He knows Jacque!
French Yamaha rider on top in Argentina; production TZ in fourth!

Olivier Jacque ran away with the Argentine 250 GP to score his first win on a Yamaha and break the Italian/Japanese monopoly of the class. Italian and Japanese riders had won every 250 race over the past two seasons until the Frenchman hit the jackpot at Buenos Aires.

Jacque grabbed the lead from world champ Valentino Rossi on the first lap and though the Aprilia star tried hard to stay on the pace, he had to give up his pursuit and then succumbed to Tohru Ukawa (Honda), blaming an incorrect tire choice for his worst result in four races.

Jacque's sweet-handling YZR proved the ideal machine for the bumpy, slippery track and he was ten seconds ahead at one stage, finally crossing the line 9.2 seconds ahead of Ukawa. "It's great to end a difficult year with a win," said Jacque who was played by an ankle injury trough much of '99. "Winning races seemed a long way off after my accident at Jerez but I'm a fighter. I changed my tire strategy before the race, going for a soft rear with the plan of escaping at the start. It was a gamble but it worked perfectly."

Ukawa went for a harder rear tire and struggled early on. "I had a lot of slides but once the rear came good I could catch and attack Rossi," said the Japanese, who looks set to move to 500s next year with Honda.

Rossi dropped to third with four laps to go, his pace dropping dramatically as his rear tire gave up the battle. "My rear tire was much too soft," explained the Italian, who had hoped to match the record for the most wins in a 250 season, held by Mike Hailwood and Toni Mang who won ten races in the '66 and '81 series. "It worked well in practice yesterday but the weather was hotter today and after a few laps I could barely accelerate out of the turns."

Argentine 250 privateer Sebastian Porto was the hero of the race, taking a career-best fourth place on his Yamaha TZ, a prototype of next year's production racer. Porto won a grueling battle with factory riders Shinya Nakano (Yamaha) and Stefano Perugini (Honda).

Italian Roberto Rolfo took seventh on his semi-factory Aprilia ahead of Aussie GP rookie Anthony West. Briton Jason Vincent took 12th to finish the year Honda's top A-kit 250 rider.

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