Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

World Champion Fred Merkel (1) leads Rob McElnea (19 ), Andreas Hofmann (25) , and T erry R ymer (7) at Hockenheim. While Merkel won the first leg , it 'was Belgian Stephane Mertens taking the seco nd leg after bea ting Ra ymond Roche to th e nag; Merkel took over th e points lead. Merkel has it his way in Germany By Bruce Newto n Photo s by Johan Va n dekerck h o ve HOCKEKHEIM W GERMAl\Y, MAY 6 , EST or Fred Mer kel th e fourth rou nd o f th e World Superbike Champ io nshi p at H ockenheirn was a great da y. A wi n he ra ted as o ne o f th e best o f hi s career and a third place o n a tra ck he has never gone well a t - a pl ace wh ere he expected 10 be struggling to run with the Du cat is, not beating thern ., Bu t that's exactl y what the Ru m i RC M Honda RC30 ri der did. With a bit of good lu ck he has now taken over the cha m p io nship lead fro m Ra ym ond Roche's factory Du cati by four points. Roche retired from leg o ne when his V-rwin blew a small hole in the block, reported ly because o f piston fai lure. Step hane Mertens crashed o u t while a close seco nd 10 Merkel and that left the Ca lifornian to power to victory, setting a new la p record o n the way . Mertens hit back to win the second race, passing Roc he at the seco nd F 32 ch ica ne o n th e last lap. Merkel was third and happy. Rob McElnea had a nother good day o n th e Loctite Ya maha 10 go 2-6. finishi ng just o ne poi nt shy o f Gi a n ca rlo Fal appa - th e Italian struggling in both races, first because o f a fuel lea k a nd then in th e seco nd race because h is V-twin wa s down ,o n power. Fabrizio Pirovano had an ord inary da y, although it was m uch better than th e on e Australians Rob Ph ill is on th e T ea m Shin Etsu Ka wasa ki ZXR750 and Malcolm Ca mpbell o n th e Eagle Racing H on da R C30, a nd McEln ea 's teammate Terry Rymer had. They all cras hed in the first..leg while in good posi tions. Campbell, brought dow n by P h illis' bike when he highsided o n the last lap try ing to pass McElnea for second, a nd Rymer a t least got back for the seco nd race. Ph i ll is suffered a broken shou lder, two frac tu red a nd gashed elbows and a ba dly sprained left a nk le. H e spe nt race two in the hospital. Q u alifyin g There were no signi ficant lo sses from the H u ngarian field th e week before, b u t the m idfield received a sig nificant boost from the entry of th e G erman Superbike Championship regulars. The likes of the German National Champion , H o nda RC30mounted Swiss Andreas H ofmann, Yamah a OWOI -m ounted Anton H ei ler, Udo Mark, Bodo Schmidt a nd a t least six more had a go a t qualifying for th e 36-bike grid. As it turned ou t non e o f th em had any sort of influen ce o n th e battle for th e po le o r th e front two row s. Qualifyin g was run o n Friday and Satu rday and on both da ys co nd itio ns were su pe rb - not a cloud in th e sky a nd a m bient temperatures in the high 70s. The H ockenheimring is Tow C ity. Si tti ng in th e slips tream is the pl ace to be. Dive o u r'as you brake for the right-ha nder into the stadium and you 're set for a good la p. Merten s di d i t 10 perfectio n in sessio n o ne on th e Total H onda. H e gl ued onto Merke l and ended up wi th a 2:07.97 lap (com pared to Roche's lap record of 2:08.69 a nd 1989 pole time of 2:09.58). Afterwards he walked into th e Ru m i garage and thanked Merkel for th e draft. You ca n imagine how that went down ! Part of the reason for th e faster times was th at the co rn ers o nto and off th e pit stra igh t had been opened up and resurfaced in accordance with new FI car regulations. " I ca n go faster," Mert en s sai d. "T he wind was very strong . . . Mer kel or Roche co uld have don e th at time if they 'd had a lOW, without it I wo u ld have been o ne seco nd slower." The other real ta lking point o f th e first qualifier was th e first sign of Ducati fallibi li ty all yea r - Falappa walking in his terminall y ill 85 1S. Team ma nager Mar co Lucchi ne lli ' was n 't speci fic, but the ta lk was o f piston failur e. With Mertens havin g set the exa m p le, th e challenge was taken u p ' by Du cati on Sa turday . Fal a ppa a n d Roche drafted eac h ot her arou nd the circ u it with Roche endi ng up with a best of 2:07.72 to secure pol e. It on ly ca me af ter some scary saves in the Sac hskurve which he so me how save d: "Not today," Roche said, pointin g at the sky. H owever, Roche was in someth ing o f a sta te of shock, having been passed once or twi ce in a stra igh t line - th e first time he co uld remember. " We came here thinking we had a speed adva ntage, but I do no t believe it is so," Lucch inell i sai d. " I believe we are still better out of corners, but that is all." Mertens sta yed seco nd thanks 10 his excellent first session time, bu t he was still able to do a 2:08.17 by himself in session two . Falappa was third a t 2:08.12, Merk el a happy fourth, this far, and aw ay th e best pe rformance by a R u m i Honda her e. "I cou ldn 't ge t a two but I did 17 laps on ra ce ru bber at race pace," he said, smi ling. Added his mechanic Norris Farrow: " Co m ing here has been a bit of a nigh tmare for us in th e past, Bu t I' m co nfident of a rea sonably good resu lt. My persona l a m bi tio n is the rostrum. Any thi ng better is a bonus." Farrow also had reason to smile because Merk el's H onda was showing no sig ns o f th e wat er loss problems of Hungary a nd En gland, having traced the probl em 10 mi sa li gned water jackets. And wh y were th e Rumi bik es fast here for a change? " We've jus t learned more eac h year -a nd we've also educated .Fred a lo t ab out aerod yn ami cs." Me rkel had i ndeed ad opted the distincti ve Mertens crouch, si tti ng hi s beh in d on the top rea r of th e sea t rather than in it. Malcolm Campbell was 1Oth after the first session a nd fifth after the second : " I gea red it up a nd jetted it up and that improved it, We' ll do some more work before th e race. It's bloody good to be on th e front row. I th ought I might have got up a bit but not that far," The Eagl e Raci ng H onda RC30s were proving fast but fragile. Cam pbell lost a main bearing in one an d his seco nd sta rt ed pumping oil, bu t modifications 10 th e breathing system seemed to sto p tha t, T ea m boss Walter Adler mad e th e dash back 10 Vienna Friday night 10 co llec t a no the r spa re mo tor just in case. H ar d-riding McElnea led row two , ru nning a combina tio n of J apan ese Dunlop rea r a nd English front, then ca me Phill is, th ankfull y ha vin g a troubl e fr ee ru n after Ka wa saki 's Hunga rian disasters . H is main p roblem was adj usting 10 th e spee d o f the circuit: " I ca n see wh ere I am going now," he sa id. "I t took me awhile for my bra in to adj ust an d I'm still adjusting." Ba ldassarre Monti a nd his H onda RC30 were nex t, a lthough his bike was losin g wa ter , a nd then Da vide Tardozzi rounded o ut row two , his Bike 2000 Team 's Duca ti 851's norm al mid-range hesita tion turning to a top-end miss here. Swiss Edw in Weibel led row three on the Jung Ka wasaki, th en came P irovan o, German Superbike Champ ion H ofmann o n th e Eckert H on da. Anders And ersson and German Anio n H eil er. R ymer was having a hard time in his first visit to th e H oc ken heimring, hi s flu had flared up again and he was feeling run down. He was 16th. Not as run down as Ita lian Mauro Ricci, who'd cras hed his Kawa saki ZXR750 heavily coming down onto pit straigh t and separa ted h is righ t elbow . That a llowed th e fastest of th e 16 ncnqual ifiers - Pentti Tolo nen - OI:tO th e back row . R a ce O ne Merkel had to m ak e a good sta rtlin the fir st of two 14 lap, 52.76-m ile ra~s. If he didn 't he wo u ld never ca tch b e lead grou p . Mu ch to h is su rp rise, he na iled th e holesh ot a nd led dow nj10 th e O stkurve on ly to hit a false neu ral whi le cha ngi ng down, coas t 10 'h e o u tsi de'and drop back to seventh before gell in g going again.

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