around 5:00 p.m. ma ny of th e small ish
crowd had a lready left. No officia l
crowd estima te was given - proba bly
fro m embarrassment - bu t it wa s clear
that none of th e sta n ds we re full a nd
the crowd was well do wn , for good
reaso n . T ick e t pr ices, whi ch h ad
doubled here last 'yea r, wer e aga in
increased to th e level o f Formul a One
car tickets. It kept peop le a wa y, wh ich
some thought wa s th e a im of th e
orga n izers. T h ey st ill got the television
expos u re and d idn 't have to spe n d as
m uc h on crowd co nt ro l.
500 Qualifying
It see m s that as safety co ncerns
-increase every yea r th e grous ing a t th e
Spa -Fra ncorc ha m ps circ ui t, in th e
Arde n nes m ounta in s of so u the as ter n
Belg ium, gets more a n d more intense.
T h is yea r wa s no differ ent. In fact it
grew more voca l a fte r ROC H onda 's
Pier-Francesco Chili cra sh ed in th e
wicked ly fast a nd un forg iving "Blanch imo nt," a doub le-left o f th e o ld road
sectio n th at lea ds back to th e sta rt /
fini sh . T he 25-yea r-old Ital ian fractured h is left wrist a n d su ffered a slig ht
n eck in j u ry in th e wr eck whi ch
occurred when h e entered th e first left
during th e mornin g sessio n . Si nce h is
. m achine was eq u ip pe d wi th a n o nbike ca mera , repl a ys s ho we d h is
tac h o me te r p egged to th e 12 ,500
