Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

with Melandri a distant fifth with 159 ahead and promptly fell o ff , tak ing R o lfo w i de a nd l e tt i n g V in c ent thr oug h, B u t We s t' kn e w h e wa s and West sa v in g s ixth o ve r a ll with ] 4 6 points to Wa ldmann 's ]43 . fa st e r o n to th e s t rai g h t o ut of th e f in a l b en d , a nd he tim ed h is fi n a l run p erf e c t l y to t ak e seve nt h by less th an a tenth. 125cc GRAND PRIX The fir st r a ce o f the da y w a s a matter o f attriti on, as crashes a nd breakdowns wh ittled away at a lead - V in c en t was eight h , th en Nieto and Ro lfo , with Se ba sti an Po rto ( A p ril ia) cl os ing up agai n at th e finish , Matsud o rig ht beh in d . A lmo st ] 0 secon d s back, Ph il ippe had been l e f t behind in the la t e r ing group th at ha d been fi v e- st rong . Pol e starter Robe rt o L o c a te l li led awa y and st a y ed ahea d of c harg in g D ie sel -Apr ili a t e amm ate S im one S anna for almo st si x laps. That en ded when he h ighsi d ed o ut on t he fi na l stages , but s t ay e d ahead o f Alle mand , with B o sc o sc u ro cla iming the f in al p oint from Clementi and Stigefelt some wa y behind. F ranc o B at t a in i d idn 't start , after suffering w rist in juries in a p ract ice c ra sh ; likewise Jamie Robi nson , and h is teamma te A d ria n Coate s was the corner. Sanna still h ad Derbi ' s You ich i Ui , Masao Azum a and Lucio Cecchinello right with h im , w ith Arna u d Vincen t also n ow ha ving joi n ed fr o m behin d o n his A irt el April ia. The n e x t big d ist u r ba n ce c ame o n lap ] 5 , when Vi nce nt was in the o nly ri der to fall in t he race . Jacque's title ca me with a se ve n- l e ad . C e c c h i n e ll o dived through f rom fo urth to seco nd i nto Tur n poi n t adva nt age, 279 t o N aka no 's 2 7 2 . Katoh h a d 25 9 ; U ka wa 239 , Youichi Ui lea ds eve ntu al w inne r Masao Az uma (31 in the 125cc Australian Grand Prix. O ne, and i m medi ate ly spun out at fro m th e r e t o th e f inish, swapping p lace s sev era l t im e s , but with t he rook ie ahead o f the ve t eran over th e li ne b y three hu nd redths of a second . Ja cq ue , not surpris in g l y , wa s ecstatic . " I w as very ca reful a ll race lo ng , M eland ri wa s a lone l y fi ft h , a n d Ukawa likewis e in sixth. bec au se I d id n 't wa nt to risk co lli d ing f urio u s . A n tho ny We s t, rac i ng in ago ny after deciding no t to have a wi t h S h iny a and ma yb e putti n g us b oth o ut, so th at Katoh would w in the B ehind h im , th e ra c e h ad bee n pa inkilli ng inj ec t io n for his fing er w it h t it le o n th e Honda ," he said . " I was its fres h skin graft, managed t o ho ld a tak ing wide li n es t o keep out of h is pa ck of nine bikes at bay for the first way . I knew I was f a ster o n to t h e 10 laps, all cl imbing o ver each other strai g ht , and m y p lan w orked perfectly . It's been a fi ve - ye ar st ruggl e to get in h is wake . The Austra lian lost th e positi on to Al ex D ebo n on la p ] I , and th en F onsi N ieto a lso pa ssed him . But he was n 't t o t his p oin t and w i n the ch amp i onship . I' m so rry for Shinya , beca use we are a v e r y cl ose t e a m and a done yet, and fought his way ba ck to happy team - and I wan t to tell h im the front of the gagg le of b ik es o n lap t h a n k y ou, b ecause w e did a v ery good j o b t ogether." Ro berto Rolfo (su b b ing aga in for Hof- 18 . D eb on was beh in d h im , an d now Katoh h ad been with t he Yamahas ma nn on the Ra cing Fa c tory Aprili a) in t h e ea rly stages , stayi ng on as fast s tarte r Tohr u U k a w a ' s H ond a had mo ved through the group , wi th d ro pped b ac k , lettin g Marco M e la nd ri A p rilia) right beh in d . As t hey sta rte d the f inal la p , Ro lfo th ro ugh to cha llenge bri efl y fo r th ir d. T hen W a ldmann joined t hem, a nd t he Itali an lo s t t ou ch as th e p a ce g o t fas t er. Wa ldm ann and Kato h jousted Nieto a nd J a y Vince nt ( Pa d g e tt s le d t he pa c k from Debo n, Vi