Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Above) The race boiled down to an allItalian affa ir. Rossi (46) takes a tum at leading Capirossi (65) and Max Biaggi [hidden) be fore crashing two laps from the end. (Left) That left Ca piro ssi and Biaggi, with Biaggl crashing out on the last la p moments after th is photo w as taken. as Capirossi wor ked hard on o pe ning a ga p that stretched to more th an tw o seconds by the seventh lap . Mean whi le , Robe rts was to and fr o w it h Ros s i, and Barros was closing on the Yamahas after a poor sta rt. When Barros ca ug ht up , things got more s eri ou s , a nd Ro be rts ' dec line b e g an . On lap n in e , w ith B ia g g i already th ird , both Checa a nd Ba rros sl ip ped pa s s the S uzuki in one c hi c a ne , a nd by now he ha d noth ing left to fi gh t b a ck w it h. Dis pi riti ng ly, Ro be rts s li p pe d away backwa rds , overtaken by McW illiam s on la p 14 , the n s ho rtly the reafter by tea m mate Aoki , fol lowed by McCoy . wh o was c lim bing fa st , and then Abe . La ter , he decl ine d to blam e the tire s . as well as dec li n ing t o confirm that he was usin g 16.5 -inch er s. "T h e pro b le m 's not tires - we ' re not usin g th em to th e ir full potentia l," Roberts sa id . Th e S uzu ki, it seems , s uffe rs setup probl em s a t flo win g t ra ck s th at m ea n when th e t ire s get h a lf-w orn and can no longer sustain high corner speed , Roberts can no longer hold his rivals at bay . Eithe r tha t, o r his te chniqu e wi th worn tires needs s om e improvement - tho ug h in th e c urrent company , la ck ing veterans like Mick Doohan o r ev en Cr iville , th at seems unl ikel y. Te chn ic a l dir e c to r Wa rren Willing sum med it up : "The p roble m is I don 't know what th e pr oblem is." Capiross i now s lackened h is pa ce somewha t, his tires sliding. - I d e ci d e d to w a it for them . I th ou gh t if it ca me to a battle on the last la p th a t I cou ld win it," he said . Rossi led Bia ggi to his ba ck wheel wit hou t wai ting fo r a written invitatio n , and th e y were a ll togeth er by lap 16 . C he ca couldn 't stand th e pa ce , an d re mai ned emb ro iled with Ba rros a littl e way behi n d as th e thre e le a d ers sta rted t ra d ing b lo ws . Th er e we re seve n laps le ft , a nd they woul d c lea rly include some ve ry fine 5 00cc ra c ing . Ross i led o n la p 18 , th en Capi ross i agai n a co up le o f laps late r. Bia gg i loo ke d s tro ng too , as though he was wa tching and waiting , and to som e he was a fa vori te to win . Th en lie ra n wide on lap 20, and might have lost touch had Capirossi not had a little slid e o f his own a little further a ro und , so the y bunched up again. Th e rid ing was hard , and Ros si firmly closed th e door o n Bia gg i as he tri ed to ta ke second o n th e run through the valley and up th e o ther si de . Into the n ext s w itc h b ac k , h e took the lead fro m Capirossi. cue' e "I th ou ght it wa s tim e , a nd I want ed to get a break on h im if possible , because I knew we wer e very even ly match ed through th e las t co rn e r," Ross i said. He went flying into th e next sha rp right - an d that wa s it. The fro nt s lid , a nd he wa s down and in the grave l. "A pity, " he said later. "I lo st th e front under bra kin g , but J do n't feel it was a st up id c ra s h ." So Capirossi led into the la st lap, and wh en Biaggi' s inev ita ble attack came as they ra n off th e hill, he was o nly be hind for a fraction of a second . Then they ra n into Arr abiata, a pair of very fast co rners , Ca piros si fo rced back inside under braking to s tea l the line very forcefully. The end came on the way into the same corn er w he re Ro s si h a d crashed . Carlos Checa (7) finished se cond again, aided som e w hat by Ro ssi and Biaggi's crashes. Alex Barros (10) started from pole position, but crashed while racing with Checa. n eVIls • JUNE 7 . 2000 7

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