Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE World Championship Road Race Series: Round 9 ~ Egb ert Streuer and his passenger Geral de H aas ran away and hid in th e Sideca r Grand Prix, topping Alain Michel and Simon Birchall in the we t GP. ever o n th e Cagiva . Barros passed Schwantz o n th e ni nth la p moving u p to six th in th e p ro cess. Wh en he passed t he Texa n , h e sai d h e th ou ght Sch wa n tz must have had a p roblem with th e bik e or th e tires. The 11th lap would p rove to be Mamol a' s undo ing, th ough his day nearly ended three laps ea rlier. H e'd lost th e fro nt end in th e sa me spot , wh ere he wou ld lat er cras h, saving it with h is kn ee. When he d id fall, he didn 't know if it was the front or th e rear because both ends were sliding; he said. Aft er Mam ol a cras h ed, Ru g g i a moved into seco nd behind Rainey and ahead of La wso n, Sarron, and Barros and th e order o f th e top five was set. But th e drama wasn't over as Ruggia began chip p ing away a t Ra iney's lead. The lead was abo ut four a nd a half seco nds when Ruggia m ov ed into seco nd and he was able to ge t it under fou r, prompting Rainey to run two of his fastest laps o n th e fin al two o f th e race. " I was hoping to slo w down a t th e end, but I ac tu all y gassed it up," Rainey said. "He ro de a very good race. I was goi ng faster th an I wanted, I'm gl ad it's o ver, I was so side ways a t times I could hardly see th e trac k in front of m e." Ruggia was a ll sm iles o n the victory sta nd, a second pl ace mad e swee ter becaus e hi s spo n so r, G aul oi ses Blondes, a lso sponsors th e rac e. La wso n finished 16 seconds behind Ru ggi a in th ird , after findi ng he'd cho sen the wrong rear tire. " I wen t for too so ft a rea r tire a nd as the race went on I co uld n ' t ge t grip," La wso n said. "Ruggia came past a nd h is tires were hook in g up. There was n ' t mu ch I co uld do, i t was spin ning in a straigh t line. " H e also said th at hi s foo t was sti ll sore m aking it hard to get back a nd forth on th e bike. As he pulled in at th e race's end, Sarron was di sconsol ate. H e remo ved th e p iece o f blue gaffer's tape he'd taped over his nose to keep his visor clear - a stra tegy th at hadn 't wo rked - and exp laine d that he had nothing but problems. " The tires were good eno ugh to win th e race. That's why I'm so pissed off," he said. Barros ended up fifth with Doohan ta king sixth from Schwantz with five laps to go. Behind Schwantz came H asl am , a head of Du cad os Yam aha 's Juan G arriga , and G a rdn er , who fini sh ed 10th. 250 Qualifying Pol e position was n 't decid ed in the 250cc class until nea r th e end o f the fourth sessio n, a nd th en , just bar ely. Kocinski was runnin g wh at he felt was h is best lap when it started to rain with one -quarter o f the la p left. " Wha t I'd done u nti l the n I wasn 't go ing to stop. I just hoped I wou ldn 't find so meone in th e roa d," he sai d , a nd he didn't, clocki ng a new lap record o f 2:31.06 for a n ave rage speed o f 102.742 mph. Kocinski has compla ine d th is year th at hi s Yam aha is dow n on to p speed to th e H o ndas and it was no different at Spa, though th e gap was closing. The fastest bike, un offi cially, o n the radar gun was ' Masa hiro Shimizu 's Ajin o mo to H onda wh ich topped out a t 156.779 mph . A slew o f H on das foll ow ed wi th Kocinski's th e fastest Yama ha at 152.492 mph, a top spee d eq ua lled by Martin Wimmer 's H ein Gericke Ap rilia . The differen ce was a new engi ne set u p , sim ila r to th e o ne that helped Rainey, th at Bud Aksla nd had developed o n the dyno d uring one o f his three tr ip s ho me during th e seaso n. Surprisingly, it was n 't a H onda that was seco nd fastest, it was th e Ap ri lia o f Belg ian Did ier de Rad igu es. H is ti me, clocked in the thi rd session , was a little more than ha lf a seco nd slow er tha n Koci nski 's, though he, too, felt down