the last-com e r atta ck t hat has decided so
many races he re . Po rto was still less than a
sec on d clear ove r the line ; de Angelis was
12 secon ds behind Elias.
There was a huge gap of more than I0
seconds to de Puniet, and he got fifth due
to Aoyama crashing o ut - losing the front
on lap 16. They had been engaged in the
early laps, but the Frenchman had lost
touch by then.
Anothe r big gap , more than 20 seconds ,
followed be fore Battaini crossed the line
in sixth , topping Nieto by the most sle nder of ma rgins. The Span iard had been
pushing for most o f the ra ce but never d id
get ahead .
Hugo Marchand and Chaz Davies had
been with them, but they were six seconds
away at the flag, also hard at it, the
Frenchman just over a tenth ahead at the
flag. Then came Matsudo - all alone.
Debon had crashed out wh ile fend ing
N ieto off o n lap nine.
Ped rosa's po ints lead o f 48 is just two
short of w hat he needed to secu re the title
w ith tw o races left. He has 279 to Po rt o ls
23 1. De Punie t has 198; Elias, 168; and de
Angelis, 127.
12SCC GRAND PRIX
Barbe ra's title chances were of the most
slender sort, but he still took off in the lead ,
setting a cracking pace - unt il less than
halfway rou nd the second lap . Flicked over
the highside, he ran to his fallen bike , then
collapsed theatrically backward onto the
track, luckily far enough off the line no t to
get hit.
Stoner took over at the front and was
never headed, though he was certainly
tailed . Dovizioso was like his shadow and
looked co mfortable all the way. Surely he
would po unce on the last lap .
He tried , though with less than his usua l
commitment, and Stoner was steadfast,
staying ahead down the penultimate
straight and into the hairpin. Dovizio so
tried to come alongside ove r the line but
failed narrowly.
The pair had pulled away from the pursuit dramatically fro m the start at mo re
than a second a lap. Mika Kallio had bee n
part of th e group but crashed out o f
fourth on lap two. Afte r that, Lorenzo led
a n eight-strong grou p briefly, th o ugh it
was Fabr izio Lai through to the fro nt of it
by lap five, the pack covered by just over
a second.
The numbers dwind led - Lorenzo pitting after e ight laps, angrily pushing his
mechanics aside. By now Locatelli headed
the gang, bu t Bautista was to push through
soon afte rwa rd and gra dually draw away to
finish eight seconds ahea d.
Locatelli was a lo ne fo urt h. Lai sha ded
Simo n over the line, and Pasini did the
same to Talmacsi and Borsoi after a long
battle, w ith Jen kner just dropping out of it
by the e nd .
The top slot of the title has been
claimed , w ith Dovizio so more than two
races clear on 248 points. Second is in dispute , with fIVe in the running : Loca telli, 169;
Barbe ra , 167; Lorenzo , 159 ; Ston e r, 129;
eN
and N ieto , 124.
MAlAYSIAN GRAND PRIX
SEPANG CIRCUIT SEPANG, MAlAYSIA
,
RESULTS: OCTOBER 10, 2004
MotoGP QUALIFYIN G, I. Valentino ""'" (2~ I :Bll);
2. Alex Bam>. (2~1 ,22B) ; 3. Shonya Nak.>no (2~ 2 . 27B); • .
Set. Gobemau (W 2.2B3); 5. Hakos (2~2.58B ) ; 9. Carlos Checa (2~2 .602 ); 10. H.Yco
HeIandri (2~2. B5 2); II . Loris Capoossi (2~ 2.860 ); 12. Col"
Edwanls (2.~3 .0"); Il . I'Jex HoImam (2m.321); I< Troy
Bayl",(2~3 .38< ); IS. RubenXaus (2m .956); 16. NondAbe
(2:04. 28-4); 17. Neil Hodglon (2:04. 738): 18. Jeremy
HcWdIiams(2004
.B30); 19. Gany McCoy (2004
.B75); 20.Yu'"
Kagayama (2~5 .2B5 ); 21. NobualSU Aol
Ha3Udo (2: 10.902); lB. Chaz Daves (2:11.().I3); 19. Johan
StigeleI< (2: 11.08<); 20. Hectoo- Faubel (2.11.1"); 2 1. 0;'"
HedoIf (2:11.160); 22. Da,;d De Goa (2:II .BI ); 2l. 5ytva;n
Guintol; (2:11.5 IB); H . Joon 01"", (2:11.70 1); 25. G'ego<)'
Leblanc (2:12.3M); 26. TamSek;gu&.i(2;12.623); 27. Radom i
Reus (2: " .901).
12Scc GRAN D PRIX Q UA LIFYING : I. Andrea
0 Pesek (2:15.B76); 21. Angel Rodriguez
(2:16. 123); 22. And.... IlaIIe
(2:1.....); 26. Oario GMeppetti (2: 16.552); 27. l. (2:17.058); 29.1mno
Tos
(Hon ); • . Ndemau
(Hon); B. SIw')'a Nak.>no (Kaw );
9. Carios Chea (Yam); 10. Troy
Ilaytis> (Ouc); II. CoIn Edwanls
(Hen ); 12. Norick Abe (Yam);
13. RLbenXaus (Ouc); ". Yu/Oo
Kagayama (Suz ); 15. J.~
HcWiliams (Apo-); 16. Gany
MCCoy (Apo-); 17. Nobumu
AoI Ha3Udo (Yam); II. Alex B>ldoln (Apo-); 12.
