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
World C h a m p io n s h ip R o a d R a c in g Series Round 14 : P a c if ic Grand Prix o f M ote g i 250cc GRAND PR IX As so often this yea r , the 25 0 c c ra c e was ra ther p rocessional. Like wise , it was ex tre mely tense. Most especially so for th e le a d ing pa ir: Kat oh led int o th e first corner, a nd Nakan o followed him in. Th e p a ir was soon pu lling a wa y fro m th e rest of the fie ld, but stayed loc ke d tog eth e r in a com pelli ng battle of wits . On e could hardly keep c ount of the num be r of tim e s ea c h s et a ne w fa s test la p, th eir s pee d growing even as th e ra ce wore o n, but one or both of them did so on a ll but two of the last se ven la ps, th e record e ve ntua lly go ing to Na ka no last t ime around . At the finis h, Kat oh wa s a mazi ng ly cal m , say in g: "Wh e n I s aw m y p it boa rd ea rly o n , I was s urprised to be a lrea dy und er the re c ord, a nd wh at e ve r I d id Na kano came with me . It wa s the n I un derstood it wou ld be a very ha rd ra c e ." Naka no, o n th e o t he r ha nd , was he artbrok en , in te ars as he climbed off his bik e , even though h is teamm ate J a cque 's relat ive ly po or resu lt had put him on ly two points beh ind ov er a ll. "I did m y best each a nd e ve ry lap, bu t Ka t oh wa s v ery fast a n d th ere wa s noth ing I cou ld do to pa ss him . I d o n 't ca re a bo ut th e c ha m p io ns hi p position - I wa nte d to win thi s race. " B ehin d thi s relentless b attl e , Ukawa h ad g o t t en a way we ll a n d he ld t h ird after one lap . But, a s he said la ter : "My bik e s e t- u p wa sn 't perfe ct - sliding at the re a r - so I c ou ld n 't fight ba c k when the ot he rs c a ug ht up ." The ot he r be ing firs t Melandri , on strong form a nd past on lap two , a nd Jacque, who jo ined up beh ind as the three sta ye d clo se until lap s ix, when Melandri sta rte d to pull a he a d . "By th e time I pa ssed Ukawa , the othe rs wer e too fa r aw a y, a nd th ough I pu sh ed hard , the b ike wasn' t working so well wh e n the fu el load was light er," Melandri said late r. J acque fina lly got pa st Uka wa on lap n ine , and gradu ally closed down a th re e -s ec ond gap on Melandri. It was just o ver two sec o nds with five la ps left - and then he gave up the hopele ss pursu it. "It meant too many risks trying to c a tc h him . T oda y m y job was to be sur e t o fin ish th e race, " s ai d th e F re nc h m a n, wh o lo st h is c hance of securing th e title here when he cras hed out of the le ad in Brazil eight days ag o . The next battl e, a coup le of sec o n ds bac k and fo r s ixt h beh ind th e now lonely Uk aw a, to ok shape after Franco Batta ini had c ra s hed o ut after o ne lap , a n d p u t Anth on y Wes t 's She ll Advan c e Hon da a he a d of Ralf Waldmann ' s Be c k s Apr ilia . Waldmann pa ssed the younger rider early o n , only to be o utbra ke d a couple of la p s later ; and th en ag ain five la p s fro m th e end . West outbrak ed him a g a in a coupl e of la ps la te r , and m ade it st ick , pullin g out a gap of a s econd at th e finis h. "If I'd been lapping as fast at th e start of the ra ce as I wa s at the e nd, I might have had a be tt e r res ult ," he s a id later. Th e les ser lights followed alo ng , a close s c ra p for eighth won by wild card Hiroshi Ao yam a (Harc Honda) from J a y Vincent (Pa dgett's Aprili a ), inch e s a he a d of wild c a rds Osamu Miyazaki (Motorex Yamaha) a nd Yasu Hatakeyama (Pengu in Honda ). (Above) B laggi (4) started slow but was soon past Norick Abe (6 ). Nobuatsu Aoki (9). Alex Barros (1 0) and Loris Capirossi (6 5 )_ (Right) Roberts (center) celebrates w ith Biaggi (right ) and Rossi (le ft). behind. Harada's Apr ilia teammate Jeremy McWilliams was some way back in 14th , battling handling throughout the weekend, with a lonely Jurgen va n den Goo rb ergh 15th , for the last po int , we ll ah ead of pr ivateers Kayoh, Tomas and Konishi. Garry McCoy ret ired after battl ing in the race. Sti ff and s or e a fte r h is practice tumble, he ran off th e track while disputing 11 t h with Gibernau and La co ni. He rejoined , on ly to retire with a broken rear brake dis c. Mark Willis did not start, his shoul der injurie s proving too troublesome in morn ing warm-up . Rob erts s tretc he d h is po int s le a d stili furth er, with 249 points to Rossi's 193 . Th ird is s till u p fo r g ra bs, between Checa ( 15 5), McCoy and Ba rr o s (150 apiece) , Biaggi (145) , Abe (137 ) a nd Capirossi (1 34 ). 24 OCTOBER 25, 2 0 0 0 ' cue I CIFIC GRA (Or EGI 't I e ne""s