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Rossi Wraps It Up In Rio
Valentino Rossi finally confirmed the inevitable when he secured an unassailable lead in the MotoGP title race when he won at a wet Rio on the weekend. By taking his tenth win in twelve starts, Rossi's 106 point lead assures him the title with just 100 points remaining for the winner of the last four races. Once again however, Rossi's win came after the leader crashed - in fact, it was the fourth time this year, and the second consecutive race in which the leader has crashed and Rossi has gone on to take the win. Another Italian was happy with the results of the race, Max Biaggi's second place in the race moving him ahead of Honda's Tohru Ukawa and into second place in the championship.
As they completed lap one it was Rossi leading with Roberts on the Suzuki right behind him, looking left and right for a way past, moving past on the second turn of lap two. Rossi soon had some good news however when Ukawa crashed out of the race on lap two. Up front Roberts continued to hold a small lead over Rossi, Biaggi a little bit further back in third, a big gap back to the rest of the field. Meanwhile after his abysmal start Checa was flying through the field - ninth after lap three, eighth after lap four and sixth after lap five, the same lap McWilliams crashed out of the race.
Rossi was now right on Roberts's tail, having an occasional look to pass, as Checa was now up to fourth after passing Alex Barros on lap seven and was hunting down his teammate Biaggi, over ten seconds ahead. The laps passed by with Roberts just leading from Rossi, Biaggi steadily closing in while Checa pulled back over a second a lap on the leading trio. Before the end of lap 14 Checa was right on Biaggi's tail, which triggered Rossi to finally take the lead from Roberts on the last corner of the same lap.
As they went down the back straight on lap 15 the two Yamahas of Biaggi and Checa flew past Roberts, Roberts falling from first to fourth in less than a lap, as Rossi opened up a lead thanks to Roberts temporarily holding up the Yamaha duo. Checa didn't take long to pass Biaggi however, moving past less than halfway through lap 16 and immediately set off after Rossi, on his tail as they began lap 17.
As it was with Biaggi, it was simply a matter of time before Checa took the lead. At the end of the back straight on lap 17, Checa was through into the lead. The next right hand bend, Rossi was back in the lead however as Checa lost grip and crashed out of the race. This ended any battle for the lead, Biaggi unable to make up the second or so gap up to Rossi. Further back in the field Capirossi joined his teammate in the top five when he passed Abe. Rossi went on to win ahead of Biaggi, with Kenny Roberts taking third place, his first podium finish in almost two years.
Result of World Motorcycle Championship, Round 12 of 16, Jacarepagua, Brazil:
Standings: Valentino Rossi 270, Max Biaggi 164, Tohru Ukawa 156, Alex Barros 118, Carlos Checa 116, Norick Abe 109, Loris Capirossi 86, Daijiro Kato 80 etc.
Biaggi Joins Pramac Honda For 2003
Italy's former world champion Max Biaggi will ride for Pramac Honda in MotoGP next season in a three-year deal, the team have announced on their website.
"We are very pleased to announce that we have reached an important agreement with Honda and HRC (Honda Racing Corporation) for the multiple world champion Max Biaggi to race in our colours for the next three years," it said.
"Our team leaders have aimed for the top rider available on the market."
Biaggi, 31, was quoted as saying that it was a dream come true to return to Honda from Yamaha.
"What I wanted above all was to ride a Honda, Pramac has made this dream possible ... I can't wait for this new adventure to start. I have visited the Pramac factory and I have not got the slightest doubt about my choice."
Report provided by Reuters
Panizzi Lands San Remo Hat-Trick
There was only one lead change over the whole of Rally San Remo. Peugeot's tarmac specialist exploited both his personal and mechanical advantages to the fullest, taking the lead of the Rally on the second stage, racing away to win his third succesive Rally San Remo by 20.9 seconds over team leader Marcus Gronholm, taking nine stage victories along the way.