on power to th e H ondas. " If m y bike accelera ted as fast as the Hondas and was better o n top spee d. I wo u ld be able to go faster , bu t o n my best la p I was ri ding as har d as possib le," he said. " Last year my co ncentra tio n wa s s po iled b y t he H ondas co m ing by so fast on the stra ig h ts on th e firs t la p , I ho pe the sa me won 't happen to morro w. " T he fir st o f the fast H o ndas was Sw iss rid er J acq ues Corn u o n th e Lucky Str ike Elf bike. H e was in a cl us ter wit h Cardus , and HB Apri lia 's Loris Reggiani all withi n fo ur- tent hs of a seco nd of eac h o the r as th ey fill ed alit th e front row o f the grid. Cada lo ra - was o n th e pol e fo r th e seco nd ro w, just a hea d o f th e resu rgent Lava do and Zeelenberg. Ca da lora was, also, bemoa n ing h is lack o f speed, but he felt th at if he co u ld ' stay in th e H on da 's draft , he co uld be co m pe titive. Lava do was sti ll worki ng o n his gearing an d Zeelenberg was rid ing his first race without hi s left hand in a brace. Inst ead. he said, he ha d more p robl em s with hi s left knee , "especia lly in left-hand 'co rne rs a nd th e ch ica nes. " Zeelen berg did say that he would be getting sp ecial factory engine pans for the British GP in fo u r weeks time, the sa me parts Ca rd us a lready has. In all. there were 3 I riders to qua li fy for th e race . . 250 Race T he 250cc race starte d in a lig h t rai n, but i t didn 't stop Kocinski from cha rg ing to th e fro n t a nd leadin g go ing into the chica ne a t th e top of th e hill. Mu ch to hi s surprise a cluster of four riders, led by de Radigues, went a ro u nd him on the o u tside and he found h im self in fifth pl ace a t th e end o f th e first o f 15 laps. It would tak e four laps for Kocinski to re-establish himself and when he d id, he led Cad alora, de Radigues, Regg iani , Zeelenberg a nd Lav ado. "After th e start I didn't know where th e limit o f the tir es was ," Kocinski said. "I waited and th en ga ssed it up. About lap seven I sta rted getting my corner speed up and ge tt ing into a rhythm, a flow with th e bike." On' th e seventh lap Cadalora, th en in third, a nd also su ffering from a vision prob lem , mad e the first o f his two mi stakes by running str ai g h t th rough th e bus sto p ch ica ne and having to slow to get through th e foam blocks bl ocking hi s-exit. H e rejoined th e race ha vin g lost th ree spots, but o n th e ninth lap fell in turn 14. A lap ea rl ie r, Zeel enb er g had crashed, un hun, in tum I I. After th e halfway point the rain began to let up, but Kocinski didn 't. H e contin ued to pull away from de Rad igu es a nd would win easily, havin g turned hi s fastest lap three from the end. It was his seco nd wi n in a row, and though he made it look easy, it was a ny th ing but. " Last ni ght I was praying tha t it wou ld be dr y, but th is morning it bega n to ra in . Once the race started I forg o t abo u t t he we t a n d j ust th rought a bout" wi n ni ng," Koci nski said. De Radi gu es e n ded up seco nd, though he found himself being pressed by Cardus a t th e end. The Spaniard had passed Lavado with two la ps to go a nd, if he'd had a no ther two, co uld probab ly have gotten the Belgian. As it was, he cam e up j us t over a second and a ha lf short. De Ra di g u es ex p la in ed w hy h e sudde nly beca me vulnera ble. " Three la ps from the end my engine sto p ped ," he bega n . " I lo st n in e seco nds to Cardus. At th e begi n ni ng I was Io llo wing J ohn a nd it was very tough. The seat was very slip pe ry," he said, . a lluding to th e fact th a t he lost the ru bber seat pad. " For th e last few la ps I was on ly using fourth gear o n th e stra igh t a nd I d idn 't even expec t to fin ish , so o f co urse I'm happy to be seco nd ." Cardus had co ll ided wit h Regg ian i on th e first la p ca using hi m to slow a nd he completed the first la p in 10th p lace. H e gained sp eed th e ent ire race, turning his fast est la p on th e last o f the da y. H e felt he cou ld have done better had he not been slowed by a ca rb u re tio n p robl em that hun h is accelerat io n ou t of th e corne rs. Lavado fini sh ed ahead of Cornu in fo urt h wi th Alberto Puig sixth o n th e Ducad os Yamaha. TN Resu lts 125cc QUAUFYt NG : I. j orge Martinez (2:41.8t Ii:' 2. Hans Spaa n (2:. 