Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROA DRACE W orldChampionship Road RaceSeries: Round 5 ~ John Kocinski leads Carlos Cardus, Wileo leelenberg and Helmut Bradl in th eir ep ic 250cc bailie; l eelenberg won. fas test on th e g u n wa s Aj in omot o H onda 's Masa h iro Sh imi zu at 147.436 m ph followed by th e L uc ky Strik e Elf H onda ridd en by j ochen Schmid then Zeelenb erg's H onda. Koc insk i's bi ke was sixth faste st at 144.89 mph , 3.72 mph fas ter than Cadalora's, T hird fastest was Zeelen berg. The Du tch man had tested here tw o weeks ago for th e firs t time a nd fo u nd the tra ck to his likin g. H e di d 50 laps sorting ou t gearbox, suspens io n, a nd tir es with two goals in m ind. One was a ros trum pl aci n g a nd th e seco nd wa s to ge t a specia l works parts kit from HRC for the nex t race. HRC would be decid ing a mong Zeel enberg , Cardus and Bradl, and, excep t for hi s pow er valv e battery going o ut in J erez, Zeelenberg had th e best record. Ca rd us cra shed 'on the third la p of the seco nd session, br eaking a sma ll bone abo ve his right h eel a nd bruising his right shou lder. His foot heavi ly . bandaged, he would co me back to set th e fourth fastest time in th e th ird sess io n th en turn ed a number o f co ns isten t laps in the 43s in th e fou rt h wh ile working o n a race set-u p. The last r ider o n th e from ro w was Sch mi d, ridi ng th e Luck y Str ike Elf H onda in p lace o f th e inj ured J acques Corn u. Sc hmid 's p erformances on Co rn u 's bikes have been so im p ressive th at it's likel y he 'll ge t a n NS R even after Co rn u returns. T hirty -two ride rs wou ld take part in Sunday's race . 250cc Grand Pri x 18 o n the fa r wes t end o f the lon g a nd n arr ow course, Doohan in seco nd and Chi li in th ir d mad e identical mi stakes, ex p lain ed it th e sa me, a nd su ffered nearly ide ntica l in juries. Rainey. wa s in six th whe n it happened a n d had a grea t view. " All I saw was both o f th em go ing sideways, sim u lta neous ly, a t exactly th e same time," he sai d. " I'd seen a lo t o f stu ff la yin g around on th e grou n d. I kn ew , with th ose guys o u t, if I co u ld get p ast Pons and Sa rr o n I cou ld ge t seco nd ." Doohan sa id h e h ad "just cracked th e 'throllie o pen halfway. I was rollin g it on slo wly. It broke traction a nd I tho ugh t, ' W h a t 's h appened h ere?' T here m us t ha ve been so me th ing o n the trac k with m yself and Ch ili cr as h ing in th e same p lace." In stantl y, th eories abounded. The firs t was ha t Vittorio Scattola co u ld , possibl y, have dro p ped water th ere. H e'd sto pp ed th ere the previous la p , the n returned to the pits to h ave a n ew water p ump installed. H e wo u ld finish 16th, seven la ps behind. An o th er was tha t th er e was a slick inside line th ere a ll week that other ri d er s h ad been avo id ing. It wa s possib le th at in th e h eat o f battle th e riders changed th eir lines an d hit it , th ough no o ne else did. In a ny Case, both H onda riders wer e out and both had su ffered dislocated right shoulders , though Doo h a rr's popped back into pla ce almost instantly. H e also cra cked the litt le toe o n h is right foot. Chi li's additional inj uries were a crack to h is left heel and a cra cked bo ne around his ankle. The in jury took Doohan out of a p lanned H o nda test session in Japan th e following week. Schwan tz was q u ick ly gaining time an d Ra in ey was having a h ard time getting past Pons and Sarron , H e'd never raced with th em before and their unorthodox lines were confusi ng him. Plus, th e Honda was faster on th e str ai ghts, further frustrating him. H e fin ally mad e hi s p ass on th e sixth lap, bu t by th en Schwantz had a 5.5-second lead . And h e was just gelling started. On the ninth lap , Schwanu set a new lap reco rd of I :39.048 at a n average speed o f 100.983 mph. Rai ney's fastest lap was a lso the ninth , though at I :39.593 was more tha n half a seco nd slo wer. H e'd stay in th e 39s, the n go into the 40s from th e 14th lap on as Schwanu pulled a way. Sch wan tz, meanwh ile, was mixing 39s with 40s th e whole race until h e went mostly into 41s wi th five la p s to go. H e'd been wat ching his pi t boa rd th e wh o le ra ce an d ge tting bor ed by it. " Bas ica lly , I wa s racing arou nd every lap to ge t back to my p it board," he sa id . "I wa s th in kin g of a ll the mi st ak es th at I m ade from n o t conce nt ra ting." Rainey said he was n 't a ffected by hi s injured finger which had been taped to th e in side o f his gl ov e. " I ro de m y o wn race," he said. " I didn ' t care a bo u t la p ti mes. I was tr ying to ri de smart . a nd stay out o f tro ubl e. I saw guys I hadn 't see n a ll yea r." Once Mackenzi e got hi s boo t p roblems straightened o ut he began to close the ga p. H e passed Sarron o n the II th la p a nd two laps la ter moved past Po ns into third . Pons tr ied to stick with him , b u t h is ti res were going away and with Mackenzie h avin g ea rned th e good ones. th ere was n 't m u