Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Rob Phillis left Italy with the lap record, but he couldn't stop Polen from winning. orld Champion Ra ymond Roche chases Fred Merkel; Roche tallied 4-2 scor es. econd from the fourth row . Merkel nd T ardozzi were two o the rs who m e in for pl en ty o f criticism. Phillis was o ne of th e worst off, inth af ter a lap : "They shoul d have ed-flagged it," he compla ined later. 'I made th e m istake of wa iti ng for th e een ligh t. Bu t I caught u p with the ouble-rnakers." In deed he did, for it q u ickl y became pparent that P hill is and Po len were he class of the field. Pol en had reeled n ear ly leader Tardozzi and wh en hillis had fought h is wa y through to oin them after seven laps, the Italian , as consigned to th e rear of th e group, he re he stayed for the rest of the race. It then beca m e a high -speed race o f ae ries for the two o f them , each testing he o the r's me ttl e with spurtsin front, l rhoug h Pol en led more o ften and ppeared to have more in reserve. But o t tha t much , his hopes o f brea king way were das hed by the hot co ndi ions: " I real ized th at th e set u p a t th e ear wasn 't as good as I would have iked, in th e heat it was gett ing loose nd working the rear tire really hard. o I decided to keep running a steady ace. " It was Phillis who set the rac e's astest lap at 1:18.611 o n lap II and s th e race wound into it s last cou p le f laps th e two o f th em were still locked ogether. Bu t th en : " I had a little bit in eserve,' Phill is ex p lained afterwards. ' I th ought I had a shot at win ning ut th en I go t nervo us. I got sideways n a couple of p laces on th e last la p d th at was it." The Ameri can led th e charge into he last two laps a nd p u lled away lightly with two qu icker laps a tad ow er than Phillis' record to wi n by 748-of-a-second. The two of th em had ell and truly burned off Tardozzi, me 10 seconds d own . Roche, another victim o f th e start ine fracas, had been back arou nd 20th n th e first lap but put hi s head down nd charged ri ght through th e ra ce, ssing Pirovano and Merten s in the ast few laps to nail down fourth. It as a terrific effort ' co ns idering th at is front brake pads were down to othing by th e end o f th e race. He'd rought some different pads along to , mu ch to T ea m Manager Marco ucchinelli's bemusem ent, a nd had Iso changed ba ck from his now usual teel / carbon to all steel di sc set up fo r IS race. Pirovano was fifth a nd did his best imes o f th e race chasing Roche after aving a hard battle with Mertens for any laps. The Belgian had severe rear tire, p ro blems and also com p lai ned o f lacking dr ive co m pared to Pirovano 's Yamaha and Roch e's Ducati, alt hough that co u ld have simply been because h is Pirelli wasn 't hookin g up as well as his o p pone n ts' Michelin. Fogarty p ut in a fin e if lonely ride for seventh, w hi le Rymer went for a soft fro nt and shredded it o n the way to eig h th , at leas t beating off Merk el whose front tire prob le ms were even worse. Fa lappa, after a truly poor beginni ng, com pl eted the top 10. The battle for 10th had been led for much of the ra ce by Wood, 'who was ho lding o ff th e likes o f impressive 33year-o ld Swiss Bru no Barnrnert, Mell a, Suhonen, Mark and Broccol i am o ng o thers. Of hi s pursue rs, Bammert a nd Mella cras hed, Su honen retired with the Arwidson Yama ha overheati ng, while the la tter two were II th a nd 12th . Wood was 14th , th e T esi leak ing oi l from th e cl u tch cover for the last few laps. Grimly, he p luggedon, much to th e annoyance of those who had to ride in his wake, particularly Arnatriain , who event ually fin ished 13th but had ea rl ier in the race co me off worse in a biff a nd bar ge sessio n with the Vtw i ~ . R ace two Between th e two ra ces a support event had seen a big crash and lot s o f oil sprayed about in turn one and Po len , being who he is, got to thinking about it as he d id his parade lap. " I figu red everyone would be ' hes- : itant because of the oi l, but in the wa rm -up lap I found a li ne arou nd the o u tside which had grip. So from the start I used th at a nd went right ar o und th e o utside and was second beh in d Pi ro vano. " l o ut-bra ked h im a t th e end of the straigh t and decid ed I was go ing to ru n a fast pace, keep going a nd see how it goes," Polen sai d. It went well from h is po in t o f view, th e Fast By Ferracci Ducati's lead extended to over five seconds