Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

IAbovel Jack Middelburg leads Lucchinelli 111. Boet Van Dulmen 161. Croz and Franco Uncini (41.IRight) Thad Wolff 1371 and Roberto Pietri 1881. "The O-ring that seals the heads to the cylinders broke and water got into the combustion chambers," Uncini explained. " I' d changed tires and put some tear-off's on, but then the bike quit. " Schlachter lasted a lap longer then was out when first his steering damper broke, then his number two cylinder seized. Van Dulmen was out early too , with gearbox troubles on hi s Suzuki, . Crosby took over the lead and was able to widen it a bit when Lucchinelli made an unexpected off-track excursion in the chicane just before th e front straightaway. He saved it and started to close the gap with Rossi and Ghiselli a ways back and Singleton and Adamo trying 10 break into the top ten in 12th and 13th . By the tenth lap "Croz" had six seconds on Lucchinelli who in turn had 13 on Becheroni who'd taken over third from Reggiani with Rossi now in fifth. The second heat was being run at a faster pa ce than the first with Crosby not feeling any constant pressure. More positions were swapped by the halfway point with Rossi now in fourth and Adamo ahead of Singleton. The leaders were up on the backmarkers and Lucchinelli had some trouble passing one in particular. "Instead of giving Gina Bovaird $4,000 for running in Italy, the organizers should give it to a young Italian rider," the World Champion said. "Each time I went past her she slowed me down by being planted in the curve. She is dangerous." Crosby pitted on the 24th lap starting a controversy that was carried on long after the race ended. " I decided to pit at the last minute and entered by signalling to Lucchinelli not to follow me with my left leg. If I stuck out the other leg he wouldn't have seen it being so close. It is not against the rules that a pilot has to signal when he leaves the track," Crosby explained. "He saw that left leg out. He missed the corner two times. He knew what I was doing." - "I was sent into the grass by Crosby," Lucchinelli said. "Crosby behaved himself badly. Going into the pits he signalled with his left leg instead of his right like all riders do. It broke my concentration and I admit I was unaware and missed the turn.: I'm saying to Crosby that it was a big mistake thinking he can behave that way with me. I'm not Marnola." "His brake is on the left and mine's on the right so I couldn 't lift my right leg and stop for the pits," Crosby answered. Crosby took over for good on the 26th lap when the Honda crew called "Lucky" in for gas. A team of mechanics swarmed over the bike with one changing the battery, one gass ing it up, and another waiting to push him off. Three mechanics helped push which is one more than the FIM allows. The Honda pits were soon abuzz with talk of a lap penalty while the partisan crowd booed the mechanics for their mistake, which was let pass. With six laps to go Lucchinelli tried to make a run for the win, a lt h o ugh a 3-1 tally would leave him second to Crosby's 1-2. He cut the lead to four seconds on the 29th lap and at th e chec kers it wa s done to two and a half seconds. In the process he set a new lap record of 1:56.95 (94.5 mph avera ge) on the 31st lap lowering his record of last year by over a second. Becheroni took third a lmost a rnin- : ute lat er with Rossi, Reggiani, and Guido Paci next across the finish line. Adamo finished 13th with no pressure from Singleton who he had passed before Singleton retired with a locked up front brake. What followed in winner's circle was a display of petulance by Lucchinelli who instead of congratulating Crosby on the win accused him of dirt y riding. After telling the crowd how upset he was he turned to Crosby and lectured him waving a finger in his face as the crowd cheered him on. Crosby refused ' to retaliate and thanked his crew and Yamaha for the win. Rossi just hung over the balcony smiling with his third place laurels, while Crosby reluctantly sprayed the crowd below with cham- . pagne. " It was a very long and very hard race ," Rossi said. "I was a little tired and the tires started to go away at the end. " "If you look at all of the problems, you would have to be satisfied with the finish, but I'm not. We had little time to set up and not be able to change again. It was a race I could have won, not withstanding everything. My 200 was lost by the incorrectness of Crosby for not signalling me of his intention to enter the pits," Lucchinelli said. "For the World Championships you can be sure that Crosby is no problem." "Normally you feel good after a race, but I don 't feel very happy for what he has said," Crosby replied. "His saying that has ruined a beautiful victory for me. " Including leading 27 of the 32 laps in the second leg and 13 of the first , Crosby received about $8,100 in prize money alone not including his start money. For Agostini it was a bittersweet win in front of his fellow countrymen and an audacious beginning to his team. Superbike Topping the q ualifying ~or ,11;11; ! ~ mile superbike race were the two Honda Italia Racing Team bikes of Oscar LaFerla and Maurizio Massirniani. Sergio Bertocchi was third fastest ahead of another HIRT machine of Angleo Laudati and top American qualifier Thad