Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

W o r ld Cha m p ions h ip R o a d R a c in g Series Round S : Italia n Grand Prix The Italian 5 00cc Grand PrIx at Mugello was a scintillating race. Faststarter Kenny Roberts .Jr. 1 tries to hold off Valentino Rossi 146). Loris 2) Capirossi 165) and Norick Abe Ihidden). /i B y M ICHA EL S COTT P HOT OS BY G O LD £, G OO SE <'1 he co nf rontatio n o f th e season I fin all y ha pp en ed a t th e Ita lian G rand Prix, w he n Ma x Bia g gi and Valentino Rossi came head to head in a brut al battI e fo r v ic t o ry at th eir home race . History will ha ve to re cord it as a d raw, after both riders fe ll off in th e closi ng stages of a bre athta kingly ex cit ing ra c e at Muge llo . Th e a ll-Ita lia n her o m antle was left to th e ir c o ns ta nt co mpa nio n on th e tra ck , a n d th e man wh o had led much of th e race - Lor is Capirossi who in th e e nd cla imed his s e cond care er 500cc win , fo u r ye a rs (a nd on e 250 c c World Champ ionship ) aft er th e first . In the process , Capirossi, on his Emerson Honda became the rider to take Honda one race a he a d of previ ous record ho lders MV Agusta in the all-t ime ha ll of fame . Th is was the m a rq ue ' s 140th win - and ironically enoug h , in a race where their fac to ry team 's troubles co ntinued - it was achieved by a lea se -tea m rider using la st year's moto rcycle. "My back tir e wa s s lidi ng a t th e end , a nd I ha d th ought I cou ld o nly th ink of a top -th re e finis h ," he s a id later, "When I saw the other two guys fall down, I wa s ver y happy." Rossi's crash cam e with two out of 23 laps left , a fte r the wildly popular youngste r had added to h is fame with a strong challenge for pole position , 6 .JUNE 7 , 2000' cue I e a nd a swas h b uck lin g race as th e thre e Ita lians swa pped position s ba ck and forth, so meti me s s e veral t im e s each lap of the fast, pictu resque a nd t e chni c all y d iffi cult c ir c ui t in t he Appenine foothills on th e outskirts of Floren ce. Marlbor o Yamaha ' s Bia g g i saved h is c ra s h for th e final lap , ju st two co rne rs fro m t he fin ish, a ft e r h e 'd once c ha llenged Ca piros s i, only to be firm ly s hoved ba c k int o seco nd . He fell b e cau s e his front b ra k e leve r touched Cap iross i's re ar wh ee l - a n indication of how close the ra c e had been. T he s ec ond Mar lb oro Ya maha rid er , Carl os Checa , finis he d runner up by d int o f a more carefu l r id e . Onc e again unable to mat ch the fastest pace, he kept h is head and was best of the rest for a finis h that moved him into a shared lead of th e World Championship with Telefonica MoviStar Suzuki rider Kenny Roberts Jr. , who slumped to a dispirited sixth place after running into handling and drive prob lems th at m e a nt he was b e a t en n o t o nly by J e r e m y Mc Williams ' s 5 0 0c c V-twin Ap rilia, but a lso - ra t he r unexpected ly - by hi s t e amm at e Nobuatsu Aoki a nd Norick Ab e on th e An ten a Yama ha . Rob erts wo uld ha ve be en even fur the r do wn , bu t for the two Ita lians crash ing , as well as Red Bu ll Yam aha ' s Garry McCoy , who was clos ing on McWilliams whe n he fell. n e vv s McWill iams's third wa s the fir st ro s tr um finish for a U.K. rid er (he' s from Ireland) sin ce 1993 , and was a lso timely for th e Ita lia n brand after fa ctory owne r Ivan Beggio had threate ne d to pu ll the plug on th e V-twin project if it d id not get a rostrum finish by now. Hond a ' s factor y-team a g on y con tinued , with Tadayuki Ok ada th e best Repsol finisher in eighth , wh ile th e luc kless Alex Criv ille's win in Franc e turn ed out to be a on e -ra ce wonder. The defending champion had c ra s he d twic e in practice, and fell aga in in the race , without ever ha ving made much of an im pres sio n. Crashes galore in the 250cc ra ce s aw both fast Aprilia riders fa ll out Ra lf Waldmann early on wh ile lead ing , and pole starter Marcellino Luc ch i at ha lf-distance of the 21- lap race whil e running a close second. This left the wa y open for a surprise sec ond one -two of the season fo r Chesterfield Yama ha teammates S h inya Nakano a nd O livie r Jacque , the Japanese ride r ultima tely p roving the s tro nger aft er a n ultr a -clos e race in s p ite of a he a v y c ras h two da ys before . S he ll Adv an c e Honda 's Tohru Ukawa crashe d out of th ird place on the ver y last bend , lea ving a luc ky last rostrum place to Da ijiro Katoh on the Axo Honda ; Katoh had been struggling somewhat all weekend in his first time at the fast and difficult Ita lia n circuit. I Roberto Locatelli ran awa y with the 125cc GP , the first race of the day , breaking awa y o n the first lap while a huge ga ng brawled behind him . T h e b a ttl e for second was reso lved on ly o n the las t corner, when teenager Manuel Pogg ial i and his De rbi pulled a despe rate o utbra king mov e onl y t o knock o ff fellow Italian Lucio Cecchinello and give the p a ck a final s huffle . Mirko Giansanti and Be ne tton teammate Masao Azuma wer e the beneficiaries , finish ing second and thi rd , whi le Giansanti took over the championship lead. 500cc G RA N O PR IX The race was vivid and breathtaking from the start, when Roberts leapt through from row two to lead away , only for Rossi to take the lead before they'd completed the lap , under the noses of his large fan club spanning al most the whole of one of the track's ha ndy hillsi des. O ne mo re lap a nd it wa s Capirossi in front , Roberts han g ing o n to th ird with fast starter Abe on h is h e el s , a nd th e two Ya ma has of Chec a and Bia gg i beh ind him , ha ving dis p lac ed Aok i. All the way down th e field people were swapping ba ck and forth , diving underneath under braking , or stealing th e line into the track 's seve ra l fast Sbends , and all the bikes were so close that posit ion chang es were too nu merous and complex to begin to record. But the trends seemed clea r

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