Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
MotoGP Race Results:
1. Sete Gibernau, Honda, 30 laps, 42:41.180
2. Valentino Rossi, Honda, -0.060 second
3. Troy Bayliss, Ducati, -13.207 seconds
4. Loris Capirossi, Ducati, -16.521 seconds
5. Nicky Hayden, Honda, -16.563 seconds
6. Tohru Ukawa, Honda, -18.743 seconds
7. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha, -18.885 seconds
8. Carlos Checa, Yamaha, -26.165 seconds
9. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha, -28.281 seconds
10. Norick Abe, Yamaha, -29.159 seconds
11. Nobuatsu Aoki, Proton, -29.316 seconds
12. Jeremy McWilliams, Proton, -30.427 seconds
13. Makoto Tamada, Honda, -49.580 seconds
14. Colin Edwards, Aprilia, -53.444 seconds
15. Kenny Roberts, Suzuki, -57.512 seconds
16. Garry McCoy, Kawasaki, -59.580 seconds
17. Alex Hofmann, Kawasaki, -65.240 seconds
18. Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda, -65.348 seconds
19. Andrew Pitt, Kawasaki, -1 lap
20. David De Gea, ROC Yamaha, -1 lap
21. Marco Melandri, Yamaha, -7 laps, DNF, crash
22. John Hopkins, Suzuki, -7 laps, DNF, mechanical
23. Alex Barros, Yamaha, -15 laps, DNF, crash
24. Max Biaggi, Honda, -23 laps, DNF, crash
25. Noriyuki Haga, Aprilia, -27 laps, DNF, crash
MotoGP World Championship Point Standings:
1. Rossi, 187 points
2. Gibernau, 158
3. Biaggi, 130
4. Capirossi, 97
5. Bayliss, 80
6. Ukawa, 66
7. Checa, 65
8. Nakano, 63
9. Barros, 62
10. Hayden, 57
11. Jacque, 50
12. Edwards, 42
13. Tamada, 40
14. Haga, 30
15. Abe, 24
16. Hopkins, 22
17. McWilliams, 18
18. Aoki, 17
19. Kiyonari, 13
20. Melandri, 9
21. McCoy/Hofmann, TIE, 8
23. Roberts, 7
24. Yukio Kagayama, 4
25. Pitt, 3
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
DUCATI MARLBORO MEN MAKE STUNNING ‘RING DEBUT
The Ducati Marlboro Team made a breathtaking debut at the awkward Sachsenring circuit today, riders Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi finishing third and fourth in a sweltering, crash-strewn race. The results strengthen the pair’s World Championship positions: Capirossi still fourth despite a fiery crash this morning, Bayliss fifth as the MotoGP circus heads into its brief summer break before next month’s Czech GP.
“I’m too happy!” beamed Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli. “To score a podium result at a track which we’ve never been to before and which everyone said would be bad for our bike is fantastic. I hope all our ‘bad’ tracks will be this good in the future! Troy rode a fantastic race. He had a great battle with Max (Biaggi) which pushed Max into a mistake. Loris was incredible. He was bruised everywhere after this morning’s crash and had to use his second bike. On paper there’s no difference between his two machines but maybe there’s a tiny difference and a slight psychological issue in racing your second bike. Also, he wasn’t in great physical shape for the race.”
Conditions were ultra-tough around this twisting, physically demanding circuit with ambient temperatures exceeding 30 degrees and track temperature reaching 40 degrees.
BAYLISS SCORES THRILLING SECOND MotoGP PODIUM
Ducati Marlboro Team rider Troy Bayliss today scored a brilliant third-place finish in his first-ever race at the Sachsenring. The Aussie, riding with a shaved head, made a stunning start from the second row to muscle his way into third place. He protected that position from Max Biaggi with typical aggression, repassing the attacking Italian three times before Biaggi made the pass stick on lap 13, only to fall the very next lap. That left the Aussie in a safe third place, which he maintained to the chequered flag.
