MotoGP 2002 - Round 5 - Mugello

Three riders will be chasing a hat-trick of Grand Prix victories in the fifth round of the MotoGP World Championships, the Gran Premio Cinzano d'Italia at Mugello on Sunday.

Italian Valentino Rossi has won the last two MotoGP class races in Spain and France, Fonsi Nieto the same 250cc events and Lucio Cecchinello the 125cc races. The stage is set for three close fought encounters around the magnificent 3.259 miles (5.245kms) Mugello circuit situated in the hills above Florence, as the three riders seek their third successive Grands Prix triumphs.

Rossi arrives in Mugello determined to forget his last two races at the Ferrari-owned track. On both occasions he crashed out to the dismay of his massive home following. Two years ago he fell while involved in an all-Italian battle with bitter rival Max Biaggi and Loris Capirossi. Biaggi also crashed and Capirossi won the race. Last year Capirossi' s Honda Pons team-mate Alex Barros won the race in horrendous conditions with Rossi crashing on the last lap in the rain. The national hero returns on Sunday determined to give the RCV four-stroke Honda its fifth Grand Prix victory of the year and to increase his impressive 34-point championship lead over team-mate Tohru Ukawa, who is the only rider to beat the Italian this season.

Max Biaggi and his Yamaha team-mate Carlos Checa are also in confident mood after the previous round at Le Mans in France. When the MotoGP race was stopped because of rain, Biaggi, riding the four -stroke M1 Yamaha, was challenging the two Honda machines of Rossi and Ukawa at the front and finished third. Checa had also been right up there but crashed out. Yamaha have been using Mugello extensively for testing and will have the advantage over Honda whose first experience of the circuit with the RCV four-stroke will be on Friday morning.

Aprilia are another team who test at Mugello and that will surely pay off when Frenchman Regis Laconi brings their innovative RS Cube four-stroke to the line. Laconi has scored points in every race so far this season, with two top-ten finishes for the new machine which he will be looking to repeat on familiar territory for the team on Sunday.

There is a tremendous two-stroke battle for third place in the championship behind the two four-stroke Hondas. Capirossi holds a two-point advantage over the Yamaha d'Antin machine of Norick Abe, with 250cc World Champion Daijiro Kato just four points further back, riding the Honda Gresini NSR. Kato has a score to settle with Mugello after only finishing tenth in the rain affected 250cc race last year. He crashed out of the MotoGP race at Le Mans two weeks ago while catching the four-strokes. Mugello's long sweeping curves could help the two-stroke that will be at a disadvantage on the long but very fast, uphill straight.

Former World Motocross Champion, Frenchman Jean Michel Bayle continues to replace the injured Australian Garry McCoy in the Yamaha WCM team while former World 250cc Champion Olivier Jacque and his Tech 3 two-stroke Yamaha team-mate Shinya Nakano will be looking for a change of fortune. Nakano won the 250cc race from Jacque at Mugello just two years ago. The Proton KR team arrive in great spirits after a superb Polini Grand Prix de France for their three-cylinder 500cc two-strokes. Nobuatsu Aoki was sixth and Jeremy McWilliams tenth and they have since been testing for three days at Almeria in Spain before leaving for Mugello, where McWilliams finished third in the 500cc race two years ago.

Former world champion Kenny Roberts Junior's fifth place at Le Mans was his best of the year on the new GSV-R four-stroke Suzuki. His team-mate Sete Gibernau also scored points in 12th place on the Michelin-shod machine that improves every race.

Aprilia will be keen to score a 250cc victory on their home track but the big question is with which rider? Spaniard Fonsi Nieto, riding the Team Aspar machine, will be looking to increase his 17-point championship lead but it will be tough, especially against the Italians. Marco Melandri pushed him hard at Le Mans and has had another two weeks to recover from the injuries he sustained in the Gran Premio Marlboro de España four weeks ago. Throw in the likes of Franco Battaini and Roberto Locatelli and it will not be easy for Nieto who will also have to contend with the Honda Gresini duo of Roberto Rolfo and Emilio Alzamora who are second and third respectively in the championship.

Veteran Lucio Cecchinello has hit top form with two successive 125cc victories and there is nothing more he'd like than make it three in front of his home crowd. It's a remarkable achievement for the rider who is also the owner of the LCR Aprilia team who run two 125cc riders, including himself and two 250cc machines in the world championship. However, despite his two wins he does not lead the championship. Frenchman Arnaud Vincent, riding the Aprilia, has been consistent and very fast. He leads current Champion Manuel Poggiali by 17 points with Cecchinello just a further four points adrift.