as Phillis and Roche fought their wa y th rough . from poor starts. It never dropped to less than 3.5 seconds and that was a t th e checkered flag with the World Ch ampion and th e Kawasaki ride r coming home in close convoy. ' Phillis had languished early as far ba ck as seventh , but was in seco nd by lap n in e, Roche was third on lap 15 a nd flying alo ng setti ng th e fastest lap, the n second on la p 20, too far behind P olen but a b le to r esist P h ill is ' challe nges. " It was hard to co me from so far (Left to right) Phillis, Polen and Davide Tardozzi celebrate after the first race. back and . difficult to pass so ma ny rid ers," said Roche aft erwards. "The problem is still th e new fork. Next year every ri der will hav e the new fork after I develop them. I th ink it is nearly im possible for me to wi n the ch ampionshi p, bu t I wan t to beat Po len. " Pirovano emerged th e best o u t o f an oth er battle w i th Mertens , th e Belgi an having a tradem ark front-end loss on the very last lap while holding the Yamaha behind him: " T he fro nt tir e was like ice," he remarked, Pir ell i's problem s obviously co ntin u ing along wi th th e 94-degree weather. tt I Tardozzi battled tires, brake fade and a leaking oil cooier to come home fifth af ter runni ng as high as seco nd in th e ea rly stages, while Fal appa took o ut the spare to finish six th , fighting through from 10th o n lap o ne to just beat o ut Merk el, who ha d reverted to a bias-pl y front for race two. Fogarty completed a good weeke nd with eig h th to move back into th e cha m p io ns hip top 10, with Rymer - using a harder front tire which caused a depressing a mount o f u nders teer - nin th and narr ow ly ahead o f a brakeless Woo d after a good battle. No table retirements included Bamrnert, wh o 'd nearly holesh otted from wa y back, with motor problems while th e same applied for Mark in terms o f t he ·st a rt a nd hi s rea son fo r retirem en t. . Ch ampion sh ip p oints n ow see Po len up 177 to 127 ove r Phillis, Mert en s at 114, and Pi rovano o n ly j us t creeping into three figures with 101. Roc he rem a in s fifth , but the sta ndings prob abl y wo n 't stay lik e that fo r long. CN R esu lts QUAUFYtNG: I. Dou g Pol en ( 1:18.381): 2. Ste p han e Merten s ( 1: 18.745 ); !L Ro b Phill is (1:19. 141): 4. Fred Merkel ( 1:19.229); 5. David e Tardozzi (1:19.236); 6. Ra ymon d Roch e (1:19.516); 7. Fabrizio Pirovan o (1:19.752); 8. Car l Fogarty (1:20.147); 9. Ma ssim o Broccol i (1:20.179): 10. J ua n Mell a Lo pe z (1:20.262 ); 11. Brun o Bammer t ( 1:20.37 1); 12. J an Su ho nen (1:20.373): IS. Dan iel Amatriain(I :2O .400): 14. Lee R u sse 1Wood (1:20.502); 15. Gi an car lo Falappa (1;20.651): 16. Ren e Delabv ( 1:20.937): 17. Udo Mar k ( 1:21.062); 18. Richard H ub in (1:21.145): 19. Terry Rymer (1;2 1.157); 20. Thomas Fra nz (1:21.162): 21. j ean Yves Mo unt er ( 1:21.202); 22. Pier Gi o rgio Bcn tem pi (1;2 1.282): 23. Edwin Weibel (1:2l.379): 24. J ean Mich el Mattioli (1:21.431): 25. Christian Lavieilte ( 1;21.499): 26. Jeffry De Vries ( 1:21.615): 27. Fab rizi o Furlan (1;21.651): 28. Marcel Kellem ber ger' ( 1:2 1.686); 29. Aldeo Presciutti (1;21.1133 ): SO, ' Rober. Cheseauz ( 1:21.934); 31. Bru no Bonb u il (1:21.9-19); 32. G ra ha m Singer (1:22.112): 33. Mauro Masuelli ( 1:22.185): 34. Sie ve Ma nl ey (1:22.1 95 ); 35. Virgi nia Ferrari (1;22.256): 36. Cristol Guyot ( 1:22.399); 37. Walter Amman ( 1:22.5 14): 38. Urs Zwicker (1;22.534); 39. Stelan Klabacher (1;23.312): 40. Adri a no Narducci (1:23.567): 41. Kim mo Kopra (1:27.202): 42. Massimo Mera galli (1;28.434). RACE ONE: 1. Doug Pol en (Due): 2. Rob Phill is (Raw): 3. David e Tardozzi (Due); 4. Ra ymond Roch e (Duc): 5. Fabrizio P iro vano (Yam); 6. Step ha ne Merten s (Due): 7. Carl Fogarty (Hon ); 8. T eny Rymer (Ya m): 9. Fred Merk el (Hen): 10. G ian car lo Fala ppa (Due). RACE TWO: I. Doug Pol en (Due); 2. Ra ymo nd Roche (Due): 3. Rob Ph illi s (Raw): 4. Fa brizio Pirovan o (Ya m); 5. Da vide T ardo zzi ' (Yam ); 6. G ian carl o Falappa (Due); 7. Fred Merkel (Hon): 8. Carl Fogarty {Hon): 9. T erry R ymer (Yam): 10. Russell Wood (Bim ). SUPEIlBtlCE WORLD C'SHIP POINT STAND1NGS : 1. Doug Po len (177): 2. Rob Phillis (127): 3. Step ha ne Mertens (1 14); 4. Fa brizio P irovano ( 10I); 5. Raymond Roch e (92): 6. T erry Rymer (71): 7. Fred Merkel (55); 8, Carl Fogarty (49): 9. (TI E) Giancarlo Falappa lDavid e T a rdoui (47). • 15

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