Gronholm won the first stage but after that Leg 1 completely belonged to Panizzi. The Frenchman won all seven remaining stages of Leg 1 to hold almost 23 seconds over the collection of following French tarmac-bred WRC machines. Barring any problems, the rally was already over, such was Panizzi's superiority. Citroen privateer Philippe Bugalski held down that second spot with Gronholm's Peugeot 39 seconds off the pace in third. Richard Burns completed the French quadrella ahead of the Ford of Markko Martin and Jesus Puras's Citroen.
Bugalski crashed his Xsara out of the event on Stage 10, holding up Panizzi as he lost a minute waiting for the road to be cleared. He later got that minute back when he was awarded a notional time matching Gronholm's for the stage. Gronholm clawed back some of the huge gap but Panizzi was still 22 seconds ahead at the end of Leg 2 with the flying Petter Solberg climbing into third. The Subaru though was all but a minute behind.
On Leg 3 Panizzi was second or third fastest all day, limiting the time Gronholm could take from him to score a well deserved victory. All that despite a shoulder injury.
Gronholm brought his car home in second position, ahead of both of his serious title rivals. Gronholm drove a good rally, taking serious chunks of time out of Panizzi on day 2 when poor tyre choices caught Panizzi out. Gronholm lost too much time on Day 1 through a series of small mechanical problems to ever seriously trouble Panizzi. Richard Burns's chances of completing a Peugeot trifecta were dashed by the blistering Leg 2 pace of Petter Solberg. Fourth place sees the reiging champion lose three points to his teammate in the championship. However Burns did move past his countryman McRae into second position in the title chase.
Petter Solberg can be satisfied with his performance. The Norwegian won three stages running on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Solberg was seventh overnight on Friday night, by the end of the next night Solberg was third having passed Puras, Martin and Burns. The two Peugeots up front were too far up the road and Solberg wasn't closing once Leg 3 got past the first stage of the day. Solberg's teammates however didn't make it home. Tommi Makinen added another DNF to his list in 2002 after breaking a driveshaft while traveling nicely in fifth place near the end of Leg 1. Achim Mortl crashed out of the rally while lying 14th early on Saturday.
It was going to be crucial to McRae's chances to score well in Italy. The Focus however likes a bit of rough, rather than the smoothness of tarmac. Two punctures and three stalls had McRae on the fringe of the top ten. Differential problems then struck early on Saturday but McRae climbed into eighth by the end of Saturday. But eighth would be as far as the Scot would get. Markko Martin was the pick of the Focii, experimentation with set-up paying immediate dividends. Martin pursued Burns fruitlessly all rally, succumbing to the flying Solberg late on Saturday. Carlos Sainz disappeared with an engine leak on the first day.
Francois Delecour limped into tenth place. The Mitsubishi Lancer had a turbo fail on the last stage of Leg 1, The repaired car then ran reliably to the finish, Delecour simply driving it to the finish to collect the manufacturers point on offer. Alister McRae was withdrawn at the end of Leg 1, still feeling the after effects of a training accident on his mountain bike from the week prior to the rally. His Lancer had been 18th at the time. McRae had also lost time after an unsecured bonnet flew up and smashed the windscreen. McRae had earlier been looking into what was causing some engine smoke.
Two Skodas chased Delecour home after the final manufacturers point but both were some distance back in eleventh and twelfth. Kenneth Eriksson and Roman Kresta brought their cars home on an event where they were just slow. Toni Gardemeister had looked better, but crashed out of the event on Stage 14 while tenth.
The World Championship is now all but Gronholm's. There are 30 points left in the Championship and Gronholm leads by 23 points over Richard Burns, and 24 points over Colin McRae. Burns and McRae would have to win two of the remaining rallies and podium the third to win, relying on Gronholm not finishing any. The WRC circus now packs everything into containers for the journey to the antipodes, New Zealand then Australia, with little prospect of Gronholm not being able to secure the championship before the series arrives in Wales for the finale.
Result of World Rally Championship, Round 11 of 14, Rally San Remo, Italy:
Standings: Marcus Gronholm 57, Richard Burns 34, Colin McRae 33, Gilles Panizzi 31, Carlos Sainz 26, Petter Solberg 23, Harri Rovanpera and Sebastien Loeb 18, Tommi Makinen 15, Markko Martin 12 etc.
