Updated : 17 May 1998, 20:15 GMT
Doohan makes it six in a row in Italy
20:15 GMT
By Gideon Long
Location: MUGELLO, Italy, May 17
Australia's Michael Doohan won his sixth consecutive Italian 500cc motorcycling Grand Prix on Sunday while Italy's Max Biaggi finished second to delight his fans and extend his world championship lead.
Doohan's Honda had the pole position but it was Biaggi, in his first season on 500cc bikes, who shot off the grid and took an early lead in front of 60,000 fans at the Mugello circuit in Tuscany.
Four-times 500cc world champion Doohan tailed four times 250cc champion Biaggi, threatening several times to pass him. On lap seven he made his move, sweeping through on the inside of a left hand bend.
The Australian extended his lead in the closing laps to win comfortably in 43 minutes 55.307 seconds, more than five seconds clear of Biaggi in 44:00.702.
Doohan's Spanish team mate Alex Criville completed a sweep for Honda with an unchallenged third in 44:08.448.
Biaggi edged a further point clear in the standings to 77 points while Doohan, seeking his fifth consecutive world crown, moves above Criville in to second on 70. The Spaniard is third on 67 points.
"My biggest problem was the warm-up this morning. The ground temperature was so low my tyres shredded," Doohan said.
"It was a little bit the same in the race and the crew told me to take the first few laps easy to let the tyres warm up.
"But when Max set off so quickly I had to scrap that plan and try to chase him down. I figured that if I got close to him I'd go straight past and try and stay there."
With Doohan once again invincible in the 500cc race, the real excitement lay in the lower categories.
Marcellino Lucchi, who knows the Mugello circuit to perfection as an Aprilia test rider there, won a rain interrupted 250cc race to claim his first Grand Prix victory at the grand old age of 41.
The Italian was second behind 125cc world champion Valentino Rossi when the race was halted after six laps but made a lightning-fast restart when the sun returned and led for the rest of the race.
"It hasn't sunk in yet," Lucchi said. ``First and foremost I have to thank my luck. I didn't have the right tyres for the first part of the race. I changed them for the second part and they were spot on."
Rossi finished second on his Aprilia and celebrated by riding a lap of honour dressed in sunglasses, a T-shirt, Hawaiian-style shorts and a pair of yellow rubber flip-flops.
Japan's Tomomi Manako won an entralling 125cc race for Honda after Italy's Mirko Giansanti crashed on the final lap.
Giansanti burst through from fifth to first as the riders entered the 180-degree San Donato curve but then wobbled and fell as he heaved his Honda upright going in to the straight.
Compatriot Lucio Cecchinello smashed into Giansanti's bike and crashed out while Japan's Kazuto Sakata ploughed in to the sand before recovering his line to finish fourth.
"I'm not at all happy. I should have won that race," said Sakata, whose bad luck handed his world championship lead to Manako.
"I was leading in to that last turn but then Giansanti came past, crashed and ruined my chances."
Italian Grand Prix results
15:15 GMT
Location: MUGELLO, Italy, May 17
Leading results from the Italian motorcycling Grand Prix on Sunday (track length 5.245 km):
125cc (20 laps, 104.900 km)
1. Tomomi Manako (Japan) Honda 40 minutes 53.607 seconds (average speed 153.912 kmh)
2. Marco Melandri (Italy) Honda 40:53.651
3. Gianluigi Scalvini (Italy) Honda 40:53.808
4. Kazuto Sakata (Japan) Aprilia 40:56.759
5. Youichi Ui (Japan) Yamaha 41:01.769
6. Gino Borsoi (Italy) Aprilia 41:01.802
7. Noboru Ueda (Japan) Honda 41:03.704
8. Frederic Petit (France) Honda 41:06.352
Fastest lap: Lucio Cecchinello (Italy) Honda 2:00.966
World championship standings:
1. Manako 81 points
2. Sakata 73
3. Ueda 45
4. Masao Azuma (Japan) Honda 43
5. Scalvini 37
Constructors' championship:
1. Honda 90 points
2. Aprilia 76
3. Yamaha 31
250cc (21 laps, 110.145 km)
1. Marcellino Lucchi (Italy) Aprilia 40 minutes 59.049 seconds (average speed 161.250 kmh)
2. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Aprilia 41:04.750
3. Tetsuya Harada (Japan) Aprilia 41:06.674
4. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Aprilia 41:09.078
5. Stefano Perugini (Italy) Honda 41:46.879
6. Haruchika Aoki (Japan) Honda 41:47.254
7. Tohru Ukawa (Japan) Honda 41:48.425
8. Jose Luis Cardoso (Spain) Yamaha 41:49.129
Fastest lap: Lucchi 1:55.467
World championship standings:
1. Capirossi 58 points
2. Harada 54
3. Olivier Jacque (France) Honda 43
4. Ukawa 42
5. Rossi 40
Constructors' championship:
1. Aprilia 88 points
2. Honda 72
500cc (23 laps, 120.635 km)
1. Michael Doohan (Australia) Honda 43 minutes 55.307 seconds
2. Max Biaggi (Italy) Honda 44:00.702
3. Alex Criville (Spain) Honda 44:08.448
4. Carlos Checa (Spain) Honda 44:14.954
5. John Kocinski (U.S.) Honda 44:15.133
6. Norick Abe (Japan) Yamaha 44:17.188
7. Simon Crafar (New Zealand) Yamaha 44:17.933
8. Nobuatsu Aoki (Japan) Suzuki 44:19.542
Fastest lap: Doohan 1:53.342
World championship standings:
1. Biaggi 77 points
2. Doohan 70
3. Criville 67
4. Checa 54
5. Kocinski 30
Constructors' championship:
1. Honda 100 points
2. Yamaha 45
3. Suzuki 36
Doohan wins but Biaggi extends overall lead
15:15 GMT
Location: MUGELLO, Italy, May 17
Australian Michael Doohan won his sixth successive 500cc Italian Grand Prix on Sunday while Italy's Max Biaggi finished second to extend his world championship lead.
Doohan started on pole but Biaggi, in his first season on 500cc bikes, took the early lead in front of 60,000 fans at the Mugello circuit in Tuscany.
Four-times world champion Doohan tailed Biaggi until lap seven and then swept through on the inside of a left hand bend.
He extended his lead in the closing laps to win comfortably in a provisional time of 43 minutes 55.307 seconds, more than five seconds clear of Biaggi and 13 seconds ahead of Spain's Alex Criville in third place.
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