“It’s my first time here and my second MotoGP podium, so I’m very happy,” said a sweat-drenched Bayliss. “It’s been a very good weekend for us but it was a very difficult race around here. After Max went by and crashed I just tried to stay close to Sete (Gibernau) for as long as possible. I knew Max’s pace was really fast, so there wasn’t much I could do about him, then he crashed because he was pushing very hard. The last third of the race I was losing the back into turns off the throttle, so I just did my own thing and brought the bike home. I’m really happy for everyone in the team.”
CAPIROSSI FOURTH AFTER FIERY WARM-UP CRASH
Loris Capirossi finished a brave fourth place in Germany today, a remarkable result after a high-speed tumble in morning warm-up after which his Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici caught fire. The bike was badly damaged in the blaze, forcing the Italian to switch to his second machine for this afternoon’s race. Undaunted Capirossi rode superbly, battling long and hard with a bunch of rivals, eventually defeating Nicky Hayden for fourth place.
“I had to ride a defensive race because my second bike was a tiny bit different from the machine I crashed in warm-up,” said Capirossi who hurt his neck and suffered all-over bruising in the 200kmh crash. “I was quite bashed about in the accident, I’d say I was only feeling 80 per cent before the race. So, all things considered, I’m satisfied with the result, these points are very important for the championship. I’m very happy for Troy and I feel sorry for Marco (Melandri, who crashed late in the race while racing with Capirossi), he was riding really fast.”
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service, which reveals that the company has replaced the head of its racing department:
ROBERTS RETURNS TO THE POINTS IN GERMANY
Team Suzuki rider Kenny Roberts Jr. finished 15th in today’s German GP, fighting back ahead of former GP winner Garry McCoy to secure the last championship point in his first race for seven weeks, after missing three rounds while recuperating from injury.
Team-mate John Hopkins didn’t make the finish of the race, round 30 laps of the 3.671 km Sachsenring circuit, outside the city of Chemnitz (the former Karl Marx Stadt). The 20-year-old Anglo-American was two places behind Roberts with seven laps remaining when he was sidelined by a rare failure of the 990cc V4 Suzuki GSV-R engine.
Both riders had a difficult weekend, with the very twisty track and tight corners not kind to the powerful Suzuki; but both were making the most of their chances, in a close race in front of a crowd of more than 90,000 ardent fans in the former East Germany.
Rain would probably have suited them better, but forecast showers failed to materialise, and the race was run in blazing sunshine, with the temperature at 31 degrees.
The race was won by Sete Gibernau, his third victory of the nine-race-old season; with defending champion Valentino Rossi second.
The next race follows an abbreviated summer break in three weeks time, at the sweeping Brno circuit in the Czech Republic.
Footnote: The new head of Suzuki’s racing department, Masahito Imada, was at the race. Imada-san brings a long and extensive racing experience: he was part of the original design team of the serially successful Suzuki RG500 of the Seventies and early Eighties, and headed up the Superbike racing project.
KENNY ROBERTS Jr. – 15th
The most fun I had this weekend was after the race, when Olivier Jacque stopped on the cool-down lap to do a rear tyre burn-out … and high-sided right in front of me! (The French rider was not injured.) The race was super disappointing. I can’t use any of my ability to ride the bike – the rider can’t make much difference, and the bike is at its limit at the moment. The easiest thing to say is that my team-mate from last year, who was competitive with me, won the race, so congratulations to Sete.
JOHN HOPKINS – Retired
My Michelins were working good, but soon after the start I started dropping back. I’ve been around 20th all weekend, so I knew it wasn’t going to stop today. But I felt comfortable, though Kenny and Garry McCoy started to get away from me a bit, because my bike wasn’t handling well. Then I got behind Alex Hofmann, and we both started to pick up the pace a bit. I didn’t think I’d be able to get into the points, but we were closing up some on Kenny and Garry, and I wanted to be ahead of Hofmann. Then suddenly the engine had a problem: the throttle seemed to stick open and there was smoke everywhere, and I had to stop. I’m looking forward to some improvements.
