2001 Grand Prix 500 - Round 12

A wet start to the 500 race after both Capirossi and Checa fell on the warm up lap. Checa made it back to the pits and started from pit lane on his spare machine while Capirossi made it to the start line with minimal damage.

Capirossi led them through turn one before binning it once again. Aoki also down a couple of corners later.

Rossi took the lead from Nakano shortly after that and started to open up a small gap but most of the runners are on intermediate or slick rears which means they are going very s-l-o-w around the bends. This has to be the slowest corner speeds ever seen.

More crashes, Haga down and a Yamaha but I can't tell if it is Checa or Abe. Everyone had gone out with a slick or intermediate rear as the sun is out even though the track is wet.

Brendan Clarke is 14th, one position ahead of McCoy!

Rossi has 4 seconds over Gibernau who runs 2nd. Rossi is running 2m12 second laps at the moment. Pole was a 1m34, nearly 40 seconds faster than the current race pace. Hold on.....Rossi just did a 2m10 on lap 3.

Gibernau ran wide on to the main straight, at the snails pace they were doing he didn't even run all the way to the gravel so he was able to recover after only losing two places.

Criville, running in 5th, was the fastest man on lap 4 as the track started to dry a little more, Criville's time was 2m06.

Rossi now has 4.1 seconds over Barros, Criville up to 3rd, Gibernau 4th. Checa the fastest man on lap 5 after recording a 2m04 lap.

Barros and Gibernau closing down Rossi, the gap down to 2 seconds. Lap 6 saw Kenny Roberts set a new fastest lap with a 2m02.

Criville fighting with Gibernau.........But Criville goes down after losing the front. Gibernau now through on Rossi and into the lead!

After lap 8 of 30 - Gibernau leads Rossi, Barros 3rd, Roberts 4th, Nakano 5th. Checa is 6th and the fastest man that time around with a 1m57. Barros through on Rossi a few corners later for 2nd, followed by Roberts who relegated Rossi to 4th.

Race order - Gibernau, Barros, Roberts, Rossi, Nakano, Checa, Jacque, Ukawa, Abe, Biaggi, Goorbergh. Jacque quickest on that lap (9) with a 1m55. Brendan Clarke 16th, Anthony West 17th.

Roberts fastest man on the circuit, with a 1m49 lap. Now they are only 15 seconds off the pole time.

With 18 laps to go - Gibernau from Barros with Roberts also in the 3-way fight for the lead. Rossi a little further back in 4th. Roberts again fastest man on the circuit, this time with a 1m48 lap.

Van Den Goorbergh in 10th, the fastest man the next time around with a 1m44. They started lapping riders with 16 laps to run. Rossi getting pushed further back, relegated to 5th by Checa on that lap.

Barros, Roberts and Gibernau still the front runners. Biaggi 11th. Van Den Goorbergh the fastest man again with a 1m43 (lap 16).

Checa quickest on lap 18 with a 1m41. Jacque relegated to 6th by a charging Olivier Jacque. Barros quickest the next time around with a 1m40. Clarke retires, reason unknown.

The leading trio still running together. Checa a further 10 seconds back in 4th, then another 10 seconds to Jacque. Rossi 6th, Nakano 7th, Abe 8th, Ukawa 9th, Goorbergh 10th. Checa quickest on that lap with a 1m39. Only 5 seconds off the pole time now. Since the start of this race they have gone from 2m12 down to 1m39 which shows just how slow these guys were circulating for the first few laps.

8 laps to run, Barros, Gibernau and Roberts still the leaders. Roberts was the quickest on that lap with a 1m38. Rossi 6th, Biaggi 11th.

Checa now down to the 1m38s but still well behind the leading trio. Checa fastest again on the following lap, this time down to a 1m37.

Rossi now back to 10th, Biaggi is 11th but only 4 seconds behind. 5 laps to run.

Checa now 6.5 seconds behind the leading trio but into the 1m37s and running a little quicker than the leaders. Probably not enough laps left to catch them though, things would have been better for Checa if he didn't start from pit-lane....

Biaggi under Rossi for 10th. The battle up front still going strong with Barros running wide after Gibernau put an aggressive move underneath the Brazilian for the lead. Roberts still right with them in 3rd.

Gibernau holds on for the win and the 120,000 strong Spanish crowd go ballistic in celebration. Barros 2nd, Roberts 3rd.