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/127383
The Belgian Merten s, the o nly other rider to win a race this year, has come to grips with the Ducati and Pirelli tires astonishingly q uickly and m ust be the only other rider to ha ve a rea l chance - at least on paper - of giving Po len a hard time. H e crashed while leading the very first race of th e year, won th e second after Polen broke while clo se behind him, was knocked down in tha t big first comer tangle in the fir st race in Spain and then came fighting back for second in the second race, passing Roche on th e last la p . He is a substantial 23 points down on Polen in sixth position in th e cham p io nship , and, like Roche, has already used up the two results each rider is allowed to drop with two DNFs. But also like Roche, Mertens is a fighter, it is probably his most positive attribute: "There are many races to go : ' he says, " I don 't worry about the points gap at the moment." Behind these th ree is a wh ol e group of riders who could be able to wres t away the win given the right circu mstances or a jump in performance from their motorcycles. The jok er in the deck is Giancarlo Falappa, the Italian who so nearly ended his career when he crashed his Ducati in Au stria last year. Falappa was far from full fitness in th e first two rounds of the cham.p ion ship but he was improving all the time. He'll be in there a mongst it at least for a while, it just depends how much his fitness has im p roved since Spain. For riders of Japanese equipment there's still hope. After all; Roche came to Brainerd in 1990 the overwhelming favorite and didn ' t even make th e rostrum. There's the Yamaha rider s Fabrizio Pirovano a nd T erry Rym er , the former all consistency but some times lackin g in speed, the latter as quick as anyone on his day but j us t unable to string together any sort of championship-bui lding fi n is h i n g 'record. The veteran Australian Rob Phillis, riding the factory Kawasaki ZXR 750R , , has shown impressive form at both 'Don in g to n and Jarama and is tied for equal second in the cha m p io n ship with Pirovano's GP Racing Yamaha. Phillis has, led but not wo n as yet th is year and a n ex tra spark for h im a t Brainerd will be the presence of Sco tt Ru ssell and the Muzzy Kawasaki team. There is a good deal of rivalry betw een the two operations, not only on the track but over who will carry the factory's flag into World Champion- ship battle in the fu ture. The Australian team performs tha t fu nction a t the moment, but there's not much doubt that the Americans wou ld like to: Fred Merkel would sim p ly lik e to score so me points, so me th ing the 198889 Wor ld Cham pi on has simply been unable to do so far this year . T wo mechan ical DNFs and two crashes ha ve kept hi m ancho red on zero and he is certain to be despera te to br eak his lu ck during his annual racing tri p home. If there is to be a surprise winner then th e Californian cou ld be the man . A lo t depends on the Ru mi/RCM Hondas th ough. They're undoubted ly the best of the V-Iou rs o u t there, but tha t does no t mea n tha t much these days. Team ma te Baldassarre Monti has fared little better this year, alt hough he at least has scraped together 10 points . The o th er Honda R&D · su p ported team, Silkolene H onda Brita in, still has wo rk to do to make its' bike s co m peti ti ve and triple Fl World Champion Carl Fogarty and ex· GP man N iall Mack e nz ie h av e struggled to get on the pace. Bimo ta is expected to make th e trip with the hub-center-steerin g Tesi ID , but do n 't ex pec t too much . This has bee n a pro g ram which h a s been 'lurch in g fro m problem to problem so far. Handling woes, q uestion marks over the aerody namics, engine' break ages, in jury to regular pilo t Vittorio Scatola , the recr u i tmen t and the n release of Domin ique Sarro n. It 's hard to see the small Italian fact ory making a quantum lea p to th e front, particularly as they will probably be trying out yet another rider. If there is an unpredictable factor in the meeting at Brain erd, it is the loca l Nor th Am eri can rid ers. Is there a Do ug Chandler amongst them ready to sho w everyone up? Using the imperfect guide of th e TransAt lan tic Ma tch R aces , Scott Rus sell and M iguel DuHamel (if he is fully reco vered) post the most lik ely threa t. T hen again, J amie J ames, T homas Steven s and the Vance & Hines team seem cer tain to improve and would n o doubt be motivated to do so. Richard Arnaiz is a fin e r ider, T om Kipp is going better all the time and wha t of Freddie Spencer? Just ha ving h im ride wo u ld be a fillip for th e meeting. No t tha t there shouldn 't be eno ugh ' to get excited abou t anywa y, particu'Iarl y if you're American, even more so if you're a Du cati freak. Hell, if you 're a Texan Ducati freak this could be the best day of your Iife.ea (Above left) Yamaha's top entry in last year's series was Italian Fabrizio Pirovano. (Abo ve) T wo-time World Cham p ion Fred Merkel and Baldassarre Monti (ri gh t) will lead Honda's charge. Ducati's Giancarlo Falappa is' hoping to return to form after serious injuries in Austria prematurely ended his 1990 campaign. England's hope fora World Championship rest on the shoulders of Loctite Yamaha's Terry Rymer. The Brit is quick, but lacks championshipwinning consistency.