GARRY TAYLOR – TEAM MANAGER
It’s good to have Kenny back on the bike again, though one point is not a lot to show for all the therapy and training he’s gone through to get fit. John gave it everything he could, as always, but in the end it came to nothing. It always looked as though this was going to be a tough weekend. I wish we’d been able to get a better result for our new race department boss, Mr. Imada.
More, from a press release issued by Fuchs Kawasaki:
MCCOY JUST MISSES POINTS FOR FUCHS KAWASAKI IN GERMANY
Fuchs Kawasaki’s Australian slidemaster, Garry McCoy, overcame two scary off-track excursions to come within a whisker of scoring points in today’s fiercely contested German Grand Prix at Sachsenring.
Kawasaki’s trio of Ninja ZX-RR riders all finished the energy sapping race, with McCoy eventually crossing the line in 16th place, just two seconds adrift of former World Champion Kenny Roberts. Home race hero Alex Hofmann was 17th, while Andrew Pitt, who also had a high speed off-track excursion, finished in 19th place.
McCoy made a good start aboard the Ninja ZX-RR, but a scary moment while flat-out in fifth gear, as he attempted a pass on the Aprilia of Colin Edwards, and another off-track detour as he exited the final turn, cost him both time and positions. Comfortable with increased grip levels from Dunlop’s new rear slick, McCoy recovered to charge past both the factory Suzuki’s of John Hopkins and Roberts, moving into a points scoring position with six laps remaining. However, two laps later, fading grip levels meant the Australian could not respond to a late race challenge by the former World Champion.
Baulked in the first corner, wild card rider Hofmann fought his way back to finish 17th in his home Grand Prix, after passing both the factory Suzuki of Hopkins and Kiyonari, team-mate of eventual race winner Sete Gibernau, in the last third of the race.
Starting from the sixth row of the grid meant Pitt faced a massive task if he was to fight his way through the field, especially on a circuit with very few overtaking places such as Sachsenring. Still suffering set-up problems after a qualifying crash robbed him of valuable testing time, Pitt’s troubles were compounded when he ran on at the first turn at mid race distance and had to traverse the gravel trap to return to the track.
Garry McCoy – 16th
“It was a bit scary early in the race; I was off the track twice in one lap! I ran onto the grass in fifth gear on the downhill back straight trying to pass Edwards, and then I was off again at the final corner. But the bike felt good and I got to 15th and really wanted to stay in the points, but when Kenny got past again his bike wasn’t sliding as much as mine and I just couldn’t go with him. Towards the end it was pretty greasy for me and I couldn’t carry enough corner speed; I had some big two wheel drifts going, even on corner entry. It was quite hairy really.”
Alex Hofmann – 17th
“The happiest I was all weekend was when I had my helmet on and the visor down. I never found a 100 per cent set-up like my earlier wild card races, mainly through losing time to problems and a crash in qualifying. So, doing more than this today was impossible.”
Andrew Pitt – 19th
“When I locked it up into turn one and ran off the track about halfway through it was just a matter of bringing it home. Since Friday I’ve had trouble pushing the front and while we improved the set-up a lot we never really dialled it out completely. I lost some side grip on the rear tyre towards the end, but overall the new Dunlops are a big step in the right direction.”
Harald Eckl – Team Manager
“Points would be nice, but I’m happy with this result because we have shown that we are still making progress with the bike, however small the steps may be. Today we were very close to our friends at Suzuki, who have a one year head start on us in MotoGP. With this in mind, we can now set some goals to motivate the team and riders for the rest of the season.”
More, from Desiree Crossman, with John Hopkins:
Well, today was eventful. It didn’t rain today which was good, I think it’s coming tonight, though.
