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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127404
chasers and had been pulling in the
lead group until he touched the gear
lever and found a neutral in the uphill
Luco esses and went chargi ng across
the gravel trap, losing a place to Rymer
on lap eight.
Th is rapidly became the Briton's
best ride since Donington Park, holdin g hi s six -second ga p to Mert ens and
hauling in and di sposing of Falappa
and consolida ti ng third positions.
All aro u nd h im good battles were
goin g o n. Roch e ha d gambled on
trying to break away with a soft rear
tire, but Polen was hanging right o n,
setting th e fastest la p of the meeting
- 1:58.230 - o n lap 10.
Polen shadowed Roche around th e
track and ran ged up alongside hi m on
the stra igh t befor e dutifully d ro pping
beh ind into the loo pin g first turn San Dona to.
Unt il th e fina l lap th at was. This
time he launched o ut of th e slipstream
and sta yed in front into turn one,
a ltho ugh Roche braked frig h tfu lly late
a nd sho wed no [ear as he planted the
bike inside. But it was to no avail,
Pol en sweeping into the lead around
the o utside. Although unable to really
break away, he was not in danger of
being repassed and won by 1.314
seco nds wit h Roche slo wing down.
After Rymer came three battling
Ducatis. Mert ens, still some six seconds
down and only .12-of -a-second ahea d
o f Virginio Ferrari , who'd clawed his
way through from 13th on lap one in
a sterling ride and pipped Falappa on
the last lap but was not quite able to
reel in the Belgian.
Some 23 seconds later, Carl Fogarty
came out on top of a race-long struggle
with Merkel by just .12-of-a-second l
Both riders had lost grip from their
rear tires within eight laps of the start
and it was a battle to see wh o co uld
slide the least.
"The best thing about this year is
that it finishes in about two hours,"
said Merkel, the '88-'89 World Champion, without a hint of a smile, wh o
will skip the fin al ro und in Australia.
Weibel was next on the Schnyder
Ducati, fighting through a huge pa ck
of riders whi ch was led by Bammert
at th e line , n arrowl y ahead of
Kawasaki-mounted Massimo Broccoli,
now ex- Birno ta rider Vittorio Scatola
(Ka was a k i), Nivea Honda 's Juan
Lopez-Mella, Furlan and De Vries, th e
latter having chosen a too soft front
tir e.
In th e poi nts table, Roch e had
mo ved 23 po ints clear o f Phill is,
Merten s h ad p a ssed P iro vano for
fou rt h and Rymer was no w o ne poi nt
ahead of Fogarty to go into sixth in
the cham pionship.
Race two
The weather beca me increasin gly
gloomy as 4 p. m. ap proached and as
the green light went o n the rai n was
sprinkling, and getti ng hea vier. On the
opening lap, Roche rai sed hi s arm in
attempt to sto p th e race, but was
ignored by a ll bu t Fogarty, wh o seemed
to be havin g second th oughts also.
Then th e rain became worse as th ey
sta rted the seco n d lap a nd with
Falappa a lready shootin g off in the
distance, hands wen t up from several
different riders and the general consensus was to stop . At the same time
the red flag came ou t.
The luckiest rider out there was
Merkel. On the sighting lap the H o nda
RC30 had started vibrating as if a crank
was going and he 'd pulled in and
jumped onto his spare. But the Clerk
of the Course would not allow him
to rejoin the field as it set out on the
warm-up ' Iap , instead he had to start
from the pi t lane, cold tires and all.
He was allowed to take his place on
Giancarlo Falappa was a victim of bad luck when his runaway lead in the second race was thwarted by a mechanical failure.
the grid 20 minutes later and then, like
the rest had to choose what tires to use.
It was not an .easy decision to ,make
as th e weather at different moments
looked as if it could dry up, come down
in buckets or just keep sprinkling.
The choices that were made reflected
th e indecision. Pol en went for a hea vy
cu t int ermediate, Pirelli runners Merkel and Mertens for light cu ts, Roche
a nd Falappa opted for full wet s,
Pirovano for light cut intermediate
Michelins.
Tw o brave m en , Morrison a n d
Ferrari went for slicks. They would be
either heroes of has-been s.
Unfort u na tely for them', it proved to
be the latter. T he wea ther was getti ng
wors e as the field set ou t on th e warmup lap and severa l ri ders who ha d
Opted for lig ht cu ts, incl uding Foga rty,
dived into the pi ts to change to wets
as the rest went to th e line for the start.
From when the11ght went green, th is
race bel o n ged to Fal a p pa . As the
co nditio ns gradually worsened it
sui ted his tires mo re and mor e and he
was simply p repared to push harder
in iffy conditions than a nyo ne else o n
fu ll wets.
After a la p he led by an incredible
5.739 seconds, after three by a staggering 14.563, by 31 seconds af ter 10. But
then true tragedy struck and a great
ride was bro ugh t to a premature end
as Falappa ro lled to a tan k-th umpi ng,
inco nso lable halt.
The problem , as it transpired, was
that troubl esome electr onic fuel p ump,
robbi ng th e electrical system o f charge:
" I am angry," he said afterwa rds. " I
am th e best rider, I have th e best bike,
best tir es."
