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/128234
W o r ld C hampionship R o a d Racin g S eri es Round 12 : N e lson P iquet Ci rcuit At the start of the Brazilian MotoGP"race, Sete Glbemau (15 1 jumped out In front of Loris Caplrossl (651. Valentino RossI (4 61 and the rest of the pack. Rossi shows why he is Number One By P HOT OS M ICHAE L S COTT By G OLD f, G OOSE RIO DEJANEIRO, BRAZIL, SEPT. 20 n th e en d , i t w a s a v e ry Honda weekend at Rio. And a very Rossi weekend . Def iantly back o n form , his ha ir dyed green a nd ye llo w to prove it, t he defending Ch ampion took a decisive step toward h is fifth title , qualify ing on p o l e and th en winning th e rac e wi th ap parent ease. T hough not at his lei sure. T he Repso l Ho nd a rider als o sm ashed th e last surviving two-stroke lap re co rd by 1.5 seconds. Set e Gibern au ' s T el efonica M oviStar Hond a w as seco nd , and eve ri m provi ng r o o k i e Prama c Honda 's Makoto Tamada took his first ro strum in third; it was an all -H onda rostrum. Ho nda needed on ly one bike up there to clinch its th ird successive construc tors' championship, and its 15th overall - one less than MV Agusta. And H on d a s took the n ext t w o positions , too , in th e best ra c e ever fo r the RC 2 1 1V 990 cc V5 . Camel Honda 's Ma x Biagg i was fo urt h, and r o o k ie Nick y H ay d en a cl os e fifth , eq u aling his best finish after push ing I 24 O CTO B ER 1, 2003 ' C Y c Ros si got his sixth w in of the season In Rio and Is Inching ever cloHt to his th ird title In the premier class. Biaggi ha rd almost all the wa y . "T hat was avery , very good rac e," said Rossi , who had for th e fi rst time kep t his t ire c ho ic e secr et a n d declined to comment on rumors th at he is soo n to switch to Yamaha . "This tr ack is very good fo r m y sty le, and t hou gh we have had some troubl e with suspens ion in the past, now we have a very co ns iste nt tea m wo rking on th is area, and it show s. T od ay th e bike was perfect. " Gibern au had led the fir st eig ht laps but admitted he had no answer wh en Rossi sli pped past and opened the ga s. " He did a c oup le o f very fast laps, and afte r that I kn ew I had t o settle fo r second ," sai d Gibernau , wh o had crashed heavily the day before. " I felt really bad this m ornin g, and Valenti no had a little more th an us to d ay , so I e n e uv s I ju st rod e my own race ." Tamada's third was a landmark for th e r ookie r ide r and al so f o r h is Bridgestone ti res - its first rostrum , and th e f irst not filled by M i che lins sin c e Akira Ryo took his Du nlop -shod Suzuki to seco nd at the first race of last ye ar. " I put all m y heart and determina tion into it , bec ause I knew o ur poten tial ," sm ile d Tamada later. It was a disappointing da y for the Marlbor o Du c at is, with Cap irossi sixth after starting fr om the front row of the g rid, and Bay liss drop p in g to te nth afte r Ca mel Ho nda 's T oh ru Ukawa , d 'Ant in Yamaha 's Shinya Nakan o and fi nally Fortuna Yam aha's Ca rlos Ch ec a fo und th eir way past him. "We changed the engine , and I had some problem s wi th the engine brak- in g system , so the b ik e was difficult to control into th e turns ," explained Capi ros si. Bay li ss was d isappointed with his result bu t had ano ther reason to ce le brate - his th ir d c h ild , a b oy called Oliver, was born at 2 a.rn . in Monaco , th ough Tr o y d i d n ' t ac t ually kn ow ab ou t it until after the race . F ortuna Yamaha's Ma rco M elandri , Gau loi se s Ya maha 's A le x Bar r os, A l i ce Apri l i a te a m m at e s C olin Edwa rds and N o ri Hag a , and T elefo ni c a MoviS t ar Honda 's Ry uichi Kiyonari to ok th e last p oints , w ith J eremy McWil li am s a cl ose 16th on th e improvin g Pro ton KR V5, ahead of Kenn y Rob erts on the so le Suzuk i and Andr ew Pi tt o n t h e so l e survi v i ng K aw asaki. .. McCoy had retired with a h ol ed r a d i ator. N obu A ok i a lso