In the warm-up session, Loris’ bike went up in flames. When he crashed, the bike went flipping and the gas tank exploded, so all the gas was flying out. Then, as the cornerworkers were trying to get the bike out of the gravel, it engulfed in flames, nearly getting the cornerworkers. It took awhile to get the bike under control, alot of extinguishing going on. Colin’s bike acted up again, and again. He went out and the bike he was on had some problems, and then his second one had some, too.
During the race, it was real entertaining. Max was doing really well, he was fighting hard to get up with Valentino and Sete. Valentino was in a good lead while some of the others were trying to catch up. Marco was in the pack as well keeping up with the rest of the bunch. I guess Max was trying too hard to catch up and he ended up crashing out. He was in 3rd, and when he did, we were all like, “what are you doing?” I’m sure if he had a similiar bike like Rossi’s though, he wouldn’t have to try so hard. I’m not a big Biaggi fan, but I think he deserves a better Honda.
Anyway, Marco ended up crashing out as well, so slowly the battle was going away. Haga crashed out, too. A funny part was when the cornerworkers were trying to get him to go another way back to the pits, but Haga refused. Instead, he ran across the track. The cornerworkers were trying to grab him and pull him but he basically told them to piss off. Alex Barros ended up crashing too, he’s had some bad luck this year. It will be good to see him up there were he belongs battling it out.
John and Kenny…well, at least Kenny got a point from this race. Both of them were fighting to get into the top 15 for most of the race. John’s bike was having some grip problems I guess and his bike ended up dying on him–smoke coming out of it. It’s really frustrating fighting for the top 15 or even 20, but it’s even worse when the damn bike breaks on you too. Not cool. I got really upset about it and when I saw him, he was just laughing about it. He said he’s so fed up that that’s all he can do about it now, it’s pointless getting pissed anymore.
Garry did really well today. Seems like things are coming around slowly for him, good to see him up there a little more then where he has been. And Troy did great, too. Gave Ducati another podium finish. Nicky got into the top 5 finally, it’s about damn time!
When Sete caught up with Vale, it was an intense battle! Sete passed Rossi with about 7 or 8 laps to go. Then on the last lap, Rossi overtook Sete in the second to last corner, but on the last corner, Sete pushed hard and beat Rossi by a tire length. They were neck-and-neck for half of the race. The crowd was going crazy, you could hear the other teams shouting, it was a good finish.
More, from a press release issued by WCM:
GERMAN GP, SACHSENRING
RACE DAY, SUNDAY, JULY 27TH, 2003
David de Gea, 20th
“I think it’s a good day for me and also for the team, so many races all the year, that we don¹t start. So it’s good to finish the race. Lap by lap my time was consistent and I feel good after the 30 laps.”
Peter Clifford, Team Manager
“Greatest respect to David for his riding through the infield during the race where he was only losing two-tenths. All the rest of the damage was done on the horsepower section of the track. At least we have now finished a race, a sad reflection on the season perhaps but I am sure things will get better from here.”
More, from a press release issued by Pramac Honda.
Makoto Tamada: 13th in the race, 13th in the ratings
In 20th place at the end of the first lap, but 13th when he went under the chequered flag, Makoto Tamada again attempted one of his customary comebacks, struggling throughout the race with a lack of confidence for the front end of the bike – something that had been a constant throughout the two days of practice prior to the race.
In the warm-up this morning, the technicians made a further change to the adjustment of the front fork of his RC211V, and this did indeed give Makoto a better feeling. Entering the race with a hard front tyre and a medium-hard rear, the gutsy Japanese inched his way up with some good passes and ended the race in the points zone.
But the fact remains that the Sachsenring proved not to be congenial to the Pramac Honda Team rider and the few hours of tests were not sufficient to reach the right level of confidence to be truly competitive. Even so, there is no reason not to be optimistic for the next world championship event on 17 August at Brno. A circuit where Makoto recently posted some good lap times during two days of tyre test, when he was able to get to know the track. So, unlike just about all the other times this year, he will be going to race a world championship on a track he has at least seen once.