Manufacturers: Peugeot 131, Ford 86, Subaru 46, Mitsubishi 9, Skoda 8, Hyundai 6
Super 1600: Andrea Dallavilla 28, Daniel Sola 27, Nicola Caldani 13, Francois Duval and Janne Tuohino 12, Giandomenico Basso 10 etc
Jimmie Johnson's Dover Double
Jimmie Johnson edged closer to the remarkable possibility of winning the NASCAR Winston Cup title in his rookie season when he won at Dover on the weekend. Johnson's win moved him up into second place in the title fight, just thirty points behind series leader Mark Martin. An early incident for Jeff Gordon wrecked his chance of a good finish as well as severely denting his chances of winning the 2002 title as three of the top five in points had top five results in the race.
The next caution came out on lap 55 after Ryan Newman spun in turn two while running second, managing to catch it without hitting the wall, but dropping way back through the field. Again the field pitted, Rusty Wallace losing several positions after a poor stop while Mark Martin moved up to third by taking just two tyres, though he quickly lost several positions to those who took four. The caution flag was out soon after on lap 67 when Todd Bodine spun off turn four, Jeff Gordon suffering as those behind him didn't slow down and ran into Gordon, spinning him into the inside wall, taking him out of the race until repairs could be effected.
The race restarted on lap 71, with Jimmie Johnson, who had moved up to second in the previous section of the race, giving Earnhardt Jr a hard time on the restart, before falling down the top five over the next ten laps. Having taken second place about 20 laps earlier, Stewart closed the gap and then took the lead of the race from Earnhardt Jr on lap 104. The next caution came out on lap 116 after Bobby Labonte blew an engine. More pit stops saw Earnhardt Jr take back the lead, Stewart dropping back to fourth.
The race restarted on lap 122, Earnhardt just leading from Jarrett and Craven. Craven was soon past Jarrett, and then took the lead from Earnhardt Jr on lap 145. Soon after the next caution of the day came out for debris on the track on lap 147. This time Jarrett took the lead at the pit stops, ahead of Craven and Tony Stewart. Lap 152 and it was green again, Jarrett holding on in first until Craven moved past him into the lead on lap 163. Jimmie Johnson was also on the move, up to third by lap 178, and quickly moving past Stewart for second on lap 180. As they approached the 200 lap mark the top three of Craven, Johnson and Stewart ran together as lapped traffic caused problems at times, Wallace joining them on lap 200 to make it a quartet.
In came the field for their final stops, Johnson holding onto the lead through the pit stops. The race restarted on lap 329, with just nine cars left on the lead lap after running over 150 laps between cautions. Johnson quickly opened up an advantage over Jarrett in second, who himself was clear of the rest of the lead lap runners. With just over 50 laps to go, Mark Martin closed in on Jarrett. With just under 50 laps remaining, Martin took over second and began his pursuit of Jimmie Johnson.
With ten laps remaining Martin was close enough to be a threat to Johnson, and was well placed to take advantage if Johnson suffered any problems, or got caught out in traffic.
With six laps remaining, Johnson moved on to Sterling Marlin's bumper to lap him, and was forced to spend a whole lap behind him before lapping him, during which time Martin had moved right in on Johnson's bumper. It all evened out when it also took Martin a lap to lap Marlin, giving Johnson his buffer back with four laps remaining, one he held onto until the end, taking the win just ahead of Martin, Jarrett having a consistent day to finish third. Sterling Marlin's poor recent form continued with a 21st place finish, while the early crash saw Jeff Gordon finish down in 37th place.
Result of NASCAR Winston Cup, Round 28 of 36, Dover Downs, Delaware, United States:
Standings: Mark Martin 3720, Jimmie Johnson 3690, Tony Stewart 3646, Sterling Marlin 3639, Jeff Gordon 3530, Rusty Wallace 3522, Ryan Newman 3495, Matt Kenseth 3485, Bill Elliott 3463, Ricky Rudd 3439 etc.
Meanwhile Petrobras's sponsorship of the Den Bla Avis F3000 team for the last three years has concluded after changes in Brazil's tax laws made the sponsorship too expensive. This will allow the team to move away from developing Brazilian drivers, allowing it to go after any driver it chooses. Despite dropping their F3000 association, Petrobras are expected to remain sponsors of Williams in F1.
