Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

00 00 O"l ...... Fabrizio Pirovano picked up the series point lead after winning in France. Eric Delcamp was second ahead of Stephane Martens. Fred Merkel was second in the point Standings after Japan. but dropped to third after a disappointing seventh in France. - World Superbike Championship: Round 5 Goodfellow shocks 'em in Japan By Ken Frankel SUGO, JAPAN, AUG. 28 New Zealander-turned Canadian Gary Goodfellow turned in an impressive performance on his Suzuki GSXR750 to win 16 th e fifth round of the World Superbike Seri es in Su go , winning the first heat a n d fi n ish in g . th ird in the second. Goodfellow, while still feeling the effects o f a wri st and foot injury su ffered earlie r in the year, qualified his Suzuki 12th on th e 39-bike grid, but got a good start in the first leg a n d was a lways n ear the front, Despite a pit stop to replace h is rear ra in tire, which was deteriorating ra pidl y on the d ryin g track, he regained the lead two la ps [ro m th e end 1O wi n the first leg over Honda's Fred Merkel and Su zuki-mounted Yu kiya Osh ima. Starting just af ter a heavy ra in that dr en ched the opening ceremonies, Aus tra lia n Mich ael Doohan took th~ early lead, bu t th e Marlboro Deal er T eam ri der crashed on the opening lap. H e remounted, bu t lost [our laps and co u ld only manage a 3 1st in that open ing segment, In the mix -up that foll owed , Kenich iro Iwahashi and hi s H onda VFR750 took th e lead [or th e next [our la ps, [0110 wed by Sai to , as Cood fello w wisely decided to let th e japanese lead ers right a mo ng th emselves, staying ca refully in th ir d place. Wh en Saito slid off th e track o n lap five, and Iwahash i d id th e same on lap eight , Good fellow retook th e lead and then grad ua ll y began to draw away [rom th e co mpetition until he had a 20- sec~>nd cu shion o ver seco n d pla ce (a n d seco nd fastest qualifier ) Yamaha 's Kunio Machi!. All of the foreign riders had been saying that Machil was th e fastest j apanese rider in the event, and as the racing line began to dry out and Goodfellow's rear Dunlop turned 1O chewing gum, Machi! took over th e lead on lap 10. Goodfellow, meanwhile, ~mbled on a Yoshimurastyled pit stop for a rear tire change. The Yoshimura team was fresh from the Suzuka 8-Hour experience at quick pit-stops and had him back out on the track in fifth place. H e was down 30 seconds, but fitted with a new Dunlop slick. Machil continued in first place on hi s Michelin " we ts," followed by three other japanese riders as Goodfellow began to cu t th eir lap times by th ree to rive seconds per lap for the remaining 10-laps, passing rider after rider. Finally with two laps remaining and less than a [ourseco nd gap between them, Machil ra n o ff the course under pressure; he later re ported that h e had been suffering from a sticki ng thro ttle, for cing him 1O use the kill swi tch going in to the comers. . Goodfellow, who had been pl anning to take th e lead on th e last lap while going down the main straight, was more surprised than anyone else as Machil ran 0 [[ the co urse and stopped on th e gr ass area righ t in from of him. Goodfellow led on la p 24 and took the checkered flag o n lap 25, but had to al mos t be carried o nto th e winn er 's p odium , in ob vious pain, but happyl . "It was incredible," he said. " I on ly hoped to fini sh a nd ga in some poin ts: I never dreamed I'd be u p here. I'm certain ly g lad I took th e gam ble and stop ped for that new Dunlo p s l ic k. I've rid d en with Michelin ri ders before in these ki nd of conditio ns an d knew th at as th e line became dry their tires would still be strong. I especially think it' s gr eat for Suzuki and Yoshimura to be winning their first race in this series." Finishing a distant second was Merkel, who had qualified seventh but had a terrible start and battled back [rom abou t 20th; he finished th e 25-laps nearly 30 seco nds beh ind Goodfellow. Merkel was a lso nursin g a n injured " mo ney hand" (his thro ttle a nd brake right hand ), and was o nly hoping 1O finish for some po in ts. H e was overjoyed with th e points tha t wem with second place, as he moved into second place, in the cha m p io ns h ip ser ies beh ind Birno ta-mounted David e T ardozzi. T ardozzi didn 't p ick up a ny po ints and was o u t after only 19 laps. Also o ut o f th e points wi th a crash was Fabrizio Pirovano , who ran into th e Swiss rider Edwin Weibel on lap nine. Australian Michael Dowson, Doohan's Marlboro teammate, had moved up 1O fourth place after 12 laps, but lost the [rom end a nd crashed. .