Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

aga in, bu t he cOu ld not make the points. Stringer moved steadily through to the lead, setting a new outright 49.7 sec. outright lap record, and pulled a gap on a battling group led initially by Fogarty, then Nation and fin ally Reynolds. These three ended up clear of the rest, with Fogarty just keeping Rus sell, Haslam and Rymer at ba y, with DuHamel making a good cha rge through to beat out Morrison and McElnea. Former World Champion Spencer had closed on this group initially but had lost front brake pressure and was also encoun tering some rear wheel slides at Gerard 's which convinced him to settl e for 11th. Race two Deja vu for the top four finishers. Stringer once again fought through to lead by lap three, with Reynolds chasing him past Fogarty to clos e to . about one second at one stage, but he could get no closer. Nation was also clear in third while Fogarty just held off DuHamel and Haslam after a superb scrap, ' with Whitham, McElnea, Russell - having ' trouble turning the bike as the pace heated up - Rymer and Morrison charging home close behind. Stevens led Spencer home; Spencer's right forearm (not his notorious wrist) was pumping up and giving him trouble braking. James gridded at 'the back after hi s poor first race result, followed them across the finish line a frustrated 14th. Out of the race was Rich Arnaiz. He'd been having problems hooking up and gave it too much once too often and he was thrown off at Devil's Elbow. -He came out for race three but was not able to get stuck in as a sore and swollen finger and his right shoulder were giving him too mu ch pain. Race three Once again Fogarty led early and it took Stringer three hard-fough t, fairing-banging laps to get by. But once he did, he left the rest behind again. Fogarty, Reynolds and Wh itham engaged in a fierce battle for second after Nation had a huge high-side at the chicane on the second lap which culminated in him riding the bike into the pits side-saddle ala Randy Mamola a few years ago at Misano. Rymer, McElnea, Haslam, Russell and DuHamel were involved in a fearsome scrap for the minor placings until DuHainel crashed heavily coming out of the Devil's Elbow and smacked into the tire wall, closely followed by his Honda. Moments later Morrison had his second fall at Gerard's, his concentration upset by having watched DuHamel go in. The red flags quickly came out and the race declared at the 12-lap mark with the French-Canadian being attended to on the main straight. Unconscious when first reached, he was confirmed as breathing and conscious when taken to th e hospital. Much later it was announced he was okay, although he had a bruised kidney and a suspected hairline fracture of the wrist. Like Arnaiz, he would take no further part in the racing. Stringer took the win with Fogarty second, Reynolds th ird and Whitham fourth - the Suzuki ri der resetting the lap record at 49.48 sec. on lap eight. Best of the Americans was Russell , DuHamel credited with ninth, James l lth, Stevens 13th and Spencer 14th: "My forearm was pumping up again," he explained. "I just need more time n the bike. I've ridden it three times Three-time World Champion Freddie Spencer ended up 13th overall. " since Sep tember." Spencer had also cu t the arm off his undershirt and found that helped, but obviously not enough. A the end of the day the British had collected 304 poin ts to 89 for th e Americans and Stringer had set himself up for th e $7000 prize for the highest individual point score in the meeting. Brands Hatch - Qualifying Three short sessio ns, as at Mallory, determined the start for the first race. The Americans hoped to go better her e, this being more like a real circuit with swoops and curves. ''I'm ready to bang fairings with them toda y," wa s how Ru ssell summed it up in hi s distinctive Georgia drawl and he backed th at up by qualifyin g on the front row behi nd local experts Haslem (eq ua lling the la p record at 47.5 sec.), McElnea , back on his number one bike, and teammate Rymer, using fla t-slides here o n his home circuit rather than th e CVs em p loyed at Mallory. Just as promising as Russell's effort was Spencer ta king the final front row slo t after a night spent massaging hi s arm. The top five were covered by just 0.22 sec. Spencer had co me down over a second in the two sessions after Keith Code had done some split times and observing. Butthere were problem s, inevitably. The inserts holding the tank in place had broken and were simply sp inn ing around rather than unscrewing when anyone tri ed to take th e tank off. If Mike Velasco had broken them off to get at the carburetors he would have had no way to re-secure the tank. So Velasco tri ed to alter the carburetion by placing tape over the fairing du cts and altering the av-gas/petrol ratio. It never quite worked and Spencer had trouble throughout the day dr iving off the turns. Unfortunately, there was no one to back Spencer and Russell