Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127130
00 00 ~ Marco lucchinelli rode a Ducati to victory in the inaugural race of the World Champi0rlship Superbike Series. World Championship Superbike Road Race Series: Round 1 Lucchinelli scores in England By Julian Ryder Photos by Richard Francis/Action-Plus DONINGTO N PARK. ENGLAND. APR. 3 There couldn't have been a more sensational start to a new World Championship. Italy's Marco Lucchinelli, aboard th e works eightvalve Ducati 8515, took the overall vic tory 16 on the very last lap of th e secIi , on d I~g 0 f th e race w h en ~rst leg wmner and fellow Italian Davide Tardozzi crashed the wo rks Bim ot a YB4El. The o ther.two ros tru m p laces went to Ame rican Fred Mer ke l a nd Irish m a n Joey Dunlo p on factory-suppl ied H onda RC 30s. Pol e pos tion man Roger Bu rn ett on the H o nda U K RC30 was knocked o ut o f contention by a backmarker in the first 58.71-mile leg. Brit Burnett was n 't the fastest in practice, that honor wen t to T exan Do u g P o len o n the Yo sh im ura . Suzuki. But as he a nd Ca liforn ia n Scott G ra y were ru n ning their Daytona mo tors with AMA reg ula tio nsanctioned lmm overbo re, they were some l2cc abo ve th e 750cc class lim it and withdrew o vern ig h t. " Ask 'em why th ey're afra id of the Yoshimura Su zuki," said Gray wit h his to ngue only j us t in hi s chee k. An y co m plai ning during the meetin g was abo u t th e sco ring system for the two-l eg race . Superbike seri es orga nizer St eve M cLa u ghlin has a lwa ys wanted an "Olympic" scoring system as is used in mo tocross where riders score po ints in eac h leg a nd don 't have to finish both races. Failing that. th e o ld Formula 750 system ,of addi ng up posit ions with the low est to tal tak in g o vera ll victo ry. McLaughlin 's absence from an FIM meeting meant tha t the overall result had to be decided o n aggregate times. Neither the riders nor the organizers wanted it . but the FI M reg ula tions had to sta nd . T his was to lead to some a rgu me nts'after the even t. Befo re the start. McLaug h lin was hap p y to point o ut to anyone wh o' d lis ten that at the J apan ese G rand Prix there were ni ne seconds between the first and 25th rider on the grid. Whereas; a t this. the first-ever Superbike round, there were just three seconds. and just one second between first and 15t h. This was bound to lead to close racing, he said. a nd he was right. From the sta rt Italia n Fa brizio P iro va no , aboard a Yamaha FZR750. led Merkel. Tardozzi and Burnett. Ame rican Grand National Champio n Bubba Shobert was straigh t ba ck into th e pits du e to a team error, the wrong sprock et was fitted to the wheel . th ey pu t on his Hon d a VFR750 just before the start, and although he came out aga in , Shobert would have to wait for the second ' leg for his moment of glory. At th e front of th e field Merkel took o ver only to be deposed by Tardozzi after just one la p. Pirovano came under a ttack from Tardozzi's teamm ate, St ephane Mert ens of Belgi um. a nd half th e British Match Race squad - Burnett. Kenny Irons, Mar k Phillips a nd Roger Marshall. On la p four Merten s got pas t Pirovano, and Lucch inelli started making hi s presen ce felt in eigh th. Tardozzi, loo kin g smooth and very fast, was sta rt ing to p ull o ut a sub stantia l lead from Merkel a nd Burnett but th e Ameri can was abo u t to strike troub le both in the engine department and with his front tir e. Both Burnett a nd Merten s went pa st him a t the chicane as Merkel's mot or refused to pull past 12.000 rpm. Tardozzi stre tched the lead eve n further as Mertens he ld Burnett up. T he Belg ian used to ride 250cc GPs a nd he seemed to be going into th e corners far too fast a nd th en holding Burnett up as he came o ut. On lap 10 Lucchinelli was up to fourth and started clos ing o n the fight for th ird. Philips, ab oard the Engli sh Yamaha im porter's Bimota YB4, was now fifth a hea d o f Merkel. Lucch in ell i didn ' t take too long in ge tt ing past Mertens, but just as it looked as if Burnet t, Lucchinelli a nd Mert en s wo uld be happy to hold formation a nd try a nd close th e fouro r five-second ga p T ardozzi had pulled o u t, Lucch in el li o u tbra ked Burnett for second pl ace. Next time arou nd Lu cchinelli a nd Burnett came up on a slow rider at the chica ne. The Italian went in side, the Englishman went to foll ow and inexplicab ly th e back mark er moved 'across a nd the two bik es slid to earth ro cked to gether. Burnett walked a way d isgusted, th e slo wer rider didn 't tak e hi s helmet off. Bu rn ett 's on ly co nso latio n was that he had com p leted mor e than 50% o f th e leg so he had qualified to start the second leg.