Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE World Championshi~ Road Race Series:Round 10 ~ Wa yne Rain ey (I) exte nded h is poin ts lead with a win over Michael Doohan (partially hi dden) at Paul Ricard in France. Rainey over Doohan at Paul Ricard By Michael Sco tt P h o tos by Da vid Goldman LECASTELLET, FRANCE, JULY21 efe n d i n g World Champion Wayne R a in e y sta m ped ' hi s a uthority on the Fre nch Gra nd Prix, he ld in sweltering hea t a t the shorte ned a nd emasculated P a u l Ricar d circuit on Su nday. The American Marlboro Yamaha rider dominated practice and the race, disposing of second-placed Michael Doohan on the Ro th ma ns Honda and drawing away to win by exactly four seconds. It ex tended his championship lead, and made him the first rider to win four ra ces in the 10-race-old season. It was his first race since the seasonopening J a pa nese G P that he used the computerized Ohlins CES rear suspension, and. another victory for Dunlop over Michelin in hot conditions, with Dunlop al so winning the 250 and 125cc races. Third fastest qualifier John Kocinski crashed his Marl boro Yamaha spectacu larly o n the first la p , and Wayne Gardner made two pit stops, one to replace a chunking rea r Michelin , leavi ng the ma in exci tement of th e race to a desperate sus ta ined ' battle between Eddie Lawson 's Cagiva a nd Kevin Schwa n tz's Luck y Strik e Suzu ki. La wso n took th ird by a tenth - the Cagiva's second ros tr um fin ish of the year, scored by speed and power as well as superlative riding. So pl eased was Ca gi" boss Claudio va Castigl ioni that he promptly chartered a fleet of hel icopters and flew the entire team to Monte Carlo to celebra te. Tha t was not the end of the jubilation for the Italian battalions. The D 14 250cc GP brough t a po pu lar start-tofinish victory fo r works Apri lia rider Loris Reggiani, the second win in succession for the Ita lian ma chine, and Reggi a ni's fir st win since 1987. Helm u t Bradl was second on the HB Honda, unable to make up lost ground after a poor start, but with Repsol H o nda 's Carlos Cardus third and Assen winner P ier-Fra ncesco Ch ili fourth after another fin e battle, decided in the last corner wh en Chili almost crashed within Sight of th e flag , the outpaced Luca Cadalora co uld do no better than fifth on the Rothrnans Honda , with Brad l whittling a wa y further at his championship lead. The l25c c G P gave title leader Loris Capirossi his third win of the season, with Ralf Waldmann defeating Fausto Gresini for second, all on Hondas. Seaso n hero Noboru Veda was fifth behind Gabrielle Debbia's Aprilia after ge tt ing ca ug h t napping at the start and losi n g a ny ad vantage of his pol e pos ition . The sidecar race gave Rolf Biland hi s first wi n of the year, wi th Steve Web st er sec o n d, c ha m pio n Alai n Mi chel third, an d Egbert St re ue r fourth. Th e return to the Paul Ri card circu it, for the first time since 1988, was a tte nded by so me con troversy and no t a little regret. It has always been a popula r venue, partly for its hot weather and holida y a tmos phere, and the proximity of ch ic topless beaches. But it was also a cla ssic circu it, with th e longest straight in racing, th e famou s Mistral, scene of some epi c slip-streaming battles. Now a whole loop ha d been rem o ved , wit h th e circu it tu rning sharp righ t at the end of the p it straight, and joining the Mistral more than a th ird of th e way along. The acu ity of the "inside-out" first corner - abo ut 120 degrees - caused problems a t the pre-race IRTA tests. It was so sharp that the sma ller classes especia ll y were obliged to slip the clutch, and it was very much a oneline bend, considered a hazard beca use of its proximity to th e start. The organizers cut back the apex after the tests, but the new surface there soo n started to break up. The change in the circuit also substantially altered its character, especially for the big bikes. Instead of slipstrearning, the em phasis had no w shifted to the tight comers before the two straights, and o n who cou ld get out