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/128616
ee l n n World Championship R o a d R a c in g Series Round 6 : Ita lian Grand Prix ~G RA CINZA Jeremy McWilliams (9 9) put the Apri lla V-twin on the podium with a th irdplace finish. Here he le ads Roberts Jr. (2 ) and Nobuatsu Aoki (9). "It was such a close fight, " s a id Biagg i afterwards. "I touc hed his ba ck whe e l with my brake le ver, and I was down . I wanted to win so much , but I would have been happy enough with second - it's a re a l shame," he sa id, of his second -success ive race crash in his nightmare s e a so n. Capiross i waved in tr iumph wh en he realiz ed he was alone , but sa id later: "It would have been fantast ic to have had three Itali an s o n th e rostr um , and I th in k' co u ld ha ve won anywa y. " Th e ra ce a lso e ra s e d bad memories of his di s qu al ification h e re last year, a fter he wa s blamed for a startline collision . Barros h a d a lso gone by this stage, anoth er to lose the front e nd under downh ill br ak ing , behind Checa a t t he tim e and wit h five laps le ft. Thi s le ft th e Sp an ia rd a lon e , a n d looking good after wha t was, in ret ro s pect, a ve ry ma ture race. "I d idn 't feel to ta lly comfo rtable so , wa s just wor king on ma inta ining m y pos it ion an d p a ce, " Ch eca s a id . "T he re were a lot of c ras hes toda y , but m ist a k e s h app en - es pe ci a ll y when you 've got three Italians hungry to win th ei r home GP. " McWilliams was s ix seconds behind , also delighted to profit from the m istakes of others. "I co uld see the leaders and l'd be e n try ing to close u p, but every tim e ' we n t faster the b a c k tire slid mor e ," he sa id. Happy to be th e first Briton o n the rostrum s ince Ma c ken zie ba c k in 1993, he a dded: "It was rea lly im porta nt for Ap rilia to get th is res u lt. The y've been wor king so ha rd with th e new bike , and it was rea lly good for me to da y." His teammate Te tsuya Harada had be en with him for a wh ile ea rlier in the race, bu t had fallen back whe n 8 J U N E 7 ,2000 : cue • EO "the e ng ine stop pe d " a nd he retire d with two la ps left. be en chas in g Mc C o y h a d McWillia ms , with a go od chance of ca tc hing him , whe n he also lost the fro nt under bra king a nd slid off. Th is meant that the next group, who had at one stage bee n d is puting seventh , was ins te ad looking at fou rth . It went to Aoki after a strong ride , his d iffe rent technique meaning h e d id no t suffer from Roberts' problems , a nd he kept a p ers istent Abe three tenths behind over the line , with Roberts a no the r two te nth s adrift. Reg is Laconi was seventh , j u s t ho ld ing o ff Oka da , b a tt ling all the way to find t raction on th e Hond a . Biaggi re mou nte d and claimed ninth pl ac e , o ne sec o n d ahe ad of S et e Gibernau' s Honda, th e Span iard battling to fend of Jurge n van den Goo rbe rgh 's ever -pr esent V-twin . Ro ss i a lso rem ounted, fini shin g 12 th , with th e twins o f C ard o s o , Leg rell e a nd Koni sh i the la st fini she rs , a ll in the po ints . David de Ge a's Moden a s stopped with clu tch tr o ubl es after tw o la p s ; th e Paton m a de jus t o ne lap be fo re retirin g . Ch eca a nd Roberts now s ha re the points lead with 100; Abe is third with 65 , C ap iross i's fo urth wit h 6 3 a n d McC oy 61 . Then come Cr iv ille and Aoki , e q ual sixth with 59 poi nts . With 10 races rema ining , there is s till plen ty of racing left in it. 250cc GRANO PR IX Th e curious th ing about the 250cc race was the vast num ber of c rashes , at all leve ls , a nd ma ny of them at the same tig ht rig ht -h a nd corner whe re later Rossi, Biagg i a nd McCoy wou ld tu m ble . There had been a light sprinkle of ra in b e fo re th e race , a nd , t ho ug h it had d rie d, it le ft the track cool, while heavy rain the night before had was hed away muc h of the rub ber laid do wn in practice. The ,125s had a lready raced, but had not laid down enough rubbe r to sort out the track. n e _ s The on ly o ne to fa ll on the first lap was th e luc kles s Alex Hofm a nn , s us ta in ing a 'b ro k e n le g - m e anwhile J a c qu e was le a di n g wa y ahead of t e a m m a t e Nak a no , t h e Yamahas making the most of th eir good sta rt to try a nd s teal an advantage o ve r the faster Aprilias. That d idn 't last long , an d b o t h Lucchi and Wa ldmann came charging past on a huge wave of horsepower the second time down the long and fast start -finish straight. But horse power isn 't everything , as Waldmann was soo n to demo nstrate halfway around the third lap , after having taken the lead h imse lf. Discretion is also wo rth something , when the alte rnati ve is lo s in g the front in to t h e downh ill bend off the first hillside, " I co u ld have had som e e a s y points, a nd instead' have no th ing ," he sa id. Lu c chi le d o n e m ore lap , but Mu g ell o is more than just a long straight, and Jacque wa s in fine form , sa ying later: "I ha d a softer fro nt tire , and I t ried in th e ear ly la ps to g et some adva ntage." Escape pro ved impossible, how ev er , a nd the three stuc k to gether until the 11th la p. By this time, four more riders had a lso crashed on th e not ori ous right-hander with its puzzling but dead ly s lipp e ry patch - Jam ie Robinson ta king down fellow Briton Jason Vince nt o n la p four , Klaus Noehles going o ne lap later, and David Garcia after another three laps . Then it was Lucchi's turn , also under braki ng .. . and t o everyone's surprise, the Yamahas we re up fro nt a nd in control with 10 laps rem a ining . No o ne woul d h a ve ex pec ted t h is b e fo re t he race, especia lly give n Naka no's heavy Frida y crash. At th is point, Jacq ue 's a dva nta ge wa s so s le nde r as to be n e g ligibl e , and on la p 15 Naka no rev ersed th e order and see med set to p ull a way. But th en again J acq ue was ba ck with him , and it wo uld cl e a rly go to t he fina l lap. Capirossi was thrilled with his victory - arguably the biggest of his career. An d s o it d id , b eg inn ing with a c onvincing attac k into the first c o rner , wh ich deci d e d th e is s ue - fo r J a cqu e , ran wide, and Nak a no esca ped to win by almost eight tenths of a second. '" knew I had an advantage at the end of the race because I ha d a ha rder tire, and I couldn't believe it whe n he c ha llenged me. He really is some rider," Nakano sa id generously afterwards . Which was n ice , because J a c q ue was plainly depressed at ye t aga in ha ving to giv e best to h is super-ta lented team mate . He did n ' t blame tire s for h is defeat, but the fact tha t his gea ring was slightly s ho rter, "I ha d to let h im go, " he said. It was the Chesterfield team 's sec ond one- two of the yea r - t he first com ing in South Africa . The crashes dec imated the pursuit, but three riders h ad emerg ed e a rly on , chasing the leaders - th e factory Hondas of Tohru Ukawa and Daijiro Katoh , and Ma rco Mela nd ri' s Aprilia. Fo r once, Uka wa se e m ed to have the advantage over his tormentor Katoh, though the younger rider did le a d the group for three laps in th e clos ing stages. Ukawa was firmly back in front on the last lap , and all th e wa y into the last corner, and through most of it. Then his ba c k wheel skip ped si de ways, gripped, and he was over the highs ide. "T h a t was a s tupid mistake," he s a id. '" was just pushing too ha rd, but bo th t h e others we re a little fa s t e r than m e , so I wante d some a dvanta ge onto the stra igh t." Ka toh na rrowly defea te d Me landri , on th e rostru m a gai n in s p ite of nev er ha vin g seen t he tra ck be fore, b ut de c lining to crow. "It 's only be c aus e th re e peopl e crashed in fro nt of me I'v e h a d t roubl e with my set-u p a ll weekend ," he s a id .