up. Reynolds, Stringer - battling her e with the lumpy power of th e 1000cc motor even with CV carburetors - Fogarty and Brian Morrison . ( Dra m b u ie . Yamaha) were on row two with the di sappointing and fru strated duo of J ames and Stevens on row three and unable to get the rear ends of their OWOls to behave here. There were no problems with the standard Dunlops - the majority of the field were using them - but the Vance & Hines crew had no 5.5 inch rims and James was finding the six-inch rims were causing problems: " It just feels lik e you 're right . Third-place finisher Ron Haslam gave Norton two wins at Brands Hatch. on the edge of th e tire all the time," he exp lained. . Thankfully no one went over the edge , though. There were no cras hes in practice or qualifyin g. Indeed, not one a ll day. Race one McElnea, H asl am, Russell a n d Reynolds were a clo se kni t leading four throughout. 'Rocket Ron ' got through to th e lead on la p seven and held it narrowly to the end to scor e hi s ma iden rotary win , much to the delight of the crowd. Ru ssell o u t-braked h im self at Paddock trying to get by McElnea and was demoted to fourt h for a corner befor e retaking Reynol ds. . Rymer and Stringer came in next ahead of Fogarty and Spe ncer, the latter severa l times discovering how hard and ag gress ively Fogart y rides: " I nearly got him on the first lap but aft er that I co uldn' t get him, it was reall y fru strating," exp lai ned Spencer afterwards, adding th e standard, "It was fun , though." Race two The start was a shambles, sim p le as tha t. As in the first race, most riders crep t on th e red . But unlike that occa sion wh en everyone was push ed back to th eir p roper row , the sta rter stop ped everyo ne then just let them go as some wh eeled ba ck and othe rs stayed wh ere the y were. Worst effected were Spe ncer , wh o'd burnt his clutch o u t trying to pull hi s bike back and James wh o'd stalled. The latter pitted in di sgust aft er a lap while Spe ncer was out by lap six . " N ex t start," muttered James, " When I take off, I'm gone." Hi s disgust was ba cked up by Norton boss Barry Symmonds who gave the Brands Hatch officials a blast over the public address for good measure. At the front Rym er led from McEInea until the impressive Reynolds came forging through inte nt on pulling back Stringer's points lead . But it wa s Haslam and McElnea up front at the end of th e race , Haslam pulling a great move o n the last lap to win again, with Reynolds narrow ly leading home Rymer and the slow-start in g Russell fifth. The American dem onstrated his speed by setting a new 47.7 sec. lap record. Russell had also been hurt at th e start and hi s frustration was starting to show : "I was tryin g a little hard. The bike is go ing good, if I ca n just get up th ere, I can do some dam age." Str in ger was sixth ; now just three points ahead of Reynolds in pu rsui t of th e loo t. Race three After the close actio n up front in the first two races, the th ird go was a bit of a letdown, with McElnea an d Rymer taking off and leavin g the rest for dead . T he Ulain action revolved around the battl e for third wi th Foga rty , T revor Na tio n , Stringer and fina lly slow-starti ng Haslam takin g th e pos ition. _ Most fru stra ted was Russell. Fir ed up for his fin al cha nce of a race win , he'd caug h t u p to fifth-place Fogarty by la p seve n a nd go t no fu rt her forward, li ke Spencer discovering how ha rd pa ssing th e determ in ed Brit can be: " Someone oug ht to run o ver him and teach him a lesson," gr owled Russell. " I tri ed some prett y wild passes and it hu rt me." On o ne lap he lost three pl aces with one of hi s passin g attempts and on ly managed to get back to eig h th at the checkered flag. H e was o ne pl ace beh ind Reynolds, who 'd lost all cha nce of the big prize at th e start: " T he red light was still on and Ca rl (Foga rt y) had a lready gone by and kn ocked the bike from under me, my foot came right off th e rest. I was surprised he stayed o n." Worse off was J am es, something tying up in the motor arid forcing him to pull off: Teammate Steven s battled on to score hi s best result of the weekend in ninth pl ace. Spencer also battled o n to the finish fro m his back row start, taking 12th. That sort of summed up the American effort, always coming from th e back, not giving up but not able to bridge the ga p. Maybe next year . t'N Results FINAL POINT STANDINGS: 1. R. Str inger (93); 2. J. Reynol ds (86); 3. R. Hasla m (83); 1. R. McEln ea (78);5. C. FOK'U'ty (68); 6. T . Rymer (67); 7. S. Russell (61): 8. T . Nation (53); 9. J. WhiLham (44); 10. B. Mo rriso n (35); II. M. DuHam el (25); 12. T . Stevens (21); 13. F. Spe ncer (22); 11. ). l ames (13); 15. M. Linscou (9); 16. N. Mackenzi e (8); 17.]. C ueneue (7); 18. R. Arna iz (5); 19. M. Barnes (2); 20. J. Long (I); 21. M. delfsuid ice ( I); 22. L Maurel (0): 23. R. Holden (0); 21. S. Spray (0). 11 .

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