Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I I - - .._- _.- - - --_. I Round MOTOGP 15 i~ World Championship Road Race Series The battle for victory at Phillip Island was awesome. Ross i (46) took the lead from Gibernau (1S) with four laps to go, but Gibernau fought back, and the pair ex changed the lead three tim e s on the final lap alone. British teenager Chaz Davies was a hero o f the race, putting his privateer Apriliaahead o f several factory bikes as he rode to a career-best sixth place. Honda-mounted Andrea Dovizioso underlined the I2Scc title he secured last weekend with victory by inches in a 12Scc thriller that had the first three crossing the line within . 123 of a second. Derbi's Jorge Martinez was classified second , though t he transponders showed him crossing the line side by side with KTM 's Casey Stoner. Stoner's hopes of a seco nd w in, th is time at home, were dashed by a lack of straight- line speed. "I didn't have enough to stay in their slipstream," Stoner said. " I needed to be behind one rider as onto the stra ight on the last lap, but I cou ldn't stop Lorenzo coming alongside." MOTOGP The first lap was a good clue to the desperate racing to follow. Capirossi got the jump, Gibem au rode around the outside of Rossi to take second in the sweeping turn two , the Southern Loop, then snatched the lead at the subsequent Honda Hairpin. Rossi was trying hard and ran wide there, letting Bayliss through to third; two corners later, Rossi was right on the dirt and almost off at turn eight. Nothi ng daunted , he passed both Ducatis two corners later on the plunge down the hill, under braking for the tight MG hairpin. Gibernau had his head down and gained a handsome lead while all this was taking place - 1.3 seconds at the end of the lap. But now Rossi was second ahead of the Ducatis , and he started chasing hard . Gradually he chipped away at the gap, with Capirossi also closing up marginally. Just behind , Barros had disposed of Bayliss and was also cutting the gap. By lap six, all four we re together in a fourbike battle - but it didn't last. One lap later the leaders started moving away again, and this time it was for good . Barros was battling a lack of grip. "Eve n with the engine on minimum power settings , it was sliding," Barros said. But he managed to nail Capirossi into the hairpin on lap 10 and had a little stab at catching up again, in vain. Up front, Rossi was dogging Gibernau in familiar style , now and again showin g him a bit of front wheel . That wasn 't the Spaniard's problem, however. His throttle system was not working correc tly, he said late r. " I had to anticipate the throttle and th ink about that the whole race , rather than fighting Valentino," Gibernau said. But Gibernau made a good fight of it. Rossi swept past without difficulty into turn one on lap 19, but Gibernau later said he had let him past to study him a bit. He stayed close , and as they started the 23rd lap he got a good run out of the last corners and used his power to pull alongside Rossi on the straight - and to take the lead again into turn one. Now the batt le was well and truly on . with Rossi crawling all over the back of the Honda. The real action was saved for a final lap as exciting as the first. Gibe rnau led fro m the sta rt; Rossi pushed inside him at the second corner but then ran w ide at the hairpin, giving Gibernau the lead again. The final attack wou ld normally come into the tight MG corner, the last righthande r, but Rossi cou ldn't be bothered to 14 oaOBER 27 , 2004 • CYCLE NEWS wait, creating his own opportunity over the hill at Hayshe d corner and hanging on to the lead all the way to the line. The re was a fine race for third . Barros had dropped back, and in the closing stages Cap irossi started to close up on him again. At the same time, the gang of five was hard at it and closing on this pair. In the early laps, Biaggi had passed Bayliss for fifth, thoug h he said later he knew he was already in trouble, with no chance of further advancement, with bad traction condemning him to slow corner e xits. Bayliss, in his best ride of the year, stayed close, while behind him Edwards , Melandri, Tamada , Hayden and the two Kawasakis of Alex Hofmann and Shinya Nakano were locked in combat . Just before half distance, the faster ones were changing places . Bayliss was back in front of them all, holding Edwards up, with Biaggi , Hayden , Tamada and Melandri still close, the Kawasakis now losing ground and positions behind them . Melandri lasted only a few more laps, blaming a mystery infection for losing vision during t he race , leaving him no choice but to find his way back to the pits as best he could . It was hard to pick a win ner fro m the group, although from lap 14 on, Bayliss was losing one place after another. At first it was Biaggi making the running, but Edwards was looking strong right be hind him, and likew ise Tamada . But on lap 20, it was Hayde n who pushed past Tamada to start leaning on Edwards . This was Edwards' signal to get weav ing, and with six laps left he passed Biaggi and started moving away. Biaggi went with him, Tamada now ahead of Hayden again; but the facto ry Ho nda rider was 40th Anniversary also getting stronger as the race wore on . O n lap 25, Hayden passe d both Camel Ho ndas but was now not close enough to tag onto Edward s again. Edwards, in fact, was closing steadily o n the battle in fro nt. Cap irossi had caught Barros on lap 23 and pounced next time ro und. Edwards was flying up behind them. It was all resolved on the final long left-hande rs. Barros made a de sperate attempt to regain third from Capirossi and slid out wide. That was enough for Edwards to get past on the inside , and the order was se tt led at the flag. "It was a goo d race , but I was boxed in on the early laps," Edwards said later. "The bike was fee ling good , but the rhythm was too slow for me ." Hayden was two seconds behind, saying, "That was pre tty fun racing. But scrappi ng li ke that is not so good for fifth or sixth." Biaggi was half-a-second dow n over the line, Tamada just over a te nth behind him. "The re was nothing wrong wit h my bike or wit h me, but th is track may be nice to ride, but it is narrow and hard to overtake," he explained . Bayliss was now alone in ninth, later saying, "O nce I got stuck in that group , there wasn't much I could do . We need a better setup. But it was a half-dece nt race anyway, finishing closer than usual to the front guys." Checa had an up-and-down race , badly boxed in after a bad start , 14th after lap one . He'd picked his way forward , catch ing Xaus well before half distance and was ahead of him on lap I I. But his countryman wou ldn't leave him alone and was still less than two seconds adrift at the end . Nakano was still only three seconds adrift at the end . "I tr ied to catch them, but at the end I had poor traction on the left-handers, which is a problem at a trac k with such fast corners, " Nakano said. His teammate Hofmann was nine sec onds back. Another I0 seconds beh ind were Jeremy McWilliamsand John Hopk ins, the pair having battled for much of the race . The Aprilia rider took the advantage on the last lap, half a second ahead of Hopkins ' Suzuki for the last points . Second Suzuki rider Gregorio Lavilla was circulating steadily seven seconds be hind, matching Ho pkins's times more or less, but his chances of combat were spoiled by a bad start. He was kept honest by the relentless pursuit of Norick Abe, less than half a second behind at the end. Neil Hodgson trailed in a trou bled 18th; one lap behind the leaders , the Prot ons were battling tire prob lems . Aoki was 19th with a chunked rear and rep lacement rider James Haydon was 10 seconds and o ne place lower - ahead of the WCMs of Youichi Ui and James Ellison . Rossi's 279 points put him in an unas-

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