Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

_ B WID ucr w~ ~~~~E_~_i_e ~ :_O_~__I S_~_ R d ~ Defending World Champion Doug Polen (I) leads Aaron Slight and Fabrizio Pirovano; Polen ended up with a 2-6 tally. I had some slides out there, but no more than anyone else," said Sligh t. "People are saying I had it easy but it was really hard work. " Polen stalked Pirovano for second and got by the Italian with five laps to go . Falappa squirmed his way to fourth, with a charging Amatriain taking a good fifth. Monti was sixth - a great result for Honda - but he was another to ben efit from his Mich elins. Comple ting the top 10 were Roche, who never looked comfortable in th e damp condi tio ns, Sohwa, the luckless Phillis and Lopez Mella. 12 R a ce 2 The second race delivered all the ingredients of a classi c superbike race - an II bike train a t th e front, continually changing positions and every manufacturer represented. Before th e start th ere was total confusion on the grid as the majority of teams swapped to full slicks at the last minute - even though th ere were still some damp patches aro und th e course. . Of the front -runners, only .Fogarty and Rymer opted for cut slicks front and rear . Neither had any spare wheels for anything else. 'Russell came out fighting again , leading into turn one and stretching an awesome 100-yard lead five turns into the race. In fact, it was all gr een up front wi th Slight and Reynolds leading the bunch . Then came Pirovano, Fogarty, Phillis and Roch e. One Kawasaki not in th e action was Sohwa's; he p icked up a flat rear two laps into the race. Roche was actually playing i t safe in the early laps. " My start was not so bad but the conditio ns were dangerous," the 1990 World Ch ampion said. "There were lots of pl aces wh ere th e track was still wet so I didn 't want to push too hard, I was happy to follow." Polen was ou t of it after a lousy start left him back in 22nd place at the end of the first lap. "I spun th e rear wh eel," he admi ned. " And after the first race, we had rep laced the brake pads. They weren't bedded in and it took ma ybe 10 laps before I had a good brake." While Pol en played catch-up, Russell's lead didn 't last long when Pirovano shot up th e in side go ing into turn four, a tight right-hand hairpin. Behind th em there was o ne hell of a fight shaping up with Fogarty, riding like a man possessed on his privateer Duca ti, fending off Reyn olds, Sli ght, Rym er, Phillis and Roche. Pi rovano looked to be pulling away, with a 1.2-second lead on the fifth lap - with Fogarty and Reynolds battling third and a fading Ru ssell keeping Slight, who was ra pid ly m ak in g ground after hooking a neutra l earlier exiting the first hairpin, at bay. Russell meantime, wa s making mistakes. "There was a small, dry line and if you slipped off it you were in trouble," he said . "I lost the front end in turn two and lost places. Then I got sideways in the lon g left (turn seven) and ran off th e tra ck." Slight had been frustrated by Ru ssell . According to Slight, each tim e he took Russell in a turn, the Muzzy bike would blast him on th e stra igh t and then baulk him in th e next corner. Slight finally got by Russell on ly to hav e a huge crash after catch ing a damp patch in turn three o n the seventh lap. He was lucky to walk away unhurt as th e bike cartwheeled into the fence. Slight's crash 'barely affected th e leading group. Pirovan o cont inued to lead until lap II, when Reynolds hit the front with