Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

So i n to th e sta d i u m first ti me Mertens led fro m Falappa, Campbell, Monti, Phillis, Roch e and th e defending World Champion. Piro van o ha d also hi t a neu tra l while third and dropped back to ' 33rd before he got going agai n. Fa la ppa wrest ed the lead fro m Mertens at th e Sachs kurve to the jo y of th e 35,000-stro ng crow d the fo urth ti me aro und. T hat was q u ickly soured as R oche ca me through with oi l po uri ng from h is V-tw in - the a lumin um cyli nder block having a sm all hole punched in it. The lap before T a rdozzi had highsided comin g into the stad ium whi le ru nni ng eig h th a nd broke the little finger on his rig h t ha nd - scra tch two of the three Du catis. T he massacre cont inued next la p wit h th e Yamahas of H eiler and Peter Rubatto dropping o u t - the former th an ks to a dropped valve, th e latter o verheating. By the six th lap, Fal appa, Merkel , Merten s and Phillis had made three seco nds o n the second group of McEInea , Campbell and Monti with Rymer and Subonen battl ing ahead of Ho fman n. Mert en s led bri efly and then Merkel, bu t o n lap seven th e Belgian lost the Go nt end at the ri ght-hander after Sac hs kurve and came slidi ng to a stan dstilL " The front never did feel good th ere, it was p us hing, " Mertens exp la ined. '" wa s foll ow ing Fred (Mer kel) and may be I was trying to push too hard to pull away from Fal ap pa." Mert ens ba nged his left hand and it swe lled up to a grotesque size, but he wa s no t going to get it X-rayed until after the second race. So now Merkel sudden ly had a twosecon d lead and an ' opportun ity he wa sn't go ing to pa ss up. H e led by as m uch as five seconds before easi ng up to tak e victory by 3.8 seconds. He ha d do ne it in style - sha ttering the lap reco rd on lap three wi th a 2:07.37 no o ne else go t below 2:08s. Bu t who wou ld be second wou ld no t be ans wered unt il th e las t few corne rs. McElnea was really going an d dragged Ca m pbell with h im up to Fal appa and Phillis. T he Italian wa s stru gg ling, th e Duca ti ha ving sprung a gas leak and he grad ua lly dr opped back th rough the gro up . Rymer was also cha rging forward, and he sliced under Ca m pb ell and Fa la ppa into the stadi u m, o nly to run wi de at th e Sachs kurve and pi le into the straw bal es: " Falap pa go t back al ongside me a nd I couldn 't ti p in ," he sa id. " I lost the front end and that was it." So the battle was on between McEInea , Phill is and Campbell for seco nd. McElnea led into th e stadium and Phillis di ved up the insi de into Sach skurv e, For a split-second he appeared to have grabbed second, bu t McEln ea fough t back. Down low and tight o n th e trac k, Phillis tried to tough it OUl, gave it too mu ch too soo n and got flicked off in a big way. With nowhere to go, Campbell piled into the Kawa saki and went flying too. " He nailed it a nd tha t was it," Campbell said. " He was down o n the bottom of th e track whe re it 's really slippery and I was down there too trying to take advantag e because Rob had run wide. " A surprised Falappa collecied third. Suhonen beat Hoffman in a big bat tle for fourth and Mark pipped And ersson for sixth. Pirovan o fought ba ck to eig h th just ahead of Spaniard Danny Am atri ain