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/128612
World Cha mpionship Ro a d Race S e rie s R o '-:!nd 4 : S p a n is h G r a n d Prix JEREZ, SPAIN, APR. 30 --="' think it 's the most strange rac e I "lJ) rac e in my life," Marlboro Yama ha 's Carlos Checa said after he fin ished sec ond to T elefonica Mo v iStar Suzuki ' s Kenny Rob erts J r. in t he very-strange rain -sp lit Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez - and he w asn't alone. The 5 00 cc race w as delay ed , in i t ia ll y, bec au se th e 125cc ra c e was put o ff b y rain , which push ed t h e entire prog ram bac k ward s. Th en , o n the first try at starting the race, Marlboro Yamaha's Max Biagg i ta ngled with Red Bu ll Yam aha WCM's Reg i s Laco n i an d crashed on the warm -u p l ap . Hi s YZF500 Ya ma h a c aught fi re, bring ing ou t the fire extin g uishe r s, whi ch in turn c o ated the tr ack in whi te powder. While th e track was being cleaned , Biagg i made h is way back to the p it s to re-join th e race on his spare, wh ich he did . Then th e rac e began. Roberts Jr. wa s o n hi s way to a run awa y wi n , brea k in g o n e of the longe st st and ing track r ec o rd s in Grand Pr ix h is t ory o n h is way to a co mforta ble cushio n. Bu t on the 16th of 26 l ap s it b egan to rai n and the race was stopped a lap later, amid some confusion. Roberts J r. had put his hand up to signa l the end of the race , b ut it was 12 n By H E NN Y R A Y A B RAMS P HOTO S BY G O LD [, G O OS E C1j) MAY 1 0 , 2000 ' cue I e eVIl's the d ecision of the ra c e d ir ec t or t o call the race . The scoring rev erted t o the end of t he 16th lap , j ust short of th e two thirds ma rk that wo uld have made it official. A l Ovlap sprint was ordered, th e fi nal result decided on aggregate t i me . This ti me Roberts w a sn ' t so dom inant . "The rac e bega n on a wet, bu t dry ing trac k and Robe rt s soon discovere d t ha t he 'd m ade th e wrong t ire choice, whi ch he'd tr ied to ch ange at the last m inute. He went w ith intermediates fro nt an d rea r , a p o pul ar d ec ision, but one th at d i d n 't work with the Suzuki the way it had bee n set up for the rain . Kenny Roberts Jr. (2) leads the way in to tum one of the Spanish 500cc Grand Prix. Valentino Rossi (461 and the rest of the pack give chase. Roberts was able to open up a fivesecond le a d before rains i nt enupt ed the race. While Ch ec a ch ecked out , Rob erts floundered , and th e gap betw een the t wo , 5.374 seconds at th e drop of the green flag , started drastically shrink ing. More drastic was the failur e of Che ca's fron t tire. He 'd gon e with an interm edia te front and slick rea r and, once t he trac k dri ed , the rear slick p ushed the front to fa il , and Reps ol Honda's A lex Crivill e went pas t .