Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

,eROAD RACE FIM Coup d'Endurance Championship: Round I e Jean-Michel Mattioli (shown) teamed with reigning Coup d' Endurance Champion Alex Vieira and Siephane Mertens on a works Honda to win the Le Mans 24 Hour. Miguel DuHamel (shown); Roger Burnett and Steve Chambers finished second, proving that Suzuki is a force to be reckoned with in this year's endurance series . The Kawasaki of Gouin/Lavieille/Lentaigne leads the Honda of Oxley/Morrison/ Farmer through a Le Mans chicane. The British Honda team finish ed fou rth. to p ut the "Green Meanie" on pole. Vieira had o ther ideas though , a nd with just five minu tes of practice rem aining, he completed two bl istering la ps on a clear track to kn ock Crine off the po le by nearly th ree-quarters o f a seco nd . Although the Le Mans 24 H ou r tends to be somethi ng o f a French affair, th ere were a n um ber of in teres ting " foreigners" competi ng . Englishman Roger Bu rn ett (last year a win ne r wit h H o nda ) was Il O W rid ing for th e Suzuki France fact ory tea m wi th fello w Brit Steve Chambers a nd Canad ian Mig uel DuHam el. Other Canad ia ns ta ki ng pa rt were Du Hamel' s brothe r Mario (o n a p rivate Suzuki) , Mich el Mercier (on an Elf-type expe rirnen ta l bike) a nd lady racers Kathleen Co bu rn a nd T on i Sharpless, who were on ce again partnered by Veronique Parisot fro m Fra nce, a n d who finished 19th on a Honda RC30. At the wave of the green flag, th e lead rider from eac h team of th e 34strong gr id ran across the track in the fam ous ''' Le Ma ns " start. Crine and Vieira were first aw a y, a nd it was Crine who ca me around in fro nt at the end of the first lap . By lap two , Vieira was in front a nd in co m ma nd, and th e pattern for th e rac e looked set - Crine, on the firs t o f the works Ka wasa kis chased by both th e factory Su zu kis, was hold ing o n to Vieira, wai ting for th e Honda rider to mak e a mi stake. At the fou r-hour mark , a thunder sto rm soa ked th e rid ers a nd th e track and ca used th e pace car to be sent a u t wh ile the officials deba ted what to do. Six la ps . later , the rain virtu all y stopped, so th e pace car was pulled in a nd the raci ng carried on. Everyone no w was o n full wets. T he night was th e most d ifficult part - not beca use of th e dark, bu t for th e cha nging co ndi tio ns . One minute it was soak in g wet , the next minute it was near ly dry. It was easy to be o n the wrong tires a t th e wrong tim e, a nd there were many spills and cras hes. It was d ur ing th e damp sessio ns th a t H erve Mo in eau managed to get th e Suzu ki a hea d o f the H onda no less than three times. But whe n th e track started to dr y. th e H onda repassed him . Th e ha lfwa y m a rk saw Vieira , Ma tti o li a nd Mertens leadin g Moineau , Pa tri ck Igoa a nd Mario Grazia no , wi th the Swiss Wh ite Endurance team in third p lac e. Both factory Honda's experience wins Le Mans 24 Hour By Bernard Daley LEM NS, FRANCE, APR. 21·22 A he wo rks H onda wo n the Le Mans 24-Hour for th e fift h consecu tive . tim e after a ti tani c tussle in difficu lt co ndi tions. C u rrent FIM Co up d'End u ra nce Champion Alex Vieira, jo ined by Jean Mich el Ma ttiol i and Stephane Merten s, took hi s own personal ta lly of Le Mans wins to fou r, and is going for a no ther full house of victories like last year. T 14 W ha t was of g reat significance, th ough , was the strength of the challen ge fro m the Suzu ki a nd Kawasa ki factory team s, wh ich mea ns th at Vieira a nd hi s team ar e not go ing to be o n for an easy tit le. The Kawasak i ZXR7 50 has been getting better race by race, a nd i t looked like Thierry Crine's fas test quali fying lap wo uld be goo d enough Ka wasak is had problems .