Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROADRACEw~~o~_~_~_s_~_~:_h_oo_d_4~~~~~~~~~~ ~ o ~ - ~ Fabrizio Pirovano (5) was the fastest at the start of race one , bu t was gobbled up by Gi ancarlo Falappa (9) on the first lap. Polen still on top afte p rS a By Gary P in ch in . Photos by John Vandeckerchove FRANCORCHAMPS, BELGIUM, M 24 AY corching place - scorc h in g race. The Belgian rou nd of the Diesel J ea ns World Superb ike Championship a t sunny Sp a, brought the best racing of the seaso n so far. Rob P hill is earne d a br eath taking first-race win after coming o ut best in a sevenbik e ba ttl e wit h his Team Movin g Ka wasaki ZXR750. . But it's the cool T exan, Do ug Pol en, who lead s the cha m p io nship after a mast erf u l second-race win o n the factorv Team Pol ice Duca ti. Polen j udged his charge to perfection, and hit th e front of a n ine-bi ke trai n two laps fro m the 'end to wi n by 0.74 second. Phill is is second overa ll , 10 points dow n o n the leader , after fin ish in g fifth in race two. Raymond Roch e drops to th ird in the series, IS.p oints beh ind Po len . Roche crashed o u t the firs t leg o n the first lap, but came back stro ng on his spa re works Du cati to fin ish fourth. Aaron Slight is fourth o verall , but is losin g touch wi th the leaders after sixth and seventh places finishes. O nce again, the Kiwi had to come from the back after indifferent starts. Slig ht also hit brake prob lems in race two. In wha t will probably be his last Wor ld Su perbike appeara nce for so me time, Sco tt Russell moved u p a place in . th e po ints to fif th , bu t had a disappoi nt i ng day o n the Muzz y Kawasak i. R ussell finished fourth in th e openi ng race, and dro pped to ninth in the seco nd leg wi th fad in g brakes. Italia n Fabrizio Pirova no dropped a p la ce i n th e series to sixth a fter cras hing h is BYRD Yamaha in th e first race wh ile ru nning in the leading group. Pirovani came back to finis h fourth in th e seco nd leg on his spare bike. . S 14 Qualifying Spa is a wo nderfu lly scenic road race . course set between ro lling pine forests of the Ardennes. The 'n ew circu it o n the Superbike sched ule is a demanding 11.25-m ile, u ndula tin g, IS-turn race trac k. It fea tu res several corne rs with mar gin al run-off, but it's very fast, very Ducati l In fact , it was all Ducati in the baking sunshi ne of qualifying, wit h G ian carl o Fa lappa g ra bb i n g hi s seco nd po le posi tion.pf th e seaso n, pi loting h is T eam Police factory bike to a 2 minu te, 29.73 second lap - just 0.10 second quicker than Raymond Roc he o n a si m i la r factory b ike. Roche's tim e was impressive, consideri ng it was don e on Michelin race ru bber, com pared to Fala ppa's q ual ifying Du nl ops. L oca l h ero Ste p ha ne Mertens, wi nner of the Spa 24-Hour World Endurance race last year, set the ea rl y pa ce wi th his WantylTotal Ducati, Another Dun lop runner, he cu t a 2:30.75 in the .very first ti med sessio n but failed to bett er it in the foll owing two sessio ns. H e was p lagu ed by h igh speed sta bi lity prob lem s, just as he was- at Hockenhei m. The bike was o ut of sha pe in Friday's free trai ning but look ed bett er in the tim ed sessio n when he cu t th e fast lap. But the problem re-su rfaced on Saturday a nd Mert ens decided to swi tch to his "T " bik e fo r the race. Po len was fourth fastest overall, but he ra n less ti med la ps (IS) than a ny o ther rider am ong the 36 q ualifiers (po le-sitter Fa lappa did 30). In the first timed sessio n a regul ator fai led (or so th e crew diagnosed ) a nd left h im stranded out on the track after o n ly five la ps. T hen, on Sa turday, Po len did six laps befor e the motor quit again. T his time Po len ran back to the pi ts, some five mi les, to p ick up his spare bike. Th e crew had it rea dy, but wi thout warm tires so Po len didn't qu ite ha ve enoug h time to cut some fast laps befo re the chec kered wa s shown. In the final tim ed session wh ich was littered with crash es, Pol en managed to get int o the 30-second bracket, good enough for fourth overa ll - the time set on hi s "T" bike which he would now have to race with - h is crew uncertain of the problem wh ich ca used the race bik e to keep stoppi ng . The shock of the weekend was Herve Moinea u , who p ut th e French-entered SE RT Suzuki on the front row. He was the last rider to break in to the 30second bracket with a 2:30.93 lap another good effort on race Michel in s. . Bett er known for h is World Endurance raci ng, which makes him a n expert around the Spa circui t, Mo ineau co m me n te d : " Sp a su its t he Suzuki very much . It has a lot of long technical co rn ers where you need to ge t o n the gas very earlyjo go fast. With the new Suzuk i (eq uipped wi th CV Car bs) I can do thi s." Carl Fogarty was a Spa rookie bu t was six th