Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127380
CUST M l CHRo.i Mert en s, Pirovan o , the Spaniard Juan Lopez-M ella and Loctite Yamaha 's Rymer made up row two . Rymer was down in ninth after a big highside in the morning left him with a sore right hand, swollen elbow, sore pelvis and coughing up blood after comp ressing his lungs. He still managed to go faster in the afternoon, altho ugh he was conceding that maintaining h is championship lead at th e end of the weekend was not a likely pr opositi on. Another crasher was Jef fry De Vries, the p romising Dutchman losing the . front end and smacking his Yam aha into the wall so hard it snapped its sub-frame m oun ts off. De Vries rema in ed in on e p iece. Dominique Sa rron m ade an unhappy debut with the Bimota team, a piston breaking in th e Vvtwin on Friday and then he managed to on ly qualify 27th "after enco u ntering a myriad of problems on the bumpy circuit on Saturday. Race one A nine-bike first com er crash triggered by South African Russ ell Wood tore the hea rt out of the race, with Mertens, Falappa, Roch e, Merkel and Niall Mackenzie amoungst the fallers' and ou t of the race. Mackenz ie wa s worst off , bein g collected by Wood as the RB Kawasaki rider tried a despera tely late dive down the insi de. Flicked off into the path of the oncoming horde, he ended up under his Silkolen e Honda in the sandtrap face down and moti onless, as the rest went tumbl ing in a ll directions. Mackenzie suffered a concussion, but it loo ked far worse at the time and it was a surprise that a red flag didn 't come out. However, it went on with Mitsui Yamaha rider Udo Mark th e surprise leader after a lap thanks to a brilliant start from row three. Polen , after an ordinary start was fifth and had been lucky not to get hooked up in the carnage. Pirovano took over the front running on lap two , but Phillis was on a charge, coming from th ird to first in one try and began pulling out a ga p. Polen q uickly came through to second bu t did not immed iately begin to close on th e Kawasaki. However, the gap ra pidly began droppi ng from lap eigh t as Ph ill is's rear tire began to shred and Polen drafted right up to h im on the straigh t on lap 10, tagged the Australian on the beh ind and then slotted into the draft for another lap before easily motoring by the next time around From there he easily pulled awa y, the only rider capable of lapping in the 1:37s. It was a crushing di splay of superiority tha t has rarely been seen in World Superbike racing before: " I' ve got som e places on the racetra ck where I can go faster tha n anyone else," he said, and it was no way an idle boas t. Phillis was equally comfortable in second, but th e battle for th ird was th e main attractio n for the paroch ial crowd Mark had led that ba ttle early, with Lopez-Mella, Pirovano, Rymer, Monti, Daniel Amatriain and Luis Maurel in tow . Mella took off and cleared away to the roars of the crowd, leaving Pirovano and Rymer to bang bars , the Englishman coming off the worse with a bent clutch lever which along with a run across a sandtrap temporarily dropped him way back . Monti too fell back , his Honda mystifyingly slow. In the en d, the ba ttl e be tween Ama triain and Piro vano - havin g one of h is mental blank days - was the only on e on th e trac k and the Spaniard too k the honors after a fierce scrap Sunday May 19,1991 ~ 2:00 600 National IT Saturday • May 18th.· 2:00 Fairgrounds in San Jo se 7th St. at Tully Rd. Order tickets by phone -~ ~- (408) 462-6498 .... _---, .......... 41S/762-aLJSS • lIMA S A N C TI O N E D I~J (SHOEI) pETERSON C ..... ~ O.... T ' . • eoou OD LAKE R ACING ---- The l ate st on two wheels! Cycle ~ews every we e k ! Th e Areas Best Selectio n Of Ne w & Used Dirt Bikes. @.Ak. HONDA YAMAHA Complet e Sales. Service Parts & Accessories NEW 87 YZ2 50T $2498! In Newhall Phone (805) 2 59-8 4 60 Special Two Day Advanced Penguin Roadracing School Ju ne 11 th and 12th New Hampshire In t er na t i o n a l Speedway Loudon, New Hampshire Two days of intense, personal instruction w ith Dale Quarterley, Jerry Wood, and other experts on the newly redesign ed cou rse at Loudon . Lower those lap times, stop crashing, learn proper bike set-up. Learn how to get - and keep sponsors - and more! The cost is HOO for bot h days. . For reservations call: 508-339-9645 II