MotoGP – The Czech Republic Grand Prix turn-based –

Posted on by admin

The Czech Republic Grand Prix lap by lap

MotoGP - The Czech Republic Grand Prix turn-based -

After the summer break, the tests in Brno were disrupted by the weather. Low temperatures and rain did not allow the pilots to make their adjustments in the dry. Sunday the sun returns for the warm up, but the clouds threaten. Suspense !

After the summer break, the resumption of the 2004 season, more contested than ever, saw the two test days in Brno disrupted by the weather. Low temperatures and rain did not allow the pilots to make their adjustments in the dry. Sunday the sun came back for the warm up, but the clouds are threatening. Suspense !

125

Marco Simoncelli took pole after dominating the two days of testing on the wet track. Dovizioso, still there, is just behind him, accompanied on the 1st row by Simon, who made his best qualification, and Lorenzo. In 2nd row, Talmacsi, Stoner who is back after his injury, Corsi and Zanetti. Pesek, Borsoi, Ballerini and Harms form the 3rd row. Many well-placed drivers in the championship are in an unusual position on the grid: Jenkner 13th, Giansanti 14th, Barbera 24th, Locatelli 25th and Nieto 26th, were trapped by the conditions of these tests, as was Mike Di Meglio, just behind 27th. them, whose chief engineer has changed, the agreement with the previous one not being at best. Note the qualification of Marketa Janakova, the young Czech, in 32nd position despite the tricky conditions of the tests.

During the warm up, which takes place in the dry, the riders have little time to adjust their bikes in dry conditions. Dovizioso did the best with the fastest morning time ahead of Barbera, Locatelli, Stoner, Giansanti, Pesek, Jenkner, Simoncelli, Nieto and Lorenzo. Mike Di Meglio, 24th, seems in difficulty to adjust his machine. The favorites are back to their logical positions but their place on the grid is quite unfavorable except for Dovizioso, who has never done worse than 4th since the start of the season, scoring points in all races.

Departure It was Andrea Dovizioso who made the hole shot, followed by his teammate Corsi in front of Simoncelli, Lorenzo, Stoner, Jenkner, Talmacsi, Simon, Borsoi a little further leading in front of Lai and Barbera with a great start. Lorenzo passes 2nd but is caught by Corsi and Simoncelli: the fight is on! Dovizioso took the opportunity to take a few steps ahead immediately, setting a pace from the start! Lorenzo followed by Stoner crosses past Corsi, Simoncelli, Jenkner, Talmacsi and Simon, Borsoi making an effort to make the junction. Nieto is 14th at the halfway point, compensating for his poor place on the grid with a start and a constant attack. Stoner takes 2nd place from Lorenzo. The first lap is completed in these positions, Dovizioso alone in the lead already more than a second ahead, out of reach of the aspiration so precious for the 125, which Lorenzo takes advantage of to return to 2nd. Barbera, author of the best 2nd lap, climbs back and is 7th! Di Meglio is 23rd, Locatelli with a catastrophic start is 30th! Stoner passed Lorenzo again and then made a mistake, taking with him Rodriguez and Pellino, Lorenzo’s team-mate, who were unable to avoid the Australian’s sinking bike. Shortly afterwards, it was Simoncelli who fell, he who had taken pole in the wet! He will be able to leave, however, but last. Taking advantage of the misfortune of others, Jenkner is 3rd in Lorenzo’s wake, Barbera 4th just behind them! On lap 3, Dovizioso extended his lead to 3 seconds over the trio Lorenzo, Jenkner and Barbera on his heels, then a few lengths Pesek, Corsi, Simon, Nieto who never stops to recover, and Borsoi. Barbera in great shape quickly took 2nd ahead of Jenkner, Lorenzo and Pesek. Locatelli is then 17th ahead of Kallio, Di Meglio is 23rd. On lap 4, Dovizioso still leads with 3 seconds, but the gap has not increased, thanks to the pace of the pursuers now given by Barbera who has the best top speed, 6 km / h better than Dovizioso! Nieto passed in front of the 2nd hunting group, leading Corsi, Borsoi, Giansanti and Simon. Kallio was forced to retire due to mechanical problems: no more KTMs in the race! Locatelli passed 15th. Seeing Barbera walk away, Jenkner passes Lorenzo, soon imitated by Pesek.