The two-week break will not only afford the rider a bit of well-deserved rest, but it will also make it possible to do an in-depth analysis of all the data acquired during the recent races and in the test sessions, in order to try to raise the overall level of performance before the final part of the championship gets underway.
Makoto Tamada (Pramac Honda Team): 13th – 43:30.760
“Lack of feeling, lack of grip. A race in which I just didn’t find the wherewithal to make a real attack. And it was like that all weekend. A bit demoralising. We tried out a new setting for the front fork that gave me greater grip for the entire duration of the race, but it wasn’t enough to be really aggressive and give me what I needed to make a fierce attack. Now I’m looking forward to Brno and hope the days we spent testing the tyres will give me an objective advantage: I want to be more competitive and get up closer to the leading riders.”
More, from a press release issued by John Hopkins’ publicist:
HOPKINS SUFFERS DNF IN GERMAN GRAND PRIX
HOHENSTEIN-ERNSTTHAL, Germany (July 27, 2003) – Sachsenring was not John Hopkins’ favorite circuit to begin with and this weekend’s performance in the German Grand Prix is not likely to make the Californian any fonder of the place. Hopkins dropped out of the race with six laps to go when the motor on his Suzuki GP machine expired. It marked the second straight year of heartache for Hopkins in Germany. Last year he broke his hand during qualifying and missed the race.
“Nothing much exciting to report,” said a discouraged sounding Hopkins after the race. “We ran near the back of the pack all weekend and the race was no different. I was battling with Alex Hofman and Garry McCoy there for a while.
And even though I was back battling for 17th the motor decided to let go.”
The motor problem led to the third DNF of the season for Hopkins. This was the first DNF caused by a mechanical problem. The other two DNFs were the result of crashes. By scoring no points in the German round he dropped to 16th in
the world championship point standings after nine of 16 rounds.
“Obviously we were hoping for better,” said Hopkins, speaking for himself and the factory Suzuki team. “Our bike has a lot of new and unproven technology and when you’re pushing the envelope like that I guess things like this are
bound to happen.”
Hopkins will return home to Southern California during the MotoGP mid-season break and work on staying race ready and getting into even better shape.
“I plan on training and riding my motocross bike,” Hopkins said. “I’m going to be sharp for the second half of the season. When we get things figured out on the bike I want to be ready to take advantage. Thee first half of the year has been more than a little discouraging, but I’m hopeful that we can still turn things around.”
The next round of MotoGP is at Brno in the Czech Republic on August 17.
More, from a press release issued by Alice Aprilia Racing Press Information:
AN HARD-FOUGHT WEEKEND
Sachsenring – After two days of practices, disturbed by two crashes, just Colin Edwards ended the german GP although a loss of oil and a difficult technical situation: he had to start with the bike no. 2 (the no. 1 has been damaged by a slip in the warm up) but the feeling was not enough. A very short race for Haga because he fell off in the 7th lap. Before going to Brno the team will keep on testing for the improvement of RS Cube.
COLIN EDWARDS: “A bad weekend and a bad race as well. In the warm up session I damaged the bike no. 1 with the new chassis and the right setting. We tried to transfer those regulations to the bike no. 2 with the old chassis but I did not get enough feeling. Now I am going back home so I will be at 100% for the next race”.
NORIYUKI HAGA: “My race has been very short : I had a good pace and was recovering several positions then I lost the front felling off in the gravel. It’s a pity because the chattering problems we had were almost solved”.
GIGI DALL’IGNA (Project Leader): “This weekend has been very hard for us. Unfortunately the crashes did not allow us to follow the development plan of our bikes. Colin had to use bike no. 2 but the feeling was not the same and he had also a problem with a loss of oil in the left size of the bike. He did all his best. Haga fell off after a few laps. Now we must work during the break in order to be more competitive at Brno.”