Wolff. Roberto Pietri qualified eighth in a special session, Rusty Sharp was 12th, Rich Chambers 16th, and Jimmy Adamo 18th . LaFerla and Bertocchi got away first with Pietri powering to the front along with Massimiani. Adamo was coming off a back row start, but his charge ended in a fast right hand turn on the back part of the course. "Some guy in front of me spilled wh en his bike blew all of its oil on the track. I saved it through the oil, but I couldn't avoid him," Adamo said. Besides Adamo two other riders went down with only Adamo walking away although his Ducati was severely damaged. Pietri was out front now with Massimiani right on his tail and Wolff and Bertocchi trying to keep each other out of fourth ahead of Fillipo Suzzi on a Birnota Kawasaki. Massimiani repassed Pietri in what would be an almost race long seesaw on the fifth lap wi th Wolff in fifth . Rusty Sharp was oUI with engine troubles and Chambers went out soon after with ignition troubles , but later rejoined the fray after some extra help from Adamo's crew of Ducati mechanics. " T he ignition wires came apart and I was willing to quit, but those Italians wanted something to work on and since Jimmy was out they decided to help me ," Chambers said. Wolff soon established himself in third although it wasn 't entirely secure with Simani and Laudati ready io advance. Pietri pitted at the halfway' point and his pit stop wasn't as smooth as he 'd have liked. "I forgot to open the gas cap," Roberto staled. "It was my fault." When he came back out Massimiani had built up a 10 second lead on the Hondaendurance bike from last year, but it wasn't set up for this type of race. "This is last year's endurance bike," he said. "It was grounding in the corners because in endurance racing you don't have to ride at 100% all of the time. His bike is a jet." Back in third it developed into a Wolff-Laudati duel with Wolff holdinga nine second leadon the 20th lap when Massimiani pitted. "After his gas stop I knew I had it won ," Pietri said. Up until then he had a 20 second lead, but when he came out of the pits Roberto had him in sight and the crowd was on the American 's side. Massimiani exited the pits as Pietri sped up the straightaway and the race started all over again with Pietri going in front on the 23rd of 32 laps. Wolff pitted on the 25th lap and came out holding a 150 yard adva n~age over Laudati that he would increase. " My pit sto p was slow because the guy with the key to the gas tank was turn ing it the wrong way . I lost about five seconds. Then when I ca me out of the pits he was right there, " th e Californian said. " We were going into the fast downh ill righ t-left on the back part of the course and he ca me flying by me cutting the corner and going through th e dirt. He must have lost his brakes because right after that he waved me by." Pi etri used the traffic to his advantage and lost Massimiani to build up a four second lead a t the end. Wolff was another 12 secon ds back in third ahead of Laudati and Massimi Simani. "Today is my fath er Luis' birthday and it 's the a n n iversa ry of Nellie and I being tog ether 13 years, " Pi etri said. "It's a gr eat day. I think he h ad some power on me. His bike is a 1023 and mine's a 998. His weighs about 363 pounds and mine a bou t 414. This is my number two bike because I wrecked my good one at Talladega. lowe a big thanks to the Honda crew in California for putting this togeth er along with my mechanic of three years, Larry Worrell , and Mike Trosper. " Among the four languages that Pietri speaks is Italian and he thanked the supportive crowd in their native tongue as they cheered his victory. Massimiani was content to finish second on last year's bike. The new ones arrive in 15 days he said. Wolff agreed th at the crowd was behind him. "They were unbelievabl e. On the cool-down lap, they're all cheerin g for me and I couldn't believe it. I've never been treated like that before. This is my first trip to the continent and I'd like to come back. At first I was tired and I thought I'd let the leaders go and just take it easy and break in my new motor, but I saw I could outbrake him even though his motor was a little stronger than mine. " Laudati was also HIR-mounted on the Segale framed machines. The Team Escargot Suzuki superbike was built by Minolu Matuzawa of Escargot and taken ca re of by the other member of the team Kenny Ishibashi. After the race he hung a "FOR SALE" sign on the third place machine, but there were no takers. Results • IMOLA 200: 1. Graame Crosby (Vaml; 2. Marco Lucchinelli (Hon); 3. Graziano Rossi (Yam); 4 . Leandro Becheroni (Suz); 5. Guido Paci (Yam): 6. Lorenzo Ghiselli ISuz); 7. Phillipe Coulon ISuz); B. Anilio Riondato (Suz); 9. Loris Reggiani (Suz); 10. Corrado luzi; (Suzt (AMERICAN FINISHING POSITIONS) 13. Jimmy Adamo (Due); 1B. Gina Bovaird ISuz); DNF Dale Singleton (Yam); DNF Rich Schlachter (Vam). SUPERBIKE: 1. Roberto Pietri (Han); 2. Maurizio Massimiani (Hon); 3. Thad Wolff (Suz); 4 . Angelo Laudeti (Hon); 5. Massimo Siman; fBMC); 6. Mauro Ricci IDue); 7. W. Migliorat; (Kaw); 8. Giov.nn i Menegaz (Kaw): 9. M. Peria (Kew); 10. P.B. Balella (Kaw); (AMERICAN FINISHING POSITIONS) Nonclassified Rich Chambers (Kaw); DNF Rusty Sharp (Hon); DNF Jimmy Adamo IDuc). 9

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