Photo O. BERGAMASCHI

On the 5th lap, Nieto nibbles his delay on the first group of pursuers, taking Borsoi, Giansanti and Corsi on his wheel. About a second later, Simon, Ballerini, Bautista, Harms and Lai struggled to keep pace with the leaders, Locatelli behind them setting the fastest lap in the race. Lorenzo, too, struggles to keep pace with Barbera, Jenkner and Pesek, seeing Nieto come back closer and closer. On the 6th lap, it was Nieto who set the second fastest time just behind Locatelli, who again set the fastest lap and passed 14th ahead of Lai. Talmacsi, who suffered too much from the consequences of his fall in the last lap of Saturday‘s practice, in turn retired with the Malaguti. Lorenzo was joined by Nieto on this lap and passed him, closing the gap to the trio led by Barbera, who in turn came back to Dovizioso. At the 7th crossing of the line, Dovizioso was only 2.4 seconds ahead of Barbera, Jenkner and Pesek, Nieto continuing to come back, Lorenzo a little further now joined by Borsoi, Giansanti and Corsi. On the 8th lap, Dovizioso’s lead was 2 s. Nieto has practically made the connection with Pesek. Lorenzo, who put in some charcoal, is also back on the lead. On lap 9, Barbera was just 1.1 seconds behind Dovizioso. Jenkner set the best time, Nieto passed 4th in front of Pesek who no longer kept pace with Barbera and Jenkner, Borsoi and Lorenzo passed and returned to 6th position under the eyes of Giansanti, Corsi and Simon a little further. Locatelli arrives in sight of the race leader! Di Meglio is 25th. Pesek falls heavily, the victim of a large rear wheel lock during braking, probably due to a mechanical problem.

On the 10th lap, Dovizioso’s lead was reduced to 0.5 s over Barbera and Jenkner, Nieto was at 1.2 s, Lorenzo, Borsoi and Giansanti at 4 s, Corsi and Simon at 6 s, Locatelli passed 10th to 8 s, Harms, Ballerini and Bautista are at 11 s, Pasini at 15 s, Lai at 17 s. The junction at the head is made in this lap. Dovizioso is joined by Barbera and Jenkner, with Nieto close by as well. Barbera and Jenkner immediately passed Dovizioso who widened in the ascent. At the end of the 11th straight, Nieto tried to brake him, Dovizioso looking in trouble, but the championship leader resisted well and started again after losing a few lengths in one fell swoop. Jenkner takes the lead from Barbera who returns quickly. Dovizioso passes Jenkner again before the 12th pass. Locatelli passed Simon and Corsi for 8th place. Nieto seeing Barbera and Dovizioso pull away, passed Jenkner in 3rd position. Dovizioso takes the lead from Barbera. On the 13th lap, Nieto took advantage of the suction to come in 2nd under braking. Barbera brakes again but Nieto immediately takes 2nd place. Taking advantage of the fight in the lead, Lorenzo, Borsoi and Giansanti returned to the leaders, just like Locatelli who came back like a ball. In the next round, the regrouping of all these men is done! Barbera regained the lead in front of Dovizioso and Jenkner, Lorenzo passed Nieto, who by resisting his compatriot touches him and loses the line, thus passing through Borsoi, Giansanti and Locatelli, the fastest on the track !

In the 15th lap, Barbera leads by 0.4s over Dovizioso and Jenkner, Lorenzo and Borsoi are at 1s, Giansanti and Locatelli at 1.5s, Nieto at 2s, Corsi and Simon at 7s, Bautista, Harms and Ballerini at 11 s, Pasini at 17 s, Lai at 23 s. Locatelli unleashed passes Giansanti! At the end of the 16th straight line, Lorenzo passed 3rd in front of Jenkner and Nieto double Giansanti. The group of leaders take a turn on Janakova, the latter well-paneled to avoid disrupting the fight in front. On the 17th lap, Lorenzo passed 2nd ahead of Dovizioso, Locatelli passing 4th in front of Borsoi and Jenkner. In the process, Locatelli made the interior to Dovizioso who immediately regained 3rd place. Lorenzo brakes at Barbera and takes the lead. Nieto strengthens Jenkner and returns to 5th.

