The 2000 South African motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the 2000 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on 19 March 2000 at

Phakisa Freeway Phakisa Freeway is a motor racing circuit located between Welkom and Odendaalsrus, South Africa. It is one of the few oval speedways outside of the United States and the only one in Africa. History Phakisa Freeway was built on the same site ...

500cc race report

This race was most notable for the shock win of WCM rider

Garry McCoy Garry McCoy (born 18 April 1972 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian former professional motorcycle racer. He has won races in the 125 cc and 500 cc World Championships, as well as in the Superbike World Championship. He is ...

. Initially, many thought that it would be 1999 500cc world champion

Àlex Crivillé Àlex Crivillé Tapias (born 4 March 1970) is a Spanish former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. In 1992 he became the first Spaniard to win a 500cc Grand Prix and, in 1999 he became the first Spaniard to win the 500cc World Championship. Bio ...

who would win the race, mainly thanks to the pole he had obtained on Saturday. This race also marked the first ever 500cc race of

Valentino Rossi Valentino Rossi (; ; born 16 February 1979) is an Italian former professional motorcycle road racer and nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. Nicknamed ''The Doctor'', he is widely considered to be one of the greatest motorcyc ...

. At the start of the race,

Kenny Roberts Jr. Kenneth Leroy Roberts Jr. (born July 25, 1973, in Mountain View, California) is an Americans, American former professional Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Grand Prix motorcycle road racing, road racer who won the 2000 Grand Prix motorcycle racing se ...

on his Suzuki, overtook Crivillé at the start to lead the opening lap, followed by the Yamaha of

Carlos Checa Carlos Checa Carrera (born 15 October 1972) is a Spanish former professional motorcycle road racer and winner of the 2011 Superbike World Championship. After racing in 500 cc and MotoGP for over a decade, mostly on Honda and Yamaha machiner ...

. Crivillé would drop down to 7th, whilst

Tadayuki Okada Tadayuki 'Taddy' Okada (born February 13, 1967) is a Japanese former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He was runner-up in the 1994 250cc and in the 1997 500cc World Championship. Early career Okada won the 250cc All Japan Road Ra ...

moved up to third, closely followed by

Loris Capirossi Loris Capirossi (born 4 April 1973) is an Italian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer, currently serving as Safety Advisor to Dorna Sports, the commercial rights holder of Grand Prix motorcycle racing. He is a 9-time Premier Class race wi ...

who would swap places with each other a few times on the opening lap. McCoy at that time was only in 8th place, and Rossi in 13th after a bad opening lap. After a few laps, Checa would overtake Kenny Roberts Jr. for the lead, and not long after that Capirossi would follow suit. McCoy dropped to 9th place, with Valentino Rossi behind him. On the 5th lap, Capirossi overtook Checa to lead the race, and after 12 laps, both

Max Biaggi Massimiliano "Max" Biaggi (; born 26 June 1971) is an Italian former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer who achieved six World Championships. With four 250 cc road race titles and two in World Superbikes, he is one of only two ri ...

and Valentino Rossi were out of the race; Biaggi because of technical problems, and Rossi because of a crash. With the laps closing down, McCoy overtook multiple people to reach third place.

Sete Gibernau Manuel "Sete" Gibernau Bultó (born 15 December 1972) is a Spanish former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer who is a 9-time 500cc/MotoGP race winner and a two-time overall runner-up in and . His racing career spans three different ...

also overtook Kenny Roberts to go on and finish in what would be 4th place, but ran wide and eventually retired. Not much later, Crivillé would end up overtaking Roberts Jr. as well. With 5 laps to go, McCoy overtook the Honda of Capirossi and went up into second place. A few corners later, he overtook the other Yamaha of Checa to lead the race. He held off a late charge from Checa and would come home to win the race with 0.366 seconds difference: the first 500cc race of his career. This was the first race to be won by an Australian since the 1998 Argentine motorcycle Grand Prix who was won by

Mick Doohan Michael Sydney Doohan (born 4 June 1965) is an Australian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion, who won five consecutive 500 cc World Championships. Biography Originally from the Gold Coast, Queensland, Doohan attended ...

500 cc classification

250 cc classification

125 cc classification

Championship standings after the race (500cc)

Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round one has concluded. ;Riders' Championship standings ;Constructors' Championship standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

{{MotoGP 2000–09 South African motorcycle Grand Prix South African

Motorcycle Grand Prix Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...

March 2000 sports events in Africa