga ined th e lead fro m Pedrosa , with Per ugini, And re Do vizioso , Ste ve J enkn er , Barbera , Nieto , Ga bo r Tal m acs i, Jo rge Lo re nzo a n d Arna ud Vinc ent s wa p p ing b a c k a n d fort h . T ho m a s Lut h i had been wit h them but had c ra s hed o ut two laps befo re . De Angelis ' le ad la s t e d un t il la p 11 , by when he was a lso having brake troubl e . Th e n Barber a to o k o ve r, Pedrosa in s e cond and Nieto up to thi rd . On la p 14 , th e first shu ffle c a me wh en Peru g ini c rashed o ut of si xth, ta king Dov izios o o ff th e tra c k as he did so, a nd s plitti ng th e ga ng . From now to th e e nd th ere we re j u s t four ca n d id a t es , with Vinc ent liDD@ []jJ@@liD DfJ[fJ8 @CfJ[lfiYZ []jJ@@@W It's impossible not to feel sympa thy for Garry McCoy, three times a 500cc GP winner. He was all but last when he retired from today's race. This is no reflection on his riding talent but a stinging comment on the performance of the Kawasaki lX -RR and to lesser extent its Dunlop tires. Some facts prove the point. McCoy won here in 2000 on the Red BullYamaha, qualifying on pole with a lime that would have put him 17th on the grid this weekend. On the Kawasaki, he qua lified 22nd. In 2001 he was third on the Yamaha. His race lime would have put him 15th today in the points and ahead not only of the Suzukis and Kawasak is , but also of Kiyonari's V-five Honda. Instead, he is condemned to embarrass ment, on a bike that won't brake well, tum well or ac celerate well and is not particularly fast. "This is a huge difference from when I won here three years ago, and it's hard to take," he said. cue. e s