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John Reynolds (83) leads Scott Russell (17), Aaron Slight (13), and Stephane Mertens (3) earl y in the second leg of the World Superbike Championship opener in Spain. • In By Gary Pinehin P h o tos by J oh an Vanderckerhove ALBACETE, SPAIN, APR. 5 awasaki one - DUC3ti one. A sensationa l first race win for Kiwi Aaron Slight in his European debut on the Team Moving Kawasaki ZX R75 0, a th rill ing seco nd race slugged out by " old stagers" Raymond Roche and Slight's teamma te Rob Phillis, and fin ally snatched by R och e on th e Du cati. Those are the headl ines beh ind the open ing round of the 1992 Diesel J eans World Cha m pi o nship Superbike Seri es. Roch e leads the championship, bu t it 's clos e with the top seven ride rs sepa ra ted by just nine poi nts and World Ch am pion Dou g Polen , even aft er a dism al race two (by his h igh standards), is th ird with 27 po ints. Slight was th e sensa tio n of th e , opening race. He mad e the most of his Michelin rain tir es on a dry ing track to tak e his Team Moving Kawasaki to a superb win after an earl y battle with Ducati mounted pole-sitt er, Gi ancarl o Fal appa. An d no t to be o utdo ne by h is younger teammate, Rob Phillis, wh o will be 36-years-old in May, led the dry second leg before fin ish ing a great second to Roch e in a 28-lap scrap tha t, at one stage , saw II bikes going for the lead . T he Americans? Scott Ru ssell led bo th races, cras hed ou t in the first then str uggled to hook up his tires on the na rr ow ribbon of dr y lin e in race two. Polen quite simp ly couldn 't run with Slight's Kawasaki in race one , and after a bad start in the second - and overcoming an earl y brake problem had to be cont ent with sixth place. K 10 ' Qualifying Contin ua lly changing weather conditions p layed havoc d uring qualifying a t th e 2. 194-mile Circui to de Albace te and, wit h 72 riders chasing 36 gri d pl aces, sessions were divided into two groups. . T he sole tim ed session o n Frida y was the o nly real shot competitors were to get at po le with the tra ck either wet - or at best damp - all da y on Saturday. We did, however, learn from qual ifying that the expected Duca ti vs. Kaw asak i war was for real. Yamaha, H onda and a solitary new Suzu ki were no t in th e sam e ball park in Spa in or so everybody thou ght. T eam Vogart (aka Pol ice) Du cati's Gian carl o Falappa secured po le with hi s very last lap on Friday - a one minute, 34.55-seco nd go-around at an average speed of 83.532 m ph - well ins ide Daniele Amatriain 's 1:35.29 lap record set on ly two weeks before duri ng a Spa nish International Su perbi ke ro und. The new-look Ducati team, ma naged by former 500cc World Champ io n Fra nco Unc ini, fro nt ed with Dunlopsho d, '91-spec bikes, spo rt ing minor updates including new Ohlins forks and rear unit, a marginal increase in hor sepower, and a new clu tch. Both Falappa and Polen opted to ru n o nly four gea rs on the tight Alba cete track - whi ch has no major straightaway worthy of mention. Falappa look ed back to h is preAustr ia-1990-cra sh best, bu t wit h th e ro ug h edges gone. Duri ng the winter he had correc tive surgery on a trapped nerve in his sho u lder (legacy of th e Austria crash) and reported him self full y fit - a lt ho ug h insiders suggested the Itali an still lacks strength in his left arm. Daytona 200 winner Scott Ru ssell was disappointed no t to snatc h pole in the final timed sessio n when th e track was virt ua lly dry for a sho rt tim e. Ano ther Dunlop runner, he pumped in I:34.99 o n Sat urday , just failing to improve o n his Friday I:34.62 best o n the Mu zzy Kawasaki. " I wa nted to get pole, I' ve never been on po le in a World Superbike ro un d," dr awled the lan ky Geor gian , spo rt ing the loudest pink and gr een Dainese leathers you've ever seen . "I gu ess a win tomorrow will make up for today. The weather has made qualifying fru strating - and there's a lot of traffi c ou t there. " Ru ssell was u sing his Da ytona winn in g bik e minus the 41mm fiat slide carbure tors perm itted in AMA raci ng - but the bike was still producing the sam e horsepower as it had in Flor ida. T eam o wner Rob Muzzy .co mmented: " After Daytona we experimented wit h different len gth intakes to match wit h the 39mm car bs and duplicated our Daytona performance figures o n th e dyn o. " The Muzzy Kawasakis looked very different from the other Kawasakis with th eir P erfo rmance Machine bra kes and alu mi niu m spun wheels. T hey were also the on ly team amo ng those with J apanese machines running a full co mpu terized diagnostic system . T hi rd -fas te st was Slight with a I:34.68 on th e factory Kawasak i. He hadn 't raced in the wet since 1989 at Sugo, yet was quickest of hi s group in th e wett est session. " I'm rapped," he said. " I' m a bit surprised it's going so well. But I think it's po ssibly becau se this track is new for everyone. Maybe wh en we get to Donington, I'm go ing to stru ggle a bit more. Everyon e else will kn ow exactly how to set th eir bikes up there." The offi cial Kaw asak is, like the Muzzy mach ines, spo rted the latest Ohl in s suspension and a new rear linkage. The ch assis also has more bracing. With improved Michelin tires allied to chassis altera tio ns, it meant the team was ab le to overcome their seaso n lo ng bu gbear of 1991 - wheelsp in. " It means we can put the power to the ground much better now , we're trying to get it coming off the turns like a Du cari ,' exp la ined team boss Peter Doyle. Roche was fourt h quickest with a 1:34.70. He now runs his own private team - with wo rks bikes - but remains with Michelin. " I was offered a place in the Uncini team," revealed Roche, "but I prefe rred to stay with Michelin." Local hero Arnatriain was fifth quickest wit h hi s Marlb oro backed Du cati - just 0.01 off Roche's time . And then came Polen , down in an uncharacteristic sixth place with a 1:34.78. During the Friday timed session the T exan had been trying several differen t of what he calls, "combi natio ns" tires and suspension - and mis sed hi s o n ly real chance for a hot lap. H e made a bold effor t in the final Saturday session, but the final two turns on the race tra ck were still damp and his best lap - just before the rain cam e aga in - was a 1:34.77. " I was doing a lot of tire testing and didn't really have to expec t to qualify for pol e in that first sessio n ," he admitted. It was impressive that he managed the time with his test bike . "W e were trying a few more combinations gearing - but th at didn 't work ou t