On the last lap, Locatelli passed Dovizioso again. Barbera and Lorenzo double and redouble, while Nieto came back on the heels of the first four. Barbera attacked by Dovizioso pushes aside and lets Dovizioso and Locatelli pass! In the first of the two chicanes on the ascent, Barbera goes high side and almost falls, letting Nieto and Borsoi pass! Dovizioso won on the brakes for Lorenzo as the two bikes collided in the Italian’s maneuvering maneuver. Lorenzo keeps on the outside in the snitch of the chicane, which allows him to regain the lead in the bump! Locatelli tries to take advantage of the interior, Dovizioso having been forced to widen, but the leader closes the door! Lorenzo managed to keep the lead of a half-wheel over Dovizioso on re-acceleration, Locatelli completing the podium under Nieto’s nose and beard. Incredible race by these two men who started 25th and 26th respectively on the grid! Borsoi passes 5th, Jenkner 6th, Barbera 7th, Giansanti 8th, Corsi 9th, Simon10th, Harms 11th, Ballerini 12th, Bautista 13th, Pasini 14th and Lai 15th. Simoncelli, after her crash, finished 19th, Di Meglio was 24th and Janakova, currently the only girl in Grand Prix, finished the race in last position.

In the championship, Dovizioso made a good deal, consolidating his leadership with 183 points ahead of Locatelli who more than saved the furniture with 147 points, Barbera 138, Lorenzo 109 who took the provisional 4th place from Stoner 104, Nieto coming back to 101 points. Boss Dovizioso has stepped up to the plate and if he continues to steal big points with such regularity until the end of the season, the title cannot escape him. !

250

The tests on Friday on wet track and on Saturday in the rain mean that the qualifying times are mostly achieved on the 1st day. Porto were the fastest in these conditions ahead of Nieto, De Angelis and Guintoli. Rolfo, Battaini, Elias and Aoyama form the 2nd row. In 3rd we find Arnaud Vincent, always at ease on a wet track, Matsudo, De Puniet and West. Pedrosa, who doesn’t like water, limits the damage with the 13th fastest time. Bataille is 20th, Nigon 21st, Marchand 22nd, Leblanc narrowly qualified 27th and last on the grid. In the warm-up on the dry track, De Angelis was the fastest in front of Porto, Pedrosa and De Puniet. Aoyama, Battaini, Guintoli, Poggiali and Nieto follow. Bataille made the 17th fastest time, Vincent the 21st but injured his hand in a fall, Marchand the 22nd, Leblanc the 24th and Nigon the 25th.

Departure

Porto took advantage of an excellent start to confirm their pole position with the hole shot ahead of Aoyama, De Angelis, Rolfo, Pedrosa and De Puniet. Pedrosa passed Rolfo in 4th position. Elias, West, Nieto, Bataille, Battaini, Guintoli, Vincent, Poggiali and Smrz follow. Battaini fell and failed to drag Arnaud Vincent with him, the Frenchman being forced to leave the track level with the air fences to avoid him, losing the benefit of his good tests and a fairly good start … Arnaud did not will rejoin the track only in last position after this incident! In front, Porto leads ahead of De Angelis, Aoyama, De Puniet who overtook Pedrosa, Rolfo, Nieto, West, Bataille and Guintoli. Poggiali is a few lengths behind, the fall of Battaini having caused a gap in the first turns. Randy passes Aoyama for 3rd position at the start of the ascent.