MotoGP
A wet track greeted the riders for the second race in a row. At the start, Valentino Rossi led through turn one, closely followed by polesitter Max Biaggi, Garry McCoy third as four bikes went into the turn one gravel, Daijiro Katoh not able to restart. Meanwhile Carlos Checa had a dreadful start and was last bike away, as up front Kenny Roberts Jr was on a charge and was up to second halfway through lap one, as McCoy fell back through the field. Fourth was a tight battle between Jeremy McWilliams on the Proton against Tohru Ukawa on the Honda four stroke, with Jurgen van der Goorbergh just behind them.
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Valentino Rossi Honda RC211V
2. Max Biaggi Yamaha YZR M1
3. Kenny Roberts Jr Suzuki GSVR
4. Alex Barros Honda NSR500
5. Loris Capirossi Honda NSR500
6. Norick Abe Yamaha YZR500
7. Olivier Jacque Yamaha YZR500
8. Sete Gibernau Suzuki GSVR
9. Jurgen vd Goorbergh Honda NSR500
10. Garry McCoy Yamaha YZR500
It said Biaggi, four times world 250cc champion, would ride a Honda RCV211 - the same bike that world champion and compatriot Valentino Rossi has.
Rally
"I'm delighted," said Panizzi "This was a difficult victory because my shoulder injury made me quite tired and it's always harder to concentrate in that situation. I had a lot of pressure from Philippe Bugalski in the early stages and then Marcus was always there, too. But the car has been perfect for me - everyone in the whole Peugeot team has done a very good job."
Harri Rovanpera brought his 206 home in ninth place on a surface and a rally he didn't have the pace for. Just failing to take the final drivers point was the privateer Pug of local Cedric Robert.
Freddy Loix had originally been fighting with Colin McRae for much of the event until hitting a wall late in Leg 2 whilst running eighth. Repairs cost the Belgian over 20 minutes, but he did finish the event, in 28th position. Armin Schwarz clipped a barrier, smashing one corner of the car, retiring it shortly afterwards.
Pos Driver Car
1. Gilles Panizzi Peugeot 206
2. Marcus Gronholm Peugeot 206
3. Petter Solberg Subaru Impreza
4. Richard Burns Peugeot 206
5. Markko Martin Ford Focus
6. Jesus Puras Citroen Xsara
7. Cedric Robert Peugeot 206
8. Colin McRae Ford Focus
9. Harri Rovanpera Peugeot 206
10. Francois Delecour Mitsubishi Lancer
NASCAR
Polesitter Rusty Wallace led the field away at the start, but Dale Earnhardt Jr was on his tail and took the lead on lap three as the leading duo broke away from the rest of the field. Lap 10 saw Ryan Newman move up into third and tried to catch the leaders. The first caution of the day came out on lap 28 after Jerry Nadeau bounced off the wall coming off turn four and hit Ward Burton, both cars spinning down the front straight. The field pitted, Earnhardt Jr holding onto the lead, the field restarting on lap 36, with Earnhardt Jr comfortably holding onto the lead.
Not long after Craven was passed by the three following him, Johnson taking the lead with Stewart right on his tail, Stewart eventually going through to take the lead on lap 218 and opening up a small lead over Johnson. Lap 235 saw the start of green flag pitstops, with the lead after the stops returning to Johnson, Stewart dropping to third and fading back further after the stops. Just as the crews were getting ready for the final stops of the day, Rusty Wallace suffered a flat tyre while running third, bringing out the caution on lap 319.
Pos Driver Car
1. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Monte Carlo
2. Mark Martin Ford Taurus
3. Dale Jarrett Ford Taurus
4. Matt Kenseth Ford Taurus
5. Tony Stewart Pontiac Grand Prix
6. Jeff Burton Ford Taurus
7. Kurt Busch Ford Taurus
8. Ryan Newman Ford Taurus
9. Ricky Craven Ford Taurus
10. Johnny Benson Pontiac Grand Prix
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