a n d En gli shm an R a y Stringer. . Notably retirements included Monti - the H onda pu mpi ng all of its water o ut and seizing o n th e last lap. H e had been six th . Brian Morrison crashed at th e first chicane whe n oil leaked o nto h is rear tir e - the Drambuie H onda was too badl y damaged to continue. R a ce T w o Phill is was in hospitaL Ca mpbell and Suho nen were o n thespares - the Fi nn havi ng suffered o ver heati ng prob lems in race o ne. Roche had a new engine installed, a nd Mont i was riding Merkel' s spare. The weather was still hot, although dark clo uds were roll in g in as they roared off the line. Campbell led into the fir st corner, but was blitzed to the fir st chicane. Falappa led Mert en s having taken the bandages o ff hi s hand because they restricted th e mobil ity of his fingers - as they roared back toward the stadi um with th e Du ca ti's exha ust note was hing ahea d of them through th e trees like th un der. Pirovan o, H ofmann, Merkel, Monti , T ardozzi and Rymer were in to w. Roche' was way back. Mertens went to the fro nt o n lap two as the lead gro up - com p rising of Fa la ppa, Pirovan o, Merkel an d McEInea set abo ut break ing away fro m the rest. Roch e was ba ttling throug h the Rymer, H ofmann , T ardo u i (soo n to re ti re wh en a water h ose bu rst), Campbell (finding the spare a b it slow and adj usting to different off-sets), Su honen and Andersson group. It too k him a few laps, but Mert ens managed to pull a ga p o n Falappa who was finding the Ducati down o n power, while Roche also comp lained Giancarlo Falappa (6) lead s Mertens (2), Merkel (hi dden) and Roche (3) . Falappa finished the day with a 3-4 tally while his teammate Roch e went DNF-2. l ~ ·o f that problem later. But that wasn 't sto pping the Frenchman from charging th rough to second on lap 10. He was in th e lead on lap 12 and led ' into the last lap: " I look back a t the fir st ch ica ne and I have 25 meters," R och e sa id . '" look back at the Ostkurve, I have 25 meters, I look back o n the stra ig h t before th e seco nd ch icane and I hav e 25 meters, but then at the ch ica ne he goes voo m p and o u tbrak es me. I try bu t I ca nno t get back past ." " T wenty five meters is not much wh en yo u a re doi ng 180 mph ," smiled Mertens later. " My bike is very fast not in acce lera tio n but in top speed ." P ra ise indeed fo r tuner J ean de' H ollan der. Merkel stu ffed Falappa and Pirovan o at th e second ch icane on the last lap and hung on 10 take th ird and ens ure he kept the cha mp io nsh ip lead: " It .was a cowboy move," he said. " I let off th e th ro ttl e in the middl e of the chicane, ba u lked them a nd got the 10 meters I needed. Once we got to the infield th ey had no chance." McElnea, who had cli mbed as hi gh as th ird, was a fru strat ed sixth: "They (Falappa and Pi rovano ) don 't think, they're useless. I knew wha t it was going to be like - I passed th em all ....:. then they'd pass me back and stop in the mi dd le of the chicane." Rymer came out o n to p of the distant ba ttle fo r seven th, wi th H ofman n , Ca mpb ell , Suhon en, Mar k a nd Andersson following close ly - th e six of them sepa ra ted by just 1.6 second s! In conclus io n , Merkel said he is looking forward to the two North America n rounds of the cham p io ns h ip in Mospo rt and Bra in erd: " I' m loo king forward to rac ing aga ins t th e Amer- '" IlLIOW SPRlNG-~ VVINTERNATIONAL RACEWAY {!J icans," he grin ned. ' 'I'm going an nih ilate th em." Results Q UAUFYtNG: 1. Ra ymo nd Roch e (2:07.72); 2. Stephane Mert en s (2:07.92); 3. Giancar lo Falappa (1:08. 