Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

tires or rubber," he said. "I was just had my balls on the line, and I was just pinning it everywhere." Edwards had designs on Hayden, but Hayden responded. "Kind of broke my focus, what I had going on. He broke it a little bit, and by that time, I was out of rubber," Edwards said. "I didn't have anything left. It was everything I could do to keep the thing on the track." Then came Rossi. The Italian took .B of a second out of Edwards lead on the penultimate lap. The loss was so quick that Edwards didn't believe his eyes when he saw his teammate just behind in The fourth turn two on Briefly.•• Continued from poge 21 on a glorious sun-drenched morning. Instead of one two-hour session, there were two 55-minute sessions, separated by a 10minute break. Timing and scoring didn't reach the pit lane for the first session, forcing teams who wanted to remain up to date to improvise. Among the more humorous quick fIXes was having team PR personnel watch the live feed in the pressroom and relay the times by two-way radio to the pit lane. Gauloises Yamaha ceam manager Davide BrMO was also drafted into action for time relay duties. MoviStar Honda MotoGP's Fausto Gresini and Repsol Honda team manager Roger van der Borght also watched the second morning session from the pressroom. The problem was communication: The feed from the Dorna system didn't talk to the local television frequency. It was resolved by Saturday morning. American in the the final lap. field, Kenny Roberts Jr. "It was (10), ran as high as everything I ninth before falling could just back to 14th. to keep Valentino behind me," he said. "He arrived so fast that I really didn't have any warning what was going on. We held on. It was a good result for Yamaha and a good race." Rossi wasn't disappointed with third. It was a badge of honor to be the first of the Europeans. "I'm happy," he said, because he was learning a new track. "Now we [Rossi and Edwards] are together on the podium for the second time in a row. And Colin is very fast in Donington, and also Nicky. Maybe I hope to fight with these two guys with the opposite arrive [a different result]." Biaggi needed until the 10th lap to get by Gibernau after earlier passing Bayliss. Biaggi solidified his spot with a strong 21 st lap while Gibernau faltered. "Surely, we could have stepped on the podium this time, but it took me too long to pass Bayliss, who was slowing me down," Biaggi lamented. Gibernau was competitive only after the morning setup revelation. "We were able to maintain a high rhythm, the same as the guys at the front, and stayed consistent throughout the race," he said, the conundrum being that "when we go well in qualifying, we don't seem able to finish it off in the race, and vice versa." Bayliss had shown more in practice and wanted more in the race. He started well before falling to sixth on the fifth lap. "In the race, I was just unable to find the kind of feeling I had in practice," he said. "I didn't have the confidence on the front and hardly any grip at the back." But he was able to hold off the horde just behind. Tamada was seventh, passing Hopkins in front of his home crowd on UPCOMING ROUNDS the 27th of 32 laps. Hopkins was the first Round 9: Doninglon Pork, Uniled Kingdom, Ju~ 24 of three Bridgestone runners in a row, but Round 10: Sachsenring, Germony, Ju~ 31 Las Vegas is the destination of choice for a number of MotoGP riders following the U.S. Gp. Colin Edwards is the tour guide for teammate Valentino Rossi, making his first trip to Sin City, with John Hopkins joining the bacchanalia. Marlboro Ducati's Carlos Checa was also going to Vegas, but not with the Edwards group. Randy Hamola went Hollywood in his choice of passengers for the Ducati twowheeler. Academy Award winner Adrien Brody went for two laps as did fellow American actor David Alan Grier. Grier showed up at Yamaha's 50th anniversary bash in full Repsot Honda leathers. Hatt LeBlanc, formerly of the popular television comedy "Friends," joined friend Colin Edwards at the party, held in Monterey's world-

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