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/127151
The variable conditions throughout practice had left few riders with en ough time to set their bikes up " p roperly , but Marco Lucchinelli grabbed th e pol e on his Ducati, a head o f Christ ophe Bo uheberi 's . RC30 H o n da and Pi err e- Er ienne Sarnin 's ZX Kaw asaki. In a surprise fo urth p lace wa s Cagiva GP ri der, Raym o n d Roch e, o n the secon d factory Duca ti 851. Roc he had been drafted o nto the team to help Lucchine lli's bid for the championship and wi ll probably be riding in the next round in P ort ugal as well. Birnota's Tardozzi showed his dislike o r the damp and could o n ly quali fy fourth, ahead of teammate Stephane Mertens . T he French organizers had decided that instead of the normal Superbike two- leg formula , there would only be one · race o r 24 laps. The race started in heavy drizzle and the enti re gr id was on fu ll wet tires - a lthough there was a variety of differen t compounds. Piro vano and Merte ns op ted for th e h ard er Michel ins and th eir choice p roved th em correct. . As th e light tu rned to gr een , th e 34 riders d isap peared up the straigh t in a shower of spray . At the en d of th e first la p , Eri c Delcamp led o n the Kawasa ki from R ym er a nd Samin. Behind was a pack of riders including Vieira, Burnett, Merkel, P iro va n o , Bouheben a n d Lu cch ine ll i. In close con ten tio n was Merten s, but h is teamm a te T ardozzi was h aving' a n unha ppy ti m e in the damp, sli ppery co ndi tio ns. Rym er nearly cam e off but m a naged to sta y on, th ough he drop ped do wn to seventh position. Delcamp extended his lead to 17 seco nds, but in th e second half of th e race his visor started to mist up and the pack'began to catch hi m. Mer kel fought his way u p to seco nd but he also dropped back after a few laps, when the foot h e inj u red in an Ital ian Championsh ip race started bo thering h im. T his a llowed Piro vano o n h is steel-framed Yamaha to m ove up and contest the lead. On his way he used his co ns ide rab le moto cross ex perience when h e had to do a bit o f gr ass-tracking o n the fast left-hander at th e back of the circuit. By doing so he actually m oved up a couple of places an d nearly coll ided with . Burnett when he rejoined the track.' ' O nce in secon d position h e set about ca tch ing and passi n g th e. slowi n g Delcamp. Meanwhile there was a trem endous battle going on between Burnett, Merk el , Mertens, Vieira , Bouheben and Rymer . With less than three laps to go, Pirovano took th e lead and held on till th e checkered fla g. · Delcamp managed to hold on to secon d place, ahe ad of Mer tens. The two Honda France en d urance teamsters Vieira and Bouheben were fourth and fifth, j us t ahead of Merkel , Burnett an d R ymer. O n the rostrum, P iro va no wa s in tears as he celebrated h is first Superbi ke victo ry. T o tally unknown a t th e start of th e season; h e now finds h imself a t th e head of th e cham pionsh ip . With o nly three ro u nds to go: th e in augural World Superb ik e Championsh ip is still wide open, and anyone of five m anufacturers ca n take the title. _ Results 1. Fabrizio Pirovano (Yam); 2. Eric Delcamp (Kaw); 3. Stephane Mertens (Bim); 4. Alex Vieira (Hon): 5. Christophe Bouheben (Hon); 6. Fred Merkel (Hon); 7•• R"IIer Burnen (Hont, 8. Terry Rymer (Hon); 9. Manno Febbri (8im); 10. Marco Lucchinelli (Due) 11. Jari Suhonen (yam); 12. ; Davide Tardozzi(8im); 13. Ander. Anderson (Suz) ; 14. J.Y. Mounier (Yam) 15. Mark Unscot1(Hon). ; WORLD S/8K C'SHIP PT STANDINGS : 1. Fabrizio Pirovano (64); 2. Davide Tardozzi (62t, 3. Fred Merkel (57.5); 4. Marco Lucchinelli (49); 5. Stephane Mertens (47.5); 6. Alex Vieira (42); 7. Roger Burnett (31.5t, B. Joey Dunlop (30); 9. Eric Delcamp (29.5); 10. Christophe Bouheben (28). u4g0JOlllOIl 81lteltplt[gefJ epltefJelll: SANCTIONED 30th. 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