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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1542352
Briefly...
- not the whole race.
flhenl
one of the
blue bikes started blowing oil all over
the
place."
That would be the Hopkins'
GSV-
R990, which sprayed oil on half a dozen
riders, including his teammate
Chris
Vermeulen.
After
it
expired on the third
lap Hopkins leaned it aSainst a barrier
before kicking it twice,
pounding
his fisB
in the
gravel,
then kicking it one finaltime.
Vermeulen made it to the eighth lap
before
retiring. The failures were identi-
cal and both were traced to a
plastic
impeller
in
the
cooling system. The week-
end
had
been especially
hard
on the team
with multiple engine failures; Vermeulen
had a spectacular blow-up on the
front
straight that brought out a
red flag in
the
morning warmup. The three failures on
Sunday ran the total to at least eight
for
the weekend, according to a rival team
manaSer.
"lt's
incredibly frustrating,
because
nothing has changed on that
part
of the
machine," Denning said.
"We
know
exactly the
part
that failed, it's a live-guid
part.
We've never seen it before."
Denning also said he couldn't blame
Hopkins for his reaction.
"ln
a different circumstance lwould
have been upset, but
John's
whole atti-
tude to his
job
this
year
has taken such a
norch
up."
he said, addinS,
''l
have norhing
negative to say whatsoever."
Denning canceled a Sunday test out of
respect for the riders and team.
Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano fought rear-
traction
problems
to an I lth-place finish.
"Our
main
problem
seems to be a lack
of traction out of the turns, mainly
because the
power
delivery off the bot-
tom is
iust
too aggressive, and this is caus-
ing the rear tire to break contact ahd spin
up," Nakano said.
His teammate Randy de Puniet
crashed on
the opening lap.
Tech
3
Yamaha's Carlos Checa and
James
Ellison were
next,
the
Dunlop duo
improving on their
Jerez
finishes.
Both
beat
the Konica Minolta Honda of
Makoto Tamada,
the
Japanese
rider
befuddled at
not being able to
get
the
best out of the RC2l lV on Michelin
tires.
The final two finishers were the
Pramac d'Antin l'4otoGP team - Alex
Hofmann
and
Jose
Luis
Cardoso.
Fortuna Aprilia's
Jorge
Lorenzo won
his
second race
in
a
row retaking
the lead
from Andrea Dovizioso on the flnal lap of
the 250cc Grand Prix. Roberto Locatelli
came through the
pack
from an off-track
excursion on lap two to finish third.
Dovizioso led from the start, but was
unable to
build even
a
small
lead. Lorenzo
kept chipping away until he was in
posi-
tion
to make an attack, which he did on
the
loth
of 20
laps.
Nothing would change until halfway into
the
last lap
when Dovizioso struck back,
but a miscue two corneE later allowed
Lorenzo to move back to the front and
keep
his
perfect
season
intact.
The margin
of victory w"as 0.077 of a second ,
Locatelli dropped from second to
2lst
on the second
lap.
His
recovery
began immediately, and he made it as
far
as third,
passing
Hector Barbera on
the final lap and holding him off by
0.034 of a second.
Lorenzo leads Dovizioso in the cham-
pionship,
50-36, Locatelli is third with 25.
Master MVA Aspar Team's Alvaro
Bautista broke one o{ the longest streaks
in the history of Grand Prix racing with a
dominant win in the l25cc
GP
on his
Aprilia.
The victory by the 2l-year-old
Spaniard. coupled with his win in the
.lerez
season opener, ended
the strinS
of
56
l25cc
GPs
without
a
repeat winner.
The streak began when Frenchman
Arnaud Mncent won back to
back
at
Donington
and Sachsenring
in 2002.
"l'm
glad
to break
the run
of
no one
winning back-to-back victories, but that
wasn't my ob,e.tive. My obiective was to
win
today and l've done
that,'' he said.
The
battle
for second was nearly
decided two laps from the end
when
Bautista's teammate Sergio Gadea broke
free from a
four-rider
pack.
But the rio
reined him in on the final lap, with Red
Bull KTM's l'4ika Kallio shading him at the
line by 0.010 ofa second in a
photo
finish.
Continued frcm
poge
t7
beiry his usualwiseass self.
"l've
never
had a
day like this. I've never be€n here." he said.
"Oh, you
mean the race? I've never been to
Qatar
before. We've never,
ever a5 tsrm
owner I don't chink we've ever been fastest
on Thursday because we haven'E run
on
Thursday in a lon8 tim€ in MotoGP But we've
Bot
tomorrow to
go,
Tomorrow's olficial
qualifying,
if we
end up there tomorrov/ that
will be very special for us." ln the
end,
Robens
said that the only time a Team
Pobens machine had been on
pole
wa! at
Philip lsland ifl 2002, with the thr€e-.ylinder
Proton
KR in the hands ofleremy
The MotoGP
crowd almoit
made
it through
the lirst
three
one-holrr
sessions
wlthout
a
crash. First down was Repsol Hondds Dad
Pcdr!6a, who low-sided
on the
paint
on rhe
ourside ofa short double righr
iusr
after
pass-
ing teamrnate Nidry Hayden with
eight
min-
utes to run in Friday morning's session.
Pedrosa appeared unhurt, but the lack of
remainjng
time meant he didnt rejoin dle
practice.
_l
crashed this mominS when I went
ofl the wfiite line, and it was \/Ery dusty. I
touched the brake a
litde
bit and went
down,"
he
said.
"lt
was my mistake, but now I
know
about tiis
for
the future!"
to;i Capirossi's
win at
lerez
came at the
stan of
his l Tth year in Grand Prix racint.
lt
begsn with his debut in the
Japanese
GP at
Sizuka in 1990. And he scored his first
GP
win in the l25c class at DoninSton hrk that
year,
on his wa, to winnin8 th€ world title.
His most recent win aame in the
Jerez
sea-
son opener. ln the 57-).ear history ofGP rac-
in8, only Angel Nieto has a lonter span
bet\,veen wins. Nieto went 16,02
years
betlveefi victories. Capirossi is at 15.6{ and
would rurpass Nieto if he wins at the Cze