Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

. Brit Ca rl Fogarty had his best race of th e season , finishing fourth in both races. wa rd s th e manda tory wet practice session went ahead. By 1:00 p.m. th e riders were on th e grid with a mishmas h o f wets, intermediates and slicks mo unted. All bar those with slicks wa nted to change a nd many of them had to head back to th e pits to do so. It was rather chaotic as these things tend to be, wi th riders, mech anics and tea m managers deb ating the point with officials. Finally, with onl y Falappa a nd Italian Kawasaki rider Piorgiorgi o Bo ntempl using interm ediates on the front, th e ra ce was ready to go , albeit well over an ho ur late. Bu t even on the wa rm-up la p there was drama, with Roche pulling in , the 888 running on just o ne cylinder. Desp ite the attempts of offici als to p revent him fro m leaving the p it lane, the French man bustled pas t th em a nd tried to start, but th e " 444" br ok e th e chain as he launched from the line and that was tha t for anoth er race for the World Champion. Pirovano, th e o utside o f the track dry w hi le the inside was still dam p , launch ed into th e lead a head o f Phillis, . with Fogarty, Rym er a nd Pol en close beh ind. Mer kel was a way te rribly slow ly, th e bike's midrange m isfire chiming in a t j ust th e wrong moment. He was 16th aft er one lap. By then Pol en was lead ing and going by hi s p lan, stre tch ing his lead to nearly six seconds - alt hough hi s pace never dipped below 1:35 - in the first 10 laps. Bu t after th a t th e best of th e rear tir e had been used up a nd his pursuers began to ine xora bly clo se in . At first Ph ill is had been ch ief among them, but wa ry o f th e Mich elin's slo w heating proper ties he had giv en wa y to both Merten s and Pirovano and dropped a way a few IOths. On lap seven he passed th e Italian, the n th e Belgian and he seemed set to pull awa y and attack th e Am eri can. But lap n in e, Phillis came through thi rd in th e group, th e Kawasaki 's bro ken screen bearing testament to a big moment a t th e 180-degree Opel . Kurvan: " I tho ugh t I was go ne," he said la ter, " I was righ t off the sea t and I brok e th e screen with my sho u lder or some thing." It took him just two laps to get back to second and Mert en s tagged alo ng as the two o f th em pulled away from P irovano and closed in o n Polen, som etimes by nearl y a seco nd a lap. By lap 19 o f the 23-la p race, the th ree o f th em we re nose-to -tai l bu t the Kawas ak i co uld no t fin d a way by as Pol en blocked a nd defended, exp lo iting th e Du cat i's superior tor q ue to maximum effect. In evitab ly, Mert ens attacked, ta ki ng Phillis on lap 21. " I sat behi nd Phill is beca use he was ri ding very well and I was j us t waiting for the last corner," reco u nted Mertens. " Bu t we caught Pol en a nd ins tead of passing Phill is for seco nd I decid ed to pass Pol en as well. " Ca tchi ng Pol en is one thing, passing anot her. As the y approached th e Norra .Ku rvan he j us t led and moved to th e ins ide, forcing Mert ens to go around him. Brak in g very la te, with Pol en pushi ng just as ha rd, Mert ens got his nose in fro nt , but as he tipped in th e bike went fro m under him a nd he cartwheeled into the tundra: " T he last few lap s the fro nt had been chatteri ng," Mert ens explained as he exa m ined h is scarred front Pirelli, "but I thought no problems. I do n 't say th e P irelli front is bad, bu t I need something a little bett er th an the o the r gu ys to be mo re safe, to win ." "Tha t was a very close sit uation:' said Pol en afterwards. " We were sid eby-side. H e di ved in fron t o f me and I j ust had no wh ere to go , I nearl y lost th e