Micheal Doohan virtually clinched his fourth consecutive World championship with his ninth victory of the season and 43rd of his career, in the Rio Grand Prix. The Australian took the lead on the first lap of 24, and stayed in front to finish despite the close attentions of his teammate Tadayuki Okada, who set a new lap record for the 4,933 km Nelson Piquet circuit.A close battle for third place ended in favour of Luca Cadalora on a Yamaha. Nobuatsu Aoki on a Honda, Norifumi Abe on a Castrol-lubricated Team Rainey YZR and surprise man from Germany Jurgen Fuehs on an Elf 500 followed suit.An excellent start from the third row of the grid that took him momentarily into the lead, was the beginning of a return to form that took Abe to rostrum finishes at the previous two title rounds in Rio. The Japanese rider held third place until the ninth lap when he made a mistake that allowed Cadalora and Nobuatsu Aoki to squeeze by.With five rounds remaining, Doohan, with a 116-point lead has to finish in the first six in the next title round at Donington Park in two weeks time to clinch the issue.