At the 1st passage, Porto leads ahead of De Angelis, De Puniet, Aoyama and Pedrosa. A few pitches follow Rolfo, Elias and Nieto, then a little further West and Guintoli, then Bataille, Poggiali and Nigon 13th. Marchand is 20th, Leblanc 23rd. Randy attacks De Angelis who not only resists, but takes the lead in Porto in the next corner! From this 2nd lap, the black clouds which have returned to the circuit let a few drops escape! Pedrosa passed 4th ahead of his teammate Aoyama. On the second lap, De Angelis, who had the fastest lap in the race, passed by a few steps ahead of Porto. Marchand passed 19th. Nieto passes 6th ahead of Rolfo and Elias who in turn passes Rolfo, then takes 6th place from Nieto. Up front, Aoyama seems to struggle to keep pace with the four leaders. Porto, author of the best 2nd round, has indeed reunited De Angelis, bringing back De Puniet and Pedrosa. Randy took 2nd place under braking from Porto. De Puniet attacks and passes De Angelis at the bottom of the descent, but De Angelis passes him again at the top of the climb. After the 3rd lap, Randy takes the lead under braking at the end of the straight line. De Angelis takes the lead again and Randy resists on the outside of the left, presenting himself inside the next right, but De Angelis stays on the outside, returns, and Randy forced to close his turn sees Porto also returning to favor better acceleration out of a curve … On the 4th lap, De Puniet slipped into a mouse hole and took 2nd place. Arnaud Vincent retires when he was last after Battaini’s fall. Elias 6th left behind Nieto, moved back to 7th in front of Rolfo.

On the 5th lap, the quartet De Angelis, De Puniet, Porto and Pedrosa is still in the lead. Aoyama alone 5th a few lengths away, Elias alone 6th, Nieto, Rolfo and West then, then Guintoli 10th ahead of Bataille 11th. Nigon is 15th, Marchand 18th. Randy De Puniet takes the lead again! In the 6th lap, the rain disrupted the course of the fight. A few pilots raised their hands to request the interruption, but to no avail. Porto, who stayed in full force, took the lead with several steps ahead of Aoyama who did not cut either, De Angelis and De Puniet, who had made the mistake of slowing down before the red flag came out. ! Suddenly, Elias came back in contact with De Puniet, taking Pedrosa on his wheel, Nieto and Rolfo having also moved closer to the leaders, just like West and De Puniet returned to 2nd in front of Aoyama at the start of the ascent, Pedrosa coming back. 4th. Aoyama returns to 2nd in front of Randy. On the 7th lap, Porto led alone, Randy regaining 2nd place under braking at the end of the straight line at Aoyama, Pedrosa, Elias and De Angelis, West wheel to wheel. A few lengths away, Rolfo, Nieto, Guintoli and Bataille also took advantage of the hesitation to come back almost in contact with the first. Pedrosa takes 3rd place from Aoyama. At the bottom of the circuit, while a few drops fall, De Angelis returns to 4th in front of Aoyama, followed by West and Elias. Nigon pushed by Baldolini falls and gives up. Elias passed West who attacked him again and returned to the end of the 8th straight line. Guintoli is 9th and Bataille returned to Nieto for 10th place. Aoyama returned to 6th place in front of Elias who returned a little further, but the Japanese resisted and came back again. In the 9th lap, Porto, still in the lead, saw De Puniet return and Pedrosa joined by De Angelis for the best lap. West 5th is again behind, Elias, Rolfo and Aoyama in his wheel, Guintoli, Bataille and Nieto a little further. Aoyama passes Rolfo who has lost contact with Elias and West. De Angelis passes 3rd in front of Pedrosa.

On the 10th lap, Porto is only 0.3s ahead of Randy, 0.8s over De Angelis, 1s over Pedrosa: the regrouping is being done in the lead! Elias past 5th is at 3.7 s, West at 4 s, Aoyama and Rolfo at 4.8 s, Guintoli at 5.7 s, Battle at 6.1 s, Nieto at 7.5 s, Davies at 8 s, Poggiali at 10 s. On the next round, Battle and Nieto hang on and fall. Nieto then goes to get a flag from the race marshals to signal a change in grip to the other drivers, which will result in a fine of $ 5,000 … Stigefelt also falls. Marchand is 15th, Leblanc 17th. Rolfo returns to Aoyama. In the 12th lap, Porto, De Puniet, De Angelis and Pedrosa still lead in this order and grouped.

