500

Regis Laconi took the win for Yamaha today, converting his pole position to a great 3.5 second win over Kenny Roberts in second.

We said in our mid-week Valencia preview - "Garry McCoy and the Red Bull Yamaha team tested here earlier in the season, as a result they may figure strongly in the weekend's proceedings." 

Garry McCoy on the podium !    In a fantastic, no awesome, ride on his Yamaha, McCoy got 3rd, beating fourth placed Okada home by 1.5 seconds.   The first Honda home.  When was the last time you can remember a GP podium without a Honda rider ? As Barry Sheene says "Answers on a Postcard", but here you can send them to me.

Yamaha's also filled 5th, 6th and 7th places with Checa, Abe and Biaggi getting home in that order.  They were then followed by a gaggle of Honda's, headed by Kocinski, then Gibernau, and Barros in 10th.

5 Yamaha's in the top seven is a great turn up for the books.  Non finishers included Criville and Aussie, Mark Willis.

With 4 GP's still to go, the championship is still up for grabs with Kenny Roberts closing the gap to leader, Alex Criville, to 46 points.   Still a lot of points, but it is possible, Okada is even in with a chance, remember there are 25 points for a win, so one of these guys could end up with 100 points from the last 4 rounds.

250

Tohru Ukawa blitzed the field in the 250 race, winning by 5 seconds over Aprilia mounted Battaini.

Capirossi came home in third a further 5 seconds back from 2nd placed Battaini, while Nakano was a further 5 seconds back in 4th.

A huge 20 second gap separated 4th placed Nakano to 5th placed Stefano Perugini. 

Porto and Vincent were 6th and 7th respectively.   The ever popular Valentino Rossi came home 8th, followed by Aussie youngster, Anthony West, the first TSR-Honda rider home in 9th.

This was a very wide spaced field for a 250 race, 44 seconds covered the top ten in the 500's while the 250's were covered by a huge 80 seconds !

125

An also incredibly spread field in the 125 class, with Scalvini getting home over 7 seconds in front of 2nd placed Alzamora, who retains the championship lead.  2nd and third place holders in the championship prior to Valencia, Azuma and Melandri, both went out on lap 13. 

Ueda was a further 21 seconds back in third, promoting him to third in the championship, with Arnaud Vincent home in 4th.

An incredibly huge 100 seconds covered the top ten in the 125 field at race end.

American riders are seventh, ninth and seventeenth - Kocinski, Roberts, Hale.

Aussie boys McCoy and Willis are eighth and sixteenth, Willis again being the fastest man on a Modenas.

Yamaha are also doing well in the 250's, with two riders on the front row of the grid, Nakano - Pole, Jacque - third.  Capirossi is the fastest Honda rider in second, while popular man Valentino Rossi is the fastest Aprilia in fourth.

Aussie youngster, Anthony West, has qualified fifteenth.

Arnaud Vincent holds pole in the 125's, Melandri is second.

Carlos Checa was third, with Kenny Roberts close behind on the Suzuki, putting three different manufacturers in the top 4. Roberts will be hoping for a great race this weekend to try and close the gap on Criville in the championship.

5th, 6th, 7th and 8th places were all taken by Honda's, Kocinski, Criville, Borja and Barros respectively.

Our two Aussies, McCoy and Willis filled 11th and 12th places.  Willis again being way in front of the other Modenas rider's in 17th and 19th.

Biaggi is languishing in 16th place, while the sporadic Van De Goorbergh only managed 18th on the Muz Weber .

Roberto Rolfo is the surprise star in 250 qualifying so far, but only a second separates first and young Aussie Anthony West in 12th.

Championship leader, Valentino Rossi, is second at the moment, less than two-hundredths behind Rolfo.  Second placed man in the championship, Ukawa could only manage tenth, while third place man Capirossi is seventh on the timesheets.

In the 125's Aprilia rider, Arnaud Vincent, leads the pack from third placed man in the championship, Marco Melandri.

Championship leader, Emilio Alzamora is 7th while second placed man Azuma is 6th on the provisional grid.

Garry McCoy was eighth in practice with a 1'39.456.   Mark Willis has outdone himself with a 1'40.351 on the customer Modenas which puts him eleventh.  Other Modenas riders were 14th and 16th.  Maybe Mark is warming himself up for a big showing at the Oz GP, where many thousands of people like me will be shouting for him and Garry. Hopefully Steve Martin and Anthony Gobert will also be making an appearance at the Island.  Hopefully they can upset the big boy's so we have more of an excuse to drink too much and do silly things outside the pub in Cowes after the Oz GP.  But I am getting ahead of myself here, I am sure you would understand if you have been there before.

There are 4 Yamaha's in the top ten, including our Garry, while Biaggi is the last placed Yamaha, back in 18th!!

Stay Tuned for more news.  

Valencia Grand Prix Preview

This weekend the battle for the Grand Prix Championship heads to Valencia.  This is the 12th round of the 16 round championship and the third Spanish round  for 1999.  I wish we had three rounds in Australia !

This is the first time here for most of the riders.   The circuit is 4.8 kilometres long with 14 turns and a very flat layout that provides excellent viewing for the spectators.  Criville has a 66 point lead in the championship and unless mechanical or physical breakdown occurs, he looks sure to take out the championship.  Mind you Mick had a lead not unlike this a few years back before busting himself up badly, so as they say it isn't over until it is over.

Garry McCoy and the Red Bull Yamaha team tested here earlier in the season, as a result they may figure strongly in the weekend's proceedings.