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/127133
00 00 . 0') ,.....; Flyin ' Fred Merkel f inished fourth in Hu ngary, but t ook over the World Cham pio nship po int lead w hen M arco Lucc hinelli had an off day. World Championship Superbike Road Race Series: Round 2 ' Morillas win $_ ~i~n~~r ,~ ~ J Hungary, Me'rkel t-akes points lead By Ke l Ed ge BUDAPEST, H UNGARY , APR. 30 America 's Fred Merkel grabbed the points lead i n the new World Championship Superbike Series in front of the largest-ever crowd for a motorcycle event at the Hungaroring near Budapest. With a stunning win in the firs t of I I M k I k two 25 - ap egs, er e too adva ntage of an off-day for 22 Italy's Marco Lucchinelli and th e Ducati team to open up a ni ne-point lead at the head of the points table. And to add even mo re spi ce to th e se r ies. 29-year-old Fr en chman Adrien Morillas took everyo ne by s u r p r ise by takin g hi s G odi erGen oud-p repared Kaw asa ki Fran ce machine to victory in th e second leg. After practice many riders were co mpla in ing of th e bum py na tu re of the tra<;k. This combined with ~he very tWI ~ty nature of th e impressrve Hunganan venue meant th at th ere would be especially heavy wear on front tires and that setting up th e front end of the motorcycles wa s going to be crucial. After the morning warm-up sessian, Merk el opted fo r a sligh tly wid er front wh eel o n h is H onda RC30. Hi s cho ice was o bviously th e correct o ne for after four or five laps of the opening leg he streaked to the front a nd was never in tro ub le on his way to victory. Behind h im the re was a terr ific lap of the mee ting at one min ute, battle for second between Bimota teammates Davide Tardozzi and 57.28 seconds. Sad ly, the bike co uld Stephane Mertens. Mertens had led no t stand"the strain-and an ignition prob lem- broug ht h i s race to a from th e sta rt but had loo ked vulner- premature end. However, the su perb able. Tardozzi sn eaked past and "tried competitiveness of the Duca ti ZDM valiantl 0 catch Merkel but was 851S had once again been demonunable to do anything about the Ca lifo rnian's lead. strated. At th e head of the field there was In fouth place was the surprise of no such trouble for Morillas wh o the day , Morillas. Italian Fabrizio rode the Kawasaki superbly and kept Pirovano was fifth in the opening his head to record his first-ever leg on his Yamaha FZR 750, followed international victory. by Honda-mounted J oey Dunlop, Danish rider Rene Rasm ussen on a _ . - Mertens this time held off the challenge. of Tardozzi and Burnett Suzuki, and Britain's Roger Burnett was a fin e fourth ahead of Merkel. o n a no the r Honda RC30 . At the end of the da y Morillas and After the ope n ing leg win Merkel the Kawasaki had to wait for over deli gh ted th e huge crowd by standtw o hours whil e the FIM jury ing on th e footpegs with h is hands debated th e legality of th e bike. in the air as he eritered th e pit lane. Apparently Bimota had put in a A co nfide nt Merk el exclaimed aft er protest against th e Kawasaki over the his runaway victo ry: " I just sto mped sea t on th e machine, claiming it was 'em. Now wa tch me go in th e second not standard. leg!" The jury threw out th e protest and Unfortunately for Merkel this was let Mori llas and Kawasaki savor their not to be. Firstly, he got a poor start victory. Kawasaki is certainly back and th en his bike would o nly fire in business in the international fouron three cylinders. If the first race stroke arena and wi ll obviously be had seen total domination by Merk el, a forc e to be reckoned with in the th en th e sa me co u ld be said of remaining seven rou nds of the series. Morillas the second tim e o u t on the . red Kawasaki . Results At th e end of the opening lap OVERALL: 1. Adr ien Mor ill as (Kaw); 2. Stephane Mertens (Bim); 3. Dsvide Tardoui (Bim); 4. Fred Morillas led , foll o wed by the two Merkel (Hon); 5. Roger Burnen (Hon); 6. Fabrizi o Bimotas of Mertens a hea d of T ar Pirov ano (Yam ); 7. Rene Rasmussen (Suz); B. Ernst Gs<:hwender (Suz); 9. Paul Iddon (Bim); 10. Joey dozzi. Burnell was ha ving a grea t ride Dunlop (Han); 11. Jar i Suhonen (Yam); 12. Eric in fo urth with Lu cch inell i a nd . Delcamp (Kaw); 13 . Marco Lucch inelli lOue);. 14 . Virgin ia Ferrari CHon); 15 . Anders Andersson (Suz). Mer kel dis puti ng fifth p lace. . POINT STANDINGS : 1. Fred M erkel (3 2.5); 2. Lucch ine ll i was trying to make u p Marco Lucc hin ell i (23.5); 3. Fabriz io Pir ovano (21. 5); 4 . J oey Dun lop (20); 5. Adr ien Morilla s for a poor finish in th e first leg and (16.5); 6. (TIE) Stephan e Mertens/Davide Tardozzi was really riding the wheels off th e (16); B. (TIE) J ari Suhonen/Roger Mars hall (13); 10 . Roger Burn ett (10.5). Duca ti a nd in doi ng so set the fastes t .