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After reasonably fine weather all
weekend this morning at Assen brought heavy rain but fortunately the
track is now nearly completely dry in readiness for this 7th round of
the 500cc World Motorcycle Championship.
Capirossi starts from pole with
Biaggi alongside him and Rossi 3rd. Both Garry McCoy and Chris Walker
will miss this race. Garry is still having trouble with the wrist he
injured a few weeks ago while Chris Walker crashed heavily during
qualifying yesterday with only 3 minutes left in the session.
Alex Barros starts from the final spot on the front row but seems to
have had trouble with his bike during the sighting lap and spent his
time in the pit garage rather than the grid prior to the warm-up lap.
He started the warm-up lap from pit lane and took his place on the
grid so we don't know if it was bike problems or maybe a late change
to set-up.
Biaggi got the flyer off the line and led them through turn 1, but
Barros shot to the front in turn 2. Barros, Biaggi, Abe, Capirossi,
Roberts, Checa, Rossi, Haga is the top 8. Rossi looking threatening
already and searching for ways through, he
is past Checa now and out after Roberts, and
through he goes on the American, Rossi now 5th. Rossi through
on Abe now and up to 4th.
Barros still out in front from Biaggi,
Capirossi in 3rd and starting to be hounded by Rossi.
Roberts through on Abe. As they start
lap 4 the race order is - Barros, Capirossi, Biaggi, Rossi. The two
West Honda Pons men are fighting each other now for the lead. Rossi
set the fastest lap on the 2nd time around.
Abe down and out, Checa also out. We now have a leading group of 5
running nearly nose-to-tail with Barros leading from Capirossi, then
Biaggi, Rossi and Roberts. Rossi looks to be doing it easier than
Biaggi and will surely slot it up the inside of Biaggi soon. Criville
out. Capirossi in the lead now. Barros back through for the lead a lap
later. Max through on Capirossi for 2nd, I did not see that one
coming. Rossi looking to also make a move on Capirossi. 1st to 5th is
separated by only 8-tenths of a second. Haga is a further 2 seconds
behind the leading group and holding down 6th.
14 laps to run now and Barros still leads from Biaggi. Rossi still on
the back of Capirossi but doesn't look as comfortable as he did in the
first few laps. Biaggi through for the lead around the back of the
circuit. Roberts dropping off the back of this leading quartet now,
7-tenths of a second cover Biaggi, Barros, Capirossi, Rossi. 12 laps
remaining now, Biaggi still holding off Barros, Capirossi and Rossi
while Roberts continues to drop off the pace, the
American now 3 seconds behind the leaders. Rossi and Capirossi
banging fairings, Rossi got ahead
of Loris for all of 50 metres before Loris
got him right back.
Capirossi through on Barros now for 2nd. Biaggi has gained a few bike
lengths over his pursuers now, can Capirossi chase him down? Capirossi
set the fastest lap so far on the 10th time around. Rossi through on
Barros for 3rd. 9-tenths of a second separate Rossi in 3rd from race
leader Biaggi. Rossi through on Capirossi now and out after Max, he
has 9 laps to do it.
Rossi right with Max but Valentino looks to be having more traction
problems than the Yamaha man. Capirossi has
woken up again and caught right back up to Rossi,
6 laps to go.
Rossi under Max with 5 laps to run,
Valentino is screwing every last ounce of speed out of his NSR500 as
it bucks and slides around underneath him. Biaggi gets him back again
half a lap later, this is definitely not over yet.
Capirossi 3rd, Barros 4th, Nakano 5th, Roberts 6th, Gibernau
7th, Ukawa 8th, Goorbergh 9th and Haga 10th.
The red flag is out - 16 laps of 20 is down, Rossi has buttoned right
off, but Biaggi still on the hammer, now Biaggi backs
off. That should be enough laps to declare the race.
Yes it is race declared and Biaggi emerges
victorious.
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