12); 4. Fred Mer kel (2:08.44); 5. Ma lcolm Ca mp bell (2:08.92); 6. Rob McDnea (2:99.07); 7. Rob Ph d lis (2:09.22); 8. Balda ssarre Monti (2:09.53); 9. Davi de Tardozzi (2:09.55); 10. Fabrizio Pirova no (2:09.87); II . Edwi n Weibe l (2:09.88); 12. Andrea> Hol ma nn (2:09.9 1); 13. Anders Andersson (2:10.10); 14. Am on Heiler 12:10.18); IS. Udo Mark 12:10.2 1). RACE OSE: 1. Fred M.,k el (H a n ): 2. Rob McEln ea (Yam); 3. G ia ncart o Falappa (Due ); 4. J ari Su hone n (Ya m): 5. Andreas H o rma nn (Ho n); 6. Udo Mark (Ya m); 7. Anders Ander sson (Ya m ); 8. Fabrizio Pirovan o (Ya m); 9. Dani el Arnatriain (He n] : 10. Ra y Stri nger (Yam); I I. J uan Lopez Mella {Hon) : 12. j rffry de Vries (Yam); 1'. Hub)' Meier (Ho n): 14. Wolf gang Moeckel (H o n); 15. Mich ael RudroH (Bim ): 16. Rene Delabv (Ho n); 17. Bru no Bouh ui l (H o n ); 18. Michael Galinski (Ra w); 19. Rod o Schmidt (Ya m ); 20. Peter Wi1Imes [He n ): 21. Pantri Tolomell (Ya m ): 22. Manfred Fischn (Hon ); 23. Lu iz Pana {Hon ): 21. Edwin Wt'ibel (Ka w) . T ime 30 m in ., 12.48 5C."C. Distance 14 laps, 52.76 mi les. Margin o r Victory: 3.80 sec. Faslesl up: Fred Merke l, 2:07.37.119.03 mph. RACE TWO : I. Stephan e Merten s (Han); 2. Raymond Roch e (Due); 5. Fred Merkel (Ho n); 4. Giancarlo Falappa (Duc): 5. Fabrizio Pirova no (Yam ); 6. Rob McEln ea (Ya m); 1. T erry Rymer (Ya m ): 8. Andreas Ho fma nn (Ha n); 9. Malco lm Campbell (H o n); 10. Jan Suhone n (Yam); I I. Udo Mar k (Ya m); 12. Anders And ersson (Yam); 13. Edwin Weibel (Ka w) : 14. Balda ssarre Mo nt i (H on); 15. Jeffry de Vries (Yam): 16. Dan iel Amatriain (Hon ): 17. Ra y Stri nger (Ya m); 18. Peter Ru bano (Ya m ); 19. Rene Delaby (H o n); 20. Huby Meier (Ho n ); 21. w o lfga ng Moeckel (Hon ): 22. Lu iz Pan a (H o n); 23. Peter Will mes (Ha n); 24. H an, Gr"", (Ya m ). Time 30 min., 9.91 sec. Distance: 14 laps , 52.76 miles. Margin o r Victo ry: .52 sec. Fasl es. up: Ra ymond Roche. 2:07.92. 118.522 mph. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PO IN T STANDISGS: I. Fred Merkel ( 132); 2. Ra ymond Roche ( 128); 3. Stephane Merten s (96); 4. G ianca rlo Fa lap pa (94); 5. Fabri zio Pi rovan o (82); 6. Rob McEln ea (69); 7. Ro b Phill i, (52); 8. T erry Rymer (46); 9 ~ Anders Andersson (40); 10. Ma lcolm Ca mpbe ll (37); I I. Baldassarre Monti (50); 12. Udo Mark (29); 13. (T IE ) And rea, Holma nn/ Ca rl Foga rty (22); 15. (TIE) Em st Gsch wender/jari Suho nen (21); 17. (T IE) David e Tardozai /Edwin Weibel (20); 19. Nia ll Macken zie (16): 20. Dan iel Ama tri ain ( 15); 21. J eUry DeVrie> (H ); 22. Juan Lopea Mella (13); 23. Ra y Stri nger (I I): 24. m E) Dan iel Ama tria inlBria n Morrison (7); 26. J am ie Wh itha m (4); 27. H uby Meier (3); 28. Wollgang Moeckel (2): 29. rrl E) ~hchael Ga li n,ki / Mich ael Rudroll (I). cmm«: F1 GRANDPRIX ~ ARRA SERIES H IGH LIFE. On The 3 rd Sunday Each Month Your CALIFORNIA YAMAHA DEALERS PRESENT WI1fM' SPRI~ 10 t:N AMA National Road Racing SEPTEMBER 14-15-16

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