The 2004 World Champioship gets closer to the intense end of the season.
After visiting Portugal this weekend, the World Championship will be going to Japan, Qatar, Malaysia and Australia in only five weeks. Nicky Hayden, injured last Saturday while practising Supermotard, will be doubt until last minute in Estoril.
Were getting closer to the final straight and Portugal means the return to the frantic activity of the 2004 seasons final part. Brno was a short break during the August holidays, but everybody in the Paddock knows that after Estoril, well be returning to intercontinental flights, big bags, long trips on airplanes and countless hours in airports and hotels all over the world. Nicky Hayden, who crashed during the past Czech Grand Prix, suffered another crash last Saturday in Italy while practising Supermotard, and fractured his right collarbone. The North American rider underwent surgery the morning after and today, both the doctors and the Repsol Honda Team, declare that Haydens presence at the Portuguese Grand Prix will depend on his recovery from today to Thursday. And while Nicky is in absolute rest following the doctors indications to the least detail, his team-mate Alex Barros, who also had to retire due to a crash in the past Grand Prix, will try to make-up in Estoril and get his team a reason for joy. The Brazilian rider, fifth in the overall standings, finished last year in a back eleventh place on a Yamaha. For class rookie Rubén Xaus, who just like Hayden and Barros ended up on the tarmac in Brno, Estoril will be another unknown track to visit, meaning a hard weekend for the young Repsol rider.
There are 150 points yet at stake and the 250cc is the class where a Repsol rider has the biggest chances to fight for a World Championship title until the very end. Sebastián Porto, recent winner of the Czech Grand Prix, made good use of the current leaders third place finish, to shorten the gap to Pedrosa by nine points. The brave Repsol rider is now 43 points behind the leading spot in the overall standings. Porto, who finished fifth last year in Estoril, keeps good memories of this track, after making third in 2002 on a Yamaha which was on a much lower level than those of his rivals. That same year, his current team-mate Fonsi Nieto clinched an epic victory under heavy rain showers, after crashing halfway the race and protagonising an incredible recovery which took him to victory. Last year, Fonsi wasnt able to do better than ninth. For Pablo Nieto, going back to Estoril will surely mean going back to a magic place for the youngest of the Nieto clan. The Repsol rider won there his first and only Grand Prix so far and he did it in a major way, fighting side by side with his team-mate Héctor Barberá. At the end of the race, both of Aspars pupils were only two hundreds of a second apart.
One year later, Pablo gets back to that venue, being sixth in the overall standings and 82 points behind the class leader, the Italian rider Dovizioso. He finished fourth in the past Czech Grand Prix, though only a bit over a tenth of a second behind a place on the podium and even the top spot. He had it almost in his hands, but he touched another rider ruining his chances only a couple of laps before the end of the race. In Estoril, Pablo will have a good chance to get another victory. And while Pablo is dreaming with the victory, Sergio Gadea who already raced last year in Estoril as a wild card rider, will be fighting in Portugal to score some more points for his particular record.
