Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

At th e e n d of th e rac e , Cr iville , who a ls o u s ed in te rme d iate s fro n t an d re ar , crossed the line first, fo llowed by Ch e c a an d Nastro Azzurro Hond a ' s Valentino Ross i. After wha t m u s t h a ve se emed like an e ternity later for the S uzuki camp , Ro be rts flas hed by , s t ill .8 59 of a second in front of Checa o n aggregate time . "I rod e m y ba c ks id e off t h a t last la p ," Robe rts J r. sa id . "T he ha rd e s t pa rt wa s not t ry ing to o pe n u p th e thro tt le . With th e way th at we nee d to wo rk o n the bik e a nd the c ho ices we made in that se c ond race , it made it ve ry d iffi cult t o try and ke ep m y momentum up . When I ne eded it to drive, it spun ." Behind Checa came Rossi , his first podium in only his fourth 500cc race. "I achieved .my goal, my first podium in 500 which cancels out my bad race in Japan and is a big incentive for the coming races, " Ross i said. "This race has been complex, difficult, and too long . I had to work extremely hard to achieve this podium." Alex Criville, winner of the past three races here, ran into clutch prob lems in the first race , and then found his inte rm e dia tes the wrong choice in the second one. Emerson Honda Pons Alex Barros wa s fifth, w ith t eammate Lor is Capiros s i s ixt h. The win , h is s e c ond of the ye a r, a llo w s Rob ert s J r. to s t re tc h h is cha m p ions hip lead in what ve ry e a rly in th e seas on ha s become a tw o rider c h a s e . Aft er four of 16 rounds , Rob erts J r . le a d s Checa 80 t o 71 . Red Bull Yam ah a WCM ' s G arr y McC oy, wh o c rashe d out ea rly in th e we t second leg , is third at 48 . McC oy wa sn' t th e only rider t o hav e a bad da y. Bia gg i s uffe re d his th ird DNF in four ra c es whe n he had to pit with a faulty cl utc h. Repsol YPF Honda 's S et e Gib ern au qualified a lowly 16th , and th en tumbled wh en he ran off the tra ck o n th e first lap of the second leg. The 250c c race bel onged to Ralf Waldmann in a walkover. The German Aprilia rider took over the lead on the second lap after cha m p ionsh ip leader Shinya Nakano slid his Chesterfield Yamaha Tech 3 machine into a gravel trap . Nakano re -m o unte d and finished 15th, earn ing the final po int. From th en on it was all Wa ldie as he in c re ment ally added to h is le a d , bu ilding it up to nea rly se ven seconds befo re settling in to win by 5 . 188 . It was hi s firs t ra c e vic to ry si nce t he Aus tr a lian 2 50cc GP in Octo be r of 1997 , Se co nd p la c e didn 't c ha nge m uch , but not fo r la c k of effort. S hell Adva nce Ho nd a ' s Tohru Uka wa ke pt th e heat on Axo Honda Gresi ni's Da ijiro Katoh fo r th e durati on , only concedi ng at th e ver y e nd and th en by les s than a s e cond. Kat oh 's consola tion was that he wa s abl e to take ov er the championship lead. After four of 16 rounds he hold s 81 points , 14 mo re th a n Naka no . Thi rd in poi nts is Ol ivie r J a c q ue , t he Fr en c hm a n who rode his spare Che ste rfie ld Yamaha Tec h 3 ma ch ine to fourth on the day . He has 59 poi nts. Fo r m uc h of the race , Jacque was fending off th e persistent attacks o f Uka wa 's teammate Antho ny West. It was only in the fin a l s tages when West's fro nt t ire deterio rated tha t he fou nd he could n 't kee p u p the pace a nd se ttle d in to a sec ure fifth in fron t of th e Aprilia team of Marco Mela nd ri a nd Mar ce llino Luc chi. For the first time in ne arl y four years , the World Champion won a race. Tel efoni ca MoviStar Honda ' s Emilio Alzam ora took a very popular win in front of a partisan c rowd in th e 125cc GP. The Span ish veteran led a three rider breakaway , taking Benetton Playlife 's Mirko Gian santi and Diesel Vasco Ro ss i Ra cing 's Roberto Locatelli with him . On ly Giansanti was able to c h a lle ng e for the lead , taking it on the 16th of 23 laps . But Alzam ora took it ba ck thre e laps lat er and held off a furious c ha llenge by the Italian Giansanti with a lap and a ha lf to go. Giansanti bobbled down the homestretch and Alzamora was ab le to stre tc h his le ad to 1.047 s ec onds a t th e e nd . Th ird we nt to Locatelli with Ben e tton Playli fe ' s Ma s a o Az u ma fourth , som e 10 s econds in front of Giv i Honda LCR t e a m m a te Nobby Ueda and Lucio Cecchinello. Th e win , Alzamora 's first s ince the Dut ch TT in 1996, shot the Spaniard to th e top of th e c ha m p ions hip standings with 65 points , nine better th an Gia ns a nti. Locate lli is third with 54 , one ahead of Ueda . Derbi Ra cing 's You ich i Ui, who c a me into th e ra ce le ad ing the c ha mpion sh ip, finish ed out of the points in 21st. IAbove) Carlos Checa (7) took charge when the race was restarted, but he wasn 't able to make up the ground that Roberts (2 ) had opened up in the first po rti on of the race. (Below) Jeremy M cWilliams (99) stuffs the Aprilla under World Ch ampion Alex Cri vill e 's Honda (1). c ue I e n e _ S • MAY 10, 2000 13

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