More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Yamaha:
CHECA RIDES TO STEADY EIGHTH; NO POINTS BUT A BRILLIANT EFFORT FROM MELANDRI
History repeated itself in today’s German Grand Prix when Fortuna Yamaha Team rider Marco Melandri showed his marvellous potential as he fought with the race leaders but unluckily crashed out of contention at the Sachsenring circuit. The young Italian tumbled off his Yamaha YZR-M1 machine and out of fourth place in the closing stages of the battle, a similar outcome to his last race outing at Donington two weeks ago. Twenty-year-old Melandri, who won the German 250cc race here last year, produced a lightning start to charge through the Sachsenring field from 12th on the grid to fifth by turn one. Carrying this impressive momentum further, the 250cc World Champion then slipped forward into fourth by the end of lap one. His stampede continued while entering the penultimate turn, pouncing momentarily to second place in the following lap with an audacious double pass of Loris Capirossi (Ducati) and eventual race winner Sete Gibernau (Honda).
Melandri then slipped back behind Gibernau until lap five when Troy Bayliss (Ducati) shot through to take third. Settling into what was a comfortable fourth place, the MotoGP rookie looked set to claim a well deserved 13 points when his M1 slipped out from beneath him. Melandri could not get his M1 into gear entering the tight turn 12, with less than six laps remaining, bringing his solid performance to a premature end.
Up front Rossi and Gibernau set a scorching pace that eventually saw both riders finish more than 13 seconds ahead of third-placed Bayliss and the rest of the field. Rossi had taken early control of the race before Gibernau made a move on lap 20. The Spaniard, who has already claimed three victories this year, was well positioned to take his fourth race win when Rossi made his pass on the final lap. Although the move initially stuck Rossi made a mistake on the crucial final turn, handing the win to Gibernau by a mere 0.060 seconds.
It was further disappointment for Fortuna Yamaha Team rider Carlos Checa who, after an initially promising provisional qualifying performance, ended the German Grand Prix in a lowly eighth place. Plagued by a lack of grip throughout the weekend, Checa was unable to find a solution by race day and struggled to make any improvement over his eventual seventh place qualifying performance.
“It’s a similar situation here to Donington, and we tried many things to improve rear stability,” said Checa, who retains his seventh position in the championship standings. “That’s been my biggest problem at these past two races. We have moved away quite a lot from the set-up we had in Catalunya and Assen where I had stronger finishes. I managed to gain some places but couldn’t get any further forward. It’s frustrating because I was hoping to improve my position in the championship, and because we had a fairly good weekend here for qualifying. I am going to have a rethink with my engineers and crew to see in which area we should now go in terms of set-up. The next race will be in Brno, and we had a test there before coming to Germany so we will have a good base to start the weekend with.”
Checa’s team-mate Melandri was customarily philosophical about his performance today; “I started well and was able to overtake early on but at the same time I wasn’t able to give gas as much as I would have liked,” said the Italian, who has fought in the leading group at the past two races. “After a few laps I decided it was better not to force things but wiser to stay behind Bayliss and to keep my own pace. At the beginning the soft tyres gave me some problems even though I had a good start but then after a few laps my pace improved and I was certain that I could finish the race in fourth or fifth position. I was in the downhill turn and normally I change down from fifth to third gear there. But this time I changed from fifth to fourth, I couldn’t engage third gear, and I fell off.
“It’s a shame because I was having such a great race, and that mishap could have been avoided. At one point I could see I was getting closer and closer to Bayliss and I really thought I would finish the race well. Anyway now I know I can be competitive at all the races because I was able to fight with the top riders in Donington and here. I am close to the best riders, and now my aim is to finish a race.”
Davide Brivio, the Fortuna Yamaha Team’s Director, summed up the day with the following comments, “It’s a day of mixed emotions really because we again saw the great potential of Marco, who has had two very strong races fighting among the top riders. But then it’s also disappointing that he was not able to finish, and most of all frustrating for him. He knows and we know now what his capabilities are and he should be able to fight for the podium at every race in this second half of the season. Carlos did not start so well but managed to overtake several riders and scored some valuable points. He is not completely happy with the set-up choices he made this weekend and is going to review them for Brno with his team. We just all have to keep working until we get what we’re all hoping for, a podium result.”
