Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Roche was in eighth after five laps, embroiled in a race with Beattie, loca l Ducati rider Roy Lealie - soon to reti re with a dropped valve - Campbell , Doohan, Suzuki rider Steve Martin, Finn Jari Buhoich and Bongers wh o had made an appalling start, Up to half di sta nce Pi ro vano a nd Mert en s had been keep in g .the pressure o n Goddard, but then he began to co nsistent ly p ull clear even uta lly win ni n g by II secon ds: " I co ns istently brought my la p tim es down . 1 was co nce ntra ti ng o n goi ng a s smoot h ly a n d as hard as 1 cou ld .. . The o n ly real worry wa s fu el co nsu mp tio n , it 's been good all wee k bUI for so me reas on it went up this morning. T h is bike's o n ly go t an 1O-l it re tank and it was as full as possible." A\ the sam e time as the Australian was turning up th e pressure Pirovano was beginn in g to suffer from cra m ps in his right leg - a legacy of an inj ury su ffered in a bi g slid e at Monza while Mert ens was suffering through some big slides ' - a co m mo n co m pl a int amongst th e Mi ch elin riders aft erwards. So th e, heated battle for seco nd in the race and the cha m p io n sh ip conti n u ed on into th e closing laps. P iro va no out-brak ed by Mertens into Honda o n the last lap, but th e Belg ia n went wide at the exit as th e rear tire sl id, a llo win g . th e Ital ian ba ck up th e inside as th ey sp rinted for th e looping left -hand Siber ia. Mertens ca me ba ck onto th e ra cing line, they hit an d he went do wn bang ing hi s hea d quite ha rd a nd rei n j u ring the foo t he hurt in hi s Mo n za cras h. Tha t left Pi ro vano to tak e a clea r seco nd, a lt ho ug h the two clas hed in a vio lent verb al argument back in th e pits with Mer ten s la ter filing a protest agai ns t th e Yam aha rider .a lleg in g tha t he was ramm ed. The FIM j ury rejected th e p rot est. A fu rt he r 3.15 seco nds furth er back Beatt ie had wo n o u t in a hea ted batt le wit h Dow son a nd Campbell, on ly to see a ll his hard work go for naught when the b ike weighed in 2.4 'kg un der th e limit and he was excl u ded from th e results. Roche was just .4 beh ind Campbell, happy in the knowledge that an yw here in th e top 10 would' make him Wo rld Champion in race two: "I thi nk 1 would crash because 1 rode so slo w," he sm iled. " T he bike is now mu ch better but not perfect. . . Wh en 1 was p ushing wit h Campbell 1 have a big slide, so 1 back off. 1 wi ll approach th e second race th e same as the first because if 1 cra sh 1 lost all the championship. " Bongers came home sixth after harrying the Du ca ti for the last few laps and actua ll y leading him briefly aft er passi ng R o c h e around th e outside a t H o nda , the n came Doo han eight seconds fu rt h er ba ck, com plaini ng of plenty of rear wheel slides and " fl u ttering" carburetion with Sli ght on h is tail. Rymer and Suhon en ro u nded o ut the top 10, the latter frust rated by a slipping clutch . Race two T h is is what superbike racing is a ll abou t. T hree different leaders, 12 lead changes across the li ne, probab ly another 12 arou nd the circuit a nd the first th ree separated by just 0.06 -ofa-second under th e chec kered flag. And it wa s a resu lt th e locals co u ld enjoy as the Au ssies swept the top three, P h ill is took h is first win of th e season by just .04-of-a-secon d over Goddard with Campbell in third just .02 further back after an ep ic rid e th ro ug h from row four. ~ 00 C'J ~ -v ..0 8 v > o Z Australian Rob Phillis won his first World Superbike race in the second leg and moved to fourth in the t,itle chase. It wa s a class ic race from start to fini sh. Pirovano got the holeshot, but Phillis was by h im stra ig h t aw ay with God dard , Dow son, Rymer, Mertens - on h is spa re bike - McElnea , Su ho ne n, Roche a nd Sl ight close beh ind. Across th e lin e, Phillis led th e firs t two laps, Dowson th e n ext two , Goddard th e next th ree, then P hill is for o ne m or e, God dard for five straigh t, Ph ill is for two , the n th ese two swa p ped i t a ll th e way to the flag. Arou nd th e circu i t th ey d ucked , dived and slid. Slip-streaming eac h othe r down the stra ig h t, passing eac h other into th e sweep ing fourth gea r r ight -hand fir s t turn , du elin g th rou gh th e fifth gea r sweeper, o utbraking eac h o the r th rough H onda Co rner a nd so it went on , ea ch o f th