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---- --- --I MOTOGP EiiiiiI Round 12 Japanese Grand Prix The r:.-a5h The crash t hat ro bbed the race of six ride rs was an uncanny repeat of a similar incident last year, involving several of the same riders. That time it was John Hopkins wh o ran too fast into tum one, cannoning into Colin Edwards, Troy Bayli s and Carlos Checa. The punishmen t was s severe, with the Suzuki rider disqualified from the next round, the Malaysian Gra nd Prix. This time , Ho pkins was the first victim. He was following Rossi toward the ape x of tum one whe n Lo ris Ca pirossi arr ived down the inside , too fast for the comer, already sideways and halfway into a highside when he struc k the Suzuki. In 200 3, Ho pkins adm itted his fault, and apologized to the other riders in his official team statement. His honesty may have been his mistake , since the admission of guilt was a factor in race direction applying the punishment. Cap irossi, on the other hand , gave a somewhat implausible excuse . "I don't know what happened. I just found myself on the ground," he said. N BOWLING NEWS LATEST; CAP/ROSSI 'STRJ /(fS' AT TIiRN ONE, MOTEG/... Ho pkins said after the race: "Wo rds can't ex press my disappointment, but I guess it's som e kind of a paylb ack. Last year I took out some ride rs, and this year Igot take n out. I was running into the comer in second, right beh ind [Vale ntino) Rossi, and I had no wa rning. It felt like a freight train hitting me." The following rider, Edwards, had no hesita tion in putting the blame on Capirossi, nor did most observers. But it was also possible to agree with the view of the Ducati team, and of race direction. that it was "a racing incident, " with no punishment required. But what was the difference between last year's incident and this? Why was that not considered a racing incident? Race director Paul Butler was unapologetic. "Last year, race direction felt there was a case to answer. This year, not so . But we don't make comparisons. We basedecisions on circumstances at the time and make a judgment on that. I have alrea dy been accused of inconsiste ncy, and I am not surprised. We had some criticismin the oppositedirection lastyear, becausewe had not acted in a similar inci ent at Montd melo, involving Andr ew Pitt . But I said the n that if you ge t a bunch of ride rs going into a tight corner together and two of the m are slighdy ove r-enth usiast ic, accide nts can happen." The decision not to punish Cap irossi had not been difficult, he said. All agreed that it had been a racing incide nt. "It was different last year with Hop kins," But ler said. "He freely admitted guilt. The only question then is wh ether the punishmen t fitted the crime." Race direction had exa mined the evidence , and decided today tha t th ere was no case to answer. "If there had been a protest, we woul d have spoken to the ride rs involved and re-examined the evidence - but the re was no pro test," he said. Capirossi broke a toe in the incident, and suffered slight concus sion; Hopkins suffered two broken ribs and a deep gash to his buttocks. Kenny Roberts Jr. was the worst injured, with a dislocated left elbow and bums to his right arm and neck, after his arm had been caught up in Biaggi's bike. He will definitely miss the next round, the Qatar G P in two weeks time. "My left arm got be tween Biaggi's back wheel and the chassis,' Roberts said. "It pulled me into the bike, burn ing my neck and right arm on his exhaust. Wh en I pulled my arm out , Icouldn't bend my elbow. Igot to the med ical cen te r, and they X-rayed it and relocated the dislocation in about 15seco nds. It was painful going back, and it' s painful now. Th e doctors tell me it will be at least two weeks befo re we' ll know at w hat stage I w ill fee l somewhat good ." None of the others were hurt, though Hayde n was especiallyunlucky. Blinded by the dust, he had almost stopped w hen he hit a falle n bike. "I put my bad leg down , and just keeled over," he said. 12 SE PTEMBER 29, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS fro m the left -hand-side of the th ird row t o the right-hand-side o f t he track fo r t he b ra king zone. So far so good - but he had too m uc h spe e d . And w e know w hat hap pened ne xt . As he an d Hopkins were stretche red away, an d Biagg i, Edw ards, Hayd en a nd Rob erts Jr. limpe d an d hopped off the scene, Roberts Jr. clut c hing his injured le ft arm, Tamada was already chasing Ro ssi hard, with the pack a lready almost two seconds adrift. Melandri headed Nakano, Abe, Gibernau, Checa, Xaus and th e rest. The t wo le aders ke pt on pulling away. more t h an five s e c ond s clear after eigh t laps . then, By Tamada had been ahead for two laps, setting a new record on the lap befo re he pas se d an d m ovi ng firmly ahead, u nderbraki ng at the end o f th e ba c k straight. But Rossi w as still with him , and th e issue was fa r fro m clear - unt il t he 10th la p , w hen th e ga p was half-a- se co nd an d starting to stre tc h . By half distance it was 40th Anniversary m ore t han a second, and it was becomi ng clear th at if Rossi d id have an answer to Tamada's pace , he w as n't p repared to re veal it. Pe rh a ps he was too busy t hinking a bo ut Gibe rn a u. "Se te [G ibernau ) was lucky t o day," he sai d later. "T he six riders who crashed w ould a ll have finished in fron t o f h im , b ut I think only Max [Biaggi] could have changed m y result. He got more points than he