Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

pers is ted as he fel t it aided the turning ability or th e bike. A depressed Merten s led ro w tw o suffering mentally st ill from h is clash with P iro va no in Au stral ia , but also physicall y, hi s o ld pel vi s injury having flared. Campbell wa s seven th fastest but a non-starter ahead of P iro van o , who 'd had ca rb u re tio n problems thanks to dodgey Iuel. Slight rounded o u t row tw o, struggling to adapt to Mich ael Dowson's japanese-buill ZXR which wa s using d iffe re nt o rr-se ts and a new radial front he'd never tri ed before. Jari Suhonen wreck ed two motors on his wa y to 10th fastest whi le Morrison and Anders An dersso n were ahead of th e Kiw i An d rew Strou d, who after difficulties cl earin g cus toms didn 't ge t the Su per Angel Yam ah a o nto t h e trac k u n ti l Saturday. T he rest or the local s and Fissen de n t ra i le d al on g. Ju st 1.28 seco n ds se para ted the to p 10, bu t back to 2 1st and last - the smallest World Su perbik e ' field ever - the gap was an al armin g 7.36 seconds . R a ce O n e This race belonged to R ymer, shruggi ng orr all the bad lu ck o r the p a s t few weeks to p o s t a quite e m p ha tic victory. Bea tt ie got the holesho t, bu t R ym er was b y him in th e first turn and then co nsistently pulled away, runn ing in the 1:08 b ra c ket - setti ng the fastest la p o r th e race at 1:08.48 - for the first half of the race. Once his gap was over four seconds he wa s ab le to relax a little, although Roc he, troubl ed b y a pumped-up forearm th anks to stiff throttle action, chopped a couple or seconds o rr in the last co u p le or la ps which prompted th e Englishman to put his head down again right at th e end to ens u re victory. " T h is place is a lot like th e British circuits," ex p la ined Rym er. " Wh ile everyo ne else is battling a wa y behind, yo u ca n get a way." Bea tt ie held second for much o f th e race but co u ld n ' t make any impression o n th e lea der; he, l ik e m ost Mich elin runners, was having to co n tend with a sliding rear tire. H e was passed on la p 24 by Roch e and then caught by McElnea with just two laps to go , th e Englishman taking a whi le to get going as he fought with Ro ch e, P h ill is and Pirovan o. Phillis, so co nfide nt on Saturda y, - wa s a te nse bundle of nerves Sunday _and after making a n initial cha rge from fifth eventua ll y sett le d ba ck th er e complaining of varied problems including warped discs, a sli d1 in g rear tire and a lack o f drive ou t f th e turns. At least he fared better / h a n Slight, whose battery died on 51a p 14 after an a lternator wire terminal broke. ~ P iro vano 's exi t wa s much more spectilcu la r, pulling out or an enter;'t

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