ncent, West and Ni eto , but t h e r e was sti ll pl en t y o f a c t i o n . Deb on move d Effectiv ely there was only one day of practice, with the first one struck by high winds and squally rain that made the track not just difficult, but also dangerous. "It's like wind-surf ing on a 500 cc motorcycl e," said Kenny Roberts Jr. Thus all were co mplaining about a shorta ge of not only set-u p ti me, but also the chance to choose race tires on a track that had changed somewhat since last year. Then it rained in race-m ornin g warm -up , spoiling everyb ody' s plan s to go on testing before making any final decisions. None of which ma de Jeremy McWill iams ' first -ever 500cc -clas s pole on the A prilia any less impressive. Th e Ulsterman claime d his first pole in the 250c c class last year, and said: "Aprilia have a new rear suspension link here that makes the new chassis feel as good as the old one at the start of the year," he said. " I felt I could have gone a bit quicker... but I didn't have to, " he added. Al ex Barros, leader on day one, pushed him close, however, cutting a three-quartersecond gap to a quarter of a second at the end. " I have a good rhythm , and the bike is good . Th e only worry is whi ch tire to use," he said. Another surpr ise was alongside - Regis Laconi, in his last ride on the Red Bull Yamaha. "I need a good result because I want a ride next year," he said good ·humoredly. "At the mom ent my best prosp ect is to be on a bicycle, but I'd prefer one with an engine." Roberts completed the front row , and considered -him self lucky to be there. "We'r e struggling and short of time," he said. "Later on Warren Willi ng found something in the computer data about the chassis which confirmed what I'd been feelin g. I hop e that 'll make the difference." Times were fairly close , with eight riders wit hin the same second . Lori s Capiro ssi led the second row , with Garry McCoy less than half-a-tenth slower and hopi ng for the best at his hom e GP - even thoug h he prefers tighter comers to the sweeping Australian curves. Carlos Checa was a close seventh, happy to be in the top group considering all the difficulties, but look ing for suspension changes tha t would give him m ore grip. And then came Valentino Rossi, also well enough on the pace to be optimistic. Al ex Crivi lle led row three from teammate Tadayuki Okada , Norick Abe's Yamaha. and Max Biaggi , who mi ssed out on the chance for a fast time after crashing out near the end of the session. "I've no idea why I fell off - I wasn't pushing hard," the mysti fied Italian said. Nobuastu Aoki led row four in his last factory Suzuki ride; Mark Willis qualified the Modenas 16th, battl ing the should er injury he aggravat ed at Mot egi , but ahead of Ju rgen van den Goorbergh's V-tw in Honda. Testsuya Harada, 19th, was a doubtful starter after his big practice crash; neither Jose Luis Ca rd oso (hurt at Motegi ) nor Stephen Briggs on th e BSL m ade the 107 -perc ent qualify ing cut. The crucial 250cc qualifying , interrupte d in the same way as the 50 0s, c am e up with fewer surpr ises, but plenty of tension, with the three contenders for the titl e taking the first th ree pos it io ns - Sh in y a Naka no , O l ivier Jacque and Daijiro Katoh , all cove red by halfa-second, T he t hre e World Champions: Olivier Jacque, Kenny Roberts Jr. and Roberto Loca telli. Naka no's pole cam e after switc hing to his spare bike with a better front-end feel. "The, imp orta nt thing is what will happen in tomorrow's race:' he said . "I expect a tough fight but I'm ready ." So also was Ja cqu e, who slipped off without inj ury , but cam e back to post sec ondfastest ti me. "I'm still not totally satisfied with how the.bike is, but we gathered a lot of data and I have som e-changes to test to morrow morning ," he said. Katoh was so close on the Hond a, saying littl e as usual but prom ising to go for the win . "I need to com e first, and not worry about the others." he said. C II C I e n e vv s N OVEMB ER 8 , 2000 11

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