Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

acceleration because you don 't have the contact patc h," Edwards said. "W hat works for me , as a ride r, I nee d the front co nfidence . Either you get traction and you have no confidence in t he front , o r you have front confidence and no traction. I'll take t he fron t any day of the week." The only othe r Ame rican to finish was Suzuki's Kenny Robe rts Jr., and he was a lap do wn . Roberts had be en I I th five laps from t he end w hen he had a violent reaction from t he rear of t he bike. Th inking it might be the rear tire , he pitt ed for a new one, then re-joi ned t he race, shadowing th e riders to t he e nd. "It was n't a great day for us, but also it wasn't one of th e worst," he said, adding t hat t he rear take-off looked fine. Rep sol Hon da's Hayden did w hat he hoped he wou ldn't - he wasted his sec o nd front-row start in a row. Fro m t he t hird spot on th e grid, Hayde n had a balky clut ch and nea rly stalled. By the first interval he was 13th and 16th at the end of th e first lap. Before long a roc k found his radiator, and it began losing water. The en d came on the 17th lap whe n section w he re de Puniet had to hold off Pedrosa, w hich he did, by . 109 of a se cond . It was the first win for th e you ng Frenchm an who'd started t he season w ith three runn er-up finishes . ''After many second positions, Iwanted to get this victory at all cos ts, and after having achieve d t he po le po sition , I thought I could get it," he said. Ped rosa said it was like a clinic, t he young Spaniard learni ng to race head to head on spent tires . "O n t he last lap I tried everything," he said. "I knew I had to get to the stad ium sec tion first if I wante d to w in, but it was n't to be ." Third, over nine sec onds back, was Fort una Hond a's Ton i Elias, w ho adm itted he wasn't in the rac e. . "I gave 120 pe rce nt to de Puniet and Pedrosa, but it just wasn't going to happen ," Elias said. De Puniet stretched his championship advantage over Ped rosa to e ight points, 98 -90, after five of 16 rou nds. Andrea Dov izioso , at only .0 16 of a se cond, th en Master-Repsol Team's Pablo Nieto, at .342 of a se co nd. Red Bull KTM's Casey Stoner, Caja Madrid De rbi Racing's Jorge Lorenzo, and Seedorf Racing's Alvaro Bautista were at the end of th e string. Dovizioso still leads th e championship, after five of 16 ro unds, now by 22 points ove r Barbera. Robe rto Locatelli, w ho crashed today, is th ird w ith 73. MOTOGP Rossi led t he firs t lap, t he n it was Gibernau , th e Spaniard leading the Italian as he is in th e World Championship. They were qu ickly away from the rest, and the race was on. The pred iction from both sides had been for tire pro blems caused by heat. The track temperat ure was do wn a few degrees from the I 13 of Satu rday qualifying, but hot no neth e less. Gibernau knew from pract ice th at the Yamahas were better o n the rear and that he would have to use a harder tire . Less traction at the sta rt and less at the e nd. "In one point I think Sete 's able to go away, but also after he start to slide and spin so I'm able to stay with him," Rossi said. Rossi first came by on lap 14 of 25, but only for a lap. Then it was Gibernau again, and Rossi to the front on lap 16. "It's a great day for me today; I was waiting this day since one year and a rm;~:;;...!.! alf about." - Marco Melandri his motor tied up w hile he was ninth. "I just about th rew it aw ay," he said. Suzuki's John Ho pkins made it two laps lo nge r befo re his engine failed. Running on adrenaline, he didn't feel the pain in his bro ke n thu mb until his day ended on the front stra ight. Kurt is Roberts on ly made five full laps befo re pulling out. T he clutc h faile d o n the Proton from the start, and t here was nothing he could do . The 250cc was a two-rider race at the sta rt and at t he end, Safilo Carre ra-LCR's Randy de Puniet and Telefo nica MoviStar Hond a's Dani Ped ro sa the clear-out ru nners. The re was little between th em, even though de Puniet led t he majority of t he race. On t he final lap, Ped ros a too k the lead at the sta rt of th e back st retch, wit h de Puniet running him do wn and retaking it at the en d. Th en came the final stadium Teenager He ctor Barbera staged a rousing comeback to win the 125cc race. The 17-year-o ld Seedorf Racing rider was I Ith at the en d of the first lap and dropped down to B rd at the en d of the second lap w he n he was involved in a first -co rne r incide nt . T hen came the recove ry. At the halfway mark of the 22-lap