Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Belgian Stephane Mertens w as the o!,!ly r id er w ho cou ld dethrone Merkel. but a fi rst~l e g cra sh ended his hopes; M erten s recovered to w in leg two. American Fred Merk el clai m ed hi s seco nd consecutive W orld Superb ike t itle w ith a pair of th ird -pl ace f in ishes in New Zealand . Terry Rymer (1 0) rode a Yamaha OW-0 1 to his first-ever World Superbike w in in t he rain-soaked f irst leg ; the Brit ended up seventh in series po ints. World Championship Superbike Road Race Series: Final round Rymer wins, but Merkel's the champ By Greg Cumming MAN FEILD, NEW ZEALAND, NOV. 19 . California's " Flyin' " Fred Merkel went into th e final superbike round in New Zealand th ree points. behind series leader Stephane Mertens, but that's the only time he was 6 on the wrong foot - and a t th e end of Sunday's two cham- I pionship leg s Merkel was agai n the World Superbike Cham p io n a fter Mert en s cra shed out o f content io n in th e first leg. Loct ite Yamaha 's T erry R ymer gave Britain th eir fir st win o f th e series in the first leg of the two-l eg even t wh ile Mert ens rebounded from his first-leg cras h to handily win ra ce two. R ymer fini sh ed fourth in leg two to emerge as th e overall winner. T he Manfei Id tra ck provided fick le weather for Sunday 's ra ces with riders having to ra ce on a wet track a fter a ll th e practice 'sessio ns were h eld in dry co n d itio ns. Mer kel , riding his .O scar R u rni-sp onsored Honda RC30 applied the press ure right from the start of Satu rday 's first official ti med practi ce with a bl istering I:08.33 la p ti me, br eakin g last year's record o f 1:11.26. T he 1988 World S uperbike Cha mpion was extremely co n fide nt and tha t wa s grap hica lly illustra ted when o n T h u rsday, af ter a short p rac tice, he spent th e rest of th e day at the go lf co u rse. Merkel's time o n Sat u rday ea rned h im the po le posi tio n and he was joi ned on the fron t row by Tasmania n Malcolm Ca mpbell (H on da RC30), New Zea lander Aaron Slight ( Ka wa sa ki ZXR-750), Austra lian Michael Dow so n (Yamaha OW-OI), and series leader Step ha ne Mert en s (H o nda RC-30), who he ld a th reepoint lead over Mer kel heading in to th e first of two 33-lap legs. Pri or to th e start of race o ne , rai n started fall in g a nd most o f the 26 starters ch ose full wets. Merke l, Da wson, Auss ie Peter G oddard a nd Mert en s elec ted for full rai ns u p fron t and hand cu t slicks or intermediate rears. Although it would be easy to say that Mert en s lost h is World Champ ionship ho pes wh en he cras hed o n the 2 1st la p o f leg o ne wh ile tryin g to catch Merkel , reali ty p o ints to ward th e Belgi an 's d isast rousl y slo w start as th e cu lp ri t. It wa s R ym er a nd hi s OW-O I, how ever, blasting from th e seco nd row of th e grid to lead in to the first co rne r. R ym er wa s follow ed by Dawson , Campbell, Ro b Ph illis, Merkel, a nd a desperat e Mert ens, wh o wa s mired in 12th p lace and ha ving to push hard to pass in th e wet, slip pe ry co nd itio ns . Rym er managed to pull clear, and never seemed in danger of losing this one. Meanwhile, th ere was drama, bad luck a nd crashes back in the pac k. La p five sa w Fr en chman Raymond Roche br in g th e factory Du ca ti ba ck to th e p i ts with a carb u retio n p robl em (in jecti o n); Roche's week in New Zealand was ra ther d isa p pointing as he showed little enth us iasm despite some Italia n arm waving and temperment o u tb ur sts from team manager Marco Lucchinelli to spur hi s cha rge. Slight passed teammat e Phillis to tak e over seco nd p lace on lap 12. Merkel he ld fifth behind Rymer , Slight, P h ill is, and Jari Suhonen, who wa s riding well in the rain. Mertens , meanwhile, had clawed back to eighth p lace. By la p 18, R ymer had a IS-second lead with Sligh t, Phill is, Su hone n . and Merk el nose to ta il, and cu tt ing th rough back m arkers o n lap 20. T he big drama occurred on th e 21st wh en Mert en s, wh ile holdin g down seventh p lace, crashe d enteri ng the braking area for H iggen s Ben d . Close exa mi na tio n by FIM tech in specto rs a nd team mech anics led .them to beli eve that brake co rn ponent fa ilure wa s th e m ost li kel y ex p la n a tio n fo r th e un fort u na te Mertens. It's suspected tha t a ri vet th a t h o lds the free- floati ng d iscs had somehow seized, broken and jammed in the pad area beca use w hen Mertens went to apply his brak es he was sudden ly flu ng over th e bar s. The Bel g ia n was very lucky to have sto pped slidi ng down the wet tra ck before reach in g the ban k a nd surro u ndi ng trees . The bi ke was extensi vely damaged a nd Mert ens wo u ld have to use h is spare bike in ra ce two. Merk el was in formed by h is pit cre w of th e Mert en s development: a n d having just p assed Su hone n an d hi s OW-OI to tak e over fourth place, Merkel rode to a safe fin ish. Hardchargi ng Dowson, on h is Marlboro Yam ah a Deal er T eam OW-O J, m ounted th e best charge of the race as h is hand-cut rear slick found a drying line appeal ing with eigh t laps to go . Dowso n only narrowly m issed taking third pl ace from Merkel a t the line. The l e~ one fin ish in g order was R ym er , Slight, Merkel , Do wso n , Phillis, Suhonen , Anders Andersson , Gl enn Will iams, Takahiro Sohwa, a nd Simon Crafar. G oing into race two, Merkel had a 12-point lead over Mertens and the track was now dry . As th e riders did

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