(electrica l a nd ge t-offs) a nd Crine was having to figh t hi s way back up th e field from 38th pl ace. At th is point, th e H on da's adva ntage was on ly abo ut two laps and there was sti ll a long way to go . As the race entered its fin al stages, the works Suzu ki of Moin ea u and compa ny retired with a broken engi ne, effectively giving th e race to H onda. With their main challenger out, Vieira's team could afford to ease th e pace. J ust as well, as the Honda RVF750 was overheating consid erab ly and req uired its radia tor topped off at every other pit stop. It was the sam e p roblem tha t occu rred at last year 's Bol d 'Or. By now, th ou gh, Honda hel d a cus hio n o f nearly 18 la ps a nd Vieira, Mattioli a nd Mertens were able to cru ise to victo ry a head of Burnett , Du H am el and Cha mb ers ' Suzuki . In third was th e H onda RC30 o f Schlaefl i/ Meie r/Haenggeli , th ree la ps in front of Ox ley / Morris ion /Fa rm er, also RC30-m ounted. Crine/ Battistin il Delcam p , meanwhi le, had foug ht their way up to a magni ficent fifth posi tion : and a t least sho wed tha t giv en a less troubled ri de, they wo uld be righ t up with th e factory H onda. Su zuki a lso p roved th at th ey have a bik e that is ca pab le o f tak in g o n the Honda, so this year's End urance title looks like it will be a three -way ba ttle. Wi th all th ei r years o f ex perience, H onda mu st be th e fa vo r i te, b u t Kaw asak i a nd Suzu ki will fight them a ll th e way do wn to th e wire. Cl\' Results LE MANS 24 HR: l. Vieira/Matt ioli/ Mertens (Han); 2. Burnet t/Cham bera/ Du llam el (Suz): 3. Schlaeflj/Meier/ H aenggeli (H o n ); 4. O xley/Morrison / Farmer (Ho n); 5. Cri ne/ Bartistirri/ Delcam p (Ka w): 6. Va n de w al/Dooraakkers / Ho ermann (Ya m); 7. Sergent / Ro ber t/ Diani (H a n); 8. Lang loi s/ Guigo u/ j eand a r (Han); 9. Roll an d /Dela ha ye/ Gri llct (Yam) ; 10. Co rn er/ Gable/ Robinso n (Hen): 11. Cazad ev'Ga l y/ Ro ull e t (H o n); 12. Gouin l Lavie rlle/ Len taigne (Kaw): 13. T heodolz/Gasser/ Cha ££ard (Ya m); 14. La mb er t/ Ra massamy/ Ca la ta yud (SU1): 15. Mo uchet/ GrabialThom as (Suz): 16. Ha mpc/ Bodcau lTiberi o (Kaw): .17. Benn ey/ Bateman /Bennett (Hen ): 18. C ta rd /Vivoliv'Deletang ot (S UI); 19. Pari sot / Coburn/ Sh a rpl ess (H on) ; 20. R a ilto n / T h o m p so n /Ro se ( Ka w); 2 1. Ama ni l Bond u /Fresca (Suz); 22. G iuon/ Rodriguea/Char pe n rier (Hen ): 23. Schu lerlVeitITherrner (S U1); 24. Urba nsk ilScha um/ Rieck ma n n (Yam) ; 25. Piveieau/ C ines/ Brancquart (Hon ); 26. Gu illa rmo /Godan/ Kervcnnic (Suz); 27. Gra ndegger/Lem berg/Koh ler (S Ul) ; 28. Bartel /Kretsch m er/Dewa ld (SUI): 29. G ri mou x/ March a J/ Bro sse ( H o n); 30. Ha qui n / G i lles / De Di eul eveult (Ya m) ; 31. Br ijs ainck -" G ra u w ma ns/ Van hayer (Yam) . T im e: 23 h r., 50 min ., 29.48 sec. Di stance. 68 1 la ps. 1870.435 m iles Average spee d: 78.453 mph Fastest lap: Alex Vieir a , I m in .. 48. 19 sec., 91.392 mp h.

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