Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE World Championship Road Race Series: Round 4 e Wilco Zeelenberg (14), Carlos Cardus (4), H elmut Brad l (9) and J och en Sch mid (16) battle for second p lace in the 250cc GP, Kocinsk i is a lready o ut of the p icture. it cost him a pos ition. He said: " I kn ew that finishing in sixth p lace I could advance on the champ ionship and for this reason I did not wa n t 10 tak e risks in th e second .leg because, a t this moment, Mackenzie is not my rival in the World Ch ampionship." Mackenzi e was the first rider 10 try using the carbon brakes in th e rain a nd it seemed to pa y off. " I didn't kn ow what to expect , but my chief mechanic said th ey would be perfec t and th ey were," he said. By th e race's end, Mackenzie was nearly seven seconds in from o f Pons. Th e quartet runn ing o u t front cha nged positions consta n tly, but it d idn't matt er. No one could p ut an app reciable dent in the time differential th ey .needed to advance, wh ich meant th at the order wo uldn' t cha nge. The race went 10 Rainey, becau se Schwanu could only kn ock abo u t Iour-tenths of a second off hi s lead by fini shing in from of him in th e second leg, " Whe n th ese gu ys pas sed me I th ought I'd watch them. Stay behind and see what they were doing, " Rai ney said after the second leg. Schwanu had the sam e vantage point of Rainey for the first 24 laps and wh at he saw was that " Rainey seemed to be getting more grip th an me wh en th e bik es were leaned over, whi ch helped him to get ou t of th e comers a bit quicker." Schwanu had cu t' Ra in ey's five-plus second margin in half at th e end o f th e first leg when he sensed Rainey was nervous, but couldn' t pull away in th e second one and had to settle for second. Doohan sai d tha t his slick worked well in the rear, b ut his interm ed iat e from was "a bit dod gy. I'd ni ck it in and th e from wo uld start 10 slide. [ decided 10 let them sort it o ut." "Stup id f---jng Fren chman ," was ho w G ardner ra the r ungen er ou sl y descr ibed h is race, still biller o ver Sarron 's unintentionally ta ki ng him ou t of the race. " It still hurts like hell. It feels like sorneo ne's sticki ng a kn ife in my ribs wh enever I braked. I was catch ing Doohan a t the end o f th e first leg. I put in a big p ush at the end." Ga rdner was told it would take six to eig h t weeks to heal com pletely. ''I' m going 10 take it easy and rest. I can 't mix it u p with them while th ey're broken ," he said. " It probably cost me the World Ch ampionship." 18 250cc Q u a lifyi n g T he Yamah as of Kocinski a nd Cada lora o nce again took the top two spots in q ua lifying, Kocinski 's 1:17.807 better than two and a half seconds under the track record. Five H on das foll owed and severa l ad mi tted that, tho ug h their bikes are better than ever, the Yamahas are clearly su perior, espec ially in capa ble hands. "This year it 's . difficult to beat the Yarnahas,' sixth-fastest Dominique Sarron of Rothmans Honda said. "The Yamaha top speed is very good, th e fram e is very good, and it has good accelera tion at I:17.807, maybe j ohn can race in the 500 class." (He would have qualified eighth fastest in th e 500s.) " Yo u n ever th ink yo u're 100% happy," Kocinski said. " You have to make a few cho ices and hope the th in g is right." . One of th e cho ices he made was a swi tch to Ohilin s from forks from th e sta nda rd Yam ah a set he's been usin g all year. " We haven 't go t any o f the j a panese Yamaha engineers here to help set up th e Yam aha forks. With Lars (Isakso n, the Ohlins engineer) here it's conveni ent to use th e Ohlins a nd we've go t them working, " Kocinski said. . Kocinski also had the services of Bud Aksland, who took him to hi s three A1\iA 250cc National Champion ships and is expected to help him a t th e Grands Prix tha t don't conflict with hi s com m itmen ts to Rob erts ' American 250 team . Cadalora suffered ignition troubles in the last session a nd was un abl e 10 improve on his third session tim e of 1:18.052, whi ch put him second fastest. " We th in k it was the ign ition ," he said. " I had to rid e th e ot her bike and there is a lot of differen ce. I have to make a choice between two tires for the race a nd wi tho ut being a ble 10 try them bot h on my best bi ke, [ cou ld n' t do tha t." . Repsol H on da's Ca rlos Cardus was th ird fastest, a nd the first H on da. West Germa n H elmut Bradl o n the HB Hon da a nd Du tchman Wilco Zeelenberg fill ed ou t th e from row . Bradl was one of th e 250 riders who had 10 q ua lify for the best tires, whi ch he did by virt ue of his second session time, earn ing them for the fina l sessio n. Sarron was o n the second ro w along wit h Lu cky Str ike H on da 's j ochen Scmi d, riding in pl ace of the injured j acques Corn u, H ein Gericke Apri lia 's Martin Wimmer, and O.Z. Aprilia's Mari o Lu cchi . Sarron was a mo ng a number of H onda riders plag ued with injuries. H e brok e a bon e in h is left foo i and also cracked a vertebrae in a cras h a t j erez, HB Hon da 's Reinhol d Roth crashed in p ractice in Spai n inj ur ing his hi p a nd the mu scles on the inside of h is th igh and Lucky Strike H on da 's jacq ues Cornu was still o u t wi th torn muscl es in h is rig ht shou lder suffered a t the U.S. G P. The team of Streu er/Haas (I) lead s defending World Champion Steve Webster and Ga vin Simons (I) in the Sid ecar G P; the race was won by R? 1f Biland. 