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/128628
o n 0 r: n I World Cham pionship Road R a c e Series Round 1 1 : C z e c h G rand P r ix c rankcase , thought to have been p ic k ed up from the track after the w hite lines were shot-blasted clean, wh ich went some way to ex pla ining h is lack of power. Mc Co y d i d fight back , an d wi th tw o laps left to go was bac k in sec ond place , so that Ro ssi was obliged to ki ck aga in to regain the position . E v en th en , McCoy might have had ano th er attem pt , but for being slowed by back-marker Legrelle, though he did admit, "M y front was pushing and it did get a bi t risk y in the last couple of la p s." In th e end , it went Ros si 's w ay, however , by tw o seco nds o ve r the line. T he last -laps ru sh had left Roberts an othe r four sec o n ds down, w ith a sim ilar d ista nc e to Cap irossi. A little way back , a fi ve -bike group had been going back and fo rth - the three Re p sol H o nd a s as well as McWill iams' A prilia and Aoki 's Suzu ki. T he latter was looking particularly aggressive , but later said he ' d lost revs an d pow er early in the race , and tho ug h he could pass his rivals wi th (Above) Umbrella girts alone couldn't keep riders coolon the grid, blazing hot temperatures prompted teams to add fans as well. Jeremy McWilliams try's to stay cool before the start of the 500cc race, he went on to give Aprilla a top-ten finish In theIr first race with its new fuel-InjectIon system. (Left) The fight for the scraps left behind Biaggi - Kenny Roberts Jr. (2) c h a se s Valentino Rossi (46) and Garry McCoy (24). li n fro nt and a Du nlop rear - fo r the race, all (sai d an un d ismayed Dun lop ma n) i n t h e n atu r e of th e sort of experiment nee ded when developing ' a new chass is . He had outdistanced Cardoso 's Ytwin H onda . Then came T e s sa r i , Legrell e, G iles and Ko ni s hi , with crashers B arr os an d A b e the o n l y reti rements. T he result livened up the cham p i o ns hi p, w i th ju st f i v e r a c e s l e f t. Roberts still lead s, and w ill be champio n i f h e f o ll ow s Ros si h o m e f or every ra c e fr o m no w on . But m ore results li k e t od ay wou ld c ha nge the p o sition , and on e non -fini sh w o ul d rea lly o pe n the ga me u p aga in . He h as 174 p o in t s, n ew seco nd -place man Ross i ha s 13 2, wit h Chec a now th ird with 12 8, Cap irossi w ith 123, Abe with 106 and Ba rros with 104 . m aximum eff ort , they seemed t o fi nd it easy t o pass him back . In t h e en d , Gibernau , fig h t in g a fever in add itio n to hi s rivals , cl aim ed s ixth from C r i v i ll e , t h en Aok i , McWill ia ms an d O k ada , th e w h ol e gro up covered by just over two sec onds . All th ree Honda r ide rs compla ined of h a n d l in g pro b lems . McWillia ms was disappoi nted no t to have had quite enough power t o g ive the fuel -injected Aprilia an eve n m o re i m p res siv e de bu t, thwarted b y t h e c orner ex it -speed of th e Y4 s, though he said ,_" O ur to p sp eed is simil ar, but we need t o r u n s h o r t e r gea rs to match their acceleration." In the closing laps, he also suffered a m isfire, but it had been an encou rag ing debut all the same. Checa wa s 11 th , blaming h imself for a lack of confidence, and only just managing to ho ld off van den Goorb ergh's Y -tw in . Laconi was close behind, the F renchm an also off form w ith a troublesome ear infection . H ar ad a w as fi v e -s ec o n ds away , then anoth er 30 -sec onds ba ck came Luca Cad a lo ra o n the Mod enas , just in the points an d saying : " I gained c o n fi de nce o n l y a fte r the tire went off. " H e h ad sw it ch ed t o an old favorite combination of his - a M iche- 25 0 c c R A CE The leaders resolve d themse l ves early fo r a ra ce not rich in excitement - Nakano choosing slightly softer tires than his riva ls, and running into the firs t corner ahead of his t eam m at e Jacque, with Melandri and Ukawa in cl ose pursuit, and Waldm ann coming up quickly into fifth , ahead of Katoh . There was a bit of shuffling about in the earl y laps, wi th Ukawa picking h is wa y firmly th rough t o take the l e a d on l a p t h ree, at which point Melandri was ahead of Jacque. Then Nakano ran wide, dropping from sec ond to fourth in th e sp ace of one lap . But they were still all close and j ock ey ing for pos ition, 'and on e lap lat er Nakano was back in second , t ailing Ukawa until he moved firml y pa st on lap nine. From then on he was never head e d, and though Ukawa 's yellow \. 10 AUGUST 30 , 2000' cu e I e n e vv s