fro nt two or three times." Phillis had been wat ch in g all this wi th close attention a nd alt hough he was right behind he cou ld not take adva ntage because th e crash dela yed h im too . "S tep hane st uffed it up for me by pass ing me," he said bluntly. P iro vano slowed because rear brake fl uid lea ked fro m th e hose onto his right boot a nd he was unabl e to maintain a firm grip. He was less tha n two seco nds a head of Fogarty, wh o was riding well and taking advantage o f others' problem s despite a persis tent bottom-end mi sfire a nd a m isbehavin g Michelin 'B'-grade rear. H e battled with Fal appa for seventh early on until th e latter 's intermediate began to fail , th en took sixth from th e promising Linddholm as the 25 -yea r -o ld ' s Ya m ah a lost revs a n d eve nt ua lly sto p ped beca use o f low battery charge. Next target for the 10M star was Rym er, th e Loctite man sprinting early on soft tires but suffer ing th e same problem as Pol en as the rac e progressed. Su hone n chased Fogarty th rough for fifth, desp ite his fingers goin g numb .again. Fal appa just beat Rym er home for six th while Merk el fought ba ck well for eigh th.v The Fren chman J ea n Yves Mounier had h is best side of th e season o n th e So na uto Yamaha to edge th e so mewhat o u t of sorts Mark a nd th e d isillusi on ed McElnea : " I' ve passed th e da ys of goi ng bananas," th e Englishman rema rked disp iritedl y. Race two The McEln ea philosophy obvious ly di d not apply to many of the ri ders as a ra ther severe attrition bega n at th e very firs t corner when Spaniard Mella Former World champ Fred Merkel could do no better tha n sixth an d eighth in Sweden. a nd Belgi an Ren e Delaby went pi lin g into the h a y ba les. Seco nds later Merte ns was gone, his day o f d isaster co mplete as th e clutch failed on th e spare Ducat i. At th e increasingly in famous Norra Kurvan on la p o ne , Fala p pa tried to mak e up "abo u t 20 pl aces" accordi ng to eyewi tness a nd T eam Ma nager Marco Lucchinelli and ra n o ff droppi ng hi m virtually to the rea r. Up front, Pirovano had led from Fogarty - wh o had swapped carbs fro m h is spare a nd been gran ted a n " A" rea r - Pol en , Phillis, Rym er, McEln ea a nd Lindholm from th e line . Pol en , wh o had no w sw itched to th e harder rear Dunlop, took th e lead la p three but Pi rov ano seemed determ in ed to hang o nto h im , too determ in ed as it tu rned out, as he was to crash the Yamaha o n th e ve.r y next lap. Perh ap s h e had n ot pai d th e Mich elin rear du e respec t, for both , Phillis a nd Roche, runnin g seco nd and third, did not begin to m atch th e Ame rica n 's tim es until lap six and th en th ey had a 3.5 seco nd deficit. Roche too k over second from Phillis th at lap and the gap came down 10th by 10th , Raym ond setti ng a new lap record a t 1:35.24. But a t best , they were sti ll 7.86 seconds beh ind o n lap 13 but the Fren ch ma n 's fro nt tire just wasn 't working and the gap began to grow again u ntil it reach ed four seconds o n lap ·20 a nd Polen had it in the bag. P h ill is had dropped a little behind th e ground-trembling number o ne Du cati for a while as he simply d id n 't have a n a nswer to th e torque which ga ve Roche that vital little jump o u t of th e co rners. Bu t no w he was right back on it a nd on th e very last lap mad e his mov e, o u t-braking the Fren chman into the left-hander o nto th e sho rt pit stra igh t, Do wn toward Norra th ey ra n for th e last time, side-by-side. Into the braking area it was th e Kawasaki o n th e inside and suddenly grabbing th e adva n tage: " H e pushed me to wh ere it was very slip pery, right o n th e edge o f th e tra ck," exp lained an annoyed P hill is afterwards. " I