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/128620
Wor ld C h a m p ions h ip R o a d Race Ser ies Round B : Dutch TT ing jus t in fro n t o f Ed o Raci n g ' s S ebastian Po rto . 500cc GRANO PR IX The 2 p.m . start ca me a nd the riders ha d no c ho ic e bu t to go out o n slicks. Th e ra c e ha d been decla red a dry ra c e , which mea nt it wou ld be stopped if it started ra in ing , which it did. But not befo re Ke n ny Ro berts Jr.'s da y came to a viole nt e nd . After na iling the holeshot, Roberts J r. was bra king for a fas t right hand kink when th e rear wheel loc ked up , then caught traction , a class ic over the bars highside . He landed hard on his ba c k, then ski tt led into the g ra vel trap . Almost im med iately he mov ed his righ t le g , then got up o n his ow n powe r, and wal ked off. The on ly conso latio n he could ta ke fro m the day wa s that he wa s a ble to walk a way from the crash and still le a d t h e 500cc cha m pi onship. "I thought I m ight get are-start after the race wa s stopped and I felt I cou ld ha ve g on e the distan c e . but th ere was no c h a nc e , so that was that , " h e s a id in a Suzuk i pres s release befor e lea ving th e track for a flight home to Modesto a nd th e celebration of h is grandfather Buster's 80th birthday. Capirossi had broken two bones in the back of h is left hand in a morning warm -up c rash . His status for the race was doubtful , but he somehow made it and made it to the front after Roberts fell. How long he 'd la st was the s ubject of some s peculation , bu t it didn't matter. Ra in bega n to fall on th e fourth la p a n d th e race wa s s to p ped. Th e fina l 17 laps wo uld be ru n and th e ra c e wo uld be sco red on aggregate time . Vale ntino Rossi got the ju m p in the second part of th e race with Ba rros , Cr iville , and O kada close behind . Be cause he 'd chosen intermediate tires front and rear, Rossi ' s time at th e front was short-lived as the track dr ied . He would s lowly make his way ba ck to s ixth . barely ahead of Repsol YPF Honda 's Sete Gibe rnau who also ma de a n un wis e tire choice. lAbove) The race w in came down to a ba ttle between Alex Ba rros (10) and W orld Cha m p io n Alex Criville (11. (Right) Ba rros t ook the win, the second of hi s career. (Bottom) Cri vill e , Barros and thirdplace finisher Loris Ca piro ssi ce le b ra t e . For a while he was th e hero , ta king the le a d from T eam Chest erfi eld Yamaha Tech 3 's Sh inya Nakano on the third la p and getting into a speed battle with teammate Toh ru Ukawa. "At t he start I just went for it th rough the spray," West said. "I didn't care whether I crashed on the first lap o r not, bec ause wh e re I was on the g ri d was no g o od anyway . I j ust pa ssed as many g uys as I co uld and as the ra in got wor se , I felt com fort a ble goi ng to the fron t." We s t w a s fearless, r e p ell in g eve ry attempt by the more experienced Uk a wa to get past, and re passing when he couldn 't hold him back . "Whe n Anthon y got to the front I was able to follow him easily and we ha d a good ' ba ttle," Ukawa sa id. "He wa s a little quicker into the corn ers th an me , but fina lly I go t in fro nt and just pu shed un til th e finis h." The pa s s for the lead came on th e 12 th of 18 la ps and it wa s decis ive . Ending the 13th Ukawa had a 3 .889s econd le ad and s tretc he d it to the e nd to 5 .954 . By th en it was over Team 'Che ste rfie ld Ya ma ha T ec h 3 's Olivie r Jacque . The Frenchma n had ne ver finished a race at As s en an d s aid he was ne rvous. "I fee l like I' ve finally ov ercome my As s en jinx," he said after taking second. J a cq ue h a d p a s s e d We st o n th e 14 th la p and held the s pot without a c ha llenge . J a c qu e ' s teammate Naka no fell ba c k to fo urth b e fore m o vin g in t o th ird o n th e penultima te lap . 8 J U LY 5 ,2000' cue I e RIZLA+DUTCH TT "I didn't want to tak e an y risks today," the championship leader sa id. "The conditions out there were horrendous, extremely difficult. I chose a hard com pound wet tire, but we kept our dry sus pens ion settings so that when the rain ca me do wn ha rd, it was diffic ult for me to be as fas t as the others." Petro nas Sprint Te am TV's Naoki Ma ts udo was 31 seconds ba c k in fifth wi t h a bo ut five seconds on Jamie Rob inso n on t he Q UB Team Optimum Aprilia . "I was happy when it was rammg heaviest," Robinson said a fte r finishnevvs