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/128238
Ross i took a second off the gro up on hi s fi rst lap in th e lead and another three tenths n ext tim e , a s Ha yd en regained second fro m M eland ri. Barros dropped off the back of th e grou p, pull in g in to t he p it s on la p 10 compl ai ni ng of e ngi ne pro bl e m s . Jacqu e a nd N a k a no had also l ost touch, soon t o engage in a close tw o wa y b at tl e t hat wo uld la st until the flag . Whe n th e pena lt y was announced , Rossi w as 3.4 seconds cl ear, M elandri st ill lead ing Capirossi, Gib ernau , Hay den , U k awa and Chec a . Now Ross i start e d t o f o rce th e pace. On lap 14 , Melan d ri cr ashe d at t he st art of th e la st left-hand co rne rs, Robby Ro lfo won the 250cc Grand Prix and gave him self a chanc e at t h e t it l e when t h e la st round runs in two weeks in Spain. But th e biggest heartbreak was fo r 17 - y ear -o ld Aus tr ali an Casey Stone r. At h i s hom e GP , Stone r le d off the line and he ld Perugini at ba y for th e first five of 23 laps, before he sl id off and out of t he ra ce at Lu key Heights . It was St oner' s 11th recorded tumble of a crash -st rewn season. MOTOGP Phillip Island is known for cl ose ra c ing, and so it was from the start, as Bi ag gi led the pack away only to run wide a t the fas t turn one , leaving Bay liss' Du cat i in front, with Gibern au taking over the lead by the end of lap on e . M elandr i wa s th ird , then Capirossi , Hayd en , Ro ssi and Biaggi, but the pa ck w a s clo se , and the y were trad ing b lows and pa i nt at al most every opportunity . T he pa c e was not as h ot a s th e action . " I t hink everybody was c autio us because the tra ck was cold an d di rt y afte r t he r a in ," sai d M el an d r i, w ho o utbra ked everyone in to Ho nda Hair p in to t ak e over t he lead . It was full -on aggression for every b o d y , a nd pe r haps a c ras h was in ev it ab le. Bayli ss p rov ed th e point at high spee d, at the sta rt of bra k in g for the same corner on the fo urth lap , as h e was atta cki ng Me landri for the le ad . It was hard to attach bl a m e , h ow ev er , especia lly since B a yli s s co uld no t remember either the crash or anythin g o f t he ra ce aft e r h e rega in ed consc io u sne ss at th e tra c k medic al center. Bia gg i w as th e oth er victim . Sev en th beh ind Rossi at th e st art of th e lap, he said : " I was preparing to fight wi t h the leading gr oup, th en I saw a h eap o f s a n d and p ebb l es o n th e t r a c k wh er e B a y li s s c r as h e d . M y wheels locked in the dirt." He released the brakes and took to the esc ape road ' but then fell o n th e wet grass as he t ri ed to r egain th e tra ck . " T he marshals w er e runnin g appropriately to Bay liss, so there was nobody to give me a push ." By the time he got going again , he was wa y at the ba ck. The brawling up front was still breathtaking , with Hayden emerg ing at the front of it at the end of lap four. B y now Ross i wa s up to fourth , and on e lap lat er he was first. But o ne of his thr e e passes , on Melandri a t Honda Hairpin , had been under t he ye llow flags. It was just as w ell t h at he kep t push in g o n , after fi nding the c los e co mpa ny " a little bi t da n gerous ," bec au se wheels were in m oti on th at six lap s later resul te d in th e l Ovsec o nd pen alty being applied. Wh en he took th e lea d , the fir st 10 - Ro s si . Hay den , M el andri, Ca pirossi , Giber nau, U k awa, Jacque, Checa , Nakano an d B arro s - were cove red b y jus t over two seconds. giving Ca pirossi (no w second) a bit of breat hi ng spac e. The I ta lia n was never tr oubled again . The ne xt four w ere at it ham m er a nd t ongs unti l Ch ec a ran o n to t he grass on lap 23. Gibernau now led a g ro up of th ree, and was still third as t hey sta rte d t he last lap . " B u t I had se c ond place in t he cha m p io ns hip in mind," he said , and w he n t hi ng s got rou gh , he didn 't fi ght Italia n Andrea Ba lleri n i won h i s f irst c areer 125c c Gra nd Pri x In A ustralia , th e Ho nda ri d er m a king the most o f th e wet con d it i on s . Loser of the Meeting: U@DDD § D ffJfS D Toni Elias has been on a roll over the last six races, on pole for five of th em and following up second (to Randy de Puniet) at Bmo with victory in Portugal, Mot egi and Ma l ay si a. O nly Br azil (be t ween Est o ril and Motegi) had spoil ed the fun, when he crashed out and Manuel Poggiali won. All th e same, the 20 -year-old ex125 star's closing run had points leader Poggiali under serious pressure as the season drew toward it s cli max. Then Elias claimed pole at Phillip Island as well. Things started to go wrong with a heavy crash in practice. But the real problem was race-day rain. Not that Elias is scared of the wet, but he's not particularly good in the rain. Today, however, he was particularly bad. "The bike settings were terrible, even in moming warm- up. It was very hard to ride," he sai d . And the consequent 11th place was a deathblow to his title hopes, after arriving equal on points with Robby Rolfo. Elias' relationship with Aprilia has soured over the year, and he is believed already to have signed with Fortuna Honda to ride as Rolfo's teammate next year. It will be interesting to see if he tries to help Aprilia and Poggiali to win the titl e in the last round at Valencia or puts his oar in to aid Rolfo instead. cue I e n e _ 50 • O CTOBER 29 , 2003 11