of them fastest, " Now o n the back stra igh t you're shi fting up a ll th e way, and no t spendi ng a lot of time' in top gear," ex p lained Rainey. " So th er e isn' t much chance for draftin g." Anothe r problem showed up o n race da y - a supplementary set of start ing ligh ts was not fun ctioning properly, and a number of riders were ca ug ht o ut. 500ccGP It was not, after th e fir st lap or two, a very exci tin g race. It started sho rt of o ne V-Iour.twith a disgruntled Superbike World Champion and one-off GP rider Raymond Roche p ulling out, unhappy with his lowly position on the second Cagiva; and finished the first lap short of a nother one, aft er Koci nski went flying: The young American had miss ed the starting lights, got away slow ly, then ra n into Dou g Ch andler's Yamaha as he ba ttled to mak e up for lost time. The la tter left the track briefly, but Kocin ski a nd his Yamaha went somersau lting spectacularly, la nding heavily to be stretthered away. Although no t seriously h urt, he was deeply disa ppoi n ted after a thi rd -fas tes t qualifyin g pos ition had heralded a ret urn to form. Dooha n had led off the lin e, with Lawson second, Schwa ntz third a nd Rain ey fourth . It didn 't take . the Yamaha man long to get into second a nd to close right u p on Doohan. " I co uld see he was pushing th e front, so I just had to keep the pressure o n him," said Rainey later. On the eig h th lap he go t past, a nd gradually drew a wa y. " T he o nly scare I had was on the last la p when I looked ro und and saw a Honda on my back wheel. I had to look twice befo re I knew it was Gard ner (two la ps adri ft) a nd n ot Mick. " Doo ha n confirmed Rainey's diagnosis. "The fro nt was chattering its bra in o ut in some places," he said. " We ha dn't had tha t probl em in qual ifying. Wa yne was jus t driving a way from me in the slower bends. I slowed up th en tried again, but I sta rted to lose the fro nt again a nd I wasn 't go ing to th row it all away." The ba ttl e fo r third was sha ping up, with Gard ner, Lawson and Sch wa nu going back a nd forth. Gardner got the most of it, and Sch wan tz the least, with Lawson taking his sha re of the honors on a Cagiva that was fast enough for him to d isplay hi s skills. T he n th e Au strali an su dden ly dr opped from th ird to fifth on the bends aft er the main straight on lap II , and kept o n losing gr ound before pitting a lap la ter. The pro blem then was a chain that had stre tched radica lly, jumping o n th e sprocket - a co m pletely new pro blem for th e luckless rid er, who was ro bbed of a nobl e victory here in 1988 when hi s Honda blew up o n the last lap. T hey tighten ed it all u p, but as they pushed him a way again, crew chief Stewart Shen to n . " no ticed a prob lem with the rear tire, so we signalled him to come in again ." It was a chunk coming loose, and for the second time this season there was a highly unusual mid-race tire change, for the same reason as with Rain ey in Ital y, but this time with the name Michelin on the side of the tire. Ironically, the French company had chosen their home G P to introduce the first significant ba tch of a ll -new development tires. Gardner gave way to Doohan as he pootered into the first corner a head of h im , an d kept o n as best he could, still doing respectable lap times and drawing away from his teammate to close right up a nd threat en to pass Rain ey a t the end, but two laps adrift. Bu t it was not revelan t, a nd though his pr emature departure had left o nly two left to fight for third, the y kept the race alive. Rema rka bl y, the Cagiva was faster than the Suzuki o n the abbreviated stra igh t. "I was getting a good driv e onto it ," said Schwantz; " but I just co uldn't catch him." Lawson agreed. " The place I really had h im was in fifth a nd sixth gear on the back straight - I could j ust motor right by hi m .,.." Schwantz tried pl enty hard, pushing right up behind from the 20th lap, and tryi ng to pass all over the place, or at least to push Lawson into an 'error,

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