tino Rossi leads an Italian sweep of the Italian Grand PriH
around the back of Valentino Rossi's pit
to guarantee the national hero a safe passage to and from his motorcycle.
But Rossi needed no armed guards to
fight off the opposition and win his fourth
Grand Prix of the five-race-old season.
With his rival
of the last
two
years, Sete Gibernau, crashing out after
five of 23 laps ofthe spectacular 3.25-mile
circuit in the Apennine foothills on his
MoviStar Honda, Rossi still had plenty of
opposition in what was a very Italian GP.
Rossi and his Gauloises Yamaha had
dashed away from the start, but an
inspired Max Biaggi moved his Repsol
Honda into second after six laps and
closed down a gap of more than two seconds, bringing MoviStar Honda's Marco
Melandri with him. Each had a turn at
leading, with Melandri the first to hit the
front with a daring double outbraking
move at the end of the straight.
By the end, a fourth compatriot, Loris
Capirossi - on his Italian Marlboro Ducati,
no less - had joined the party, making it a
very Italian GP.
Rossi, newly made a real doctor with
an honorary degree in Communications
and Publicity by the University of
Urbino (his birthplace), had them all
covered. With less than three laps to
go, he seized the lead again and
put the hammer down. Only
Biaggi was able to go with him,
but he never did manage to get in
front, finishing less than fourtenths adrift.
Less than four seconds behind,
Melandri finally succumbed to the
persistent attacks from Capirossi on
the ultrafast Ducati, giving the Italian
brand its first rostrum finish of the year.
Rossi donned the mortarboard he had
been presented at Urbino for the postrace celebrations (he also had "1/
Laureata" - "The Graduate" - painted on
