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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128608
World Championship Road Racing Series Round 2: Malaysian Grand Prix From then on, he pulled steadily way until he had more than six seconds on the field at the halfway mark. For the second race in a row, he made winning look easy. "It was a hard race," he insisted. "Especially after yesterday, when I crashed." Jacque had a bit more trouble with the Japanese Honda rider, who is a real scrapper even when his bike is clearly outclassed in the corners. Jacque had to pass him twice to make it stick. After seven laps, he had no chance of catching his teammate. At the finish, Jacque was four seconds down, and Katoh only another two second behind him. Katoh had been troubled for a short time by Ralf Waldmann, who was just over a second behind when Jacque passed for second. West had been ahead of Waldmann early on, but in his weakened condition he dropped behind on lap three and gradually lost ground. A long way back, Melandri and Luca Boscoscuro were battling it out, and they'd closed up on the injured Aus- (Above) Shinya Nakano (56) dominated the 250cc Grand Prix for the second race in a row. (Left) Daijiro Katoh (74) leads Olivier Jacque (19) in the battle for second place in the 250cc Grand Prix. Jacque ended up finishing second, making it a Chesterfield Yamaha 1-2. tralian by halfway. Even then, it took another three laps for Melandri to get past, and while Boscoscuro eventually did follow him through, the plucky West had reversed the positions again by the end of the race. With two wins, Nakano now has 50 title points to Katoh's 36. Jacque has 33, Waldmann 22, West 21 and the luckless Ukawa only 16, equal with Porto. 1 25cc GRAND PRIX Defending champion Emilio Alzamora and his Telefonica MoviStar Honda led into the first turn, but by the second corner, Ui's red Derbi was in front and the little Japanese rider drew away consistently as Noboru Ueda, Alzamora, Arnaud Vincent and Giansanti bickered over second place. Vincent, the winner in South Africa, lost touch after 10 laps as his motor lost power. Locatelli had joined the gang a few laps earlier. After 13 laps, the Italian rider had moved into second, and he took Giansanti with him as he upped his pace. Ui was forced to slow down slightly, his tires wearing thin. Now the tension escalated as the gap shrunk by up to a second per lap. With less than three laps left, there was a momentary lapse as Locatelli pushed too hard and was 22 APRIL12,2000' cue I e n e _ s thrown out of the saddle, and Giansanti went ahead - but the Aprilia rider powered straight past the notably quick Honda down the next straight and resumed the chase. It was all over by the last corner. Ui braked late, but Locatelli dived firmly inside him, and it was all the heartbroken Japanese rider could do to hang on to second, falling back to third momentarily and then repassing Giansanti on the run to the line. Later, he explained why. "We had a lot of problems in practice, so we weren't able to do any tire-endurance testing. In the race, my front tire was shot," he said. Alzamora was fourth, just over a second behind; then came Ueda, by now another five seconds adrift, but inches ahead of Gino Borsoi, who had caught up impressively during the second part of the race. Gianluigi Scalvini led the next close group, ahead of the Hondas of Masao Azuma and Steve Jenkner. Vincent retired with nine laps remaining; there were 20 finishers out of 27 starters. Locatelli, fourth in South Africa, moved into the points lead with 38 to Giansanti's 36. Alzamora has 29, Vincent 25, Ueda 22 and Ui 20. eN