More, from Honda Racing:
GIBERNAU ROBS ROSSI OF WIN IN LAST TURN LAST LAP THRILLER
Sensational Sete Gibernau (Telefonica Movistar Honda RC211V) scored his fourth win of the season at a sun-kissed Sachsenring in eastern Germany in front of an appreciative 92,000 crowd. Reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi (Repsol Honda RC211V) had to settle for second after making a critical error on the final turn which Gibernau pounced on for his victory. Troy Bayliss (Ducati) was third.
Max Biaggi (Camel Pramac Pons RC211V) looked to be the dominant force here this weekend after setting a pole time for the second successive race. He also set the fastest lap of the race before crashing out while chasing down the leading duo of Gibernau and Rossi.
Biaggi wasted his pole position with a dreadful start that sunk him to tenth on the first lap. Rossi howled into turn one ahead of the Ducati duo of Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss with Gibernau in close pursuit. Marco Melandri (Yamaha) made good early running, going as high as second momentarily after a robust double overtaking move that disposed of Gibernau and Capirossi. But he couldn’t make it stick.
By lap five Rossi had pulled out a 2.5 second advantage over Gibernau who was now in a solid second place with Bayliss third. Biaggi was moving up the field with serious intent and by lap ten he was ready to put Bayliss behind him and work on the leaders. But Bayliss had other ideas and made it hard work for the Roman.
Biaggi and Bayliss swapped places three times on lap 11 as their private battle raged and a lap later the faster Max had finally put the determined Australian behind him. But on lap 14 Max lost the front of his RC211V at turn ten and with it his chance of a win, or at least a hefty points haul.
It was now down to Gibernau to take the challenge to Rossi and the Spaniard was more than up to it. At the halfway stage of the 30-lap race he had cut the deficit to 0.7 seconds and on lap 21 he made his move on the champ into the tight turn one at the end of the start/finish straight.
Rossi followed closely, seemingly getting the measure of his rival before making a decisive play for the lead at his leisure – but there was nothing at all leisurely about the way he had to ride to keep Gibernau within striking distance. Rossi left it until the last lap before he struck.
On the rapid downhill right approach to the penultimate turn, Rossi fired his RC211V around the outside of Gibernau and was then on the inside of the lefthand turn that followed – and ahead. There was only the final righthand corner to go and Rossi looked poised for victory.
But he overcooked his entry, and with his machine out of shape, Gibernau seized his chance and squared off the turn to shoot his bike up the inside of the floundering Rossi and broach the line six hundredths of a second ahead of the Italian.
“That was hard race,” said a delighted Gibernau. “Both mentally and physically. I had no plan for the last lap because when you have a plan and it doesn’t work, you’re in trouble. I used a bit of dirt-track experience in the last turn – if you want to pass someone on the way out – do the work on the way in.”
Rossi was honest about his error. “I made a big mistake,” he said. “I try to go away at the start but it was impossible. So I stay with Sete and wait for the last lap. I don’t know why I went so tight into the final turn because it’s difficult to pass there. But I went in too tight, lost the front and had to wait too long before I could get on the throttle.”
Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V) rode a great race to fifth in his rookie year, just allowing Loris Capirossi to steal fourth from him, and the American was understandably delighted. “That was fun,” he said. “I really needed that race and I’ll take fifth. I was fourth at one point but on the last lap on the last couple of corners I rode a little too conservatively and Capirossi just snuck by. Hats off to my guys. They worked real hard for me all year.”
Things improved a little for Tohru Ukawa (Camel Pramac Pons RC211V) who was sixth. “The result is a bit below my expectations,” he said. “But not too bad. I had a bit of trouble in the early laps with my tyre spi