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/128606
\Nelkorn. South Afr-ica . Mel"'Ch 1 S. 2OCJC) World Championship Road Racing Series Round 1 : South African Grand Prix Tile Beal AuatraIiIIn o.ny IIcCo, shocbcI the wortd with his victory In the opening round 01 tho 500cc Wortd ChampIonship in South Africa. By MICHAEL SCOTT PHOTOS BY GOLD & GOOSE South African sunshine, or floundering in the Phakisa Freeway gravel traps. McCoy, riding the Red Bull Yamaha, left not only fancied runners like Telefonica MoviStar Suzuki's Kenny Roberts Jr. and Marlboro Yamaha's Carlos Checa for dead as he surged through from 11 th position on the rand Prix racing is alive and kicking once again. And the kicks came from diminutive Australian Garry McCoy, who blazed such a trail through one of the closest-eYer 500cc GPs that he left the big stars and title favorites gasping in the G 8 MARCH 29, 2000' cue I e n e _ s fourth of 28 laps to take the lead with six laps to go, but also defending World Champion Alex Criville on the Repsol Honda. The race was already a thriller, with close qualifying more like the 125cc class as a crop of hot rookies were in among the established runners. Roberts had led off the line, only to be displaced by Checa. Then returning ex-250cc man Loris Capirossi took control on the Emerson Electronics Honda, while class rookie Valentino Rossi - on the Nastro Azurro Honda - set a series of fastest laps as he jousted with Criville and the rest before crashing. Max Biaggi - already traning with lingering injury problems - succumbed to mechanical problems early on. . The incident-packed afternoon really came alive, however, when McCoy got the bit between his teeth. With less than a full year of experience on a 500 - he joined Red Bull midway through last year to replace Simon Crafar - and one rostrum finish in the wet at Valencia, few expected much of him as he moved up into the top 10. He had other ideas. "I'd been caught up with [Valentino] Rossi in the first few laps and got pushed wide a few times," McCoy said. "After that, I just ~ept charging, picking them off one by one and hoping my luck wouldn't run out." His best lap was the 19th, when he went from sixth to third in just one tour, diving inside Sete Gibernau, outside Tadayuki Okada, and inside Roberts in just 2.63 miTes. Gibernau and Okada both crashed soon afterwards, while McCoy picked off Capirossi first, and then Checa with six laps remaining. He indulged in some spectacular slides as he fought off Checa to the finish, with Capirossi in close attendance. Roberts, meanwhile, was fading and both Emerson Electronics Honda's Alex Barros and Criville were ahead of him at the finish. With two Yamahas on the rostrum, the race wasn't a good one for the latest Hondas, which had shown strongly in qualifying. Capirossi's third-placed machine was last year's model. Earlier, Chesterfield Yamaha's Shinya Nakano took a start-io-finish victory in a rather processional 250cc race, with class rookie (and two-times Wild Card GP winner) Daijiro Katoh on the Elf/Axo Honda finally outrunning Shell Advance Honda rider Tohru Ukawa for second.