had no choice b u t to pass h im there u nder br ak es. 1· was very a ngry wit h him a t th at mo ment a nd I just tri ed to block him to the lin e." H e s ucceede d, a l thou gh R o ch e near ly got back al on gside only to m iss a gear. Phill is finished three seconds sh y o f Po len and 0.6 seconds a head of Roch e, who ro de straig ht back to the pits a nd ignored th e victory ceremony. Not because of Phillis' tactics th ou gh; " I a m ha p py for Rob, he is my frie nd but I am a ngry a t m e. I am too stupid, I mi ss a gear whe n I .ha ve a cha nce to pass him ba ck. I a m no t disap- pointed because o f second or third but because o r the problem s we have wi th tires, suspensions and o the r shit thi s year." . Fogart y was again fourth a nd never lo wer th an fifth in an even bett er ride. Lindholm, chee red on by th e reported 10,700 spe ctators, held o ff Merkel th ro ughout to tak e fifth , his m isfire by now finall y traced to the tach but now -he could get no front tire grip . Su honen ca ugh t and passed McElnea a nd th en held him an d Mounier off to th e line for seven th. Rym er had do ne a Fal appa on lap four a nd the two of them soo n lin ked up to battle the ir wa y back throug h th e field. Fal appa led most of the way but th e Brit contrived to pa ss h im o n th e last la p. Pl audits to P iro van o 's you ng teammate Massimo Meregalli and Christophe G uyo t, th e Frenchman who me ch a ni cs hi s R C30 a t eac h m eeting, wh o both p icked up th eir fir st points o f th e year after good rid es. 01 Results Q UAU FYtN G : I.Dou~ Polen ( I min.. 54.42 sec.! 94.!J5 mph ); 2. Srep ha ne Mertens ( 1:35. 12); 3. Rob Ph illis (1:35.2 1); 4. Raymo nd Roch e (1:33.33); 5. Fab rizio P iro van o (1:35.47); 6. Fred Mer kel (1:35.74); 7. T erry Rym er (1:35.89); 8. Car l Fogarty (1:36.36); 9. J ari Suhon en ( 1:36.79); 10. Rob MeElnea (1:36.79); I I. Gia nca rl o Falap pa (1:.57. 15); 12. Ch r ister Lindholm ( 1:37. 16); 13. j ean-Yves M oun i er (I ~ 7_21 ); 14. Peter R uba no (1;37.73); 15. Udo Ma rk ( U 7.83); 16. Dan iel Vila Amauiain ( 1;37.40); 17. nla (1:37.98); 18. Juan Mell a Lopes (1:38.06): 19. J d lry De Vri« (I : 38.26); 20. Cr isto phe G uyol (1;38.64); 21. Ren e Dt:laby ( 1:38.73); 22. P iergio rgio Bornem pi ( 1~ 8. 7 6 ); 2.5. Urs Swider ( I:38.78); 24. Rene Rasmusson ( 1~8.85); 25. Massi mo Merega lh (1:38.86). RACE O NE: 1. Doug Polen (Due) ; 2. Rob Phill is (Ra w); S. Fabr izio Pi ro vano (Ya m); 4. earl Fogarty (Ho n ); 5. Jari Suhonr n (Ya m) ; 6. Giancarlo Fa lap pa (Due); 7.-Terry Rymer (Ya m ); 8. Fred Merkel (Ho n); 9. j ea n-Y..·o Me u nier (Ya m); 10. Udo Mar k (Ya m); II. Ro b MeEI",:a (Yam); 12. J ellry De Vries (Ya m); IS. Peter Ruban o (Ya m); 14. Da n iel Vila Amatriain (Ha n); 15. Ren e Rasm usson (Ya m). Time 37 mi n. , 14.24 soc. DisWlCC 25 laps, 57.3 m ilo . A verage speed: 92.504 m ph. Margin o f victory: O SK.SI RACE TWO: I. Doug Polen (Due); 2. Rob Phill is (Kaw); 3. Raymo nd ROche (Due); 4. Ca rl Fogarty (H on); 5. Christer Lindholm (Yam) ; 6. Fred Merkel (H on]: 7. Jari Suhonen (Yam) ; 8. Rob MeEl nea (Yam) ; 9. J ean Yves Mo un ier (Ya m); 10. Udo Mark (Ya m) ; I I. Daniel Vila Amama in (Ha n); 12. Terry R ymer (Ya m); 13. Giancarlo Fala ppa (Due); 14. Massimo Meregal f (Ya m); 15. Cri stophc Guyot - (Hon) . T im ., 36:52.!H Di.5tance: 23 la ps, 57.3 mil es. Average speed: 93.372Margin of victo ry: 2.96 sec. WORLD CSH IP SUPERBtKE POINT STAND1NGs: I. Doug Polen (217); 2. Rob Ph ill is ( 161); 3. Fabrizio Pir ovan o (116); 4. Step ha ne Mertens ( 114); 5. Ra ymo nd Roche (107): 6. Terry Rymer (84); 7. Carl Fogarty (75): 8. Fred Merkel (73); 9. Gi a ncarlo Falappa (60): 10. Udo Mark (49). 9

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