Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Marlboro Yam aha. It was only when they ran int o a group of backmarkers, whi ch Doohan judged perfectly, that he was abl e to open a decisive ga p that meant the race was won. ' Doohan had a few slips and slides after tha t, and on ce scattered stones across the track as he gouged ou t some turf dragging his knee inside the apex of on e of th e tight curves. But he had only one really na sty moment, when he passed a slower rider only to find another much slower bike in front of that. " I had no choice but to go off line to pass both of them ," he said. Nothing daunted, he rode on to wheelie across the line to tumultuous applause. By now, Rainey was almost seven seconds adrift, having accepted second after the backmarkers broke them up. His left hand is still painful, and he was well aware that second was a lot better than the zero points he scored after crashing in japan. " Mick was towing me along a bit until we got into those backmarkers," he said, adding: "The new chassis worked the best it has all weekend. It feels more like last year's bike , and ' that's what I like." He had ridden like a champion, and threatened Doohan far longer than anyone had expected. "If that's what he's like when he's only 70 percent fit, it 's going to be tough," grinned Doohan. Beattie had a lonely but admirably sensible race, staying fast and keeping out of trouble. He had expected Schwantz to counter-attack, but in fact The sensation of the 500cc GP was Daryl Beattie; the young Australian finished third in only his second 500cc GP. he had easily outpaced any pursuit, and gained valuable GP experience. " It was the best result I could have expected," he said . He was some 18 seconds behind at the finish; Schwantz was by then another 12 seconds back , and he had luid sliding ina wav reminiscent Ofhis tiding of a year or two back, and making his efforts look very aggressive,althoughradiel' like hard w6rIL . And . to good' effect, sinoe he secured secoIld" in both timed .practice sessions; ending' up a fraction slower than his own pole of last year, but less than halfa-second down on lDoohan at 1:31.193. "We're like developing two new bikes here," Rainey said. "But I'm happy. The new chassis are different from each other. Both are less stable than before, but I can feel ihetires better." Michelin tire supremo PierreDupasquier did not approve, however, when asked if it meant that the new-generation French tires were more sympathetic than the old, and easier to slide, like the less grippy Dunlops. "It is not anything different about our many new tires. He should not be sliding. It tears the tires up," he opined. Daryl Beattie made the most of his holiday from japanese racing and unexpected second chance of 500c( GP racing after switching to a combination that put Gardner'snew engine in a I991-style chassis the same as Doohan's, He had the advantage of500ccexperience in japan, as well as intimate knowledge of Eastern Creek, and the undoubted benefit of Erv Kanernoto's backing - but even so his eventual third place overall (1:31.518) was impressive. His style was smooth and collected, and he didn't appear to be sticking his neck out, leaving his more seasoned rivals with only the comfort that their greater overall race experience might help put the upstart back in his place. Even Doohan might be considered to be feeling his fellow-Queenslander's hot breath down the back of his neck. "I don't expect to beat Mick or the other top guys," said Beattie. "T hey're really fast, and when they break away from the start you never get it back. I'll try and get a good start and try and hang on to them, and then wait and see." The final front-row starter was Kevin Schwantz, whose Suzuki was a great deal closer to being competitive at one of its worst tracks . "The bike's improved a whol e lot .since last year, and even since our tests here before th e season," he said. "It feels Iikeit's nota whole way off, though we're still short of rear traction. " He was in good spirits, perhaps helped by being ahead of new teammate Doug Chandler, after being forced to accept second-best at Suzuka. Another psychological boost was running comfortably with Doohan in Saturday morning's free practice, with the Suzuki holding tight lines while the Honda was jumping around rather a lot. In fact, as Schwantz knew, Doohan was on well-used tires while his were new - but it still made an encouraging sight. The absent Kocinski occupied fifth spot, with Eddie Lawson taking over in sixth to head the depleted row two. The Cagiva had a new carbon-fiber swingarm, which was just part of a package of minor improvements that allowed him to improve by almost