Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

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

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