Photo Jean-Marc LISSE

Elias is only 5th and West alone 6th ahead of Rolfo and Aoyama. Leblanc passed 16th ahead of Nohles. De Puniet regains the lead in the descent of the 13th lap. On the next lap, Randy who accelerated tries to leave, Pedrosa then seeming to struggle to follow. Elias is 5th at 4.2 s, West 6th at 5.5 s Rolfo 7th at 9.3 s, Aoyama 8th at 9.7 s, Guintoli 9th at 10 s, Marchand 14th and Leblanc 16th at 2.4 s behind Matsudo . De Angelis passed 2nd in front of Porto, seeing Randy leaving a few lengths. De Angelis made an effort to get back on the Frenchman and managed to let go of Porto. A little further, the Argentinian lost the line and moved away, leaving Pedrosa to take 3rd place just before the 14th lap. De Angelis tries to get past Randy who closes the door, forcing the Italian to step aside and pass Pedrosa in 2nd position. Pedrosa took the lead in the suction between the two chicanes, but Randy came back under braking in 2nd. In the straight line, Pedrosa again takes the lead. Guintoli, who had just passed Aoyama, went to the high side and had a big fall, his motorcycle instantly catching fire and leaving some debris on the track, fortunately without physical damage for the French rider: 4th French out of the race! On lap 16, Pedrosa, who set the fastest lap, took a few steps ahead of De Puniet and De Angelis. Porto are struggling to keep up with the new pace imposed by the Spaniard and his Honda. At the end of the straight, De Angelis brakes and passes Randy who cannot resist. Quickly, De Angelis tries to get back on Pedrosa and lets go of Randy who sees Porto come back to him. On the 17th lap, Pedrosa hit the nail on the head with a new best time, gradually leaving De Angelis, De Puniet and Porto behind. Elias is 6th, West 7th, Rolfo 8th. As a few drops of rain fell again, De Angelis got it wrong and retired when he was 2nd! Pedrosa leader raises his hand and cuts, but De Puniet and Porto do not cut, the race management not having passed the red flag again! Porto passed 2nd ahead of De Puniet, the two men passed the Spaniard in stride, Porto immediately taking a few steps ahead with two laps to go! Behind them, West also took advantage and took 4th place from Elias. Nohles in turn falls on the trail that has become tricky.

At the start of the last lap, Porto did not give up. De Puniet secures his 2nd place and Pedrosa gives up his hand in these conditions which he does not like. West 4th does everything to contain Elias. Davies 8th in front of Poggiali also had a very good race with his private motorbike. Victory for the smartest, Porto, who never surrendered when their opponents were waiting for the red flag that never came. De Puniet, who will then admit to having been only half clever, finished 2nd, Pedrosa in perdition manages to keep his 3rd place just ahead of West 4th and again first private, Elias 5th, Rolfo 6th, Aoyama 7th, Davies 8th, Poggiali 9th, Faubel 10th, Heidolf 11th, Marchand 12th, Leblanc 13th – a magnificent result for the French wild card who hopes to find a handlebar for the next season – Smrz 14th and Olive 15th. Ten pilots did not finish the race, including four French: a massacre on this tricky track, only 19 pilots finishing the race !

In the championship, a good deal for Porto and De Puniet who took back a few points from Pedrosa still leader with 196 points ahead of Randy 166, Porto 153, then far behind Elias 97, Nieto 94, De Angelis 93, Aoyama 80, West of course first private with 78, Rolfo 77 and Poggiali only 10th with 70 points, he who is the outgoing champion and who sports the n ° 1 on the official Aprilia…

MotoGP

The tests on neither really wet nor really dry track saw Sete Gibernau take pole ahead of Barros and Rossi, who achieved his 50th first row out of 74 starts in the premier class! Bayliss, Edwards and Checa form the second row as the Spaniard failed to improve his time on the first day of testing which put him on provisional pole. In 3rd place are Hayden, Biaggi and Capirossi, followed in 4th by Xaus, Melandri and Hodgson. It seems that the Bridgestones are less efficient in the wet than in the dry: Roberts, used to good practice, is only 16th with the Suzuki, while his brother Kurtiss on the Proton is in front of him in 14th position on the grid! Nakano is 25th and penultimate qualifier ahead of Hofmann.

