Sebas slam-dunks debut win.

In what was the most dominating display of the 2002 GP250 season, Petronas Sprinta Yamaha TVK rider Sebastian Porto claimed his first race win during the Brazilian round of the MotoGP world championship.

In drizzling rain, the Argentinian demolished the opposition from the outset, building a 2.5secs buffer on lap one, before increasing that to nearly 15secs soon after. Although the competition - which included Roberto Rolfo (Honda), Toni Elias (Aprilia) and Marco Melandri (Aprilia) - attempted to bridge the gap, Porto responded each time with yet another fastest lap, leaving the trailing trio to battle it out for the final two podium places.

"It was a fantastic, but tiring race," 'Sebas' admitted, "Considering the weather condition was completely different from the last two days, however, I'm very happy with the result."

Pre-empting MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi's trademark celebration a couple of hours later, Porto was greeted by happy fans clad in replicas of the Argentine football shirt complete with his name on the back.

"I had a good start and pushed very hard from the beginning," the rider said, "I rode fast, but I was cautious to maintain a good buffer over my competitors. I am very happy to win this race, it is a good booster for me and I would like to congratulate the team and sponsors for their support and efforts."

Rolfo eventually overcame a few anxious moments to clinch second from Franco Battaini (Aprilia), who'd started from as far back as tenth on the grid. Championship points leader Melandri was forced to settle for fourth from Elias, the former just avoiding a high speed crash involving his team-mate Fonsi Nieto a few laps from race's end.

Dark Dog Yamaha's Naoki Matsudo continued his strong wet weather form, featuring as high as second on the opening few laps before being penalised with a stop-go penalty for a jump-start. He rejoined the race in 19th place before recovering to eighth, ahead of Porto's team-mate Shahrol Yuzy.

"I did not start that race well, so I tried to catch up by overtaking the riders in front of me one by one," Yuzy said afterwards, "Eventually, I finished the race ninth, but I'd hoped to have done better. The beginning of the race was difficult for me because I had a very soft set-up, and the track was drier then compared to the latter part of the race. Anyway, the important thing is I scored some points."