It left the ba ttle [or the lead to Polen
and Roche and the latter quickl y
asserted him self once they pass ed the
stri cken Falappa. Roche admi ts th at
he is not the world's best wet weather
rider, but his move around the outside
of Polen for the lead wa s n icel y
co mmitted.
For once he had the tire ad vantage
and he pulled out as much as 14.6
seconds before backing off at the end
to take a still comfortable win in nea r
darkness. Polen had also got on th e
gas a little more as Rymer was putting
in another impressive display, closing
to within six seconds with three laps
to go.
Afterwards both Roche and Polen
acknowledged Falappa's mi sfortune:
" I am sorry [or him, I th ought he
would be first," said the Frenchman,
who himself had to battle a sticking
throttle and suffered a co up le of close
calls as a result.
"He deserved the win," said Polen.
"I [eel [or h im , it 's suc h a sad situation .
H e needed a win, it wou ld have been
the best th ing [or him cons ideri ng
wh at he has been through. "
After th e top three th e resu lts bega n
to get a li ttle weir d as q uite an at tr ition
rate had struck. Fogarty had lost a lap
changing tires and pu lled out on ce he
was lapped, Merten s had crashed out
on lap five, Merkel had pulled out on
lap one realizing he had the wrong
tires, while Morr iso n and Ferrari were,
of course, even worse off.
So fourth, on fu ll wets and collecting
his best ever Worl d Cha mpionshi p
resu lt was th e Itali an Kawasak i rider
Piergiorgio , shaking off De Vries in
the last part of the race, th e latter still
p leased to end a somew ha t difficult
weekend on a good no te.
Piro van o plugged along on light cu t
inte rmediates and finis hed a lap down,
no t far ahead of Weibel in seven th .
Eigh th , in a fin e ride o n hard Yok o ha ma wets went to Steve Manley on
h is three-year-ol d Yam aha . Sca to la
and Broccol i comp leted the top 10.
Ro che 's win wrapped up second
place in the champ io nship , Mertens '
crash ensured Phillis would fini sh
third, while the Belgian will definitely
finish fourth as Pirovano won 't make
it to Australia. Similarly, the Italian
sho ul d be safe in fifth , Rymer in sixth
and so on .
a
Results
QUALIFYING: I. Doug Polen (1:58.336198.928
mpn ): 2. Fred Merkel (1:59.603); 3. Raymond Roche
(1:59.651); 4. Step ha ne Menens (1:59.961); 5. Fabrizio
Piro van o (2:00.890); 6. Davide T ard ozri (2:00.906);
7. T erry Rymer (2:01.037); 8. Rob Phi llis (2.. 1.037);
0
9. G iancarlo Falap pa (2;01.183); to. Brian Morrison
(2;01.734); II . Carl Fogany (2:01.901); 12. Fabrizi o
Fur~ (2:~ 1.93 1 ); 1 Massimo B~1Ii (2:01.945);
.3.
14. VlfgmlO Ferran (2:01.960); 15. VJtlOrio Scatola
(2:02. 132); 16. J ellry De Vries (2:02.133); 17. Karl
'Tr u ch sess (2:02.399); 18. Juan L opea-Melta
(2.. 2.4 16); 19. Jan Suho nm (2:02.608); 20. Edwin
0
Weibel (2;02.756); 21. Ernst Gschwender (2;030454);
22. Bruno Bam mert (2;03.994 ); 23. Piergi orgio
Bomempi (2:03.995 ); 24. Adria no Narducci
(2:04.117); 25. Peter Ruban o (2:04.161); 26. Urb
Zwicker (2:040415); 27. Steve Manl ey (2:04.484); 28.
Graham Singer (2:04.507); 29. Ro bert Ch esaux
(2:04.755); 30. Baldassarr e Monti (2:04.768); 31.
Andrewas Meklau (2:04.782); 32. Walter Amman
(2:050497); 33. Aldeo Pr escu ini (2:06.292); !4 .
Yanmck Leba udo (2:07.967); 35. Flor ian Ferreted
(2;08.256); 36. Anto n Bergbammer (2:10.010).
RACE 1: 1. Dou g Polen (Due); 2. Raymond Roch e
(Due); 3. T erry Rymer (Yam); 4. Stepha ne Merten s
(Duc); 5. Virgi n ia Ferrari (Due): 6. Giancari o
Falap pa (Due);.7. Car l Fo~ n y (Ho n); 8. Fred Merkel
(H a n ); 9. EdWIn Weibel (Duc); 10. Bruno Sammu t
(Yam); 11. Massimo Broccoli (Raw); 12. vi uorio
Scat,?l~ (Raw); 13. juan Loper- Mella (Hon ); 14.
Fabrizio Furlan (Hon); 15. j e((ry De Vries (Yam);
16. Ernst Gschwender (Ka w); 17. Jan Suho nen '
(Ya m); 18. Bria n Morri son (Ya m); 19. Adria no
Narducci (Due); 20. Graham Singer (Yam); 21. Steve
Manl ey (Yam ); 22. Robm Chesaux (Hon); 23. Walter
Amman (Yam); 24. Yannick Legaudo (Yam); 25.
Aldeo Prescui ui (Ka w); 26. Anton Bergbammer
(Yam ).
T ime: 58 min .• 16.874 sec.
Distance: 19 laps, 61.78 miles.
A..raJ$< Speed: 96.840 mph.
Mazgm of Victory: U 14 5