Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

BROAD~CE.~~~~~~_R_oo_dR_~_eS_m_~_:R_oo_~_13~~~~~~~~~_ · e • Michael Doohan (3) leads Wayne Rainey (I) and Didier de Radigues (27) on the open ing lap of the Czechoslovaki an G P . Rainey eventually moved past Doohan to win his sixth 500cc G P of th e season, Rainey inches closer with Czech win By Henny Ray Abra ms BRNO, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, AUG. 25 a r lbo ro Roberts Yamaha ' s World Champion Wayn e Rainey won the Czechoslovak ian Grand Prix at Brno, hi s sixth win of the yea r, and he did it because he was rea dy, because h is team put th e best bike on the track under h im , and because he had th e best tires. After th e final practice session was ra ined ou t - it had been dela yed for over th ree hours while h ydraulic flu id fr om a track -cl eaning tru ck was removed - teams and riders wer e forced to use an extended morning wa rm-up to dial in th eir race set u p . M 16 Those who made tli~ righ t cho ices would win. The others would suffer. Surely, there would be so me lu ck in volved. And it didn 't hurt that the Rob erts team had th e best rider in the world. After swapping the lead back and forth with Roth rna ns H onda's Mick Doohan, Rainey made a sudden a nd dramatic move on the 14th of 23 la ps, quickly pull ing away to win by 3.204 seconds in fro nt of a sp ars e crowd of 40,000. . The win , in th e 13th o f 15 ro unds of the 500cc World Champions hip, gives th e 30-year-old Californian a nea rl y insu rmou n ta ble lead in th e title chase. H e can clinch hi s seco nd ti tle with a third pl ace finish in th e next Grand Prix a t Le Mans in two weeks time. " I do n 't think Mick knew what his tires were going to do ; I didn't kn ow what mine were going to do ," th e Dunlop-sh od Rainey said. "When Mick went by me (on the ninth lap), we we re d oing mid -three s (tw o minute, three-second laps) and I had no problem staying wi th him. I made sure he co uld hear me and showed him my front tire a couple of times. I wanted him to work his front tire a lot. I could see he was los ing accel eration grip. It worked. T hat's what got us the win; our tires were better than h is." " T ha t' s the story of the second half of th e seaso n," th e Mic hel in-mo u nted Doohan said. " As Way ne sai d, I did n' t kno w what the fro nt wo u ld do . It was the best we had . At -o ne stage when I was in the lead . vl tipped it into the first tu rn a nd it understeered pretty badly so I had to use th e rea r more. I made a few big mista kes tryi ng to stay with him and th at was it." Rain ey averaged 97.306 mph for th e 77.09-mile race which he com pleted in 47 m inutes, 32. 169 seco nds. Finishing behind Doohan was Ra iney's teammate j ohn Kocinski, on th e podiu m for th e first time since th e Italian Grand Prix in Ma y. The 23year -old 500cc rookie had been struggli ng for most of th e seaso n adapting fro m the 250 to th e bigger bike after an impressive start. " We haven't had a break all year," he'd said before the rac e, but he got it here. He'd changed the position of his footpegs to mimic Rainey's a nd he felt it gav e him better con tro l of th e machine. " I co u ld push harder and slide it a lot better," he said. Kocinski moved into third on the fourth lap and after a spirited battle with Rothmans Honda 's Wayn e Gardner, pulled away to cross the line unchallenged. G ardner , slowed by excess ive rear tire sp in, held off the lat e charge of slow-star ting Kevin Sch wanu on the L ucky Strik e Suzuki. Front end grem lins had plagued Schwantz all weeke nd and it wasn 't until th e fin al lap of the race that he tu rned hi s fast est lap. H e crossed the lin e .636-of-a-second behind Gardner. Ducados Yamaha 's jua n Garriga finished six th after leadin g Schwantz much of th e race before being slo wed wi th gearbox tro ub le. Didi er de Radigu es was seventh on the second Lucky Suzuki, a suspected faul ty ignition ki lling his corner speed. Eighth went to Cagiva's Eddie Lawson, like Schwanu, sti ll troubled with an unsure front, b ut well in front of Campsa H onda's Sit o Pons, who led Doug Chandl er the whole ra ce. Like th e othe rs, Chandler said he was never com fortable with hi s race setup af ter being den ied the final practice sessio n . With Le Mans and Mal a ysia to be run, Ra in ey leads Doohan, 203-192, on . a me nded points. Sch wa nu is th ird at 175 co rrected, with G ardner at 133 after hi s two worst scores are discarded. T he 250cc G P was a ro ut for HB Honda 's He lmut Bradl , th e interest o ne pl a ce back wh ere R othm an s H onda 's Luca Ca dalora had to finish second in order to wrap up the World Championship. And again, it came down to tires. . Cadalora had had trouble with his Michelins, es pecia lly th e rear, a ll weekend. T hough he wa s able to briefl y pass Rep sol Honda 's Carlos Cardus for two la ps at mid-race, the stocky Dunl op-mounted Spaniard quickly took it back , and, though it ap pea red the Italian cou ld pass him a t will , he lat er ad m itted he couldn't. On th e last lap, th e 28-year-old Cadalora drafted by · Cardus up the final hill, but th e 31-year-old Cardus rode around him on th e outside of a hard left a nd n ipped him a t the line by .09-of-a-seco nd. So sure was Cadalora's team of his clinching th e title, that they were running down pit lane wi th " Luca Cadalora, World Champion " T-shirts wrapped in bags, where they would stay for another two weeks , a t least. O nly .751-of-a-second co vered the next fo ur 250s ac ross th e lin e, H RC's Masahiro Shimizu leading the quartet from JJ Cobas Marlboro's Alex Criville, in a season best, L ucky Strike Suzuki's Marti n Wimmer, who lost two spots on th e last lap, and Schuh Zwafink H onda's j ochen Sch m id . Bra dl led every la p and wo n by 12.113 seconds at the end of th e 22la p, 73.74-m ile race when he ra n in 46:50.905 mi n utes at a n average speed o f 94.44 mph. . O n correc ted scores , Cadalora leads Bradl 202-185 a nd need s to finish fou rth in the nex t rou nd to cli nc h the ti tle. . The o nly title decided was in the I25cc class, whe re T eam Pileri Corse's Loris Ca p iro ssi, who had to fin ish seco nd or better to keep his crown, did just that. The 18-year-old Italian finished 1.494 seconds behind win ner Alessandr o Gramigni on th e T eam Italia Aprilia , bu t more importantly, .648of-a-second in front o f Gramigni's teammate Gabriele Debb ia. It was an historic day for Aprilia, Gramigni giving th e Italian factory their first ever 125cc G P win. " I was concentrating on the championship more than the race," the diminutive Capirossi said. "Maybe I could've won today, but the rear tire was sliding a little .and I decided that I would take absolutely no risks." With on ly th e Malaysian round remaining, th e top three fin ishers in th e cham p io ns hip a re Capirossi , his rid ing partner Fausto G resini, six th today after losi ng time avoi di ng a first la p crash, and Geiman Ralf Waldmann, eighth here. Gramigni finished the 20-lap, 67.04m ile race in 45.29.85 m inutes a t an average speed of 88.404 m p h. The si decar title co u ld' ve been decided today, Brits Steve Webs ter and

• Cover