Portugal GP. Previous Info

The World Championship says temporarily goodbye to Europe in Portugal
After the Portuguese race, the World Championship will set off for Brazil and wont be back in Europe until the Comunitat Valenciana Grand Prix in November
 Once again the World Championship returns to the Portuguese circuit of Estoril, this time with six races left for the end of the season and 150 points yet at stake. This amount of points still allows for several possibilities and changes, both for those riders leading in their respective categories as well as for those trying to get the lead. In the MotoGP class, the classification supremacy is still in the hands of the Repsol Honda Team, with Valentino Rossi leading the standings. His team-mate Tohru Ukawa is still second but threatened by Biaggi, who has shortened distances thanks to the improvements of his Yamaha and is now only six points behind the Japanese rider. In the 250cc Fonsi Nieto is the one chasing the leader, who is no one else but Marco Melandri. With his 37 points advantage in the overall classification, Nieto can only get on the track with a winning mentality if he really wants to shorten distances. The fact that there are 150 points yet to be given away is favourable for him, but the brave Repsol rider cannot make any more mistakes. And while Nieto is fighting for the title, Toni Elias will be fighting for another podium in his brilliant first season in the 250cc.  In the 125cc Dani Pedrosa left Brno having reduced the distance to the leader to only eleven points. Of the three title candidates, he got the best results at the Czech Republic and this will have to be the line to be followed by Alberto Puigs pupil if he wants to keep his options until the end of the season. His team-mate Joan Olivé, who has shown himself much more competitive in the latest races, wasnt lucky in Brno and suffered a crash without physical consequences while being among the leading pack. Eleventh in the overall classification, Olivé will have to fight to get a place among the top ten riders of the overall standings at the end of the championship.