ch he co u ld do . Pons sa id h is tires la sted for n ine laps: " Fo r a rider to go to th e grid know ing hi s tires will last for (o n ly) 15 minutes with a ll th e sponsorsh ip and fan su p port is ridiculous. I don't kn ow wh y Mi ch elin ca n ' t m ake en ou gh good tires." Pons would lose o ne more pl ace though not without a fight - to Sa rr on. T he valiant Frenchman wa s riding far better t h an anyon e co u ld have imagined a nd, despite a few problems, it pleased h im im mensely. Wh en he moved into fou rt h o n the l Sth lap , he was there to stay. The order of the 16 finishers didn't ch a nge from th e 14th lap on. " I' m so happy about thi s result, even though I co u ld maybe have staye d with Mackenzi e," h e said. " Bu t I encou ntered a slig h t braking p roblem , maybe a warped front disc, so I didn 't want to take any risk a nd mess th e race up. Wh en I think that I scored 13 points whi le at first I d id n 't even kno w whether I co u ld rid e th e bike." R uggia finished sixth , behi nd Pons, a fter a bad sta rt . O nce into th e race he sa id hi s b ik e wa s wobbling on th e straig h ts so he let o ff th e gas. H e'd been dici ng with Ga rr iga , but by the time" he shook h im o ff Pons was long gone . For a cha nge, Garr iga wasn't co mpl a ining abo u t grip problems with hi s Dunlops, ma inl y because h is engine was boggin g a nd he was n 't a ble to sp in the ti re. H e wo u ld fin ish sevent h . Eigh th a nd ninth went lO Barro s an d Ma mola , whose ig nitio n h ad packed up o n the first lap. 250cc Qualifying Early in the week , the 250cc riders p roved that th e 500cc rid ers didn 't have a monopoly on crash ing. A number of th e to p rider s cras he d, m o st ly hi ghsides, el iminating a t lea st o ne, Ro thrnans H on da 's Do mi n iq u e Sarro n, from th e race. Sarron cras hed in T h u rsday's free practi ce aft er having set fa st time . H e broke three bones in hi s right Ioot and " destroy ed" hi s a n kle ligamen ts, He sa id he would mi ss Sunday' s ra ce and wou ld try a nd ret urn lO ac tio n a t the Austrian G P in two weeks tim e. Friday's fir st session cla imed two more victims, Ca dalo ra a nd Kocinski, th ough nei ther was hurt. Kocinski was ha ving tro uble setti ng hi s bike up a ll week end long , but d idn 't blame hi s 'crash o n th at. " It was the fourth lap o n a co ld tire," sa id Kocinski . "T he track was so co ld th e rear tire slid out. That's the only way to find out wh er e th e limit is." He would h ave the fast time until the final la p of th e fourth sessio n whe n Cadalora clocked a I :42.518 to take the pole by .455 of a seco nd. Kocins ki said h e had problems in th e fourth sessio n a n d put in o n ly a few good laps. His best of 1:42.973 ca me ea rl y on , but he would have on ly o ne '43 aft er that an d n othing better. He a lso sa id th at hi s bike was down o n to p spee d a nd unoffi cial radar clockings in th e third session by T eam Luck y Strike Elf co n firme d th at . The Koc inski got th e jump into turn one fo llowed by Schm id , Card us , Zeelen ber g , Ro th , a n d Ca da lo ra with the positions sh u ffl ing all th e way around the tra ck. When th ey crossed th e line for th e first time it was Schmid ahead o f Kocinski , a lead he would keep until th e t h i rd lap w he n Ca rdu s a nd Kocinski go t by. " My rea r tire was lOO so ft, a nd I was s l id i ng, " Schmid sa id , " I would definitel y hav e crashed if I had tri ed to keep up with th e leaders." T ha t's exactly what Cada lora did a t the en d o f th e third lap. H e was trying to go under Ca rdus in th e la st corne r whe n he lost th e front end a nd cras hed on to th e grass. H e remounted and ,rejo ined th e race in la st pl ace. T he crash bent the front brake lever a n d rear brake ped al a nd a lso cr imped an exh a ust pipe ca u sing a lo ss o f abou t 300 rpm. The fourt h la p en ded with Koc inski in th e lead , though just barely ahead of Ca rdu s a nd Zeel en ber g. Schmid was a t the back of thei r pack , but wou ld drop bac k as Bradl mov ed u p to make it a fou rso m e lea ving Schm id to fend off Sh im izu, Beh in d Sh imi zu , Ro th was tryi ng to hold back Regi ann i wh ile de Radi gu es a n d Alex Criville were fighting for n inth. If Kocinski had a ny adva n ta ge it was in braking, but even there his braking was not what it should have been. The speedier Hondas co u ld pass him on the straights, but Kocinski would hold hi s braking u nti l the last minute and hope for a better dri ve off th e co rners. T here was no way of knowing if Zeelen berg was anxious to pass or not once he got into second o n lap 13. Bu t h e would la ter say, he wasn' t. J ust from wat ching Kocinsk i ride, he di dn't th ink he wo u ld have to , "All race lo ng Kocinsk i was so close to crashing," Zeelenberg sai d, " Every co rner I showed h im my fro nt wheel so he co u ld see me o n the inside." . Kocinski confirmed that he was riding o n the limit to stay ahead o f th e H on da s. - - - - - - Contin ued on page 58

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