Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

meanwhi le, ch a rged through th e pa ck to briefly cha lle nge Parker for seco nd ' but th e push 10 th e front proved to cos t 100 much o f Dobb's end urance . Near th e end o f th e race th e physically exhaus ted you ngs ter lost two spots to Visser a nd Van Drunen. H eal ey fin ally crossed the fini sh line 16 seconds up o n Parker with hi s fists punched triumphantl y in th e a ir. Visser, Van Drunen a nd Dobb followed whi le Ryan pl aced seven th. Whi tin g fin ish ed ni n th making it five Ame rican riders in th e top 10 overa ll fin ish . Res ults O/A : 1. Trampas Parker (KTM); 2. Teus Visser (Yam); 3. Marcel Van Orunen (Hon); 4. Jam ie Dobb (Han); 5 . A lessandro Puzer (Su z); 6. Rick Ryan (Suzl; 7. Edw in Evert sen (Suz); S. Sobby M oor e (KTMI; 9 . AJ . Wh iting (Han); 1D. Charr el Sweebe (Yam). MOTO 1: 1. Puzar ; 2. Evensen ; 3. Moor e; 4 . Park er; 5. Van Drun en; 6. Cobb; 7. Visse r; 8. Ryan; 9 . W hiting ; 10 . Ryan Hunt (Han); 11. Sw eebe; 12 . Hans Me rtens (Han); 13 . J uan Belva l (Yam); 14 . Jac ob Barth (Han); 15 . J oel Seel (Han) . MO TO 2: 1. M ike Healey (KTM ); 2. Parker; 3. Visser; 4 . Van Dr un en; 5 . Dobb; 6. W ern er Dew itt (Kaw); 7 . Ryan ; B. Sweebe; 9. Wh it in g; 1D. Bern d Eck enb ach (Kaw ); 11. Der ek Logt (Kaw); 12 . Mertens; 13 . Andrea Bartol in i (Hanl ; 14 . Ma ssim o Cont in i (Cagl; 15. Hun t . POINT STANDINGS: 1. Park er (277); 2. Puzar (223); 3 . Heal ey (167); 4. Moore (155); 5. Dave y Strijbos (13B); 6 . Yves DeMaria (10 S); 7 . Contini (S9 ); S. Evertsen (SO); 9 . Pedro Tragt er (7 6); 1D. Van Drunen (70 ). World Championship 25Oc:c MX Series: Round 6 Bayle victorious in Venezuela MARACAY, VE NEZUELA, J U LY 2 Frenchman and ser ies po ints leader J ean-Michel Bayle, riding under a U.S. licen se, scored the overall victory by winning both mot os a t th e Venezuelan GP. Rebounding af ter a wrist inj ury at th e Fren ch GP two weeks earlier, the fact ory H onda p ilo t extended his poin ts lead over Finland's Pekka Vehkonen a n d d efen d in g cham p J ohn van den Berk . The fir st mot o was led by American Rodney Sm ith. Smith and his Ch esterfi eld-backed Suzu ki led for four laps before Bayle swooped in and passed him. From th en o n it wa s Bayle's race, taking th e win with a 16-second cus hio n over Van den Berk . Smith eventua lly dropped back 10 seventh, while Van den Berk and Gert-Jan Van Doorn battled in th e sand for seco nd pl ace. Van den Berk won the battle over Van Doorn, who started th e ra ce in 15th pl ace. Fourth wen t to Vehkonen , while Belgian Marnicq Bervoets fini sh ed fifth. Vehkonen jumped o u t to a n early lead in the seco nd moto a nd led for 25 minutes wh ile Ba yle p ursu ed. At that point, Bayl e made his move, pass ed Vehkonen and pulled away for th e win. Vehkonen too k seco nd ahead of Van Doorn a nd Am eri can Broc Glover, who finished ninth in the first rnoto. Van den Berk failed 10 sco re an y points in the seco nd moto a fter crashing at the start the n pulling o u t 15 minutes into th e moto, • Results a / A : 1. Jean-Michel Bayle (Han) ; 2. Pekka Vehkone n (Yam); 3 . Gert-J an Van Doorn (Suz); 4 . Marnicq Bervoets (Kaw) ; 5. Broc Glov er (KTM) ; 6 . Yannig Kervella (Han); 7. John Van den Bark (Yam); S. Roland Diepald (Kaw); 9 . Rodney Smith (Suz); 10 . Soren Mortensen (Kaw). MOTO 1: 1. Bayle; 2. Van den Berk ; 3. Van Doorn; 4. Vehkonen; 