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The countdown to the end of the 2002 World Championship has started in Japan
There are still 100 points at stake, four races left and two titles, in the 125 and 250, yet to be decided.
Figures show that there is still a lot left to be decided in the World Championship, although it would seem that everything is already clear in the 250cc. But with four races to go, sixteen practice sessions left and a hundred points at stake, anything can be possible if mathematics allow for it. This is the mentality with which Fonsi Nieto arrives in Japan. His crash in Brazil was a tough misfortune for his hopes but the Repsol rider keeps concentrated and believes that nothing has been decided yet. Last year Nieto got a meritorious fourth place in Motegi, while his biggest rival in the fight for the title, Marco Melandri, suffered a spectacular crash in which the local hero Daijiro Kato was involved as well.And while Fonsi Nieto is thinking about how he will shorten the advantage of forty-five points with regard to Melandri, his team-mate Toni Elias persists in getting closer and closer to the leading riders of the 250cc category in his rookie year. Elias evolution is constant, his times are getting closer to those of Melandri, Nieto and Porto, and he even dared to lead the practises. Thus, in Brazil, Elias went to bed after the first qualifying practice with the provisional pole in his hands. The return of the Repsol rider to Motegi wont bring good memories to him, since the crash he suffered in last years race left him definitively out of the fight for the title. But one year later and focussed on the 250cc, Elias will surely try to give another surprise to the category…With the title already decided in the MotoGP class, one could expect that Rossi would arrive in Motegi relaxed and with a hangover after celebrating the title he got in Brazil. But far from that, the Repsol rider has already declared that winning the title has been fantastic, but that there is still a lot of work to do with the development of the new bike and that he wants to keep on enjoying his Honda and winning races during the rest of the season. And while Rossi thinks about winning, his team-mate Ukawa is trying to forget his crash in Rio and focus on keeping the second place of the overall standings, which is being threatened by Max Biaggi putting himself only eight points behind the Japanese rider.In the minor category, the fight for the title remained after the Rio Grand Prix in the hands of two riders, Vincent and Poggiali. Dani Pedrosa, after his crash in the first laps of the race due to the seizing of his engine, got almost definitely off the fight for the title. Only if his two biggest rivals do not score in Japan and he gets a place on the podium, Dani would be able to get back to the challenge for the World Championship. For Joan Olivé, Motegi will be the starting point of his private countdown trying to put himself among the top ten of the overall classification. Olivé has already been in these positions, but his latest crashes have set him back to the thirteenth position, sixteen points behind the tenth place. With four races left to go, Olivé will have to secure his options for the following races.