a sweet pass inside on . the brakes in turn one. With Fogarty third and Rym er fifth, things were looking good for the Brits , but the man to watch was Phillis, wh o was now fourth and charging. Phillis had given his tir es a good chance to reach temperature but was still hav ing a problem : " I was having a hard time passing rid ers - I couldn' t seem to get the driv e off the corne rs like they were," he said. Roche wa s a lso beg i nn i n g to th reaten, and Monti was doing a grand job o n the Honda in seventh behind the Ducati. Russell, wi th his off-track excursions, had faded to eig h th , just ahead of Amatr ian and Falappa - and Polen was at last getting back into the action in II th and just off the lead ing bunch . Reynolds' glory only lasted three laps wh en he sta rted to lose co ncen tration. "It got to me," he ad mitted. "I go t i n fr ont a n d the n starte d thinking, 'What am I doing here?' Then I started losing concen tra tio n ' and made afew mi stakes." Things were turning sour for the ' Brits. Fogarty's Du cat i mo tor was off, running at 100 degrees whi ch coincided with ' hi s slide do wn th e leaderboard. Rymer was also in tro uble with ' his cut slicks start ing to overheat and slide around. Reynolds' in experi ence gave Pi ro vano the chance to get back in front at the halfway stage, bu t by now the freig ht train consis ted of nin e bi kes - a n d P ol en a n d Ru ss ell , h aving rega i ne d his co nce ntra tio n , had hooked up together and were hauling. T hey joined th e ba ck of the line on lap 18 by which time Phillis had taken the lead and Roche had pushed Pirovano bac k to third. Neither Ameican made start ling progress through th e pa ck apart . from picking up a place each wh en Monti crashed on th e fast right before th e start/finish lin e after hitting a da mp patch. "I chose the wrong tire, it was too soft for the condi tions," Polen said. "You could say we could have gone hard er (tire compound)." But had he burned his tires up coming from the back? " Not at all. My pace was constant all race - got faster and faster. The tire was ju st too soft," Polen said. Six laps from th e end, Ro che took the lead , th en Phillis made a mistake. " When he passed me, I ran off in o ne of the fast right-handers. Then I made a mist ake at the ch icane ," said th e Au ssie. Pirovano was still thi rd , Falappa up to fourth and Amatriain was sending th e loca ls wild, pi cking off place by pl ace to slot into fifth. Polen got by a fading Reyn olds and the Brit gave in to Rus sell a lap later. Arnatriain pi cked up another place, squeezing inside Falappa in the last turn on lap 23 and took Pirovan o th e next lap while Phillis was back on terms with Roche. On the final lap , a ny one of the first three cou ld hav e won as they ch arged nose-to-tail into th e fin al ch icane , but Roche held on wh ile Ph ill is kept th e charging Amatriain at bay. Roche exp lained hi s late-race stra tegy: " I was happy to foll ow until th e last few laps. I was sure I cou ld win and when I too k th e lead, I kn ew Phi llis wou ld not be able to get by. It was better to lead the last few laps." Phillis was close, figh ting back from his two minor mi stakes but his hope for a las t-tu rn, last-ga sp effort failed. " I was pl anning to get in side hi m in the last corne r. I knew if I cou ld pull it off, I could hold him off to th e lin e," Phillis said. " Bu t I wasn 't quite clo se eno ug h and decided i( was bett er to finish second. T his is a long cha mpions