Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127405
_ B WID UcrD~ _~~~_'oS_~_OM_ot_o m John Kocinski (19), Michael Doohan (3), Juan Garriga (6) an d Wayne Gardner (5) do battle at th e Supe rprestigio. Californian Rich Oliver (14) battles with French Canadian Miguel DuHamel (20). Doohan squeaksp ast Kocinski in Spain By Dennis Noyes Photos by Santi Diaz and Alberto Bo rtran MONMELO, SPAIN, ocr. 1 3 n esti ma ted 55,000 Span ish road race fans roared their a pproval when juan Garriga overtook first j o hn Koci n ski and later Mic hael Doo h a n 10 lead h ea t o ne of th e Superprestigio Solo Moto he ld at the new 2.95-mile Circuit of Catalunya loca ted just north of Barcelona. Garriga who is from Valvid rera, a village in the hills overlooking the Catalonian capital, was racing under pressure ... pressure that th e 28-year- A 12 o ld Duca do s Yama ha rider h ad brought upon himsel f. The o ne th e Ita lian pres s refers 10 as th e Arch Ang el, because of h is pallid co m p lexion and gaunt fram e, announ ced in the Spanish press a week befor e the race: " I promise 10 the Cataloni an fan s a podium, my first 500cc podi um." Garriga held the lead for less than a lap before Austral ia 's Doohan came past at the end of th e, 185 mph home straigh t and then pulled a 4.5-secon d ga p to win the fir st 14-lap heat. Garriga was seco nd, with Kocinski third due to a badly shredded rear Dunlo p. "The tire was so bad," said Kocinski who had been fastest in practice. " tha t I was really thinking of pulling in , but I had eno ug h of a lead over (Wayne) Gardner to hang on and I knew if I fini shed third I might still win the overall , if I won the second heat." Gardner. who turned 32 on Friday, was nearly over the highside a co up le of tim es as he fought 10 co ntro l his sliding Rot hmans Honda. " I went for a tir e th at I hadn 't used much ," he said. " T he tire I had my best practice tim e on gave me a fright yesterday and tha t kind of put me off it, so I tried one that had seemed okay, but it was all over the place and I co uld hardly rid e th e thing." Scott Niall Mackenzie was a di stant fifth o n the first of the three Sonau to Yamah a YZRs. Aussie Kevin Magee was seventh on the second Son auto mach ine, foll owed by young Brazilian Alexa nd re Barros back o n ' th e red Cagiva after recovering from a broken wrist. Marlboro Roberts Yamaha rid er R ich O liver , rid ing one of Doug Chandler's bik es, was eig hth, followed by French Ca na dia n Migu el DuHamel having his first ever 500cc ri de on yet ano ther of the blue Sonauto Yamahas. Sito Pons, probably making his last rid e o n the Campsa Honda NSR500, was 10th, well clear of Spaniard Juan 'Lopez Mella who was the first fourstro ke rider home on hi s Nivea For Men RC30 Honda. He just pipped fellow co untryman Luis Carlos Maurei and his Yamaha FZR750 across the line. The 500cc class consisted of II twostroke G P mac h ines and 15 750cc fourstrokes. This interesting experiment provided a full grid and gave added interest to the race as fans, guided by th e public address an nou ncer, kep t close tabs on th e Lopez Mella-Ma urel battle for I I th place ... which was the battle for first in the superb ike race within a race. The bi g four-strokes proved to be quicker than the three cylinder Honda of the seaso n's top priva teer, Kees Doorakkers. The Du tch man , on his now antique Hon da RS500 qualified 17th behind six four-strokes. If top international su perbike riders had participated on their works ma chinery, the best four-strokes would probably h av e h ound ed th e works 500 cc stragglers. In order 10 avo id the possibility of any of the two-stroke Gra nd Prix riders bein g brought down by slo wer superbike rid ers o r by oil left on the track by a four-stroke eng ine blow-up, th e 500s practiced sepa ra tely from the superbi kes. This turned out to be a good idea beca use o ne fou r-stroke did blow a hol e in the cra nkcases at th e end of th e straight leaving a long oi l sp ill , bringin g do wn a foll ow in g bike an d ca us ing a half-h o ur break in practice whi le-the oi l was clea ned up. Befor e bein g set out toget her with th e Grand Prix stars in the Sunday morning warm -u p, the four-stroke rid ers were given a stro ng lectu re o n th e meaning of the blu e flag. Severa l of th e top Spanish rid ers felt insulted by th e stern talk by th e race director and walked o ut, bu t th ey raced anyway, In heat two , Kocinski chose a tire he knew would go the distance, bu t th e young American , who won his first GP of the season o nly two weeks before in Malaysia , kn ew that in order to ta ke the overa ll Superpres rigio victory he would have 10 win and that another rid er, Gardner or Garriga, would have 10 finish second, driving Doohan back to third. And even then th e tie break between Doohan and Kocinski would depend upon the combined times of the two heats. Gardner. still uncertain if he will co ntin ue with the Rothmans Honda team in 1992, went to the grid with the same type rear tir e that Doohan had used to win heat on e, whil e Garriga and Doohan made no changes in their setups. Doohan took the initial advantage, but wa s soon being hounded by Kocinski. Both rid ers had to put a foot down on at least one occasion and the 'fairings touched wh en Kocinski went under Doohan o n th e exi t from the esses at the end of the home straigh t. Doohan said later: "W e've still not go t the grip that the Yamahas ha ve. Kocins ki was nearl y on his ear a couple of tim es but he was abl e to get traction where m y thi ng was just spinning." Whil e Ko cinski and Doohan exchanged the lead at the front of the race, Gardner worked his way past Garriga. wh ose rear tire had gone off , and started clos ing on th e leading pair. " I kn ew it was a 14-lap sprint, bu t I forgot how fast tim e flies when yo u' re hav in g fun ," said th e former Worl d Champion. " When I fina lly got o n Mick 's rear whee l , I was feeling co nfidem that I co u ld win. I had tak en it kind of easy at first becau se it too k a while to get my co nfidence back after all th e moments in the first heat. And then all of a sudden I see m y board sayi ng on e la p to go . I wasn't ready for that and I knew I couldn't catch them both in one lap and the re was no point in just barging in there and taking a chance. so I had to take third. But I got the fastest lap and I'm certain that if this had been a fu ll Grand Prix distance race I wou ld have won it." Kocinski wasn't so su re of that: "I had th is race and I wasn't go nna let those H onda guys past. I still had something left. It's too bad I had tir e trouble in the first o ne becau se I wanted 10 win this one." Doo han got h is Honda alongside the Marl boro Yamaha on the last corn er, but Kocinski had th e better drive out of th e corner 10 win by . 178-o f-aseco nd. Gardner was third and Garriga was fourth - four seconds back. Macke nzie repeated his fifth p lace, but this time he was forced to battle with a determin ed Du Hamel, who