~- Oshima , a n o t he r Yo shimuraSuzuki GSXR750 rider, Iinished th ird after battling th ro u gh the j apanese dominated mid-field pa ck. Stephane Mertens, Tardozzi's Bimota teammate, was fourth , followed by Yamaha-mounted Watanabe, and Au stralian Robert Phillis on the only Kawasak i Superbike in the race; a ZX750R code nam e bike, but act ua lly the GPX750. Aaron Sli ght [rom New Zealand was seven th o n a stoc k Birnota YB4 privateer en try. Virgin io Ferrari, racing for MOlO Club Mil ano on a Honda RC30, finished IOth with Marco Lucchinell i's 851 Du cati pl acing 12th. Anders Andersson o f Suzuki Sweden was 15th, j ari Suhonen o f Finland was lfhh, a nd Australian Malcolm Campbell on a no th er Honda RC30 was 17th. The second heat was run under dry co nd itions, but that certa in ly did not serve to prevent a n y crashe s or lower the compe titive exci teme n t which had the 45,000 spectators on th eir feet, Startin ~ again [rom th e same qualification grid as the first heat (L ucch ine ll i, Machil, Dowson and Tardozzi on the from row, with Doohan, Iwahashi, Merkel, and Saito on the second row), Fabrizio Pirovano and his Yamaha was a jack-rabbit from his l Ith position on the third row and was first into the comer, followed by Dowson, Merkel, and Lu cchinelli. The Italian former World Champion's big 851 Ducati was definitely the [astest thin g on the weekend and he soon roared past all of them on the back straights 1O tak e the lead on lap one; he wasfollowed by Dowson, Pirovano, Martens and the n Merkel. Mertens m yster iousl y d ropped the Birno ta j us t before going through the " esses" o n the seco nd lap and th en restarted , after droppin g ei ther gasoline or oil a t th e entrance 1O th e com er. Main tainin g h is lead on the third lap, L ucchinelli's powerful drive was short-li ved as his [rom tire came in contact with Mertens' previous lap oil-spill, a nd do wn he wem. R igh t on his tail in second place wa s Do wson , and wit h th e big red Du cati down a nd slid ing right across th e racing line through th e oil th ere wa s nowhere for Dowson 1O go but down as well. Luckil y for Lucky, the Du cati slid ~en lly up and over the comer bankm g on to the grass, bu t Dowson was not so fort u nate as the Yam aha snagged o n a root-peg, £lipped up into th e a ir, and ca me down hard enough 1O ' sca u er parts, including the gas tank, and burst in to flames. Everyone carefully avoided th e two downed riders and their bikes, with Merkel seizing the advan tage and laking over the lead, followed by Goodfello w. T he Ca nadian, how- ever, smoothly out-cornered Merkel in the first and second right-hand comers (th e hairpin) and then took an extremely safe line through the accident area a t th e "esses" , Merkel, however, didn' t tak e heed, and with hi s "money hand" grabbing an uncontrolled handful of from brakes, he was brought down quickl y. Falling o nto his a lready injured hand. At this point, the race was wisely red-flagged. T he track was scru bbed down at th e accident area and th e emergency heli copter was brought in 1O dry the rem a ining water before th e restart o f the second hea t, The new grid was minus Lucchinelli , Machil (who had crashed at the ch ica ne), Dowson and Noguchi. This grid reflected the positions a t the start of th e third lap: Merkel, Goodfellow, Iwahashi, Waibel , Doohan, Tardozzi , Phillis, and Saito in the first two ro ws. Thirt y-six bikes 'started what was 1O be a 22-lap race, and the fin al results would be determined by adding the times [rom both legs of the second heat. At the green light, the Italian hardcharger Pirovano shot from hi s 12th position on th e fifth row 1O arrive fir st a t th e fir st corner. " I think he crossed the starting line even before I did," said Goodfellow, adding that " P irov a no must be an ex-motocrosser, because it seems th at he's always looking for an o u tside berm'that just doesn 't exi st in road racing." . Phillis briefly took over the lead bu t was soo n passed by Doohan and th en challenged by Ferrari's Honda RC30. Goodfellow was back in sixth place at this point and began work-. in g his wa y forward to mo ve into seco nd place on lap 12. A tiring G o odfellow , h owever , wa s soo n passed by Kenichiro Iwahash i while Tardozzi moved from 12th to fourth place. . At th e finish line it was Doohan, followed by Iwahashi, Goodfellow, Tardozzi , Weibel, and the young Scottish challenger Brian Morrison. Unfortunately for Morrison, Phillis was able to combine his first and second heat times to best Morrison by [our seconds in the final results, so Morrison was listed on the o£ficial results as finishing seventh, despite receiving the sixth place trophy in front of the fans. Behind Morrison came Ferrari, Yadaski H anamura, and Pirovano, to round out the .top IQ • Results HEAT 1: 1. Gary Goodfellow (Suz); 2. Fred Merkel (Hon); 3. Yuk iya Oshima (Suz) ; 4 . Stephane Mertens (Bim); 5. Mitsuaki Watanabe (Yam); 6. Robert Phillis (Kaw); 7. Aaron Slight (Bim~ 8. • Tadaalti Hanam ura (Hon); 9. Koich i Kobayash i ( H on~ 10. Virg in io Ferrar i (Hoo). HEAT 2: 1. M ichael Ooohan (Yaml; 2. Kenich iro Iwahashi ( H o n~ 3. Gary Goodfellow (Suz); 4 . Davide Tardozzi (8 i m~ 5. Edwin We ibel ( H oo~ 6. Robert Phillis (Kaw ): 7. 8rian Morriaon (Hon); 8. Virginio Ferrar i (Hont 9. Tedaaki Hanamu ra (Hon); 10. Fabrizio Pirovano (Yam). POINT STANDINGS; 1. Davide Tardozzi (58); 2. Fred Merkal (4 7. 5~ 3. Fabrizio Pirovano 144~ 4. Mario Lucchinelli (43 ); 5. Stephane Menens (322.51 6. Joey Dunlop (JOt 7. Alex Vie ira (29 ~ ; 8. Adr ien Morillas (26.5~ 9. Edwin Weibel (23 .5); 10. Roger 8urnett (22 .5). World Superbike Championship: Round 6 Pirovano takes win, points lead in France By Kel Edge LE MANS , FRANCE, SEPT. 4 Italian Fabrizio Pirovano used all his motocross experience to master th e difficult conditions and win his first World Championsh ip Su perb ike race. H is wi n p u ts him at the top o f the ta ble , j us t two po ints ahead of Davide T ardozzi, who in tu rn is 4.5 poi n ts in fron t of Mer kel.

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