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500 - Race Report Checa led through the 1st corner as the field started to sort itself out. Criville crashed halfway through the 1st lap after Capirossi suffered a horrific highside which caused his bike to spear Criville off. Alex will be fit to race next weekend. When they crossed the line to start the 3rd lap Checa remained in the lead with Abe behind, followed by McCoy and Rossi fighting for 3rd. Roberts had a terrible start and was working hard to recover ground and in doing so set the fastest lap. Abe slid off his bike on lap 3 but managed to get back on track. This of course gave McCoy 2nd place, Rossi still hard on his tail. Rossi got past on lap 4, Checa was sliding the Yamaha around all over the place and was opening quite a gap over the rest of the field. Rossi opened a bit of a gap up to McCoy before unceremoniously dumping it. He looked to have actually lent the NSR so far over that the undercarriage dug in to the ground and spat him off. This left McCoy, Roberts and Biaggi to fight for 2nd, Checa looked unstoppable out in front. Roberts took McCoy and set out after Checa, after lap 5 Checa had a 1.8 second lead over Roberts who was followed by McCoy and Biaggi. Roberts was trying hard and started slowly closing in on Checa. As they crossed the line to commence lap 6 Roberts had closed the gap down to 1 second, McCoy, a further 2 seconds behind, was being stalked by Biaggi. By the end of the lap Roberts had closed the gap to 2 tenths of a second and looked like a man on a mission. He was, and took Checa before the end of the lap. Biaggi had got ahead of McCoy, they were 4 seconds behind the leader. From here on in it could be a test of endurance as much as riding in the very hot Malaysian conditions. As they commenced lap 10 Roberts had opened up 1.5 seconds on Checa, while McCoy took Biaggi back for 3rd. Garry was going in even more sideways than in the last GP but was not coming out quite as crossed up. By lap 11 McCoy had opened up 1.5 seconds over Biaggi but was still over 6 seconds behind Roberts in the lead. Checa remained 1.5 seconds behind Roberts. Miles behind but fighting amongst each other was Aoki, Okada, Gibernau and Laconi. 9 laps to go and Roberts remained 1.5 seconds ahead of Checa, McCoy was not closing the gap but had opened up quite a lead over Biaggi. McWilliams was racing by himself in 10th place - 9 seconds clear of his more fancied team-mate Harada. Roberts stuck his hand up as they crossed the line with 6 laps to go as rain had started to fall on the Sepang circuit making it too dangerous to continue. Thus the race was declared finished at that point. Kenny was very praising of his team. His mechanics include an Aussie that rode with us when we tested the Honda XR650R. McCoy leads the World Championship on 41 points, followed by Checa on 40 points. Here is a quote from the winner - "I
wouldn't want to do that race again - it was pretty dramatic. First came
the start. I got away good, but as I changed to second gear the engine
seemed to run out of gas. I even held up my hand - but it cleared again.
I've heard of that problem, but it's never happened to me before. Then I
was way down and picking my way past people when Alex Criville and Loris
Capirossi crashed right in front of me. I moved to the right, but Alex's
bike chased me out - I missed it by less than a metre. After that it
was a matter of keeping smooth and making the most of the way the Suzuki
handles at this track, and passing people as quickly as I could. When I
got to second I found I could make up the gap on Checa quite easily, and
after I passed him then I pulled out seven tenths on each of the next
laps. At that point I thought maybe I And in 2nd place Checa - "This is a good result for me, for the team, for Marlboro and for Yamaha," he said. "But what is even more important is the work we did over the winter that has helped put me here. Now we must keep working at improving the bike for Suzuka next week and for the races in Europe. "I started well today and tried to keep my pace as high as possible. I knew Kenny is fast here. It was impossible to run his pace, it would’ve required too many risks, so I just kept my rhythm and waited to see what might happen at the end of the race. But then the rain came – Kenny slowed and he gave me the signal." 3rd place for McCoy - "I’m stoked to be up on the podium again and hopefully we can keep doing it for the rest of the year." Said a casual McCoy. "We tested here earlier in the year, but that is completely different to race conditions. The track is wide and difficult to learn the right line and since testing we’ve changed to the 16 inch tyre. Friday I didn’t get the opportunity to follow anyone because everyone was so spread out, but Saturday I got the chance to get in behind a few people and learn the right lines. "I think it’s been the experience on the bike that has helped me do so well. I started half way through last year so had no time to test. I was coming back from an injury in ’98 and hadn’t ridden a bike for a long time. It was also my first time on a four cylinder so I just had to get used to the bike and learn where I can get the advantage on the guys up front." Biaggi in 4th - "The rear started to go off just before half-distance so fourth isn’t so bad, certainly a lot better than our first race," said the Italian, who did not finish at the season-opening GP. "We learned a lot this weekend, which will help in the future. The bike is good. We just need to sort a few details. I made an okay start but the first corner was crazy and I found myself tenth, then Capirossi crashed in front of me - he went one way, the bike the other and I just got through the middle. Rossi also fell in front of me and then I had a battle with McCoy but he had made a better tyre choice. My groin injury doesn’t hurt any more but after 10 laps it was restricting my mobility on the bike. I’ll be feeling even better for Japan – Suzuka should be good for us." Results |
Roberts
was nearly a second under last years Sepang pole time . Capirossi is
2nd on the grid, followed by Biaggi, Checa and Abe.