5 . Bervoets; 6. Michel Fanton (Suzl; 7. Smith; 8. Kervell a; 9. Glover; 10 . Peter Dirckx (Han); 11. Peter Johansson (Yam); 12 . J erem y Whatley (Su z); 13 . Sor en M ortensen (Kaw); 14. Christian Bayle (Honl; 15 . Pedro Gonzales (Yam) . MOTO 2: t . Bayle; 2. Veh konen; 3 . Van Doorn ; 4. Glover; 5. Bervoets; 6. Fanton ; 7. Kervella ; 8. Morte nsen; 9. W hatley ; 10. Diepold; 11. C. Bayle; 12 . Sm ith; 13 . Di rckx; 14 . Gonzal ez; 1 5. Jo hansson. . POINT STA NDINGS: 1. Bayl e (14 61 2. Pekka ; Vehkone n (1351; 3 . Van den Berk (1 22 ); 4. Van Doorn (106); 5. Fanton (103); 6 . Sm ith (95 ); 7 . Glover (9 7)~S . Diepo ld (SB); 9 . W hat ley (B1); 10 . Rob Herr ing (72) . St ep hane Mertens won the second leg at the World Championship Super bike Road Race in Austria . World Championship Superbike Road Race Series: Round 5 Mertens, Vieira win in Austria By Kel Edge Phot o by Bill Pet ro OSTER R EICH RI NG , AUSTRIA, J ULY 2 Honda riders Stephane Mertens and Alex Vieira scored one win apiece on a day when changing weather played a key role at Austria's O sterreich rin g, the blindingly fast Aich feld Valley circu it. Vieira won th e firsi leg after .. I . d a. U tame tl;lss e WI th a ozen nders wh ich saw th e lead swapping practically every lap . In the secon d leg, dela yed by rai n , Mertens mastered the co ndi tio ns a nd th e threat of Fab ri zio Pi rovano a nd defendin g cham p Fred Merkel to record h is first World Superbike win of th e year. Cl oudy co n d i tio ns greet ed th e riders as' th ey lin ed up for the start of race o ne. The Du cati team had no less than three riders in a bid to bl ock th e efforts of Merkel, Pi ro vano a nd the res t. And a lt ho ugh Roch e sa t on th e pol e, having tak en adva ntage of a dry practice sessio n, it was Du cati test rider Monti Baldassarre wh o led from th e green light, Iollowed by Mertens, Vieira , Merkel a nd Malc olm Campbell. By th e time th e pack reac hed th e first chicane , 12 riders were fighting for th e lead. The leaders streamed arou nd the tra ck like a n express tra in, wit h less than 100 feet coveri ng the group. T he rac e contin ued lik e th is for the entire 18 laps, with a di fferent rider in fro nt practically every lap . At o ne stage, six rid ers came al ongside eac h o th er o n th e a p p roach to th e ch icane. J ust wh en it seeme d like th ere would be a n acc ident th ey sorte d them selves o ut a nd eased th eir wa y t hro u~ h. The crowd j ust co uld not beli eve it, O n the very last lap, o n the last corner, Vieira snea ked hi s H o nd a Fran ce RC30 a head o f fellow co u n- try ma n Roche and took th e checkered flag. Merten s nearly go t p~st Roch e but settled for a safe third pl ace after the Du cati rider lost a gear a nd went off-li ne. Massimo Broccol i, a lso o n a Ducati , took fou rt h, a head of P iro van o, Monti, Campbell a nd Anders Andersson. Championship lead er Merkel had chosen tires that he hadn 't tested p ro perl y, a nd finish ed "u p a lo wl y II th o Rymer struggled through his pain barri er a nd ended up ninth a fter what he described as " th e hardest race I have ever done for a n inth po siti on." Roger Burnell was held back by hi s weak en ed sh oulder a nd had trouble bra king, end ing up 19th . For Vieira, H onda-France endurance race specialist, it was hi s fir st ' su perbike race of th e seaso n and he was delighted with h is win. Like th e rest o f the