fastest wi th a 2:31.18 using his factory -supplied engine in the fin al session of qua lifying for the firs t time. " T o be ho nest, I ca n ' t fe el m uch d ifference in the engines. Ma ybe the factory engine is a tin y bi t quicker bu t th ere's no grea t punch lik e I was expecting." Fog arty co mp lained of fro nt end pus h in severa l of the do wnhi ll , dro p away turns that are a feat ure at Spa - but reverted to his origina l suspension sett ings for th e fin al sessio n after tryin g so me different ideas - and go ing slower - in the second sessio n . Pi ro vano was hi s usu al coy self in qualifying , pr eferr in g to conce ntrate o n hi s race setup ra ther than chase po le. He too, had suspensio n prob lems o n Fr iday, but partically solved them with the ' a id of Bep p i Russo 's new co mpu ter da ta ga thering system. Suzu ki in fifth, Yam aha in sevent h, so where were the Kawasakis? Russell was aga i n th e best o f th e green machi nes, eig h th qu ickest wi th a 2:31.37 lap set o n Frid ay with the Muzzy ZXR750. " I just do n' t feel co mfortable with the tir es," he said after the final sessio n. " I thi n k we j us t tried too many different things. I was go ing for my race setup in the first session o n Saturday but I th ink we had three o r four race setu ps !" T he Tea m Movi ng Kawasaki pa ir, Phillis and Aaron Slig ht, rounded o u t the top 10 fastest qualifi ers. Phill is d id a 2:3 1.52, bu t Sli g h t just mi sse breaki ng into the 3 l-second bracket. Ph illis was lim pin g badl y around the paddock with wh at he describ ed as a torn mu scle in hi s thig h. ' T v no idea how I did it. Possibl y on m y jet ski, bu t I'm no t sure," he said. "Ir' no t too m uch of a dra ma on the bik thou gh . I'm quite ha p py wit h it thi s weekend. It feels a bi t faster - at least as fast as Ru ssell 's. I reckon I coul ha ve go ne faster in th e last session bu t there were a cou p le of cras hes litterin the trac k an d severa l guys touring in the m idd le of the track. I was followin Russell at the time - ask h im about those guys!" T ea m boss Peter Doyle exp lai ned th d iffer en ce in en g i ne p erform an ce: "After Hocken heim we did som e wor . o n the air boxes, made them bigger just tryi ng to get mo re air in. And we'v don e some cha nges to the call) tim ing." . Slig ht was tro ubled all qualifyin by a front suspension problem. " It wa. really uns ta ble on Friday mo rning a bi t unnerving on a track like thi a nd the fro nt end was pus hi ng. It's stil pushing today (Satu rday) bu t it's no hop ping so much. I think we'll be oka fo r the race and I can impro ve on m times. I'm sti ll ge tti ng used to wher I' m goi ng and co u ld have do ne wit a tow but never seem ed to find on e." The H onda guys were stru gglin wi th Baldassa rre Monti the quickes down in 17th wi th a 2:33.25 lap 0 the factory Rum i bike. He a nd team mate Richard Arn aiz were riding to th absolu te li m it - .a nd ofte n beyo nd to find a pr ecio us few fractio ns of ;. seco nd in the turns to make u p for thei lack o f horsepower. Arnaiz loo ke spectacular , while Mont i loo ked o u of control. Both cras hed in sepa ra te incidents in the fina l tim ed session Neither were injured , bu t th eir cre had to work way past m idn igh t fixin] the bikes. T he o nly o ther H onda to mak e the cu t was th a t of Kiwi Simon Cra far 0 the Castro l Honda Britain RC30. H too was pushing the lim its bu t afte q ua lifying 26th wi th a 2:34.83 la p said "That's as fast as the bi ke will go. - lost some ti me running wit h the wrong suspension setti ngs - we still had the No rt h West 200 setti ng fro m when Ca r raced the bik e last weekend a nd I didn' realize it. But I go t that sorted a nd the bik e's as goo d as it's go ing to ger no w.' R a ce One I In 76 degrees of burnin g su nshin e Piro vano ho lesho t the field into Ea Ro uge, bu t it was Fa la ppa leading a the end of the la p wi th Pi ro vano tucke in behind follo wed by Mertens , Polen Mo in eau , Ph ill is, Monti (from ro fou r l), Russell , Piergi org io Bonternp a nd Slig h t, who had go tten a way wei o n ly to be held u p in Eau Rouge b . two fast sta rti ng but slo wer men. Fo ga rt y never made it into Ea Rou ge. H e bor row ed a 6.25" Marche sini fro m Ferrari for th e race to replac hi s ow n 6.00" rear (hope fully to ge a wid er co ntact pa tch a nd more grip but th e cus h dr ive rubbers d isin te gra ted as h e dumped th e clutch Fo garty disconso la tely pus hed th stricken mach ine back u p pi t lan e. Roche d id n ' t make the first la ] ei ther. He cras hed in .the fast esses ou o n the back of the circui t. "Stu p i cras h, " he sai d. "Trying too hard 0 1 the first la p." T he race q ui ckly took sha pe wi tl a seven-bike draft at th e front compris ing of Falappa, P irova no, Mertens

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