Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

wha t I had to do to hol d him off ," said Barros, who's being widely ti pped as th e rid er wh o 'll replac e Ros si at Rep sol Honda. Ma rlboro Ducati's Troy Bayliss c a m e seventh after p assing Alice Aprilia's Colin Edwards on the 16th o f 30 laps wh en Edward s h it brake p roblems . Ba yli ss had prob l ems of his own , a suspension problem ca using his fron t tire to suffer and prevent him fro m m ak ing a run at Barr os . " I had a few dramas, and we had so methi ng m issin g with the suspen sion that used the tire ab out nin e laps fro m the fin ish ," the Australian said . Edwa rds was in sevent h, eq ual to his best pla c in g of th e year, wh en a fro nt- b rak e failure put a scare into him. " E ve ry t hi ng was fi ne; every t hing was goi ng good, and th en I think one of the brak e pads k ind of co ck ed sideways because I came into the hairp in g rabbed ; th ere wa s pr essure, but there was nothin g ," Edw ard s sai d . "Just before I shit m ys elf, it c am e on ." It hap pe ned agai n in th e next two "For sur e thi s third position is very importan t be c au se y ou k no w t hi s track is not th e best one fo r us," said Cap irossi , who is staying o n m os tl y for rest ing in Spain this week . " A nd we work so hard, especiall y in these two days for testing, and we fix a very good bik e, and we take also the good size for ti re, and I try to do my best, an d th is th ird positio n especially for m e is ver y good , bec au se also thi s is th e last ra ce for th e seaso n." Behind th e to p fo ur th ere was pr eci o us littl e ra cinq . Biagg i lost touch when he destroyed his fr ont tire w it h overaggress ive braking . "T here was noth in g wr on g with th e tire , but probl em s w it h m y en gi ne braking m ean t I h ad t o brak e deep into th e tu rns , and aft er five laps th e tire went off ," he said. "It got worse as th e race we nt on ." Fortuna Yam aha's Car lo s Ch eca w as fo ur seco nds be hi nd B iag g i o n th e n ew es t D e l t a b o x c hass is and sw ingarm. " I only had two ho u rs on th e new chassis this weekend, and not q uit e e no u g h t im e t o p e rfe ct t h e setup before th e rac e," Ch eca said. " A ny way , I c an m ak e m ore prog ress w ith th e new chass is in o ur team t est th is coming week and tr y some things we di dn 't try this weekend. There is still quite a way to go , but I'm optimistic for next yea r. " An oth er 10 seconds la te r ca me the next Yam ah a, the blue Gauloises M 1 of A lex Barros . Barros wa s rid in g with a brok en r ib a n d asso rte d ot he r injuri e s, th e remn a n t s o f a F r i day crash . "A fte r about 15 l aps I co uld ba rel y ride any m ore, but [T ro y] Ba y liss was trying to co me ba c k , and so I d id (Above) Hayden ended up in the gravel trap and in last place after crashing in tum two. He remounted to fi ni sh in 16th, ju st one position out of the points. (Left) Rossi had never won at Valen cia , but now he has crossed one more item off of his to-do list. c o rn er s leadi n g onto t he lo ng f ront straight. " S o I 'm goi ng d o wn the fr ont stra ight go ing, ' Is it th ere? Is it there? Is i t t he re?' A l l t he w ay d own th e stra igh t I'm going, 'I don 't k now if it' s th er e. ' So th en it w as good, it wa s good fo r th e next lap, and then it did the same exa c t th ing. I did tw o 36s w it h a 35 in th e midd le . Then after that it was fin e, " Ed wards said . Ten th w ent t o N ori ck Abe as a sta nd-in f or the injured Marco Melandri . Melandri underwent suc cessful surgery on his injured sho ulder in It al y o n Monday in orde r to ensure that he is fully fit to sta rt preseason test in g in J anu ary . " By m idrace m y tires were sliding , a n d I' v e never ridde n und er th ese c ondi tio n s be f ore ," sai d Abe , wh o hadn 't ra ced since a wild ca rd entry in July 's German GP. Prama c Hon da ' s Makot o Tamada cue. e n e \IV so • NOVEMB ER 12. 2003 9

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