Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

o a:: tu c, :::J iii >ED c o ..... :I: Cl. W ....J u:: American Mike Baldwin finished second and fifth in the two legs of t he French World Superbike Series ro und . z o CIl a:: w § z « a:: ED >ED o e ..... :I: Cl. W ....J u:: Baldwin's Bimota teammate, Italian Giancarlo Falappa, f inished f ifth in the f irst leg but won the second at France's Paul Ricard circuit. World Championship Superbike Road Race Series: Round 6 Mertens, Falappa shine in French scorcher By Kel Edge. LE CASTELLAT, FRANCE, J U LY 30 Bel gian Stephane Mertens and Italian Giancarlo Falap p a won one leg each in round six of the World Superbike Championship at the sun-soaked P au l Ricard 16 circu it in sou thern France. Th e weather was blister- I ingly hot and th e pace was even hotter as th e cham p io n- ship contende rs foug h t for points under diffi cu lt co nditions. T he track was still slippery from the car G P just two weeks previously an d the immense heat caused tire problems . The track temperature was reported to be in the region of 113 degrees, a nd a ll th e riders ex pe r ie n ced " m o me n ts" a s the ti res sta rted sli ppi ng a nd slidi ng aro und. First leg The start of th e race was delay ed 20 mi nutes because of an accident o n the warm-up lap. On the fastest part of th e circui t, th e Mistral Straight, Wolfgan g von MuraIt and Rene Del ab y co ll ide d heavi ly . Toni Ro h rer was unable to av oid th e debris and a lso cras hed, breaking his right th igh. Muralt broke h is ri g ht leg a nd righ t wris t, whi le Delaby suffe red a concussion and an injury to his sp ine. , The race d istance was shorte ned to 27 laps and th e wh ol e field got away safe ly except Roger Burnett, who was hit fro m beh ind by Rene Rasm ussen and forced off th e track. Rasmussen 's Suzuki's hand leba r had caught in Bu rn ett's Honda 's fair ing and pu lled off th e p ip e to the radiator, so when Burn ett rejoined the race in last position , his overhea ti ng engi ne sideli ned him after just three laps. Terry Rymer led for the first 12 laps, chase d by Baldassare Monti, Fa bri zio P iro van o , Mertens a nd defendi ng World Cha m p ion Fred Merkel, who was ha vin g pr obl em s with a motor that was running too hot. P irovan o crashed wi tho u t injury on lap fou r as the two Bim ot a riders, Fala ppa a nd Mike Baldwin , moved up th e order. For three la ps Baldwin sha do wed R ymer 's L oct ite Yam aha , bef o re easi ng past and into the lead. Mean whi le, Mert ens had p ushed his T otal Honda RC30 H onda up to third p lace a hea d of Fa lappa, Monti , Raymond Roch e a nd Merk el. Wi th five laps to go , Merten s was up into seco nd p lace a nd loo king co nfident of taking Baldwin. Rymer was having a ha rd tim e of it holding off local hero Roche as th e Du cat i rider charged for ward to the roars of the pa rtisan crowd. With on ly two la ps rem ain in g , Roche 'o vert oo k Rymer at virtually th e same. tim e Mertens took the lead. Within a la p , Roche had blasted past Baldwin and set abo u t trying to ca tch Mertens, but th ere were not enough laps left, and Mertens took the chec kered flag. The ex perienced ca m paigne r Baldw in managed to get a hea d of Roche to take the r u n ner- u p s po t, whil e Rymer had to be content with fou rth, ahead of Falappa and Yamaha rider j ean Yves Mounier. Afterwards, Merten s said , " It was a tough race for sure. It was very hot, but with a few laps to go I thought I could do it. The compe tition is so fierce that if yo u make a little mistake you can easi ly lose three or four pl aces. I a m sorry that Pirovano cras hed, but it is better for me and the cham pions hi p." Second leg The wea ther was hotter a nd so wa s th e pace as Monti, Merkel a nd Rymer a ll got Hyin g sta rts at the gree n light. At th e end of th e first lap Monti led Merk el, Rymer , Pirovano and Baldwin. Beh ind were a pack of abo ut five or six riders all fighting for positi on. After six laps Merkel led from Monti, Baldwin , Falappa a nd Rymer.Tn the second bunch of riders was a terrific scra p betw een Mertens, T ardozzi, Ande rsson a n d Roche. Ro ch e had been su ffering th e effects of a hea vy cold and it was taking h im some ti me to get goi ng.. At th e halfway poin t, Falappa and Baldwin s' Bimo tas had both overtaken Mer kel's Gipsy H onda R C30. Mertens had moved ominously up into fourth pl ace and looked as th o ugh he wa s a fter hi s second victory of th e day. Poor Burnett's luck deserted him again, and he was forced to p ull in af ter his bike started slowing down. H e was using th e spare bike (one that hi s mechanics had rebuilt aft er a cra sh in Saturday's practice) and it began to lose power. As th e race moved into the final stages, Rymer pushed th e front tire a little bit too hard and crashed, injuri ng hi s sho u lder slightly in th e process. With five laps to go, Fa lappa led teamm a te Baldw in , with Mertens th ird a nd a n ever-i m proving Roche fourth. Roch e reall y starte d to hun t th e leaders and for a whi le it looked like he would give hi s fan s someth ing to sho u t abo ut. Three laps fro m th e end.he screa med into second pl ace ahead of Merten s, but once alflin ra n o ut of tim e. Fal appa held h im off by just three-tenths of a second to take the win. Merkel took fourth; after what for him was a disappointin g day, but he still leads the cham p io ns h ip by 20 po ints. Merten s is second in th e series, with Pirovano (who had a fru strating weeke nd) 14 points further behind. As th e season passes the halfway mark Merten s is flying, a nd he kn ow s that he's o nly o ne race victory a way fro m Merkel , who now has not wo n a race since Mospo rt , Canada, o n . j une 4. Falappa has shown th a t as long as he stays o n board he is a major threat, as is Piro vano who wa s troubled by a broken bo ne in hi s wrist. _ Results FIRST LEG: 1. Stephane Mertens (Hon): 2. M ike Baldwi n (Bim); 3. Raymond Roche (Due); 4 . Terry . Rym er (Yam); 5. Gian earlo Falappa (Bim); 6. Jea n Yves Mol nier (Yam); 7. Baldassar e Mo nt i (Duel; 8 . Frad M er kel (Hon); 9. Davide Tardozzi (Bim); 1D. Anders And ersson (Yam). SECOND LEG: 1. Gia near lo Falappa (Bi ml ; 2. Ravmond Roche (Ouc); 3. Stepha na M en ens (Hon); 4. Fred M erkel (Ho n); 5. M ike Baldwin (Bi m); 6 . Baldassare Mon ti ( O uc~; 7. And ers And ersson (yam); 8. Davide Tardozz; (Bim); 9. Pierr e Bolie . (Kaw ); 10 . Paullddon (Yam). ; POINT STA NDINGS: 1. Fred M er1

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