In the warm-up, Hayden was the fastest in the dry ahead of Hopkins, Gibernau, Kenny Roberts, Rossi, Edwards, Barros, Capirossi, Tamada, Checa and Biaggi. Nakano and Hofmann make the 15th and 16th times. Bayliss, failing to properly set his Desmosedici in the dry, only achieved 17th fastest time in the morning.

Departure

It was Gibernau who took full advantage of his pole position by taking the lead despite a strong start from Bayliss ahead of him but forced to stay on the outside, followed by Barros, Biaggi and Edwards. Just behind the Australian, Hayden, Capirossi and Rossi are on the attack. Rossi, a great specialist in delayed braking, passed into the same corner of the curve Hayden and Edwards, taking 4th position. Gibernau immediately took a few steps ahead of Barros, followed by Biaggi, Rossi, Edwards, Hayden, Capirossi, Bayliss, Checa, Xaus, Hopkins, Abe, Tamada, Melandri and Kenny Roberts. At the entrance to the 1st chicane of the ascent, Rossi brakes at Biaggi but cannot hold the rope. The Roman immediately returns to the cheers of the public, he who has won 7 times on this route with five different motorcycles: 4 times in 250, 1 time with the NSR 500, once with the YZR and once with the M-1).

Photo Jean-Marc LISSE

On the first pass Rossi on the attack slips his rear wheel into the dirt and loses some ground on Biaggi, but doesn’t cut despite the heavy steering! Gibernau does not ask questions and leads in front of Barros and Biaggi. Behind Hayden, Capirossi struggles to follow and even further, Checa passed 8th in front of Bayliss, Tamada is 10th in front of Hopkins and Roberts. On the second lap, Barros climbed back up to Gibernau and it was Checa who set the best time, back in the wheel of Capirossi. Hodgson, who rides with a broken rib following a collision with Biaggi at practice, passes Xaus. Hopkins passes his teammate Roberts. In front, it was Hayden who passed Edwards while Biaggi passed 2nd in front of Barros, seeing Gibernau go away with almost 1 second. Suddenly, at the end of the third straight line, Rossi also passes the Brazilian under braking. On lap 4 Gibernau still leads with a 7/10 lead over Biaggi and Rossi, the two Honda HRCs of Barros and Hayden, Capirossi who passed Edwards and Checa on their heels. A little further, Hopkins who runs in the same lap times as the leaders and Tamada who passed Roberts are pushing hard to not be left behind. Gregorio Lavilla retires on the 3rd Suzuki.

On the 5th lap, Gibernau maintained his lead over Biaggi and Rossi, Barros again set the fastest time and Hayden still in contact while Capirossi, 2 seconds behind the leader, seemed to be behind. Edwards and Checa are at 3s, Hopkins and Tamada at 4s, Roberts at 9s, Melandri at 7s, Bayliss, Abe and Hodgson at 8s. Mac Williams 16th passed Xaus, and Hofmann 18th passed Nakano. On lap 6, Barros, who set another fastest lap in the race, threatened Rossi at the end of the straight line but Il Dottore resisted thanks to his legendary braking. Rossi passed Biaggi on the descent with Gibernau’s lead of just 0.5s. Rossi immediately took 2 lengths on Biaggi and returned to Gibernau, Biaggi and Barros reacting immediately to stay in contact. Tamada passed 9th in front of Hopkins at the end of the straight, the two men coming back to Edwards and Checa. Rossi reconnects with Gibernau in this lap. Biaggi and Barros are almost back in contact and Hayden and Capirossi follow a little further. On the 8th lap, Gibernau, Rossi, Biaggi and Barros are grouped together in the lead. Hopkins passed 8th ahead of Tamada and Checa. In the 9th, 10th and 11th laps, taking advantage of the attacks of Rossi on Gibernau and Barros on Biaggi, Hayden gradually redid the junction but the positions remaining unchanged in the lead. Hodgson passed Bayliss and Hofmann passed Mac Willliams on the only Aprilia in the race, Byrne being injured in his heavy crash on the second day of testing. On lap 12, Biaggi attempted an attack on Rossi who held up well and it was Barros who passed the Roman on the descent! On the next lap, Barros passed 2nd ahead of Rossi. Biaggi who seems to be struggling to keep his trajectory is now threatened by Hayden! In the 13th lap, Hopkins, who was having a very good race, broke his engine and retired. At the head of the race, Rossi came back to 2nd in front of Barros, Biaggi got back on track, bringing Hayden back to the leaders. On the 14th lap, it was Barros who also seemed to slow down, letting Rossi go in contact with Gibernau. Barros, forcing to re-join, loses front end and falls, causing a gap of almost 1s between Rossi 2nd and Biaggi 3rd !

