Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

t h a t e li m in ate d six riders - in clu d in g d efe nd ing c h a m pion Emil io A lza mo ra a n d h is M ov iS t a r Honda , D e r b i ' s M anu el Poggi al i and B en ett on ' s M a s a o Az u ma . I t was ap pa rent l y tr igg e red b y im p u ls iv e y o u n g Fre nc h ma n Ran d y d e Pu ni et a nd / o r It ali an M a ssi m o S abb at a n i. T h is left D erbi' s Youi c hi tn t o t ake a f ift h win o f the year a n d h is t hi rd in s ucc e s s i o n, w i t h th e Ap ri li a s o f Roberto L o c atelli a nd S im o ne Sann a seco nd a n d t h ird, re sp ective ly . SOOcc GRANO PRIX Rob ert s g ot th e j u m p f r om the sta rt , a nd fo r t h is c la ss a t lea st t h er e ' we re n o i nd i s c re tio ns i n th e f irst t ig h t co rne r as C ap i ro s si and Barros f o l lo we d h i m ar o u nd , B i a ggi a n d Ab e clo se b eh i n d , a nd t he n A ok i. Ro ssi h ad b e en a ll b u t left o n t h e li ne , s a yin g lat er : "I m o v e d t he n sto pped beca use I was a fra id o f ge t t in g a ju mp sta rt." For t he first few la ps not a great d ea l h a p p en ed . All had chosen hard tires in th e su n ny wea ther , a nd w ere waiti ng fo r th em to warm u p . T h en a s Rossi started moving impressiv e ly fo r w a r ds A oki disappe ared f r o m t h e l e ad in g group , fall i ng off in t h e fir st c o rner, and r em ount ing well down t h e fi eld . Rossi w a s in t h e top 1 0 by lap four. On th e next lap , Barros m o v ed f irm ly insid e t eammate Cap iross i , a n d st art ed t o lean o n Roberts . T h e p ace w a s s low, with th e Ameri can i nt en t on preserv ing his tires , so he d idn 't f ig ht b a c k w h e n B a r r o s t ook t he lead into t he fi rst co rner (w h e re R o ssi, se tti n g fast e st l a p as he On lap 19 , t h e pair were t here, o f a to w to t he fro nt. F or by now it and it was n o w a s ev en-str ong w as l o o k i n g p ossible th at R o s s i gro up c h a s i n g B arr o s - with just w ould o ve rco me a ll th e o d ds a n d o ve r a secon d c o v er in g all of t hem . m o st of t he overtaking w a s d o ne) o n l ap eig h t. B y now Ha rada h ad m o v ed ra pi d ly t h ro ug h fro m a m e d io c r e s tar t , 11 t h o n l a p on e , s o th at he t o o k fourth pl a c e fro m B iagg i e ve n as h is t e ammate M cWill iams c r as hed o u t , f r u s trated n o t o nl y at b ei n g b eh in d H a r a d a for o nc e , bu t a l so stu ck b ehi nd a n u m b er of V -fo u rs . T he J apanes e A p r ili a r id er was n 't fin ish ed y et , t h oug h , o u t b ra ki ng C ap irossi t o c ha lle n ge fo r th i rd as the l e a d in g gro up p i l ed u p b eh in d Ba r ros , th e Bra zili an also savi ng h is tires for t he f in al show dow n . Ro ss i wa s n ow pro gre s si ng p a st th e Re psol b i k e s , get t ing ahea d of Criv ille a nd G ibe rn au eve n a s fas tstarting J u rgen va n d en Goo r be rgh 's V - t w i n H onda w as dro ppin g b a c k t he o t her w a y . The It a l ia n was h ead i n g th e g rou p and t h e y were trying to g o wi th hi m when Crivill e en ded a du ll w eek end b y pushing too far an d sli d in g o ff. Van d en Goorbe rgh w as r ig h t be hind a nd a lso fe ll, b ut w h ile C r ivi lle said he ' d had a bum p f r om b eh ind, b oth the fol lowinq r id e r a nd t he T V ev ide n ce c o n t r a d i c t e d h i s claim . Gi be rn a u had bee n h e ad i n g t he group , b u t i n fact it was Oka da who took th e wake - u p ca ll a n d fo ll o w ed The early leader w a s Kenny Roberts Jr. (2 1, but he was run down by Capirossi (651 and Barros (101. Still, Roberts ended up t hird , after passing Ca pirossi on t he last lap, t o f urt her extend his c ha mpionshi p po ints le ad. make it u p to j oin the le ad e rs . j o ined o n be hi nd to tak e ad v a nt age Track m odifi cations cut five seconds off an already short lap tim e; the nature of the Sachsenring circu it kept those tim es very clo se. By the end of two days of coo l but dry practice the top 13 riders were all within one second of pole. And World Champ ion A lex Criville was at the wrong end of that second . The man at the right end was Kenny Roberts Jr., who had been second after Friday, until his crew " found som e setti ngs that made me more comfortable at high lean angles. so