2.805); 3. Dorian o Rom bOni 4 (2:42.9 t9) : 4. Ste fan Prein (2:43.124): 5. Bruno Casa no va (2:43.490): 6. Lori s Capirossi (2:43.4991: 7. Ari Stadler (2:44.325): 8. Han s Lueth i (2:44.840): 9. Fau sto Gresin i (2:45.193); 10. J ohnny Wickstroem (2:45. t93): I I. Mau rizio Vital i (2:45.t98): 12. Gabriele Dcbbi a (2:45.540): 13. Ral! Waldmann (2:45.602): H. Alessandro Gra migni (2:45.62t): 15. E. Cuppini (2:45.817); 16. J u lia n Mirallcs (2:46.039): 17. S' erao Kurfiss (2:46.268): 18. J. Mari ano (2:46.5 18): i s, Hi sash i Une motO (2: 46.659); 20 . S. Edwards (2:46.785): 21. Stefan Der flinger (2:46.949): 22. Al!rcd Wa ibel (2:46.99-1):23. H ans Koo pm an (2:47.150); 2i. Rob in Appleyard (2:47.296): 25. Rob in Milton (2:47.400): 26. Man uel H ernandez (2:47.422); 27. Manuel Herreros (2:47.433); 28. Antonio Sanchez (2:47.729): 29. Flem ming Kistrup (2:47.768); 30. Dirk Ra udics (2:47.789); 31. Peter Ga lvin (2:48.046): 32H ans Abold (2:48.182): 33. Peter Ocul (2:48.352): 34.' B. H assaine (2:48.370): 35. Thierry Feuz (2:48.488); 36. j oe Van Don gen (2:48.520): 37. Han s Duffartl (2: 48.802): 38. J o se Saez (2:48.982); 39. Steve Patrickson (2:49. t45). • 250ccQUAUFYING: 1. J ohn Kocinski (2:31.106); 2. Didier de Radigu cs (2:31.612): 3. Jacques Gornu (2:31.849); 4. Carl os Cardus (2:31.863); 5. Lo ris Reggiam (2:3 1.887): 6. Lu ca Cadalora (2:! 2.292): 7. Car los Lav ado (2:32.534); 8. Wilco Zeelenberg (2:32.662):9. Gorrado Catalano (2:33.268): 10. jochen Sch mid (2:33.323): I I. Andreas Proninr; (2:33.345); 12. Martin Wimmer (2:33.362): 13. Masahiro Shimizu (2:33.742); 14. Alex Criville (2:33.838): 15. Alben. Puig (2:34.332): 16. Paolo Casali (2:34.648); 17. Andrea Borgonovo (2:34.864): 18. Marcellino Lucchi (2:34.874): 19. Beroo Kasmer (2:34.911); 20. Adrien Morillas (2:34.957): 21. Jorge Martinez (2:35.220); 22. Renzo Golleon i (2:35.769); 23. Harald Eclt.1 (2:35.823); 24. Bernard Haenggeli (2:35.9 t4); 25. Alain Bronec (2:35.945); 26. H an s Becker (2:35.970): 27. Un Juder (2:36.920): 28. Kevin Mitch ell (2:37.352): 29. Rachel Nicoue(2:38 . 124): 30. J ose Barresi (2:38.133); 31. Jean Foray (2:38.350). 500cc QUAUFYING: 1. Kevin Schwarm (2:23.264); 2. Wayne Rain ey (2:24.063); 3. Eddie Lawson (2:24.446): 4. Michael Doo~~ (2:24.880); 5. Wayne Gardner (2:25.413): 6. Omsuan Sarron (2:25.702); 7. Nia ll Mackenzie (2:26.080): 8. Randy Mamola (2:27.544): 9. Juan Garriga (2:28.(47); 10. I .P . RuggU (2:28.243); 11. Norihiko Fuj iwara (2:28.354): 12. P.F. Chili (2:28.880): 13. Ron Haslam (2:29.307); 14. Alex Barros (2:29.726); 15. Marco Papa (2:33.870); 16. V. 5<::.. ola (2:34.222); 17. Eddi e Layrock (22:35.087); t8. Karl 'Truchsess (2:36.523): 19. Cees Doorakkers (2:36.765). SIDECAR QUAUFYING: 1. Webster/Simmons (2:33.955): 2. MichellBirchall (2:34.147): 3. Sueuerl Dc:Haas (2:34.753): 4. BilandiWaltisperg (2:35.689): 5. Zurbruegg lZurbruegg C,2:!5 .692); 6. EglofflEgl.ofl (2:35.888): 7. Abbott/Smith (2:36.834); 8. Prcgin/ trlam (2:37.586): 9. Kum agayaJHougron (2:37.748): to . Brindley/Tailford (2:37.796): 11. Kumanol Roesin ger (2:38.251): 12. Gucdel/Gucdel (2:38. 890~ 13. J on es/Brow n (2:39.t29 ): 14. Van Kempcn/Kuy' (2:39.198): 15. Bohnhont/Boettcher (2:40.27t ): 16. K1affenb/Paner (2:40.400); 17. S.oclzle/Stoclzl. (2:41.418): t8. Smith/Smi th (2:41.737): 19. WysscnJ Wysscn (2:42.753): 20. NigrowskilBiggs (2:42.809): 21. Thomas/Suevens (2:42.850); 22. Hcwles/Poimer (2:43. 430) ; 23. Baker/Coombes (2:43 .667 ); 24. Huegli/Haenni (2:44.267): 25. GaliroslBcrgtund (2:44.869): 26. Bocsing

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