hip and po ints are important." Amatriain had to visit th e medical center stra ig h t afterthe race. Thrusting his arm up in glee after cro ssing the lin e, he disloca ted hi s left sho ulder a recurring inj ur y from two previous bad crashes. The Span iard attended th e post-race press conference wi th his arm in a sling. Following his European racing debut, Slight had plenty to celebrate. Pirovano took a sp lendid fourth despite a brake problem late in the race wh en hi s pads wore o ut. Falappa was fifth , coming from a slow start after setting off with cold tir es - a co~se quence of the lat e-minute tire change on the grid. Polen salv aged sixth followed by Russ ell. " My tires were sliding around a lot out th ere," Russ ell said. "Hopefully we can turn it aro und at Donington." Resul ts QUAUFYING: I. Gia nca rlo Falappa (1:34.55): 2. Scott Russ ell (1:34.62): 3. Aaron Sli ght (1:34.68): 4. Ra ymon d Roch e (1:34.70); 5. Daniel Amatri ain . ( 1:34.71);6. Dou g Polen (1:34.77); 7. Takah iro Sohw a (I:35.16); 8. Stephan e Merten s (I:35.28); 9. John Reynolds (1:35.94); 10. Juan Lopez Mella .(1:36.02); I I. Carl Fogart y (1:36. 18); 12. Fabrizi o Pirovan c ( 1:36.34): 13. Pierg Bontempi (1:36.56): 14. Baldassarre Mon ti ( 1:36.58): 15. Fabrizio Fur lan (1:36.61): 16. Ern st Gschw en der ( 1:36.61); 17. Chisrer Lin dhol m (1:36.83): 18. Ed win Weibel (1:36.90): 19. a Virgini o Ferra ri ( 1:36.92); 20. Udo Mar k (1:36.94). RACE 1: 1. Aaron Sli ght (Ka w ); 2. Dou p Pol en (Due); 3. Fabrizio Pirovan o (Yam) ; 4. G ianca rlo Fal appa (D uc ); 5. Dan iel Am au ia in (Duc); 6. Baldassarre Momi (Ho n ); 7. Raym ond Roch e (Duc); 8. Taka hi ro Soh wa {Ka w): 9. Rob Ph illi s (Kaw); 10. Juan Lo pez Mella (Hon ); II. Stephane Mert ens (Duc ); 12. Carl Fogarty (Due); U . Chi ster Lindholm (Ya m ): 14. Terry Rym er (Kaw); 15. J ean Yves Mounier (Yam); 16. Andrea s Hofmann (Kaw); t7. J eCfry De Vries (Ya m ): 18. Karl T ruchess (Kaw); 19. Udo Mark (Yam): 20. Gasto ne G rasse ui (D uc); 21. Chr istop he Guyot (Hen): 22. Ant onio Gar cia (Yam): 23. Edwin Weibe l (Due): 24. Mar c G ra u (Yam ). Time: 48 min., 45.07 sec. Distance: 28 laps. 61.4:37 m iles. Average Speed: 75.612 mp h. Margin of Victory: 9.65 sec. Fastest Lap: Aaron Slight , 1:42.95176.726 mph. RACE 2: I. Ra ymond Roch e (Due); 2. Rob Phill is ( Ka w): 3. Dan iel Ama tria in (Duc ); 4. Fabrizi o Pirovan o (Yam ); 5. G ia ncarlo Fal ap pa {Due): 6. Dou g Pol en (Due): 7. Sco tt Ru ssell (Ka w) ; 8. John Reynol ds (Ka w): 9. Terry R ymer (Kaw); 10. Ca rl f o garty (Duc); 11. Virg in ia Ferr a ri (Due) : 12. Step ha ne Mert en s {Due): 13. Fab rizio Furlan (Due): 14. J uan Lopez Mella (Hon ): 15. Ch ister Lindho lm (Yam ); 16. An dr eas Hofma n n (Ka w): 17. Christophe GuyoL (H on ): 18. Ian Simpson (Kaw); 19. Karl T ruches s (Kaw) : 20. J ean Yves Mounier (Ya m): 21. Ernst Gsc h wende r (Kaw); 22. Marc G ra u (Yam ): 23. An ton io Ga rcia (Ya m); 24. Ma tt Llewellyn (Yam). Time: 46 m in.. 17.74 sec. Distance: 28 la ps, 61.437 miles. Average Speed : 79.623 mph. Margin of Vict ory: .34 sec. Fastest Lap: Dan iel Amatria in, 1:36.4: / 81.906 mp h. 4 WORLD C'SHIP PO INT STANDINGS: I. Raym on d Roch e (29); 2. Fabrizio P iro van o (28); 3. Dou g Polen (27); 4. Dan iele Amatriain (26): 5. (T IE) Ro b Ph illi s/ Gian earlo Fa lappa (24); 7. Aaron Slight (20): 8. (T IE) earl Fogarty/Balda ssarr e Momi (10); 10. (TI E) Stephane Mert en s/Ter ry R ymer / Scott Ru ssell (9).

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