W orld Champ ionshi p R o ad R a c e S e r ie s
R ou n d 1 3 : P a ci f ic G r a n d P ri x
By MI CHA EL S COTT
PHOTOS BY G O LD £, G OOSE
MOTEGI, JAPAN, OCT. 5
he ra ci n g w as g reat at Moteg i.
Th e legal r am ifi c at i on s of t h e
aftermath - and a co up le of draconian
punishments fo r sundry infri nge me nts
- rather took the g lo ss off it.
T he m a in eve nt bro u g h t a f ir st
Hon da four -stroke win t o Max B iagg i.
The Cam el Honda rid er led fro m the
third lap to the last , k eepin g his head
down as Rep sol Hon d a ' s Va le nti no
Rossi m ad e a rare blunder and ran off
the track, rej o in in g in n inth t o pull
through to second .
Rossi will now be ch ampion if he
f in i sh es no lower th an sec o n d i n
Malaysia , ev en if he fa ils to sco re in
th e remain in g two ra c es in Au stra li a
and Valencia, and Sete Gibernau wins
both.
Third pla ce went to Rossi's team mate N icky Hayden , a firs t rostrum
for th e yo u ng Ameri c an after a fin e
rid e. But, in fact, he didn 't st and on
the rostrum, and he d idn 't cros s th e
line thi rd , either. That was Makoto
Tamada, o n t he B r i d g est o n e -sh o d
Pr am ac Hon d a , afte r st arting from
T
12
OCTOBER
15,2003'
cue
(Above) Max Biaggi (3)
jumped into the lead from
po le position. with Sete
Gibemau (15). Valentino
Rossi (46) and Nicky
Hayden (69) giving chase.
(Right) The ba ttle for
second raged th roughout
th e e ntire race, among
Gibe rna u (15 ), Ha yd e n
(6 9) . Ross i (4 6) and
Makoto Tamada. Ro ssi
eventually t ook th e sp ot
after an off-trac k
excu rsion working his
w ay back from ninth
pos it ion.
Ie
nevvs