250cc G rand Prix Brad l was asked before the start how the race wou ld go. "The race is go ing to be hard, with Kocinksi a nd Cada lora you know it will be tou gh ," he said, a nd he was right. Kocinski bolted from the start and was never seriou sly cha llenged. His only challenge might have come from Cada lora wh o went from sixth on th e first lap to th ird on the third lap before retiring with a broken exha ust pi pe. " Up 10 th en everything was perfect," Cada lora, th e crowd favorite, said. "T he bike was good and th ou gh I didn't get a good start [ was just choosing safe places to pass ." Kocin ski 's fastest lap of 1:18.023 came o n the fifth lap as he p ulled away from Cardus, Zeelenberg , Sch m id, and Bradl , Cardus had actua lly passed Kocinski once early on, but Kocinski go t him back a nd after that Card us lost p laces to Bradl a nd Zeelenberg after hi s engi ne lost po wer. . "Some thing went wron g ,with the engi ne. It lost about 1000 revs," he said. " It migh t be a broken reed valve." , . By th e 10th of 30 la ps, the order o f the top six was set. Kocinski was au t front with a nine-second cushion as a ligh t ra in began 10 fa ll. Bradl was leading a four-rider pack that included Zeelenberg, Cardus, a nd Schmid, and Wimmer was sixth ahead of Lu cch i. Halfway in a nd th e interval s between the riders began to expa nd as they hit lap ped tra ffic and the rain gra dua lly increased in in tensity. Ajino rno to Honda 's Marash iro Sh imizu was seven th ahea d of Roth , a lead th at lasted until th ere were two la ps to go an d the West Germa n veteran go t bv. T he order in from of th em hadn 't cha nged sin ce th e 14th lap. At the end it was Kocinski 14 seconds in fron t of Bradl who had eight on Zeelenbe rg. Cardus was a not her five back foll owed by Schmid and Wim mer. " I' m j ust g lad 10 be on eq ua l foot ing wit h Luca." Kocin ski said. "Now if [ fini sh behind him it wo n't ma tter, It's a load off my back," Ko cin s ki sai d th a t as th e ra in increased he just wanted 10 "keep the bike as straig h t u p as I could. I wa n ted to get out in front and keep enough distance to win by. It doesn 't ma tter how mu ch , a wh eel leng th is enough. " Brad l was told by hi s mechanic Sep p Schlogl 10 be carefu l th e first few laps because they mad e their tire decision late. " Maybe i ~ was psycho logica l and he just wanted me 10 take it easy ," Bradl later thou gh t. By th e tim e h is tires were warm, Kocins ki was long go ne and he was still in fou rth. He o utbraked Zeelenh erg a nd Cardus in th e same corne r and set out for th e leader. " [ th ought to catch j ohn, but he was seconds away. Maybe [ ca n prove Cardus wrong abo u t not being dangerous 10 him in points,' Brad l said. Sch m id, in his first ride o n a factory H onda NSR, was pl eased with his fifth , though it wasn't witho u t problems. I sho u ld have been better but when it started to ra in a nd [ was braking, the water started runn in g down the inside o f m y helmet. I co u ld n' t see and sometimes I was bouncing off th e curbs going into and com ing o ut of the comers. Otherw ise I could have fin ished in from of Cardus a nd mi gh t have stayed wit h Zeelen berg ." Sixth- pl ace Wimmer, the first Aprilia finisher , sai d: "1£ I had ma de a better start I thi n k that the resu lt wo uld have been better becau se now the Aprilia engine is as fast as the Hondas. a Resul ts 500cc QUALIfYING: I. Wayn e Rainey (1:16.019); 2. Kevin Sch wam z (1:16.036); 3. Mich ael Doohan (1:16.576); 4. Wayne Gard ner (1:16.676 ): 5. P.f. Chili (1:16.781); 6. Nia ll Mackenzi e (1:17.433); 7. Sito Pons ( 1;17.50 1); 8. J .P. R uggi a (1: 17.707); 9. Ch ristian Sarron (1:17.853); 10. Randy Mamola (1:18.032); I I. J uan Ga rr iga (1:18.789); 12.' Alessandro Barr os (1:19,458); 13. Ron Hasl am ( 1;19.854); 14. R. Balb i (1:20.295); 15. M. Scaro la (1:20.9 11); 16. M. Valda ( 1:20.966); 17. M. Papa (1:20.081); 18. Peter Linden (1:21.911); 19. Kees Doorakk ers ( 1:21.993); 20. Nigi Schm a ssm an ( 1:22.034); 21. Andreas Leu th e ( I :22.504). 500cc GP: I. Wayn e Rainey (Ya m); 2. Kevin Sch wa n tz (Suz); 3. Mic hael Doo ha n (Ha n) ; 4. Wayne Gardner (H a n) ; 5. Niall Macken zie (Su l ); 6. Sito Pon s (Ho n ); 7. Ra nd y Mamo la (Ca g); 8. Juan Ga rriga (Ya m); 9. M. Papa (Ho n) ; 10. R. Ba lbi (Ha n); II. M. Valdo (H a n ); 12. Peter Linden (H e n) ; 13. Nigi Sch massma n (H a n ); 14. Kees Doo rakk ers (Ha n); 15. V. Sca ro la (P a t) ; 16. J .P. R u gg ia (Ya m) ; 17. Alessandro Barr os (Gag); 18. Andr o s Le uthe (Ha n). Time: 46 min ., 21.150 sec, Distance: 36 la p s. 77.85 mph. AV

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