"That was a nightmare," says MYT's Crust.

Marlboro Yamaha Team rider Max Biaggi's World Championship hopes took a serious dent in yesterday's incident-packed Marlboro Portuguese Grand Prix.

The Italian crashed while on course for a podium finish and though he remounted to finish fifth, he now trails race winner and series leader Valentino Rossi by 43 points with five races to go, with 125 World Championship points still up for grabs.

Biaggi crashed out o with seven laps to go when he lost the front of his Yamaha into turn one, he then dragged his YZR out of the dirt to fight back to finish fifth after a brief skirmish with Nori Haga.

It was a typical display of dogged determination from the Italian who tumbled out of the lead of the Czech GP two weeks ago, remounting to finish tenth. But the two crashes have done no good to Biaggi's title chances.

"It was another strange crash," said the former 250 champ who started from pole position for the fourth successive race and led the opening two laps.

"Just like Brno, I wasn't doing anything different at that corner, the front just let go mid-turn," continued the Roman. "On the grid we'd changed the rear tyre because the temperature was so much higher than during warm-up, but that didn't have anything to do with the fall. Early on, when I was chasing Rossi and Capirossi, I was struggling to stay with them down the straight.

"Before the race I said I was looking for a podium finish and I'd contented myself with third, so I'm really disappointed not to have got third. We stay here for testing tomorrow, then we go to Valencia in two weeks, where we'll try to win again."

"That was a nightmare," said straight talking team manager Geoff Crust. "Max crashed for the second race in a row but once again he showed his determination by
getting back on board.

"It will be hard for us to come back from here and challenge Rossi for the title, but we won't give up until it's over," added Crust. "Carlos (Checa) rode a good race, fighting hard after that chaotic first lap. If he'd got away cleanly I think he could've raced McCoy for third."