em br eaking th e old lap record at least twi ce. Daw son h ad dropped ba ck to fourth a fter su ffer ing a big slide whi le leading a nd took a wh il e to get ba ck in front o f Pirovano.who was fading with front end cha tte r. Campbell was the charger, 12th on lap one, ninth on la p two, sixth on lap six , fifth o n lap seven, then third o n lap 14 as he too k bo th Pirovano and Do wson at Honda . By la p 18 he was on the lead ers, havi ng bro ken the lap record no less than six times during a breat h- tak ing charge. And the man is 37 years old. Make that you ng. The o nly thing he didn't do was lead, although he managed to get into seco nd briefly a co u p le of times as the three o f them hurtled around: " I didn 't know what to do when 1 got there. 1 had to look and they were pretty much into it. Goddard ran off a couple of times, he was pretty much o n his limit. " Indeed th ey all were. It all came down to th e sprint to th e line with Goddard leading and Phillis just nippin g him at th e line while Campbell had to avoid th e Yamaha and lo st just en ough mom ent um to keep him third. Still, on the last lap he set a new record of 1:39.00. .,. "He'd never passed me before in th e stra ig h t before th e line so 1 figured if 1 co u ld get on okay I'd get it ," Goddard sa id . " But he must have given it a real good go." That 's exactly wh at Phill is did : " I co u ld n' t get away from h im so I th ought th e onl y ch ance 1 had to beat Fabrizio Pirovano was the top non-Australian as he rode to second and fifth place finishes in the two races; Pirovano is now second in the point standings. him wa s o n the very last lap, then I sa w Wall y (Ca m p bell) and 1 thought he'd get us both. " . Forgotten in the maelstrom came th e rest , with Do wso n well clear of P irovano , Do o h a n , Slight , n ew World Champion Roch e, Mertens a nd Martin. But Roche had very nearl y not mad e it a t all , nor Mertens for that" matter. Roche had been running a lo ng comfortably in seventh with a lap to go , allowing Mertens by on th e last tour, the Belg ian understandabl y strugglin g to co ncentra te and not feel ing all that well as the rac e progressed. Bu t a t H onda Corner, making up for a n o ther terrible s tart , ca me Bongers. H e'd sli p ped under Roche in the preceding swee pe r and then went for Merten s und er brak es , turn ed th e bi ke side ways , rammed th e H onda 's tai l and went spi lling to the track right in front of the Du ca ti . " Whe n 1 saw that rider 1 thought, '#[ #['," la ug hed th e Fren chman , who mana ged to duck underneath th e ca rn age past Mertens, whil e Sli gh t went by both of th em . T here were numerous retirements: Su hone n cras hed o u t o n lap o ne wh en h e accidentall y ch anged int o third in the middle o f a fast rig h thander, fo rtunately esca p in g with no injury and the bike little damaged; McE lnea wa s o u t on th e second la p when the throttle ca ble broke; Bea tt ie on lap four with a slip p in g clutch; and R ymer , tragically, wa s forced out of l l th on the last lap when th e rear sp rocket sheared. But th e final word from the new World Champion: " T oday I rod e ver y slow ly, but next weekend 1 want to win in New Zeala nd. " Cl Resul ts Q UAUFYt NG : 1. Pet er Godda rd ( 1:40.35); 2. Mi cha el Dow aon (1 :40.70 ); 2. Ren e Bon ger s ( 1:4 0.89 ); 4. Fabri zio P iro van o ( 1:4 1. 13) ; 5. Step ha nie Mert ens ( 1:41.29); 6. Rob McElnea ( 1:41.3 8); 7. Scott Doahan ( 1:41.52); 8. T err y Rymer (1:41.79 ); 9. Ro ber t Phill is (1:4 1.86); 10. Raymond . Roch e (1:4 1.87). RACE 1: 1. Peter Goddard (Ya m); 2. Fabrizi o P iro van o (Ya m); S. Mich ael Dawson (Kaw ); 4. Ma l Ca m pbell (Hon) : 5. Ra ymon d Roch e (D ue): 6. Rene Bon gers (Yam ); 7. Scou Doohan (Hen): 8. Aa ron Slig h t (Kaw); 9. T erry R ymer (Yam) : 10. Jari Su honon (Ya m ). R ACE 2: I. Rob ert Ph illis ( Ka w): 2. Peter Godda rd (Yam ); 3. Mal Ca m p bell ( H o n ): 4. Michael Dow son {Ka w): 5. Fabriz io Pi ro van o (Ya m); 6. Sco u Doohan (Han); 7. Aaron Slig h t (Ka w) : 8. Raymon d Roc he (Duc ): 9. Srep ha ne Merten s (H a n ); 10. Steve Ma rrin (Su r). WO R LD C'SH IP POINT STANDINGS: I. Raym ond Roche (364): 2. Fabrizio Pi rovan o (3 12); 3. Srephane Mertens (290); 4. Rob Philli. (207); 5. Rob McElnea (203); 6. Fred Merk el ( 197 ); 7. Baldassarre Mon ti (149); 8. T erry Rymer (121); 9. m E) Anders And

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