Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

gROAD RACE e World Championship_Road _ _R_ac_e_eri_es:_Ro_UD_d_7 S _ Michael Doohan leads Niall Mackenzie, P.F. Chili and Schwantz during the early laps of the 500cc GP; Schwantz battled through from a last-place start. Wayne Rainey (2) beat Kevin Schwantz by some 10 seconds to win the Yug oslavian GP. The win extended Rainey's point lead to 27 points after seven rounds. Rainey wins crash-marred Yugoslavian GP By Michael SCOlt Photos by David Goldman RIJEKA, YUGOSLAVLo\, JUNE 17 o ror raci ng is dangerous. The traditional di scl aim er o n the back of th e tickets to th e Yugoslavia G P may have been in a di fferent language, but th e message was d ea r to th e specta tors, after a day of argum ent , b ungli ng a n d tr aged y t hat oversha do wed Marlboro Yamaha ri der Wa yn e Rainey's co nv i nci ng 500ccclass victory, Rainey brok e th e record as he ran a way from th e Lucky Strike Suzukis of Kevin Schwantz a nd Niall Mackenzie. But th ere were o n ly five 500 rid ers running a t the finish , with Sito Pons one o f a number of cra sh victims, lucky to survive after falling and being hit hard by Pi er-Francesco Chili. All th e Cagi va rid ers - Randy Marn ola, Ron H asl a m a nd Al ex Barros - al so cras hed. The worst accident cam e at the end o f a ten se 250cc race. Veteran German 250cc rider Reinhold Roth, 37, second in th e cham pi onshi p last year, sustained cr i tic a l h ead inj uries after M 10 co lli d ing wi t h la p p ed Aus tra lia n privateer Darren Milner. Reig n ing l25 cc cha m p io n Alex Crivill e was invo lved in the same cra sh , a t the tai l end of a gr oup o f eig ht bikes disputi ng the lead of a th rilling race. Milner bro ke his co llarbo ne a nd h is right leg; Criville has leg injuries. fron ically enough, o fficia ls were prep aring to sto p th e race because o f ra in, and Milner, wh o started as first reserve aft er qualifyin g 37th and had already been lapped twi ce, was cruisin g because o f worsening cond itio ns. Results counted from th e previous lap , with Repsol Honda-mounted Carlos Cardus first from Marlboro Yamaha 's J ohn Kocinski and Apri lia's Martin Wimmer. One second covered th e first seven home; with further irony, th e lap record went to Roth , and he had been one of five leaders. The 125 race was a nothe r potential di saster, with a multiple cras h just aft er the start involving I I riders. The first race of the day was stopped, and restarted after one and a half hours of arguments and a rid ers ' grid sit-in. The ra ce, wh en it happened, was fantastic, with seven different leaders, a nd nine riders finishing within on e seco nd. The winner was yo u ng' German Stefan Prein on a Honda. Fren chman Alain Michel won a n exci ti ng sidecar race, th e first at th e si n uous a nd highl y technical Rij eka circuit si nce 1980. As well as th e injuries, th e da y was ma rr ed by a rgu men ts co n cer n i ng safety, and o the r basic raci ng prioriti es. T hey reveal ed deep divisions wi thin the sport, and d isplayed yet more dithering and indecisiv e FIM management. In th e delays, crucial TV satellite links were mi ssed, a setback in th e baul e to save rac ing by selli ng it to spo nsors as adve rtis ing board in g. T ru ly, this was a sad and damaging day for GP racing. 500cc Q ualifying The cras hi ng sta rted ri ght away, wi th Ch ris tia n Sarron fall in g heavily o n co ld tir es on on ly hi s seco nd lap. He brok e a fin ger and a wrist, a nd suffe red conc uss io n , and was out of th e race. No t long afterwards , it started rainin g, a nd mo st riders pulled in. T he n the deluge began, putting back th e schedu le by more than an hour, but th e ra in eased for th e seco nd sessio n , a nd ti re technicians wh o 'd welco med th e chance for some serious wet testing were th warted as th e riders switched to in termediates instead. Sch wa ntz had seized co ntrol in th e dry in th e morning, but was fractionall y slo wer than Rainey in th e wet. Since the latter had tested here, th e Suzuki rider was happy eno ug h so far . " We expected some p robl em s here wi th tractio n , like we had last year, bu t so far th e bik e's working real go od," Sch wa n tz said. He stay ed fastest as everyo ne speeded up th e next morning, but now th e weather was dry and the temperatures were rising. Everything wa s 10 cha nge. Rainey had hi s own problem s: "The bike won 't turn, and it won 't pick up quick out of th e turns. We need a new chassis and more power, but I don't expect to get it." This said, he went ou t in the last session and not only carved better than half a second off his own previous best, but also flummoxed Schwantz, who was trying to follow him at th e tim e. " I had a good tir e, and I hammered it ," Rainey said. " I don 't like second either, but I don't show it so much." Schwantz couldn't conceal his displeasure, ei th er on the track, where narrowly recovered from a number of vicious slides as he tried to force his Suzuki to do what it could not; and back in the pits, where his fury was plain 10 see. "Once th e track got hot and the times quicker , I lost traction so I could only open the throttle with the bike upright," Schwantz said. This cond ition is seldom found in th e sinuous Yugoslavian circuit, and he was forced to settle for second, and hope for cool weather - or a settings breakthrough - on race day. His Lucky Strike teammate Mackenzie was running nine-tenths slower, and finding things a great deal easier. "I love the bike," he enthused, and he held third pl ace throughout practice, looking smooth, co nfiden t and aggressive. " I don 't particularly like the circuit, but I've done a lot of testing here in th e pa st, and I always seem to go well." His pos itio n ea rne d him the first spare set o f A-team tires for the final session , and he went slower. There were other reasons - a wrong di rection in eng ine and gearbox settings, but it was, an illustration of the problems ca used by Michelin 's " win th e tir es" system. " You spend three sessio ns sell ing up yo u r bike for pr oducti on tires, th en yo u have to start aga i n," th e Scots m a n sa id . " T he adva n tage is in the ra ce, because th e A tires a re more cons istent." Mack en zie en ded up a tenth clear of Chili's Hon da , with th e Italian now " muc h better th an in Austria, but not 100 percen t" from hi s German GP injuries. Hi s problem here was stopping. "1£ I br ak e as lat e as Mackenzie, I'd be off th e track," he said. " I' ve had th e sa me probl em all year , with th e back wh eel com ing in the air. Nobody seems to be working on it. " Michael Doohan led row two, just over an other l Oth adrift, and also complaining that he couldn ' t get his Honda 10 hold a tight line. "T he bike's improved a lot com pared with last year, especially the way it turns in. But this track has a lot of continuous corners that flow into one another, and it really shows up that th e bike still doesn't hold a line too well. In future we really should come testing here." He was running wide on the crucial Esses before the backstraight, spoiling his speed onto it. He also had bike trouble, with a failed water pump and

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