to p 12 riders he sai d , " T hat was o ne o f th e to ug hes t races I have ever . ridden in , bu t it was a lso o ne o f the most enjoyable." As the grid form ed for th e seco nd race , spots of rain a ppeared on th e rider s' visors. The organize rs delayed th e start , an d la ter decided that the ra ce wou ld start in the wet. T he race d ista nce was sh orten ed to 15 laps, a nd wh en the riders set off o n their sighting lap everyone was on fu llwet tir es. T h is tim e it was Merkel who go t th e hol esh ot a nd reach ed th e slip pery ch icane a head of the field. Behin d were Roche, Davide T a rdozzi, Pi erre Bo lle a nd Eri c Delca mp. By the fift h lap Pi ro vano , Mertens and Merk el ha d p ull ed away from th e rest of the pack a nd were ha vin g their own private. ba u le in the tryi ng condi tions. Giancar lo Falappa specta cularl y slid off o n the a p p roac h to the chi cane whi le tryi ng 10 ca tch the leaders. Merke l started 10 p ressure the leadi ng d uo, a nd got past Merte ns, bu t o u td id himse lf a nd went straight at th e ch ica ne. H e lost hi s seco nd spo t, as well as a good bit o f d istan ce wh ile he rejo ined the race. From then on, the battle for the lead was between Mertens and Pi ro vano, Piro van o tri ed hi s best 10 ge t past Merte ns, but co u ld no t find the pl ace to do it. Mert ens sai d afterwa rds th at he knew exactly what P iro va no was tryin g to do, bu t he mad e su re that he was in fro n t o n th e last lap. " Pirova no was fas ter th an me in th e chica nes ," Mert en s said. "So I . knew th a t I had to be in fro nt of him at the chi ca ne a t th e top of th e h ill. I held h im off a nd on th e last bend I knew that I was faster than him co m ing o u t o f th e co rner, so I co uld beat him to the flag." So Mert en s took hi s H onda to a well -deserved win, a nd gave H onda ' its secon d win of the day . Bot h Bu rn ett a nd Rymer p ulle d o ut ea rly when they felt tha t to go o n would be a da nger 10 the ir respectiv e shoulder inj uries. Burnell sai d, " It was very slippery o u t there. If I had fallen off it would pu t m y recovery even further bac k. All I wa nt to do now is ge t com p letely fit for th e next ro u nd (a t Paul Ri card, France, o n July 30).'" A co m me nt th at was echoed by Londoner T erry Rymer. Mer kel still lea ds th e series point sta nd i n gs, bu t P irovan o is now with in 13 points. Mertens is third, Ro che fou rth a n d R ym er fifth . Undo u b ta bly, th e weather pl ayed a great part in H onda 's vic tories toda y, but with Pi ro van o a nd Mertens and Roche a ll wit hi n reach , Merkel will be sta rt ing to feel th e p ressure. • Res u lts 1ST LEG: 1. A lex Vie ira (Han); 2. Raymond Roche IOuc); 3. Stephane Mert en s (Hon); 4. Massimo Broccoli IOuc); 5. Fabr izio Pirovano (Yam); 6. Baldassare Mo nti (Due); 7. Malco lm Campbell [Hen) : S. An ders A ndersson (Yam ); 9 . Terry Rymer (Yam); 10 . J ar i Su honen (Yaml . 2N D LEG: 1. Step hane Mertens (Han); 2. Fabrizio Pirovano (Yam); 3. Fred M erkel (Hon); 4 . Ma ssimo Broccoli (Due); 5. Patrick Igoa (Kaw); 6. Mal colm Cam pbell (Han); 7. Jar; Suhonen (Yam); S. Al ex Vi eira (Hon); 9. And ers And ersson (Yam); 10 . Raymond Roche (Due). POINT STANDINGS: 1. Fred M er kel (126); 2. Fabriz io Pirovano (105 ); 3. Terr y Rvmer (78); 4. Ste phane Me rtens (77); 5. Raymond Roche (74). 15

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