250cc report from south african grand prix
Aprilia hero Valentino Rossi rode another blinding race at sun-baked Welkom, coming from way behind to humble rivals Shinya Nakano and Tohru Ukawa with his withering speed. The former 125 champ needs just three points from the last two GPs to claim his first 250 crown. Rossi's eighth victory of the year was also the 100th GP victory achieved by Aprilia, the factory Rossi may quit to ride Honda 500s in 2000.

"I'm very happy about that," said Rossi who was eighth on lap one after starting from the second row of the grid following a troubled two days of practice. "This track is difficult for the Aprilia, because it's very bumpy and slippery. We had a lot of problems in qualifying but we changed our rear shock set-up for today to help the tire last longer. Without that it would never have lasted the race."

As Rossi fought his way through, Nakano (Yamaha) battled for the lead with Rossi's title rival Ukawa (Honda). The pair looked to have the race all their own way, Ukawa taking over the lead and looking stronger during the second half, desperate to reduce Rossi's points lead.

But Rossi was relentless, overpowering world champ Loris Capirossi to tag onto the leaders at half distance. He was happy to run with the two Japanese until seven laps from the flag when he moved ahead and left them trailing. "I could see Ukawa was struggling with grip - that was the right time to make my move," he explained. In the closing stages Ukawa got more and more desperate, finally running off the track as he reclaimed second from Nakano.

That reckless move cost him third place as well, for Nakano's team-mate Olivier Jacque swept ahead as Ukawa battled to get his NSR back onto the tarmac.

Capirossi could only manage fifth after struggling with engine problems, then running off the track. The Italian had a long battle with impressive Argentinean Sebastian Porto, riding a prototype version of next year's Yamaha TZ production bike.
 
 
 
 

125cc report from south african grand prix
Marco Melandri took a giant bite out Emilio Alzamora's world championship lead at Welkom after Alzamora got knocked down for the second race running, this time by teammate Ivan Goi.

Teen sensation Melandri (Honda) battled throughout for the win with Aprilia rivals Gianliugi Scalvini and Arnaud Vincent, finally grabbing a hard-fought third place. That was enough to put him just 10 points behind the Spaniard with two races to go.

"I can't believe it!" said a distraught Alzamora, who was running sixth when he got torpedoed out mid-race. "Everyone says I'm the danger guy but I've crashed in two races this year and both times when other riders took me out."

Melandri had a no-holds-barred three-way fight with Scalvini and Vincent, but couldn't resist a grin when his pit crewed gave him the signal 'ALZ OUT'. "I smiled a little, I'm sorry!" said Melandri. "I was very nervous before the race because I was worried about my Dunlops. After half distance they weren't as good as the Bridgestones on Scalvini's and Vincent's bikes."

From lap 14 on, Melandri was struggling, clinging desperately to the Aprilias, but even so he managed to briefly grab the lead on the penultimate lap when Vincent ran wide. That didn't last long, within a few corners he was back to third, Scalvini finding a final burst of speed that put him 0.660 seconds ahead of Vincent at the flag, Melandri a further two tenths down.

"I was worried earlier in the race because both Vincent and Marco could pass me," said Scalvini after his second career win in just three races. "At the end Vincent went wide and I could pass him, then I knew I'd win if I pushed hard enough."

Roberto Locatelli had run with the leading pack early on but took a distant fourth after dropping off the pace in the closing stages. ENDS