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/128345
ROSSI CRASHES, GIBERNAU WINS. GAME ON. AGAIN. blowup of a weekend in wh ich the Kawasakis suffered piston problems, according to team boss Harald Eckl. Barros drop ped to 17th and fought his way th ro ugh. "I'm sure I could have fought for the podium or eve n a win tod ay," he said. Ame rican Nicky Hayden dro pped back from his teamm ate's back w he el in the clos ing laps, his front ti re shot . St ill t rouble d by his left kne e injury and refuse d his choice of fro nt tire by Michel in, Hayden said, " I had no fe e ling fro m t he fron t in the early laps, bu t I managed to ge t go ing w hen it was scrubbed in. On t he pos itive side , we got a top five, and it's my first poi nts sinc e Don ington [be fore the sum me r br e ak]." The pair had caught and passed Biaggi , who had com e th rough stea dily from his back-row start only to run off t he track on the final lap when trying to get back in front of Barros. Gauloises Y amaha's Norick Abe was seventh , the only Yamaha to fin ish on a day that saw Rossi crash and Checa and Marco Melandri retire with fuel problems . Suzuki 's john Ho pkins had be e n wi t h Abe unti l tire chatte r spoi led his pac e a few laps from t he e nd . Hopkins was almos t five secon ds back. "It's frustrating when bikes come past so fast on t he straight they just about blow your handlebars off," Hop kins said. "I'm satisfied with my race , but not the position." Alex Hofmann nursed his Kawasaki to ninth; last weekend's winner, Makoto Tamada, never did find the right setup for his Bridgestoneshod Ca mel Honda and was a long way back, with Suzuki substitute Y ukio Kagaya ma trailing in ahead of a batt le between British rivals james Haydon (Proton KR V5) and james Ellison (WCM), fiercely engaged to the finish. Aprilia's jere my McWilliams and d'Antin Ducati's Neil Hodgson retired with sundry mechanical woes. Nob uatsu Aoki was the ot her crasher when his Proton flicked him off wit h the throttle stuck on t he way into a corner. Earlier, A pr ilia's Sebastian Porto took a fourth 250cc win of the season to narrow his points deficit on Honda's Dani Pedrosa by five points, with the Spanish rider tailing him all the way and fi nishing less than two seco nds adrift. Honda's Hiroshi Aoyama emerged the narrow victor of a fierce but very dista nt batt le for t hird ove r Franco Batt aini. Randy de Puniet dented his dwindling title chances , crashing his Apr ilia wit h 16 laps to go. The unfortunate Toni Elias finished sixth after losing a knee-s lider on both the sighting and war mup laps, starting from pit lane only to lose the same knee -slider dur ing the race . He finished with his leath ers in tatters . jorge Lo renzo was awarde d victo ry after a phot o finish in the fi rstever moto rcycle race at Qatar, the Derbi rider leading the last lap and down the finish straight. Race -long adversary Andrea Dovizioso then pulled out of his slipstr eam and was alongside over the finish line, record ing exact ly the same finish time, to the nearest hundredth. It too k officials several minutes to decide t he outcome . Alvaro Bautista was third, just out of to uch after running wide in the closing laps. Second was good enough for Dovizioso to put one hand on the title, with a troubl ed Roberto Locatelli bogging on t he line and failing to score, and Hector Barb era, also in trouble, finishing 12th. Dovizioso now has a massive 61-points lead over Barbera . Austra lian Casey Ston er put the KTM out front early on but pulled out with mechanical problems for a th ird race in succession. MOTOGP All eyes were on the back of the grid and the sprint to the first corner, and Rossi didn't disappoint. As C heca led Gibe rnau, Xaus and a hot-to-trot Nakano , the points leader speared up the inside on the dirty part of the track to run into the fi rst corn er ninth. He had already overtaken 12 other riders . Giberna u grabbed the lead on t he first run do wn the straight with Checa staying close. By lap two they were almost two secon ds clear of Nakano, who was now ahead of Xaus, Barros , Edwards and Rossi, with Capirossi behind. Nakano's engine lasted one more lap before it emitted a couple of puffs of smo ke and then such a thick smokescreen that the following riders might as well have been riding through mist on the mountain on www.cyclenews.com CYCL E N EWS • OaOBER 13,2004 13