Grand Prix 2000 - Round 7 - Catalunya - 500 race report

Tyre choice - that is just what may decide this race at Catalunya. The very light drizzle will make tyre choice an educated guess. Both the 125 & 250 races were wet and the 500 race has also been declared wet.

The grid was decided on Friday as the track was too wet on Saturday for anybody to improve their Friday times. Roberts was fastest in the wet but Barros and Capirossi were clearly fastest in the dry. McCoy has been struggling with rear end grip all weekend and the damp track will likely only make things worse for the Australian who is starting from the 5th row!

5 people fell in this mornings warm-up including Barros, Checa, Criville, Abe & Cardoso who hurt himself so badly that he will not start the race. Roberts would have to be the hot tip as he is very good in the wet.

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Capirossi led them in to the 1st corner, followed by Roberts and Laconi. McCoy seems to be cruising around in last place as they come out of the 1st corner. Roberts started running away from the 2nd corner and took off from Capirossi so quickly that he made him look as though he was going backwards. Halfway around the 1st lap and Checa is up to 2nd but Roberts has at least a second on his chasers. Abe 3rd then Capirossi, Barros, Rossi, Gibernau, Aoki, Biaggi & Criville.

Abe took Checa for 2nd as they commenced lap 2 and Barros took Capirossi for 4th. Roberts has a 3 second lead already!

Abe is looking loose and Barros is looking fast, Roberts is just clearing off in to the distance. A 4.3 second lead as he started lap 3. Biaggi, Criville and McWilliams are battling for 9th. Barros is closing right up on Abe and Checa and it looks as though this is where the excitement will be, the battle for 2nd.

Roberts started lap 4 with a 5 second lead after doing a 2m 02second lap. Race order - Roberts, Checa, Barros, Abe, Gibernau, Capirossi, Rossi. Gibernau set the fastest lap and is joining the battle for 2nd but the main protagonists are Checa and Barros.

Barros got Checa on the next lap and Carlos lost the rear a few corners later. I hope Kenny's pit board informs him of that as they are currently tied for the championship lead and Roberts has a great opportunity to break away from the Spaniard in the championship.

Gibernau hit the dirt a lap after Checa had done the same. Barros has set out to chase down Roberts, the gap down to less than 4 seconds now. On lap 6 the race order - Roberts, Barros, Abe, Capirossi, Rossi, Aoki, V D Goorbergh, Criville, Biaggi and De Gea in 10th.

The leaders started lapping Garry McCoy with 18 laps to go, something tells me that Garry took a big gamble on tyre choice and is now paying the price. By lap 7 Barros had the gap to Roberts down to less than 3 seconds. Abe 3rd, Rossi 4th then Capirossi and Aoki.

17 laps to run and Barros looks to have closed the gap even further, unless Roberts pulls his finger out Barros will surely take the lead within the next few laps. The gap down to a second as they both lapped Okada, obviously another wrong tyre choice. Criville, Van Der Goorbergh and Biaggi are fighting for 7th.

Is Roberts going to have a competitor for the 2000 Championship?

Lap 10 and Barros is now only 7 tenths behind Roberts as they both lap Laconi. We now got word that McCoy and Okada had gone for intermediates, Laconi had a wet front and intermediate rear while the guys fighting in the race are all on full wets.

Barros' bike snapped violently sideways as he tried to get a good run on to the straight in order to pass Roberts but the lurid slide lost him his chance of doing that. Criville went down in another blow to the Repsol Honda Team. Lap 10, and two of the three Repsol Honda riders are down while the other has been lapped! Barros took Roberts for the lead halfway in to the lap, I can't see Roberts trying to fight with Barros as the championship points from this race are just too precious. Abe 7 seconds back in 3rd, Rossi further back in 4th. Barros has bike trouble, the Honda looks to be missing badly, what a blow to the Brazilian, and to this race!

So Roberts inherits the lead, lap 13 race order - Roberts, Abe (7 seconds), Rossi (17 seconds), Aoki (17 seconds), Capirossi (19 seconds), Van Der Goorbergh (24 seconds), Biaggi (24 seconds), De Gea (31 seconds).

Aoki took Rossi for 3rd on lap 14. 10 laps to go now and the gaps are fairly static apart from Aoki pulling a little ground on Rossi. This is shaping up as a pretty boring end to the race.

9 laps to go and the track looks to be drying so we are seeing some lurid slides, beautiful and fully controlled drifts from Rossi on to the main straights, but those wets will be getting torn up using that approach.

8 laps to run - Roberts looks to be the only one using his brain and trying to find some wet parts of the circuit to cool the tyres. McCoy got lapped for the 2nd time.

6 laps to go and things remain the same, Roberts out in front, Abe 9 seconds back in 2nd, another 9 seconds back to Aoki in 3rd, Biaggi took Capirossi for 5th. The only possible change in the top five I can see happening before the race finish is maybe Rossi being able to get Aoki for 3rd.

Aoki spun it up and got thrown up out of the seat but managed to somehow arrive back in a riding position, he did lose enough time to let Rossi through for that 3rd position. I don't think Aoki will be able to get him back but you never know....

3 laps to run - Roberts, (7 seconds) Abe, (15 secs) Rossi, (16 secs) Aoki, (21 secs) Biaggi, (24 secs) Capirossi.

Roberts takes the easy win, Abe did a great mono to add some excitement to the end of the race as did Valentino Rossi.

That was probably the least exciting race of the 2000 season thus far.