Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE W Championshi~ Road Race Series:Round9 orld ~ Fr en chman jean -Philfipe R u ggi a (14) passed Eddie Lawson (I) to fin ish seco n d , his best ever 500cc G P finish. L awso n fi n ished th ird. 198 ," Schwa nt z sai d. " T ha i ha d hard ly a n y power. " Ru ggia 's tea mma te, Christian Sa rro n, fin ished fou rth . th ough he felt th e tires were good enough to win th e race had he not been slo wed ea rly o n by, fir st a brake prob lem, then a m istin g VISOr. Californian Wayne R ainey sloshes h is way to the Belgian 500cc Grand Prix win, his fifth victory of the 1990 season, and added to h is ch am pionship point lea d. Rainey wins awet one in Belgium By H enny R a y Abram s SPM RANCORCHAM BELGIUM, JULY7 PS, t wa s th e stra ngest 500cc G ra n d Prix of the year. with lesser riders h avin g career days a n d vetera n s fall in g beh in d, b ut whe n it wa s over Team Yam aha Ma r lb o ro Ro bert s' Wayn e Ra in ey had wo n the Belgi an Grand P rix o n th e da n g e rou s Sp a Fra ncorc ha m ps ci rc uit - mad e mor e treac herous by a steady rain - to stre ngthe n hi s grip o n the Wor ld Cha m p io n shi p. The 29-yea r-old Cal ifornian bo lted at the start a nd quick ly pu lled awa y fro m teammat e Edd ie Lawson. As th e rest of the field struggled, Ra iney j us t got stronger, a lone poi n t h ol ding a seven -seco nd lead as th e rains gra d ua lly intens ified . H is on ly sca re 'ca me a t the en d wheu 500 rook ie j ea n P h ill ip pe Ru gg ia urged hi s Dun lo p shod Gau loi ses Blo n des Ya maha past Lawson a nd w ithin four seco nds o f th e I 14 lead , but Ra iney wi cked it up a nd held o n for a 4.552 seco nd win, his fi fth of the year. Lawson held o n to th ird . "A t lim es it was very scary," Ra in ey sa id , a fter com p le t ing the 18-l a p, 77.625-mile race at a n ave rage speed o f 92.252 m ph. " Yo u 'd just be going s t ra ig h t t h en you 're a l l ih e wa y crossed-up sideways." After ni ne of 15' rounds, Rainey increase d hi s cha m pionship lead 1035 poi nts, 168- 133, o ver Tea m Lu ck y S trike Suzuk i's Kevin Schwantz, who had hi s worst race o f th e yea r. Though he had th e sa me Michel in ra in tires as Rainey a nd La wson , th e po wer del iverv of th e Suzuki was so severe that he wa s sp inning th e rea r ti re a ro u nd virt ua lly th e en tire 4.3 12-mi le race trac k, lea vin g him wi th a seventh p lace fini sh . " I'd rather have th e bik e we had in Fifth p lace in h is fir st we t 500cc GP wa s Cagiva roo kie Alexandre Ba rr os, a spot better tha n Rothman Honda 's :\1 ick Dooha n. Barros, a n l Svvea r-old Brazihan . had to rem ind hi l;'s elf to keep ca lm wh en he passed th e likes o f Sch wa m z a n d R oth mans Honda 's Wa'yn e Ga rd ne r ( 10th p lace) a nd sai d he ne ura lly en joyed racing in th e rai n. : Hi s tea m ma te Randy i\Iamol a ga ve th e crowd a huge th rill when he got in to a di ce wit h La wson for seco nd pl ace during th e fir st half of th e rac e. Mamul a. wh o two yea rs ago in sim ila r co ndi tio ns sco red Ca g iva's best fini sh . a th ird p lace, had just mo ved in to second whe n he fell in a left-ha n del' near th e top o f th e co u rse. At firs t it wa s th ought he had cracked ribs, but la ter he sa id he'd h urt a muscle in hi s back wh ich made it d ifficu lt 10 breath e. Sur p rising ly, Ma rno la wa s lh e o n ly cras he r in th e 500cc cla ss wi th 16 of th e 18 entries finis h ing. T he re was o ne mecha n ica l DNF. . Li ke hi s Ma rlb