I could use the brak es more and move around the bike more - its som ething we've been struggling with for a whil e." Roberts was in full obfuscatio n mode, tellin g a press conference that he hadn't been usin g the 16 .5-inch rear tire that was pretty much the universal choice, even thou gh Michelin and peopl e on his team had already told everybody he'd been using them all along. "Whic h tire to you expect to race on, " he was asked at the postpractice press conference. "I'll tell you after the race," he said coyly . He had only wanted to make sure of a front -row start he said, but his ti me was good enough to survive late attacks from A lex Barros and Max Biaggi, who pushed Loris Capirossi down to fourth . Both found their speed at the end of the session, though Barros had been qu ick throughout, his and team m ate Capi rossi's Pons Hondas again looking well sett led and comfortable to ride in a way the Repsol riders envied deeply. He was worri ed about the tire prob lem. like everybody , with the set of long left- hand corners of everyincreasing speed left by the remova l of one chicane building up heat and com promis ing tire choice. ' "I will only decid e tom orrow morning," Barros said. Biaggi had been barely in the top 10 unt il he reeled off two fast laps in the closing m inu tes. He adm itte d: " We still have a lot of problems - this track is quite hard for us. But I'm really motivated. I will go out and attack in the race." It was about his only option, if he wanted to leave a good impre ssion before the mid-summer break after his dire season 50 far. Capirossi had been quick all the time, but only in short bursts. "This track is very hard work, and my hand is painful," he said (he suffered fractur es at Asse n four weeks ago) . "I wil l look for another solution with Dr. [Claudio] Costa tomorrow." Ju st how ti ght the tra ck is can be gauged from the fact that Jur- gen van den Goorbergh led row two , his V-twin TSR Honda shading a numb er of ill ustrious V-fours. Am ong them was Briti sh GP winner Valentino Rossi, who had looked superb all through pract ice - daring but in control - and was fastest on Friday. Then he crashed in the final session, highsided on a slow corner by a harder tire that caught him out . Unhurt he ran back to get his other bike, and almo st did the same thing agai n, aft er which he fail ed to im prov e his lap ti me of the day before . Which had been set after emergency medical treatme nt in the morning, by the way , when he'd had a high tempe rature - more work for Dr. Costa. Nobuatsu Aoki was next , then Jeremy McWill iams , with team mate Tetsuy a Harada leading row three, both Aprili a riders strugglin g with wheelies because of short gearing - you m ight not expect it , but faster, m ore flowinq tracks suit the bik e better. He had Tadayuki Okada along side, then Garry McCoy and Sete Gibernau - and only then Criv ill e, whose time gap was only eight tenth s from pole, proving he was runnin g reasonabl y well . Th e problem is the lack of overta king oppo rtunities at the tight track , so that the leader of the fourth row of the grid might expect a difficult afternoon. "Everyth ing depends on how good a start I can get ," Criville said. Regis Laconi was next, then Norick Ab e and Luca Cadalora on the Modenas, with Carlos Checa leading row five on his Friday time, from Jose-Luis Cardoso and the two one-race riders Kayoh (substi tut ing form the injured Konishi on the TSR Honda) and Tessari , a wild card on the Paton. The 2505 could mu ster only eight riders in the first second, but they also man aged som e creati ve reshuffi ing in the closing m inutes, with Marco Melandri knocked off his early lead by old hands Olivier Ja cque and Tohru Ukaw a, the trio jo ined on the front row by happy rook ie Klaus Noehles, who m ade his GP debut here last year as a 125 wild card . It was Jacqu e's 13th time on pole, and he professed himself surprised by the position . "We were just working on trying to stop the tires chattering," he said. He was one of the few who preferred the older track , slower, with a chica ne tami ng this year's fast part. "The new layout puts more em phasis on power, which favors the other bik es mo re than the Yam aha," he explained. cue I e n e _ S • AUGUST 2,2000 13

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