Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

IAbove) McCoy (24) didn't wast e much ti m e in taking th e le ad. The Aus tralian was then able to grad ua lly pu ll away to eventually beat Roberts 1 ) to the 2 finish line by over five se conds . IRight) Va lent ino Ro ssi was mak ing a charge w hen he nearly c rashed his Honda NSR500, a llo wing both Carlo s Checa and Max Blagg; to repa ss him. Rossi was a ble t o charge again, moving past Kenny Roberts Jr. and into se cond pl ace before crashing near the end of the race. Masao Azu m a to exte nd h is p o in ts lead ha nd ily over De rb i rider Youic hi Ui. Ui "!as thi rd, by th e grace of te a m orders a nd k ind -hearted teammate Pa blo Nie to , wh o sacrifice d h is o wn c ha nce o f a first-e ve r rostrum to let Ui le a d across th e line by les s than two hundredths of a se cond . 500cc GRAN O PRIX The first la ps saw plenty of jostling throug h the tig ht corners , but non e of it wor ried Biagg i, who led away from McCoy and Roberts , and p u lle d the p a ir o f th em a fe w ya rd s cle ar of Cap iross i and t he rest fo r th e first three la ps. Abe was put off line , a nd c rash ed on lap fo ur try ing to regain position ; Okada also complain ed later th at bein g d rop ped to 15th in an early -corner collisio n had spoiled his race. Cr iville was impressive , fin ish ing the first lap e ighth beh ind Ao ki, but immed iate ly s tarting on a strong charge that brought him to fifth -p lace Capirossi's back wheel. At this point. McC oy had attacked Biagg i once , almost c o llid in g. and now did so aga in, mak ing it stick a s he d ived ins ide th e Italian . Biagg i wa s pow erless to resi st , troubled by an e ngi ne that he lat er s aid was a few mph d own , as we ll as p er s is t ent front-wh ee l slides . Cr iville di dn 't like what h e saw, and havi ng b e en fastest in rac e morning warm -up thoug ht it wa s time to take e ve n gr eater risk s . At th e end of lap s ix he div ed ins id e Capi ro ss i in to the la st lo n g downhill co rn e r , only to lose the front wheel and fall directly to ea rth . He remounted, only to retire later. "It' s a sham e ," he sa id. "I wa s fe el ing really confident and comfortable, and I d idn 't want McCoy to get awa y, so I decided to be e ven m or e aggressive , " sa id th e d efend ing Wo rld Champion . whos e effort s at lea s t went s ome way to vindi catin g him in front of his home fans aft e r h is la ck luster s ea so n . Thi s inc ident push ed Ca piross i wide too . le ttin g Ross i thro ugh into fo urth . An o th e r lap and Ch e c a a nd Aok i also g ot a he ad of Ca p iro s s i as the leaders started t o bun ch u p s om ewhat. Th is was too much for Caplro sst, who cras hed soon a fte rwa rd trying . he admitted , too ha rd to reg ain g ro und. At th is point , Ro b e rt s was still pu sh ing McCoy hard . with Biaggi less than a seco nd beh ind , Rossi a similar d istan ce beh ind him , then onl y just o ve r a second to Checa and Aok i. T he last-named was demonstratin g t he d ifficu lty of th e go ing . tw ic e in o ne lap surv iving ne ar cras he s as on e o r th e othe r whe el stepped out of line . Eve n so , by half distance the first five we re pa cked in a g roup . with Ross i h a vin g slipped pa st Biag g i into th ird a nd Aoki c atch ing up from behind to rejoin the gang . Now Ros s i was go ing for it. "I had to t ry very hard ," h e sa id cue I e n later. "Finis hing fourth behind Kenny [Robe rts] wou ld ha ve be en as ba d as no res ult at all. " He t rie d severa l t imes to find a way past, and was still trying when he lost the front whe el. He tr ied to catch it with h is knee , bu t "t h a t doesn 't work ve ry often , and I was ready to let go of the handlebars," he said later. Instead, by some mi racle, t he wh eels gr ipped aga in and he landed ba ck in the seat again. But tha t not o nly let Roberts off the hook, bu t also let Checa and Biaggi past him a gain. The race wa s fa r from ov er , b ut McCo y was b eginn ing to enjoy t he a dv a ntage his ligh t we ight a nd s liding style give h im whe n t h e ti re s g e t tired. Q u ite qu ick ly he pu t two sec onds o n Rob e rts , a nd kept o n stretch e _ S • S EPTEM B ER 27. 2000 7

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