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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127383
Eddie Lawson (7) electrified the Italian crowd by putting the Cagiva in the lead over Mick Doohan (3) on the first lap. Wayne Rain ey (I) and Doohan (3) ba ttled early before Rainey was forced to p it. Doo4a nwins in Italy By Henny Ray Abrams MlSANO ADRlATlCO, ITALY, MAY 19 he 500cc World Champ io nsh ip too k a dark and drama tic turn for t he Du n lo p -m ounted ca m paigners . whe n their near total tire fai lure allowed Ro thmans H on da's Mick Doohan to ex tend his lead in the title chase with a virtually uncontested win in the Gran Premio D'i talia, held in ap pall ing conditions at the Autodromo Santomonica near th e coastal town of Misano Adriatico. Whi ch is to take nothing away from Doohan. In winning his second race in two weeks, the 25-year -old Australian fought a spirited battle with Marlboro Yamaha Roberts ' World Champion Wayne Rainey for 15 laps before a blistering problem on the rear T 12 tire of Rai n ey's Yama ha YZR50 0 caused him to ma ke an unschedu led , a nd u nh urr ied pit stop, scuttling any cha nce for a victo ry and damaging his ho pes of retaining hi s World Championship. After re-jo ining the race a lap down, ' Rainey shattered the lap recor d on his way to a ninth place finish , another sign tha t had he pi cked his replacement tire instead of his original, he may well ha ve wo n the race. " There's some problem s in building two tires the same," a di sconsolate Rainey said after slipping 14 points behind Doohan , 91-77 , after five rounds. " The second tir e (team ma te John Kocinski 's spare) was fine ." Kocinski's tires also worked well , ena bling him to finis h second for th e seco nd week in a ro w, this time 8.677 seconds behind Doohan. Doohan averaged 100.788 mph in win ning the 36-la p, 78-m ile race in front of a crowd of 70,000 on a mostl y su nny, but coo l day near the Adriatic Sea. The 2. 17-m ile course was patched a nd slippery in a numb er of places a nd the crowd was al most uncon trollable, with hundreds jumping onto the track after eac h ra ce and fl o o d in g the paddock. 'After Rainey dr opped out, Doohan said he "tried to keep it all together. I had ni ne seco nds a nd h it so me back ma rk er s and went to ei g h t. I needed a second a lap with eight to go. I didn' t want to encourage these guys," he said. Among ' those he didn 't want to enco urage was Ca giva's Eddie Lawson , who , after giving th e crowd a tremendous boost by leading the first . lap, gave Cagiva their best dry track finish ever, a third, one better than teamma te Alex Barros. What made it sweeter for Lawson was tha t he wasn' t aware he'd fin ished o n the podium until his crew chief told him as he dismounted af ter the race. " I though t Wayne was in third," the fou r-time World Cha m pion said. " I was looking a t the plus and minus on my pitboard. I didn't see them change me fro m P-4 to P-3. The first lap was good. I had them scared for one lap. If we could ever finish on the podium, th is is the place." Frenchman J ean-Philippe Ruggia finished in Barros's sh adow in fifth with Doug Chandler a career best sixth on th e Roberts Yamaha, one better th a n Lucky Strike Suzuki's Kevin ' Sch wan tz. Both of the Americans had tire troubles, though of different sorts. Chandler's was a hole about a halfin ch wide in his Dunlop rear, a problem similar to one he had last year at Willow Springs on the Kawasaki superbike. "In the fast left you get a chatter and when you feel it like that it holds you back. t' .he said. "When I passed Kevin (Sch wan tz, on lap 14), I felt the trouble and thought I should cool it and save what I had for the last part of the race." After bogging th e start, Schwantz was havin g a hard ti me progressing beca use of a sli ding front end, then the rear tire threw a chunk o n the 10th lap. " I only knew that the fro nt stopped being a problem beca u se the rear started sliding so badly," sai d the 26year -old Texan, who sli p ped to fifth in the Wo rld Championship stan dings . " The biggest p roble m I see is co ns istency in th e tires. The other day the tires worked perfectly. I didn't change a thing and I couldn't fid e it this morning. " . In response to the problems, Dunlop's Jeremy Ferguson said: "We have to admit we had a major problem with a new construction tire. It showed up well in practice and the riders all chose that tire for that reason. Wayne's problem was slightly different in that the problem area was closer to the crown of the tread and Schwantz's closer to the shoulder." Only Kocinski didn't have a problem in the race, but that was more a function of luck than anything. He 'd chunked a rear in the morning warmup. Paul Butler, team coordinator for Marlboro Roberts Yamaha, said that there had been a positive and immediate response from Dunlop V.K. as well as Dunlop Japan. The tires that failed were British -built and, his tori ca lly, th e J apanese-built Dunlops have had a better reco rd of consistency, Butler admitted. But the news doesn 't get better for the Dun lo p -sho d ri de rs. Micheli n in formed their teams on Friday, May 17, that they would once again begi n deve loping tires at the race trac ks (see sidebar). The 250cc race was the best of the weekend, and th e fin ish th e most exciting and co n tro versial in a long time. And when the time r and video camera had their final say, it was Rothmans Kan emoto Honda's Luca Cadal ora the winner of his home G rand Prix by a scant .OO9 seco nds over German H elmut Brad! and the HB H onda . Bradl led most of the race with Cadalo ra glued firmly to his rear. Their NSR250 Hondas seemed evenly matched, setting up a last lap riders ' duel. Coming out of the final bend, a left-right kink onto the front straight, Bradl wheelied and looked back only to see the Italian Cadalora steam past. The 30-year-old German waited until the double left before the kink at the end of the final lap to make his move , outbraking Cadalora into the first right. But Cadalora, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Friday, went back under Bradl in the second left forcing him wide on th e exit and nearly off the track. They approached the finish line leaning in on each other, cracking their windscreens in the process, and both thought they'd won the race. It would go to Cadalora, but not without a protest filed by Bradl for rough riding. ' " If he does it again I'm going to hit him so hard his teeth will come out the back of his head," an ' i ncensed Bradl said immediately after the race. Cadalora soon went to Bradl's motorhome and apologized and awaited the decision of the FIM Executive Committee. In the end, he was given a reprimand by the Italian Federation and the results stood. - "I didn't do anything to disturb him," Cadalora said, initially. "I really