oro Rob erts' senior rea rn m at e. j ohn Koci u ski a lso won h is fift h race o f th e yea r a nd he, too, extended hi s lead in th e World Cha mpionship. Bu t unlike Ra iney, Kocinski got away poorl y a nd had to work h is wa y up to the lead, taki ng over o n the fourth o f 15 laps. O nce a head , there wa s no sto p p ing him as he pull ed a way by a seco nd a lap in the ra in 10 win b v 11.011 seco n ds over 10GII favor ite, B~ l gian Did ier de Rad igu es on th e Ap rili a . Third p lace went to cha m pions h ip runn er-u p Carl o s Ca rdus o n th e Rep sol H on da w ith a rejuve na ted Ca rlos Lavado fou rt h in h is bes t fi nish in vears . aboa rd th e T ea m G reco Ap ri lia. "When 1 sa w th e rain th is mornin g 1 d idn' t th ink a bo u t winning th e race," Kocin sk i, wh o wa s racing th e Mich el in wets for th e first lim e, sai d. " Aft e- r th e start , I d id n 't kn ow wh ere th e limit o f th e tir es was, so I. wailed a few la p s th en gassed it u p. " Ko cinsk i averaged 90.256 mph for the 64.688-mile race . Un like th e 500s. the 250s were p rone I to sp ills wi th eigh t of the 3 1 sta rters crash ing, includin g ch a m p io n sh ip co n te n d ers Lu ca Cadalora of th e Ma rl bo ro Yamaha Agosti ni tea m a nd S h arp-S a mso n's Wi leo Zee lenberg. Ca da lo ra, who led th e seco nd a nd th ird laps, first encou ntered visor-misting p roblem s th en fell trying 10 avoid ano the r r ider who 'd broken ear ly. Zeelenberg fell a t th e h alfway po int in th e sa me downhill left as Mamol a . T hei r acc ide nts left th e two , who ar e tiedin poi nt s with 93, fu rther ba ck of Kocinski wh o no w leads th e titl e chase w ith 149 po int s, 27 better tha n Ca rd us. As ha s o ften been th e ca se th is year, the 12.') cc race was th e mos t exci ting o f the day, a vetera n going agains t a roo kie, it a ll bein g decided with a bo ld m ove in th e Iin a l. corner as both were turning th eir fastest laps of the da y, Samso n-Sha rp Ho nd a 's Han s Spaa n, 31, led the la st six laps before bei ng pa ssed goi ng up th e hi ll o n the fina l lap by 17-yt'ar-old Itali an upstart Loris Ca p irossi. Ca pirossi kept his AG V Pileri Corse H onda in front all th e way to " La Source," Spa 's final hairpin right that lead s dow n th e fron t strai g h t. H owever, he mad e the m istak e of lea ving a n in side lin e whi ch Spaa n took to div e underneath the Ital ian , bumping h im near the a pex b<:for e accelera ti ng to a 0.175 second WI ll. l Tea m Sernprurci's Bruno Ca sa nova was fourth a nd World Champio nship leader Stefan Prein fifth o n the Lauson H onda. T he sideca r ra ce, th e last of the da y, was a ru naway fo r Eg bert Stre uer a nd Cera l de H aa s leading every la p wi th thei r Luck y Strike LCR en rou te to a 26.200-seco nd ma rg in of victo ry. Seco n d to th e Du tch men wa s the Elf Krau ser / L CR o f Alai n Mic h el and Sim on Birch a ll wi th Yoshi sada Ku m agaya a nd Bryan Houghton th ir d in their Windle jPX rig . World Ch a m p io ns Steve Webster a nd G a vin Sim mons co nt in u ed to ha w bad luck. The Brit ish pair wa s ru nning th ir d when their gea rbox fa iled o n th e last lap in th e La Source. Luckily, th e tra ck slopes downhi ll a nd th e p a ir push ed a nd coas ted to a six th -p lace fin ish and maint ained th eir spot a to p th e cha m p io nsh ip standi ngs. With six ro u nds left , Webster lea ds M ich el 116-111 with Streuer third at 98. By the time the Sidecar ra ce ended

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