Photo Jean-Marc LISSE

On lap 16 Gibernau and Rossi were more than a second ahead of Biaggi and Hayden, Capirossi still alone in 5th, Tamada and Edwards behind him and Checa a little further. Rossi attacked and passed Gibernau at the start of the chicane but came out too wide, letting Gibernau pass again. In the next bend, Rossi brakes again in Catalan, which passes again in the middle of the double right! Rossi passes again, outside this time, to widen again and see Gibernau come back! Il Dottore then developed a nice heat from behind as the scuffle helped Biaggi and Hayden catch up. On lap 17, Biaggi was in Rossi’s aspiration but failed to get past his eternal rival. Gibernau regained a few steps ahead of Rossi by lowering his lap again. At the end of the straight, Biaggi brakes Rossi but feels he cannot pass. It widens and stays on its wheels, but loses the benefit of its attack. Hayden, himself, not having the experience of Roman, gets trapped in the same place by forcing too much on his front to pass anyway and falls! End of the race for the HRC, and end of a good series for Hayden … Gibernau turns 4 / 10th faster than Rossi and Biaggi and leads with a second lead, 3 laps from the end! Tamada who finished strong came back almost in contact with Capirossi, benefiting from the endurance of his Bridgestones in the dry! In the lead, Gibernau continued to increase his lead by 1.2sec on the 20th row, Biaggi slipping to 2.3sec behind the Spaniard. Tamada is back in contact with Capirossi! Xaus falls and retires on the penultimate lap.

At the start of the last lap Gibernau was 1.8 seconds ahead of Rossi and Tamada passed Capirossi, taking him 0.8 seconds off the line! As Bayliss fell in the last lap, Gibernau took his first victory in Brno ahead of Rossi 2nd, Biaggi 3rd, Tamada 4th, Capirossi 5th, Checa 6th, Edwards 7th, Abe 8th, Melandri 9th, Kenny Roberts 10th, Hodgson 11th, Nakano 12th , Hofmann 13th, Mac Williams 14th and Aoki 15th. Note that Pitt 16th and Fabrizio 17th finished in the same lap. Seven drivers were therefore forced to retire in this category, confirming Brno’s difficulty in these cold and sometimes wet conditions. With the three strong men of the championship on the podium, the hierarchy is respected !

Photo Jean-Marc LISSE

In the championship, Rossi leads with 184 points ahead of Gibernau 167 who took back 5 points and Biaggi 158 who does not lose contact … Colin Edwards secures his 4th place with 104 points ahead of Barros, who pays dearly for his poor performance and found 5th with 86 points ahead of Hayden 83, Checa 82, Capirossi 75, Tamada who climbed up the standings (9th with 69). Melandri is 10th with 64 points. On the brands side, Honda is consolidating its leadership position with 225 points ahead of Yamaha 199 and Ducati 94. With 48 points, Suzuki snatches 4th provisional place from Kawasaki (46 points). The Telefonica Movistar team from Gibernau and Edwards leads with 271 points ahead of Gauloises Fortuna de Rossi and Checa 266, Camel Honda de Biaggi and Tamada 3rd with 227 points, the official Honda Repsol team remaining stuck at 169 points with this white result, far ahead. Tech 3, 5th with 113 points, only four ahead of Ducati 109.

We can’t wait for Estoril next weekend, because the holidays this time over should allow you to read turn by turn within the usual Moto Net deadlines! See you on September 5 to follow the exploits of Dovizioso, Pedrosa, Rossi and their challengers !

J. ARSOUILLE

Related articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *