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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128628
World Championship R o ad Race S erie s R o u n d 1 1 : Czech Grand P r ix riders and for a rela tively small crowd of 38 ,000. Blazing sunshine and bak ing tra ck tem peratures of 48 degrees, barely relieved by an unexpe cted heavy , but brief, cloudburst just after the end of the first race of the day. "I had my fingers crossed because I changed my tires at the last minute on the grid," said Biagg i later. "I had to take some risks - it was so hot , and the bike was sl iding a lot early on . I tried to keep the race run at my pace - this is exactly the r esult I need ," he said . Behind him, front-row starter Garry McCoy was on a serious charge, moving th rough to second place on the eighth lap , and then defending it vigorously from Valentino Rossi , his sliding sty le proving a t ough nut for the It a li a n to c rack. B u t Rossi won th rough in the end , the Nastro Azzu rro Ho nda rider moving to second in the cham p io ns hi p as well , so that in h is first season in the class he poses a stil l -dista nt but rap idly growing threat to po ints leader Ken ny Roberts Jr. "My tact ics we re wrong ," Ross i said later. " I pushed too hard in the early laps to chase Max and I spoiled my tires. But with five races left and 42 po ints to go to catch Roberts , the By MI CHAEL S COTT PH OT OS By G OLD £, G OO SE BRNO, CZECH REPUBUC, AUGUST 20 a x Biaggi is back . After an absence from the rostrum that has lasted the wh ole season, the Roman was rampant at Brno, a track where he has won four times before on a 250, and once on a 500. And he did it in his preferred and - to Czech fans - familiar style, taking the lead on the second of 22 laps around the circuit. Stretching away until he had such an advantage that he could afford to celebrate his last lap with his long-forgotten brand of wheelies and waves. Even so, he still won by more than 6. 5 seconds, after dominating p rac t ice as we ll, t o g ive Ya maha th e i r thi rd wi n of the season . It was a fin e return to form , but not t he most sig nifica nt event of a fi ne race. That was Val entino Rossi moving in to second in the cha m pions hip , fi nishing second in the race . With five rounds left he is just 42 points behind Kenny Roberts ...and the chase is on . Conditions were punish ingly hot at the first race back after the four -week summer break , 11th of 16 rounds, for M 6 A U G UST 30 , 2000' c ue I e n e vv s title is something to go fo r. A nd riding behind McCoy - that's an experience you would buy a ticket to watch ." McCoy was third, thwarted on the last lap by a back- marker from mak ing yet another attack on Rossi after a spirited ride . The Red Bull Yamaha rider had also lost time at the start of the race, he said, when he.'d been boxed in by riders whose different cornering style meant he was blocked mid-corner, unable to use his own wheelsp in specialty . "T hat' s when my tires work best," he said . Roberts was fourth , close behind this group, and frustra ted by his rela tive lack of straight-line speed on the T elefonic a MoviStar Suzuki. " I wasn't th ink in g about the points to day," he said. "W e nee d to improve o ur b ik e. At our present rate of improvement , we're going t o get sla ughtered next year." Capi rossi was fifth, a her o ic effort from the Em erso n Pons Ho nda rider who h ad b roken h is rig ht hand in a practice crash , and fa inted in his pit after the ra ce - h is teammate Alex Ba rr o s crashed out ea rly on . Then came Sete Gibernau (Repso l Ho nda), fighting his way back to the fron t of a big group to lead tea mmate Alex Max Blaggl (4 ) l e ad s Valentino Ross i (46), Loris Caplrossl (65) and , Kenny Roberts Jr. (2) at t he start of the Czech Grand Prix. Blaggl ran away in the race, w inn ing by over six seconds. Criville , second Suzuki rider No buatsu Aoki , Jeremy McWilliams - having a first race on the new fuel -injected ApriJia V-twin - and third Repsol ma n T a d a y u k i Okada . Carlos Checa (Marlboro Yamaha ) was a distant 11 th , losing second place i n the cha mpionship after a weekend where he consol idated his m id -season do l drums. Norick Abe (Antena 3 Yama ha) also crashe d out, on the first la p. Earli er, Sh in ya Nakano had closed up the po ints ga p on h is te ammate Olivier J ac qu e w ith a fin e win in th e 2 50cc ra c e. He led fro m th e start, gave way for a w hile to Suzuka Eig ht H o ur w i n ner T ohru Uk a w a ( S he ll Adv a nc e Hon d a ) , th en got bac k in fr on t t o pul l away fo r a c lea r wi n . Uk a w a wa s seco nd, wit h Jac q ue f e n d in g off a persis te n t M a r c o Melandri (Apri lia) for th ird . Ralf Wa ldma n n (A prilia ) ha d been wi t h t he lead ers, dropping away to a relatively dista nt fifth, ahead of Daijiro Katoh