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/128630
soon afterwards while disputing t he lead w it h eventual winner E m il io Alzamora and the Te lefo nic a MoviS tar Ho nda . Diesel Aprilia's Roberto Locatelli was second , and with Mirko Giansanti and Noboru Ueda among a number of crashers , the Italian moved into a handy championship lead. SOOcc GRANO PR I X McCoy led off the line , but Gibernau took over before they were halfway a round the first lap , after taking a real flye r. He comfortably held t h e le a d fo r the first five la p s , as McCoy a nd Ro berts he ld close forma t io n b eh ind h im , wit h La c oni effec tivel y hold ing off th e pu rsuit in fourth. By th e t ime Nor ick Abe d isp laced th e F re n c h m a n , th e ga p t o th e le ad ers wa s m ore than tw o s e c ond s - bad ne ws for th e likes of Rossi, wh o had fini sh ed th e fir st lap d own in 11 th plac e , and wh o kne w a s well a s a nybody tha t th is wa s a tr a c k with few op po rtunitie s to pass . McCoy us ed one of th e few s pots , t he brak in g are a into t u rn o ne , t o move past Gibernau at th e sta rt of la p s ix, with Ro be rts following him past two la ps la t e r. But th e trio stay e d together as the race approac he d ha lf d ista nc e . Beh ind th em a huge gang of fac tory ride rs , plus va n den Goorbe rg h , h ad b e en jockeyi ng for positio n . Biaggi wa s the firs t big na me to get to th e front of it, on lap seven - but once again it wa s Ros si ma king the most impress ive prog ress , picking -off rid ers with im p res s ive c e rtai nty to take fifth from Ab e on la p 10 . Now he was hounding the hard-topa ss Biaggi, e ve n a s th e pa ir of th e m started to close up on Gibern a u , who was dropping ba ck as th e le a d er s (Above) Gany McCoy (2 4) was first into tum one, but it was Sete Gibemau (5) who got the better of the pack. Gibemau shot through from the third row, taking over the le ad before the lap was over - only to crash out spectacularly eight la ps from the end. (Right) It wasn't th is close for very long. McCoy (24) ended up running away from Gibernau (behind McCoy!, and Kenny Roberts Jr. (beh ind Glbernau), winning by al m ost five seconds. started to spread ou t. By la p 18 the th ree were togethe r a nd d ispu t ing th ird , with Ross i having pass ed Biag gi at turn one on one lap , a nd Gibernau o n the ne xt . McC o y, m e a nwhile , wa s stretch ing away , e njoy ing th e s lides on his nice hot t ires . Roberts had th e oppo site effec t. "The Su zuk i's a lways goo d fo r the first ha lf of th e ra ce , and if I'd been in front I could ha ve probably run faster la ps ," he said. "Th en it's not s o good in the s econd ha lf." G ib ernau ' s huge cr ash , o n the fa stest c o rner lea di ng onto th e fron t s trai ght, c a me with eig ht laps to go , as Ross i upped the pa ce . With two cue I e n e _ S • S EPTEMBER 13, 2 0 0 0 7