race he was ninth , th en eighth for five laps be fore a frant ic final fix. The big jump came on lap 18 when he went from seventh to second, then took the lead on lap 20, keepi ng it to the flag. "The bike was working rea llywell, and it was possible for me to arrive at the front and win even tho ugh th e tires were well worn," he said . A ho rde of ride rs chased Barb e ra to t he finish, the top six covered by .733 of a second. Seco nd went to Kop ro n Team Scot's By now Gibernau was having a hard time holding his line , and he'd lost the lead by running wide in t he right-hander leading o nto the back straight. The Honda had more power, but he co uldn't get it to the gro und, except, occasionally, dow n t he fron t st raight, w hich is w hat he did on lap 22. Down t he straight he took t he lead and he ld it fo r tw o laps. Then it was Rossi's turn, the Italian going by into turn one. He started t he final lap wit h just over half a second, and it closed quickly. Gibe rnau made a futile run in the final corn er. ''I'm able to take a small advantage for arrive at t he first corner wi t hout [Gibern auJ overtaking in the straight, and I'm able to stay all t he lap in fro nt and make a good lap and is possible w in," Rossi said. "Right now It hink together with Hon da we need to start working very hard to www.cycleneW5.com :Briefly... I Camel Honda's Max Biaggi was one of three MotoGP riders invited to ESPN's Summer X Games. As much as he'd like to compete, he had to decline. "I said thanks, I think is too riskyfor me," he said. The oth er two riders w ere Gauloises Fortu na Y amaha's Valentino Rossi and Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden, both of whom also declined. Biaggi, who spends a month every winter testing and training in Southern California, was invited by Mike Metzger, who's coo rdinating the riders. Biaggi said t he list he saw included Y amaha's Chad Reed, Honda's Ricky Carmichael, Suzuki's Travis Pastrana, and KTM's Grant Langston. "It was fun, because the fist year they have supermoto race. M etzger invited , So I saw the list. Chad, Cann ichael, Pastrana, Langston. But in MotoGP it was onlythree - Nicky, Rossi, myself. But I say, I think also Rossi said no. I don't know if Nicky's going." The d'Antin Ducati's financial problems are visible to all, the 2003 Desmosedici running in the colors of Visa, the credit card giant, but without the lettering. Ruben Xaus made a well-intentioned but futile plea to journalistsat the Thursday press conference . Xaus was re minded of having led a GP for the first time, in the second segment at Mugello the previous week . "I'm happy for the fans because everybody enjoyed watching in Mugello, and that's nice for me and our team because it'sa smallteam and right now it needs some more fresh money to buy some material and some good things," the Barcelona resident said. "I'm open to having new sponsors. It's coming one good one, but Ducati's always been expensive because it's an Italian bike and it's handmade and everything." Xaus almost couldn't believe his good fortune at Mugel10. "It was a great feeling to have a copy at home to remember, but today I will ask a picture from here because it's good for me ," he said, sitting next to Rossi and Gibernau. " I can sell that now." The main difference between Sup erbike s a nd MotoGP beginswith brakes, Xaus said. ''A different kind of vibe, different style of ridingbecause of carbon brakes," he said. "Before, on Superbike, I used more the brakes as a feeling as a setup the bike to go in the corners. Here is more as a brake just to stop the bike;as soon as you stop the bike, just forget about the brakes. It's more gas, setup, speed corners . The brakes you don't use since Superbikes. The bike was more weight. Here is less we ight. So if you have got a perfect lines and a perfect setup, you improve, otherwise, you don't." As for his chances thisweekend, "If I can be in the top 10 it will be incredible." The Gran Premi Gauloises de Catalunya was a homecoming for a large segment of the MotoGP crowd. Sete Gibernau and Ruben Xaus were born and raised nearby with oth, ers migrating to the area. There's a large American contingent based south of Barcelona in the seaside town of Sitges. The Roberts' brothers, KennyJr. and Kurtis,have residences there, as does lV commentator and former racer Randy Mamola Norick Abe also lives duringthe season in Sitges. Brazilian Alex Barrosand Japan's Shinya Nakano make their in-season home in Barcelona. CYCLE NEWS • JUNE 23 , 2004 19

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