Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

- - =- == MOTOGP second s down after his Pit lane start and troubled early laps, his ho pe of catch ing the grou p dashed When he slowed to let the leaders through . Gibernau's second win stretches his points I d to ten, 66 to Biaggi's 56. Rossi has 51, Barros 38, and C eca 36. - Round 3 May 16, 2004 my style." He was a second clear of Aoyarna at the end, the japanese rider busy keeping narrowly clear of de Angelis. West was beh ind, all alone, after closing quickly in the early laps, I Ith after the first but up to eighth and closing on his jerez adversary Nieto four laps later. He rapidly closed the gap and dogged the Spaniard until lap 12. Once past him, he quicklycleared away. Nieto fell back behind the next group but was at the front of it by the finish, 14 seconds adrift of West , less than two ahead of erstwhile companions Battaini and Alex Debon. De Puniet's points lead shrank to 10, The 125 Grand Prix was a barnburner, with Andrea Doviziosa (partially hidden in second) taking the win over Roberta Locatelli (15), with 60 to doub le winner Pedrosa's 50. Nieto has 34, Rolfo and de Angelis 32 apiece . 1 5 CC GRAND PRIX 2 Barbera took off in a lead that lasted for four laps, w ith jerez winne r Marco Simoncelli crashing out of a big gang on lap two. Barbe ra was soon to be swam ped, with pole qualifier Dovizioso taking over, chased hard by jorge Lo renzo's Derbi . He opened up a gap of almost a second , but Locatelli was well-placed in the pack, up to second by lap eight, and instantly closing up to fly past Dovizioso at the end of the straight. From that point the pair started to draw away, locked together. With two laps left, Locatelli took a long, long look over his shoulder and gestured to his close companion. "I spoke to Andrea, to see if he wanted to lead for a While... but he didn't want to, " Locatelli said. stant ,' Pedrosa said. "So I could do my rhythm . It was a lo ng race ." As for de Puniet's hopes of becoming the fi rst French 250cc winner at Le Mans, they were already gone . "I wanted to go with Dani," de Puniet said. "But after five laps I realized he was impossible to catch, I seemed to have a little prob lem at the rear, but I do n't know LE MANS CIRCU IT MANS, FRANCE R ESULTS: MAy 16, 2004 (ROUND 3) MO TOGP QUALI FYIN G: I . Sete Gibemau ( I:3). 425): 2. Cer lcs Checa ( 1:JJ. S7S); l . M", Blagg; ( 1:JJ.S79): ~ . Valentino Rossi ( 1:33.668) ; S. Col in Edwa rds ( 1:33.810); 6. Marco Meland ri ( 1:33.920); 7. Nicky Hayden ( 1:31.966); 8. Makata Tamada ( I:H .0 57): 9. Loris Caplrcss! ( 1:34.09 5); 10. T ( 1;37.7 10): 23 . Ch ris Bums ( I :38.097). MOTOGP: I. Sete G ibemau (Hon); 2. Ca rlos Checa (Y am); 3. Max Biagi (Hon) ; 4. Valentino Roni (Y ; 5. am) Col in Edwards (Hon); 6. Marco Meland,; (Yam); 7. Alex Barros (Hon) ; 8. Troy Baytiss (Due); 9. HakotO Tamada He was pressed by Porto , but never from very close , though the Argentine did get to within less than a secon d just afte r half-distance, only to lose half a seco nd with a little slip. He'd recouped that loss when he fell for good on lap 18. The action was all behind these three , with Elias, Aoyama and de Angelis locked in battle almost all race long, swapp ing back and forth . Porto's dem ise turned it into a fight for third, and two laps later Elias got to the front at the chicane and started to pull away. "Third is good for me - I was a litt le bit lucky," Elias said. "We are still having a lot of tro uble findi ng settings so I can ride in 36 MAY 26,2004 • CYCLE NEWS The teenager was saving it for the last lap. He surged past on the straight and managed to foil Locatell i's attack in the last corners, by mistake. A slip and wiggle took him straight across his rival's line, and he won by six-tenths. By that time Lorenzo had managed to get away from the batt ling Giansanti and Barbera, still go ing back and fort h. Some te n seconds back, three riders had emerged fro m anot her close pack. The KTM pair of Stoner and Mika Kallio had been at the front of it, hounding each other back and forth . At the finish, Kallio was ahead and Pablo Nieto had nosed his Aprilia between the pair, w ith Stoner eighth , Alvaro Bautista half a second beh ind, and Steve jenkner tenth, losing touc h with the gang in the closing stages. Derbi's Mike de Meglio had been in this group , as well as Youichi Ui, but both crashed out unhurt on consecutive laps. Dovizioso extended his Champ ionship lead to IS points, w ith Locatelli on 48 to his 63. Stone r (3S) moved up to third ahead of jenkner (34), with Barbera just one point behind. eN (Hon) ; 10. Loris Cap;mss; (Due): I I. Nd

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