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/128624
l em rea ll y , si nc e the sa me was tru e fo r eve ryo ne. U k aw a p us hed h im h a r d un t i l ha lf -di st an c e wh en he eased off and sett le d fo r a sa fe se cond , reme m beri ng that he 'd cra shed o ut th e p re v i o us t w o years . H e too had tir e probl ems . " It' s been such a long t ime since we saw t he sun it' s hard t o make a choice ," he j oked . Marco Me landri had been third on the fi rst two l aps, b ut his ti re problem s wer e rea ll y d isastro us, a nd he sped away b ac k w ard s for th e n ex t 12 la ps before ret i rin g , his front sl iding so bad ly it was all he co uld do to avo id f all in g o ff. Th i s l eft N a kano al one for thi rd . He r eveal ed af te r th e ra c e th at h is Br iti sh GP pra c ti ce sp i ll (Above) Tetsuya Harada (31), Max Blagg; (4), Rossi (46) and Tadayuki Okada (8) try to catch the lead group. (Left) Jacque was never headed and he eventually won by over 11 seconds. (Be low ) Olivier Jacque (19) leads Tohru Ukawa (4 ), Marco Melandri (13) and the rest of the 250cc pack en route to w inning the race. agai n a h er o ic ride fr om th e ba c k . H e fin i sh ed e i g h t h, ha lf -a - se c o n d ahea d of Porto . West was 10th, wi th St i g ef el t rig h t b e hi n d , t he n N i eto four sec on d beh ind. J acq u e stretc he d hi s po in ts lead and he is now 16 ahead of N ak ano , 18 5 -1 69 . U k a w a h a s 1 6 5 , th en Ka toh 14 7 , all a long way ahead of fifth -p l ac ed W aldmann w it h 97 an d W est w it h 88 . g r essed. In ev it abl y fro m l ap t en h e st a r t ed to l o s e posi t io n , t o Rolfo, Fonsi Nieto, t hen Batta ini and M at su do's Ya ma ha . Th en t h e En g li sh man 's m ot or fin a ll y stopp ed , letting Po rto past as we ll . By th e fi nis h , Batta in i had st uck o n t he back o f Ro lfo , t he o t hers had d ropped b a c k , a nd Wa ldmann h ad c au g h t th em o n t he l a st lap , o nce 1 2Scc GRANO PR IX Th e fir st - c o rn e r p il e - u p r e al l y took th e st i n g o u t of this , a nd as Al zamora , Pogg ial i and Azu ma r eturn ed t o the p i t s , respec t ive ly fu m i ng , weepi ng a nd r es ign ed , U i easil y passed first -lap lead er Sanna and was ne ver hea ded ag ain . Sa n na h ad left h im w i t h a fract u re i n hi s b a ck , a n d though p a inkill e r s h ad see n hi m through prac t ic e , he' d had an allergi c react io n th e night before t h e ra ce and h a d to s to p tak ing th em . An d so th e p roc essio n contin ued, wi t h p r e c i o u s l i tt le act i on . Katoh w a s four t h, a lm o st 10 s e c onds b eh i nd N a k an o ; h e 'd b e en under p r es su r e fro m N o ehl es in the l a st laps , bu t t he you ng Ger m an had lost to uc h slig h tl y at th e fin i sh , u nd e r p ress u re him self from Ro ber to Ro lfo , in h is last ride o n i nj u re d Hofm ann 's Ap rilia . Th e Ita l ia n ha d pre v ail ed ov er w hat ha d been a goo d gang i n t he m id d l e of th e ra c e, le d in t he early stages b y Jam ie Rob in so n , hero ic al l y re sist ing at tac k in sp ite of losin g t op- en d po we r as the ra ce pr o c ue I e n e VOl.. • AUGUST 2 . 2000 15