Grand Prix 2000 - Round 12 - Estoril

Australia's Garry McCoy's pole position time was 4 tenths quicker than Aoki's 1m41.111s lap which gained the Japanese Suzuki rider the 2nd spot. The next 12 riders were covered by around a second which shows just how good Garry's pole lap must have been. Aoki seems to have picked up his pace after the rumours surrounding his being replaced for next year with Sete Gibernau have been confirmed. The Repsol Honda 500 squad for next year looks like consisting of Criville and current Shell Advance 250 Honda rider, Tohru Ukawa. McCoy is staying with Red-Bull Yamaha next year. 250 Yamaha riders Jacque and Nakano are both moving up to 500 with their Chesterfield Yamaha Team who are also making the step up to 250. The other Red-Bull Yamaha seat is currently taken by Regis Laconi who may lose his seat next year, but to who is anybody's guess. The current Marlboro Yamaha squad may well get Noriyuki Haga to join Checa next year while Biaggi is rumoured to be going with an Erv Kanemoto managed Yamaha and if that is the case the Marlboro dollars may go with him. All riders will be eager to impress in this last third of the season to secure a seat for next year.

To the race.

McCoy got the jump with Gibernau, Roberts and Aoki closely behind. Gibernau hits the lead. Somebody down - it's Aoki.

As they start lap 3 - Gibernau, McCoy, Roberts, Laconi, Abe, Biaggi, Van Der Goorbergh, Barros, Rossi, McWilliams. Gibernau has plenty of speed here today and is setting the early pace which is a bit of a surprise considering his lowly 11th qualifying position.

McCoy catching Gibernau now. Roberts is still right with them in 3rd. Both Rossi and Checa are well down the field and if they don't gain some positions before the end of this race their hopes of closing down Roberts' championship lead will disappear.

The leading trio are very close together now and McCoy is trying to find a way through on Gibernau, Roberts looks happy to sit right behind them and not get to involved with any risky passing manoeuvres. A smart move considering his championship lead.

McCoy hits the lead at the end of the main straight as they start lap 6. Rossi up to 7th at the start of lap seven.

Biaggi up into 4th closely followed by Abe and Rossi who is picking his way through the field. The top 3 are still right together and McCoy can't get away from Gibernau. 3 seconds separate the leading trio from the big group that are fighting for 4th.

McCoy pulled a slight gap on Gibernau on lap 9. Capirossi is in 13th and championship contender Carlos Checa is struggling in 14th place. Biaggi remains in 4th and is 2.3 seconds behind the third placed Roberts and closing rapidly. The second group has now split up with Biaggi opening up a large gap over the others, Rossi has also broken away from them a little and is closing on the leaders too. Roberts takes Gibernau for 2nd but McCoy has opened up quite a few bike lengths on them. Rossi is the fastest man on the circuit at the moment, closely followed by Biaggi.

McCoy extended his lead to 1.1 seconds with 17 laps to run. 1999 champion Criville is down in 12th place. Who is seriously going to challenge Roberts for the championship this year? Rossi on a late charge maybe?

15 laps to run and Rossi is right on Biaggi now and the younger of the two Italians is on hard tyres front/rear so he should have no problems with his tyres lasting the distance.

Roberts is closing on McCoy now, the gap only 7 tenths. Criville, Capirossi & Checa still 12th, 13th & 14th respectively. Roberts has left Gibernau behind a little and the Italian duo of Biaggi and Rossi are closing in on the Spaniard, now only 1.8 seconds behind Gibernau.

McCoy has picked up the pace a little in response to Roberts' challenge to extend his lead back out to a second. Biaggi and Rossi are within striking distance of Gibernau now and will surely pass him sometime in the next couple of laps.

13 laps to run and McCoy now 1.3 seconds up on Roberts. Gibernau being hassled by Biaggi and Rossi for 3rd. Race order for the machinery - Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha, Honda. Rossi through on Biaggi for 4th at the end of the main straight with 12 laps to go.

McCoy is still setting the pace and his soft tyres are holding up to the punishment so far.... Rossi through on Gibernau for 3rd with 11 laps to run. Clear track in front of Rossi, can he chase down McCoy and Roberts? It will be a miracle if he can...

McCoy is still pulling out on Roberts, the gap now 2 seconds. Garry look much tidier today than he has been recently, no real huge slides and see-saw braking. McCoy on backmarkers now. The gap back to Roberts now 2.7 seconds.

Rossi is closing very slightly on Roberts but still has over 4 seconds to make up if he is to catch the American and he only has 9 laps to do it in. He took 3 tenths out of Roberts on that lap but he has to do better than that if he is to catch him.

McCoy is maintaining a really hot pace out in front but is sliding a lot more now which could show that his tyres are starting to go off, but that doesn't seem to worry Garry to much anyway. He is consistently turning in 1m42s lap-times which nobody else on the circuit can match.

Criville has put on a late burst to fight his way up to 7th place. Repsol man is down, its Gibernau down and out but looks to be okay, sort of.

Race order with 6 laps to run - McCoy, Roberts, Rossi, Biaggi, Laconi, Criville, Van Der Goorbergh, Okada, Abe, Barros, Checa, McWilliams, Capirossi.

Biaggi has closed right back up to Rossi with 4 laps to go and they are both closing in on Roberts, the gap to the American is 3 seconds so they will have to pull something out of the bag to catch the Suzuki rider.

The battle for 5th is raging with 3 laps to go, the contenders for that position are Laconi, Criville, Van Der Goorbergh and Okada. The gap from Rossi up to Roberts is now 2.7 seconds. Roberts has backmarker trouble, this might be the break the Italian needs.

Last lap - After hanging a finger at the backmarker that slowed him up Roberts has his head down again to ensure that Rossi can't catch him. Race leader McCoy is miles in front and can't be challenged. Rossi is now about 5 bike lengths behind Roberts but maintains the gap to come home with a 2nd place and with it extends his championship lead a little further.. Biaggi 4th.

Roberts now has a 46 point lead over Rossi but Yamaha leads the manufacturers championship by 1 point over Honda.