1M< HedoIf (Apo-); Il . Hectoo- Faubel (Apo-); " . )al. ( 1«); 5. CoI,n EcIwanl (136); 6. Hakoto Tamada
( 13 1); 7. Carlos Checa (109): B Ndy Hayden ( 101); 9. Loris
Capirossl (94); 10. Marco Melandri (75); I I. RubenXaus (72);
12. Sh;nyaNakAno(70); 13. Norick Abe (68); ... Troy Bayl;"
(48); 15. Alex Hofrmnn (43).
25Oc. WOR LD C'SH IP PO INTS STANDINGS (Aft er
c
14 of 16 rounds) : I. Daniel Pedr osa (2 79/6 wins); 2.
Sebastian Port o (231 wins); 3. Randy de Puniet (19811 win):
/4
4. Toni Elias (16811 win); 5. Alex de Angelis (127): 6. Hiroshi
Aoyama ( I 19); 7. Fonsi Nieto ( 114); 8. Robert o RoIf ( 101/ 1
o
win ); 9. Anthony West (88); 10. Franco Battaini (80); I I.
HarueI Poggia! (7911 _ ); 12. Alex Debon (75); 13. Sytva;
;
n
Guin'oIi (H); ... (TIE) Hugo HarchandlNook> Ha3Udo (ll).
12Scc WORLD CSH IP PO INTS STAND IN GS (Ahe r
14 of 16 """"'0)' I. _
Dovizioso (2<81 wins ); 2.
'
Roberto Loa,el' ( 169n wins ); 3. Hectce Barbera (16713
wins ); • . j«ge l.i (53); IS. Fabrizio LA;
(52).
- - --UPCOMING
ROUNDS
R 15·Phillip
oond
Island, AUllrolio,
0cklber17
Roond 1 ·
6
Voleocio, Spain,
Ocklber 31
Continu ed fro m poge 35
attitude as he got on with a difficult job on a
bike that is a handful. One problem was
that his specially made new Aprilia leathers
were lost in transit, and he was o bliged to
fit into a spare set made for his teammate
Jeremy McWilliams - taping over part of the
Ulster rider 's name and te lling peo ple,
"This weekend, you can just call me 'Mac,'''
After his first Superbike season, he was glad
to be back. "I've spen t my whole racing
career in GPs," he said. "It was tough going
somewhere new, with new peop le and new
circuits. I feel at home here ,"
The heat at Qatar brought out the worst in
the fact ory Ya m ah as , with Norick Abe's
being the only bike to finish and both Checa
and Melandri retiring with "fuelling" problems. A larger fairing introduce d there concentrated on flowing air through the radiator and oil cooler. at the co st o f internal
cooli ng flow, and t he fuel pumps suffere d
vaporisation an d cavita t io n as a re sult .
"We didn't run for long e nough to have
t hat pro blem," Rossi's crew chief Je rry
Burge ss said, "but we th ink we have It
covere d fo r th is w eekend. " Team manager Brivio enlarged on t he matt er. "It was
hotte r when we te sted he re [in Malaysia]
be fore t he seaso n, and we never had that
problem, so we were tak en by surprise,"
he said. "We have revise d the cool ing
here, and we haven't had any problems
in pr actice."
History repeated itself in Malaysia, when a
la rg e sn ak e strayed onto the racing line
during 12Scc free practice on Saturday
morn ing. The repti le did not survive, recalling an incident in 199Bat Johor Bahru,
when a black cobra crossed the track . It
reared up and spread its hood, and was
struck by rider Gino Borsoi.
Kawa sak i has addressed the engine
blowup problems that put Shinya Nakano
out of the Qatar GP in a drama tic plume of
smoke · by returning to an earlier piston
design. "We have a piston pro blem," team
manager Harald Eckl said before the
Malaysian race. Sources close to the team
said it was a new design of piston that was
not only prone to seizing but also had poor
oil cont rol, requ iringove r-filling before the
race - hence Nakano's smoky early laps on
his way to third at Motegi.
Will Erv Kane mot o go back to his old
associa tes at Honda next season to work
with Max Biaggi or fellow-Ame rican Nicky
Hayde n?The rumo rs were thick in the
Malaysian paddock, since the move made
such a lot of sense for the quiet racing guru
who has wo n championships with Freddie
Spencer, Luca Cadalora and Max Biaggi in
the past and is currently o n a o ne-year con tract with Suzuki, working with Kenny
Roberts Jr. Kanemoto was quick to deny it.
"I have had no discussions about that ," he
said. "I am contracted to Suzuki for the end
of the year, and I willdec ide after that
whether I want to con tinue in racing. to
stay with Suzuki or to look for what is avail·
able elsewhere,"
LE NEWS • OCTOB ER 20, 2004
37