one-and-a-half seconds between the first timed session and the last. This put him narrowly ahead of Randy Mamola's Yamaha, with the returned American veteran admitting to finding the highly technical and slow circu it difficult to learn after a year off bikes. Chandler was rather dispirited to be only eighth fastest. His biggest problem came on the first day of practice, when his team chased an engine problem for much of the day before discoveringthat the exhaust power valve mechanism on the lower pair of cylinders was snagging on the extra lower radiator used in hot conditions. After that he was simply behind, and at the end of practi ce was getting increasingly desperate about problems (very familiar to Schwantz last year) of getting the bike balanced. "I get the front to stick and the back goes loose, never been in a position to fight back. Rather the reverse - he had instead come under attack from his own teammate Chandler, who had closed up remorselessly to go pas t in the usual first turn move just after half-distance. For the next six laps it seemed that the Suzuki new boy would beat the team's top man in the dry as he had done in the wet at Suzuka. Then Schwantz suddenly started to move again, firml y pushing Chandler back into fifth and moving ahead by some five seconds over the line . so I fix that then the front moves around." the Californian said. "I'm almost tearing my hair out!' Next came Mackenzie , who now has a British mechanic to lend him moral and mechartical support in his 'otherwise predominantly French team. He was within hundredths of Chandler, with the pair of them more than two seconds "slower than Doohan. Alex Criville was less than a tenth slower on the Campsa NSR Honda, followed by Garriga's Yamaha, then Australian Peter Goddard on by far the fastest-ridden of the privateer Yarnahas, although another second down on Mackenzie. Goddard was trying hard at home, and crashed in the effort on the first day, escaping unhurt. ' Row four was led by Alex Barros, the Cagiva visibly going for it without getting very far, follow ed by Eddie Laycock's '91 Yamaha, then Miguel DuHamel's '92 works bike. The GP newcomer admitted he still had a lot to learn in the switch from U.S. superbikes, but did not accept any blame for a last -session crash, instead fingering japanese privateer Arakaki for knocking him off. The privateers were spread 'out from Thierry Crine in 16th place and more than four seconds slow er than pole position, via Serge David in 17th, then Arakaki, Dominique Sarron and Kevin Mit chell all the way down to Graves in 27th, Pedercini (Paton) 28th and Sepp Doppler (ROC Yamaha) in 29th. All qualified, to make the biggest 500cc GP grid for years. In 250cc qualifying it was Hondas again all the way, with those rivals of 1991, Helmut .Bradl and Luca Cadalora, disputing the high ground, the latter also battling against a dose of flu . Thus it was the German Bradl who seized control in the final session , by just two-tenths with a 1:33.980/ 93.966 mph lap, while Cadalora failed to improve in the warm condition s. Bradl'ssuccess came after enforced access of logic. " I have four mechan ics now, and I was getting very confused with all the different suggestions. In the end, I told them to set both bikes exactly the sam e wi th the same tires and the same gearing!' Cadalora would obviously have preferred to get pole position back, but said, " I ran out of tim e in the last session. I was trying many tires, then at th e end I went out to make a couple of fast laps . Unfortunately I only had time to make one. But I don't care so much. I expect a big battle with Bradl, and maybe also Chili. My flu makes me feel not so good, but during the,race I expect to forget it." Bradl had complained to Honda about the new bike 's lack of top end, compared with the ever-pressing Aprilia. and Chili proved the point by qualifying third, less than a quarter of a second adrift, , Carlos Cardus and the Repsol Honda completed the front row, his collarbone broken in morning warm-up in japan freshly plated and, he said, causing him less difficulty than the bike. "We are having trouble getting the engine to run as well as the other NSRs ," he said. ' , Top privateer Andy Preining (Aprilia) again produced an epic qualifying performance to lead the second row from Wilco Zeelenberg. The Dutchman was troubled by the Suzuki's relative lack of mid-range, a penalty on this slow track. Masahiro Shimizu's NSR Honda was seventh, with double I25cc World Champion Loris Capirossi continuing his strong start in the class by qualifying eighth on his production RS Honda, on row two of the grid, and on the tail of the factory bikes. All 37 entrants qualified. 11

• Cover