WELKOM, South Africa - Valentino Rossi rode according to the plan here today. He shadowed the leaders to half distance, moved smoothly into the lead when World champion Kenny Roberts' tyres went off, and held off a late charge from Loris Capirossi to win after putting up the fastest time of the race on the last lap.
Capirossi (Honda) jumped off the front row of the grid into the lead but Roberts muscled his Suzuki through on the very first turn. Then he and Capirossi bumped fairings and the Italian was pushed off line, losing touch with the leaders.
Rossi slipped his Honda neatly through into the lead in the commotion but Roberts was having none of it and out-braked the Italian youngster on the last turn of lap one to lead the first tour.
They were at the front of a seven-bike train with Garry McCoy (Yamaha), Norick Abe's factory Yamaha, Shinya Nakano on yet another Yamaha, Torhu Ukawa's Honda and Capirossi all jockeying for position, covered by less than two seconds.
McCoy, famous for his slideways riding style, is very quick into the ultra-tight last right-hander at Phakisa. On lap five he went inside Rossi to claim second, only to see Rossi retake him at the end of the pits straight. After seven laps the order was Roberts, Rossi, McCoy, Abe, Ukawa, Capirossi and Nakano, all within 1.8sec, with a long gap back to Max Biaggi on the No.1 factory Yamaha in eighth.
Capirossi nailed Ukawa on lap 10 and set his sights on Abe but the experienced Japanese was preparing for a charge of his own - when McCoy tried to grab second on turn 13 he was ready. McCoy went wide at the apex; Rossi took the gap, moving smoothly back into second - and Abe demoted the Australian to fourth in the same move!
A lap later Abe took Rossi for second and he passed Roberts for the lead on lap 13, seconds before Rossi went up the World champion's inside into turn five to grab second. As so often before, the American had cooked his tyres and from this point he began to go backwards as the pace of the leaders picked up.
Abe held on to the front for three laps before Rossi glided smoothly past into turn 12. McCoy lost the Yamaha's front wheel in the slow left-hand turn seven a lap later and slid out of the race; in the commotion Capirossi nipped past Abe into second and set off after his young compatriot.
The two soon opened a gap of about two seconds on the rest of the leading bunch where Abe was defending third from Ukawa's Honda and baby-faced rookie Shinya Nakano had demoted Roberts to sixth.
Rossi set a new fastest time of 1:35.983 on lap 21 but Capirossi was not to be shaken off and stuck to his tail. Ukawa had passed Abe for third and the factory Yamaha rider was coming under threat from Nakano's privateer Yamaha.
On the second last lap Nakano moved into fourth as Rossi set two new fastest laps in succession trying to get away from the black Honda but he was only a length ahead as the flag came out in a thrilling finish. After the race Capirossi rushed up to the skinny youngster in the pits and hugged him in a display of true (Italian) sportsmanship.
Torhu Ukawa finished third in only his second 500cc ride, Nakano fourth in his second outing in the main event. Most 250 riders who move up to 500s fall off a lot as they learn to handle the awesome power of the world's fastest motorcycles; amazingly, the 22-year-old Nakano has been on the front row of the grid for both this year's races and has yet to fall.
Rossi has a perfect score of 50 points after two rounds and two victories in the 500cc World championship with Capirossi second on 28 and Nakano, Abe and Max Biaggi tied for third on 24.
1. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Honda - 45 minutes 03.414 seconds
2. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Honda - 45:04.074
3. Tohru Ukawa (Japan) Honda - 45:10.944
4. Shinya Nakano (Japan) Yamaha - 45:12.067
5. Norick Abe (Japan) Yamaha - 45:12.638
6. Alex Criville (Spain) Honda - 45:16.625
7. Kenny Roberts (U.S.) Suzuki - 45:16.719
8. Max Biaggi (Italy) Yamaha - 45:17.077
9. Alex Barros (Brazil) Honda - 45:20.771 10. Sete Gibernau (Spain) Suzuki - 45:25.111