Reigning 500cc World Champion Kenny Roberts was second only to Valentino Rossi in final qualifying for Sunday’s 500cc Grand Prix at Mugello, Italy, despite Roberts having the 12th-fastest bike.

Roberts’ Suzuki RGV500 reached a top of speed of 299.9 kph (186.357 mph) on the long main straightaway at Mugello and was 12th fastest, while Rossi’s Honda NSR500 was the fastest bike, reaching 306.2 kph (190.273 mph).

Final qualifying times and top speeds follow.

500cc Qualifying Times
1. Valentino Rossi, Italy, Honda, 1:52.554
2. Kenny Roberts, USA, Suzuki, 1:52.688
3. Loris Capirossi, Italy, Honda, 1:52.834
4. Max Biaggi, Italy, Yamaha, 1:52.942
5. Alex Barros, Brazil, Honda, 1:53.021
6. Alex Criville, Spain, Honda, 1:53.142
7. Jurgen v.d. Goorbergh, Holland, Proton, 1:53.241
8. Carlos Checa, Spain, Yamaha, 1:53.253
9. Tohru Ukawa, Japan, Honda, 1:53.335
10. Shinya Nakano, Japan, Yamaha, 1:53.406
11. Norck Abe, Japan, Yamaha, 1:53.589
12. Stee Gibernau, Spain, Suzuki, 1:54.036
13. Noriyuki Haga, Japan, Yamaha, 1:54.091
14. Jose Luis Cardoso, Spain, Yamaha, 1:54.384
15. Chris Walker, GB, Hodna, 1:54.827
16. Jason Vincent, GB, Pulse, 1:55.780
17. Haruchika Aoki, Japan, Honda, 1:56.390
18. Anthony West, Australia, Honda, 1:57.119
19. Johan Stigefelt, Sweden, Sabre, 1:57.765
20. Barry Veneman, Holland, Honda, 1:58.009
21. Mark Willis, Australia, Pulse, 1:58.365

500cc Top Speeds
1. Rossi, 306.2 kph
2. Ukawa, 306.0
3. Gibernau, 304.8
4. Criville, 303.9
5. Haga, 303.3
6. Biaggi, 303.2
7. Nakano, 302.7
8. Abe, 302.3
9. Barros, 302.2
10. Capirossi, 301.9
11. Checa, 300.2
12. Roberts, 299.9
13. v.d. Goorbergh, 299.8
14. Cardoso, 299.7
15. Walker, 299.7
16. Vincent, 288.1
17. Stigefelt, 295.9
18. Vladimir Castka, Slovakia, Paton, 282.9
19. Willis, 279.7
20. West, 276.4
21. Aoki, 274.7
22. Veneman, 274.7


Meanwhile, 250cc Final Qualifying resulted in an all-Aprilia front row on the grid, led by former 250cc World Champion Tetsuya Harada. In fact, only one non-Aprilia made it onto the first two rows of the grid, being Daijiro Katoh’s Honda; Katoh was sixth-fastest. And the only other non-Aprilia on the first three rows was Sebastian Porto’s Yamaha in 11th.

250cc Final Qualifying Times
1. Tetsuya Harada, Japan, Aprilia, 1:53.922
2. Marcellino Lucchi, Italy, Aprilia, 1:54.585
3. Jeremy McWilliams, GB, Aprilia, 1:54.691
4. Randy de Puniet, France, Aprilia, 1:54.915
5. Roberto Locatelli, Italy, Aprilia, 1:55.018
6. Daijiro Katoh, Japan, Honda, 1:55.024
7. Franco Battaini, Italy, Aprilia, 1:55.248
8. Marco Melandri, Italy, Aprilia, 1:56.108
9. Alex Debon, Spain, Aprilia, 1:55.416
10. Roberto Rolfo, Italy, Aprilia, 1:55.426
11. Sebastian Porto, Argentino, Yamaha, 1:55.473
12. Fonsi Nieto, Spain, Aprilia, 1:55.492
13. Alex Hofmann, Germany, Aprilia, 1:55.709
14. Klaus Nohles, Germany, Aprilia, 1:56.775
15. N. Matsudo, Japan, Yamaha, 1:56.853


In the 125cc class, Youich Ui was quickest on the Derbi.

125cc Final Qualifying Times
1. Youichi Ui, Japan, Derbi, 1:59.246
2. Toni Elias, Spain, Honda, 1:59.656
3. Lucio Cecchinello, Italy, Aprilia, 1:59.878
4. A. Ballerini, Italy, Aprilia, 1:59.881
5. Stefano Perugini, Italy, Italjet, 2:00.165
6. Nobby Ueda, Japan, 2:00.231
7. Masao Azuma, Japan, 2:00.291
8. Gino Borsoi, Italy, Aprilia, 2:00.305
9. Steve Jenkner, Germany, Aprilia, 2:00.309
10. Angel Nieto, Jr., Spain, Honda, 2:00.420