Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

The crowd responded in kind, and cheered when Lawson ran wid e on the penultimate left-bander and Schwantz nipped th rough on the ins ide. But there were still four la ps left, and they cheered again as Lawson got back in front after two of them . So it was a battle to th e finish . Sch wan tz was planning the classic Ricard winner - to get into pos ition to dive inside the Cagiva for the las t bend. But Lawson ran wide again o n the previo us long right, leavin g the Suzuki rider no optio n but to mo ve the ot her way. He got ahead, but was on the wrong side, and Lawson had the crucial in side line for the fina l bend. It won h im the du el, even though he said la ter: " I almos t blew i t o n the last corne r. I went in real low and end ed up com ing o ut all the curb. , g uess he messed up worse tha n me." There wasn't much to shout about behind th is fig ht . Ruggia had looked as though he might catch up, bu t didn 't , Chand ler had recovered from his collision wi th Koci nski to catch a nd pa ss de Radigues for sixt h for a second time th is year; some way back Morillas and Pons toured round close to each o ther, bu t far from th e action . Gardner was 10th, two laps behind; with Garriga a n o ther 20 seconds beh ind him af ter his own pit stop. "I was getting held up by Pons in th e corners and then he 'd motor away on the straigh ts," the Spaniard sai d. " I got so mad th at I forgot I had a full tank of fuel ." He fell , rem ounted, p itted to get a few bits wired on, then cont inued all alone. Doorakkers won the privateers battle again from Papa by a resounding 30 seconds, with 16 fini shers. Rainey extended his title lead o n gross points, with 168 to Doohan's 160 and Schwantz's 136. He also now leads on net points, with 146 to Doohan's 145 and Schwantz's 127. 250cc GP The supplementary starti ng lights that screwed up Kocinski (only a green The best race of the day was the one for third between Eddie Lawson (7), Wa yne Gardner (5) and Kevin Schwantz (34). sho wed, and no preliminary red) did likewise for Bradl, who threw away the advan tage of his pole position and ended up th e first lap in seventh place after fig h ti ng through the pack. '" was looking at the girls and not the lights," he joked afterwards. It was to Reggiani's advantage, and he just ran away with th e race, taking th e lap record in the process. By the time Bradl got through to second, o n lap eigh t, he had an adv antage of more tha n four seconds, and he held on to it all th e way. Almost incoherent with Rainex on Role in blistering _he~at__ H eat was the enemy for the SIlOs, and the crucial qual. ifying session ~as the second, held on Saturday morning, before track and air temperature had built up. All the top six times except Eddie Lawson's were set then; while in the final session most concentrated on trying for a race setup in conditions close to what they expected .the next day . So far, Wayne Rainey (right) had got the best run out, and though the World Champion's bike wasn't the fastest (the Hondas were quickest, a t some 185 mph) it wa s accelera ti ng notably well, and he led practice throughout, ending up an impressive half-second ahead of Doohan and the only ri der to get under 1:22. But he was not prey to over-confidence. " I was th e same time behind him at Hockenheim," he said. "And we were right up there in the race." . His hidden asset was the return of the 'CES electronic Ohlins shock, wh ich he said was better in so me sections and wor se in o thers than the man ua l s hock; but it was much quicker to adjust. " Instead of having to strip th e uni t to change the damping characteristics, you just dial i t in on the screen, then plug it in to the bike. It's the future, and we decided it was time we started working on it, " Doohan was second-fastest, and typi cally unworried. " In the morning I spent a long time ou t there . If I'd wanted a lap time, I could have stopped for new tires ,but I wanted to check how the tir es would last.if I kept ongoing." Naturally enough, he said that he 'd found a Michelin that he thought would be superior. Time would tell if his opinion was justified. Kocinski was third and looking good, bu t he too k th e opportunity no t to welcome a return to top form but to make himself absolute ly crystal clear on h is dislike of the Yamaha cltassis and his disappointment at not getting a new one. "I wi sh , could make it better, but we're up against a wall until Yamaha comes up with something else. "After Hockenheim I decided I'd had enough of crashing, and that's my attitude for tomorrow ... .I'Il do the best I can without crashing." Would he help teammate delight after th e race, he simply said: "The bike was perfect today and I felt good too . This morning I could do a really fast tim e in the ~arm-up, and I kn ew th en the bike wa s fast eno ugh to wi n if it lasted. " Wh en th ird-placed Card us commented on th e speed of th e Aprilias, Reggiani ch imed in: "T he Aprilia riders are fast too. " On his way through to second Bradl had dealt wi th some fast company, includi ng a race-lo ng battle for third p lace between Cardus and Chili. They had swapped pl aces several times a lap almos t every lap , although unable to sta y with the flying German's Honda, wh ose special supplementary radiator in the nos e of the fairing was obvious ly paying dividends in sustaining power ou tput in the heat. Naturally it came do wn to th e last bend - and how. Chili had th e inside line and the advantage, but he was going too fast. As he put th e power on th e bike skipped sideways' and threw him right out of the sea t. His o n ly point of contact was th e handlebars, but he clung on grim ly, landed Rainey by trying to get ahead of Doohan? "I don't want to be anywhere near those guys until I'm sure there's not a chance I'll take them OUL" This left Schwantz in fourth and on the far end of row one, with all times very close. He now had another of the revised ' frames for his spare bike, and ~as feeling the benefit in better front-wheel grip. But the rear end was still too loose - a serious disadvantage here where bottom-end acceleration is so crucial for the two straights. "We're close, but when I followed Rainey he was getting wheelspin but still getting forward drive, while my bike steps sideways," he explained. This left him with more to test the next morning, including different gear ratios. "We're close, but I don't think we have a setup that can go fast for . " a long time," he said. Nobody is surprised any more that the Cagiva can go fast, and Lawson was more bullish than usual after being one of only a handful to improve in the afternoon heat. "The others are justdoing a fast lap or two, but I can keep on doing those times," he said. He was only a tenth or so behind Schwantz, and four- tenths ahead of Gardner, who was the last in the 1:22 bracket. Now also equipped with a pair of the new chassis which he prefers, Gardner was also expecting better things. "I made a mistake in'the afternoon. We have some revised forks that I wasn't sure about, so I put the old forks in my better bike. It didn't work." He also mourned the passing of the magnificent old track. " Wit h th e new first corner going backwards on i tself, it's just single file, and th ere's not much chance of drafting, I preferred it the way it was." In another of those reversals of fortune, .H elm u t Bradl seized control of 250cc qualifying almost from the start, while title leader Luca Cadalora faltered. The Italian's Ho nda was still qualified on the front row, but he was di smayed that ill spi te of ta king it ri gh t to the edge in the las t sessio n he had been unable to impro ve o n his fifth position. Bra dl had one visible advantage - a supplementary radiator mounted in the nose of the fairing. This added width to the nose, and about a kilogram of weight in the wrong place, and 'he admitted fie could feel it in th e chicanes, and also spoiled the aerodynamics. But he felt it was a small price to pay for keeping the en gi ne well below 60 degrees (celcius). . Bradl h ad led free training, with Carlos Cardus fastest in the first session; but oy the end of training Chilj had moved into second spot less than a tenth slower, wi th fellow Apriliarider Reggiani alongside h im, with a similarly inconsequential ti me difference. Another tenth down, Cardus had failed to improve on his firstsession time, while fifth-place Cadalora had set a Saturday morning time identical to the nearest thousandth. Zeelenberg was sixth, leading row two, and happy to escape unhurt after crashing onJhe first day of practice. 15

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