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/128636
a nd hi s g i r lfr i en d h u ng over t he pit wa ll telling him to slow. " I h ad my rhythm and I didn't w ant t o c h an ge my pa ~e ," h e sai d la t e r , and i n stea d h e k e p t on rock ing, to w in at the end b y al m o st 14 seconds - a tru e ch am p ion ' s v ic to ry . A lzam ora w a s n ow safe , but the othe r t w o were be i ng c a u g h t h and over fist b y San na , w ho c u t t h ro ugh to t he fro nt of th e g roup to claim th e last rostrum position , w ith Cecchinel- 1 fo u rt h a n d Azu m a drop p i ng b ack 0 w ith gea r · shifting problems. Ivan G o i led the n e xt b ig grou p , from de Angelis, Nob b i e U ed a , Arna ud Vincent , Pablo N ie to , Ang el Nieto Jr. M anue l Po g g ia li wa s n ext , de feating the gang go ing for 12 th . (Left) Daijiro Katoh and Sh lnya Nakano battled furiously for the 250cc Grand Prix w in . Katoh got the win, but Nakano moved to w ithin striking distance of Olivier Jacque in the title chase. Y uz y ( Pe tro nas Ya ma ha) a nd lo ck ed t og eth er a n d a l so o penin g a D eb on (A irtel A p ril ia ) h ad been w ith g ap o n the fie ld , al rea dy m ore th an t hi s g roup , but dropped back at the t w o seco n ds b eh ind a ft e r o nl y o n e lap . B ut there were important people f inis h to be alm ost c a u g h t b y Boscoscuro ( D i e se l Ap rilia ). F onsi Nieto (A n te n a 3 Ya maha ) and D av id among t h e p u rsu ers , including sl o w s t a r te r s Em il i o Al zam ora , s event h Ch e ca ( Fo m m a Honda ) , t h e last after la p on e , and S imone Sa nna two na m ed missi n g o ut o n one p o int b y p la ce s be hi n d hi m , and b efo r e lo ng j u st o ve r a tenth o f a se co nd . The c hamp io n sh ip positio n could this pair was movi n g through . Al zamora wa s t he m ost impressiv e, h ardly be closer. J acq u e and Naka no up to fifth o n lap two and soon after - a re se parate d b y j us t tw o point s, 2 54 252 ; whi l e K atoh 's fo u rt h w in , a nd wa rd working on red uci ng a gap tha t was now more t ha n fo u r seconds . It se co nd i n s u c c e s s i o n, brings him took h im only until lap 10 to catch u p righ t up close w ith 2 43 . Uk awa ' s fa int to th e t ri o a h ead , a n d i n tw o m ore h op e s of victory are over - h e has la ps he was wo rking his way through . On la p 1 3 , Ui sti ll h ea d ed th e 2 2 9, an d c a n eq u al J ac que , bu t t he Frenchman ha s b ette r p lac i ngs t hat p ut h im o n t op . g ro u p, wi th C e c c h i n e ll o a h ea d o f Alza mor a a nd Az u ma , but t he Span iard was on the De rb i r ider's t ail 1 2 S c c GRANO PRIX Loca t elli t ook off lik e a sca lded c at , leading into the fi rst corner a nd as th ey a pproa ch ed the tricky downhill right-h ander befo re the fina l underpass near the end of th e next lap . w orking thro ugh a series o f fa stest T hen c ame Ui 's disaster, reliev ing la ps to keep extending his le ad - f ive A lz a m o ra o f a ny n eed to a ttac k, as second s o n la p seven , 10 by lap 1 1. h e lo st th e fron t under brakes and slid o u t i n to th e 'd i rt , h i s c ha mpio ns hip An d so on . Th e n ca me a gro up of th r e e , c ha m p ionsh ip riva l U i h eading Lu ci o Cec c h i nel lo and M a s a o A zu m a , hopes o ve r. A t th is po int. L ocatelli's lead w as 12 .5 seco n ds - va st - and his team Where last year it was sodden, this year it was balmy, and riders enjoyed a track that is rather more cha llengi ng than it look s on the m ap, and with a marvelously smoo th surface after the Brazilian bumps of last week. Th e end result was the same , with Max Biagg i claiming a second succ essive pole, shaving off a tenth on day two to make sure of it. He'd also been practi cing starts after his slow getaway at Rio, and had expl oited the heavy traffic, he said, to experiment with different lines. "It's going to be a tough race, but I returned to my first settings, which were good, and I've found a good race tire , so I'm ready ," he said . His closest riva l was new champion Kenny Roberts Jr., who was also chasing settings , and on Satur day afternoon found some that techni cal guru Warren Willing described hap pily as " widening the comfort zone so he can be confident in all the corners.' The result was that he took half-a-second off his pr evious best, but using a 10·l ap-ol d race tire rather than a qualifier, which was anoth er boost to co nfidence. "I tried to imp rove on qualifiers, but I was so excited by what we had I kept screwing up," he gri nned. The im plicatio n was that he'd have been on pole qu ite easily if he had gotten a clear lap in. Roberts was less than two tenths behind Biaggi; Loris Capirossi was even closer to him. Lik e all but one of the ot her Honda riders, Capi rossi had switched back to the 17inch rear that work ed better on the short corn ers here. He had a similar story, of messedup laps on qualifiers, and a time set on race tires, making a third rider brimming with con fidence. His team m ate Al ex Barros was a fourth , j ust two tenth s down , makin g a front row cov ered by j ust over half -a-second . Th e Brazilian was the only Honda man to stic k with the 16.5·i nch tire . "A ll my settin gs over the last races have been with th is ti re, and I feel mo re comfortable with it," he explained . Barro s had kn ocked first-d ay front-row m an Valentin o Rossi onto the second, the for mer 125 and 250 cc World Champion one of a handful who failed to improve on the second day of practice. . "No problems . ju st I never got the good lap I needed - arid I am still having probl ems gett ing the best out of qualifying tire s," he said. "I've had good results already from bad starts. It's the race that matters." He had Norick Abe alongside, winner of the oth er race in Japan back at Suzuka at the other end of the season, and a rather better starti ng position tha n usual, for a second race. "I have kept my bike almos t the same as at Rio • these seem to be the right settings for m e, so I am happy: he said. Carlos Checa's Yamaha was next, the amazing Spanierd bouncing back from three crashes, one of them a heavy hig hsider at some speed. His ability to recover remains amazing. "That was going to be a good lap: he said later. Garry McCoy comp leted row two, the only top rider not to have raced here last yeer he leam ed his way roun d earlier this season on a Superbik e. "The 500 is a whole lot different, but at least I knew which way to go, so I was able to go quick right from the start: he said. He was another to tum ble, unhurt . Tadayuki Ok ada led row thr ee, best of the factory Hondas, and the first rider to be mo re than a full second off pole position. He had Nobuatsu Aoki' s Suzuki alongside, then teammates Sete Gibemau and Alex Criville , the deposed cha mpion finishi ng his season in the same lackluster way as he has proceed ed since his long ago win at Le Mans. Regis Laconi led row four from three twins , at a major disadvantage here because of the drag-strip sectio ns between the slow come rs. Jeremy McWill iams was ahead of Jurgen van den Goorberg h and Tetsuya Harada. Next up was GP first-timer Tekku Kayoh , the latest to ri de the Tecm as Honda V-twln. then Mark Willis on the Modenas . he'd been quicker in free train in g on Saturday m orn ing . but fell early in the final session . > M arco Melandri (3 5) held off TohnJ Ukawa (4) to finish third in th e 250cc GP . cu e I e n e vv s O C TOB ER 25 , 2000 25