Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

time World T'T F-l Champion has ba gs o f raw talent, a nd promised h im a facto ry eng ine for H ocken heim , but th en cl a im ed th e engine was not fi n ished when the Pol ice Duca ti trucks left th e factor y for the mee ting. Fogarty needed it there, wrecking his two motors in qualifying. H is crew (for mer Ar mstrong GP crew chief Do ug H a ltom a nd Sports Mo torcycles' Steve Wynne) built h im o ne good motor from th e pil e of bits b u t Fogarty cou ld on ly ru n midpack in the races. T he works motor finally surfaced at Spa, but o n ly after Ital ian exhaus t pipe ma nufact u rer Gui di Te m igno ni broug h t th e V-twi n a long wi th some pi pes, in th e back o f h is Mercedes to th e meeting. Fogarty got to run it in d ur ing th e fin al sessio n o f qualifyin g. Ty pica lly Fogart y, still without a ny 6.50" rear w hee ls (h is Corsa wa s del ivered with th e wrong narrower 6.00" rim s a nd ordered replacements h aven 't yet a rrived), borrow ed a 6.25 fro m Ferrari and th e cush dr ive rubbers disintegrated as he left the sta rt line. H e had to revert to th e 6.00" rea r for ra ce two a nd was handi capped by lack o f dri ve o ut o f the faster co rners. H e ran with the pack by riding on the lim it in th e tight tu rns, but pass ing was virtua lly im possible. One int eresting pi ece of equipment Foga rty's team has is a n Australian manu fact ured Fuel Inj ecti on Managemeutprograrnrner wi th which th ey ca n d ia l in th e ca rb ure tio n o f th e EFI wi tho u t ha vin g 10 cha nge ch ips . On the stock Co rsa th ere are th ree availa ble ch ips, sta ndard a nd six per cent upper or lo wer on carb urerio n. With th e FIM sys tem t h{~y ca n now di al in any va ria tio n o f ca rb u re t ion w it ho u t ha vin g to remove the chi ps etc. Even th e factory bik es do n't have that. The Web er Ma rel l i techni ci an has to remove a ch ip from th e bik e befor e it C"d n be reprogrammed. . This winter, Kaw asak i clos ed th e ga p on the Duca tis but rid ers o f, the green bi kes still have a ma jor problem - gelling th e rev-h ead s to hook up off th e turns. After Spa, th e factory T eam Movin g boss Peter Doy le was returning to Austral ia to carry o ut some development work on new cranksh afts and cylinder heads - in an effo rt to p rov ide their rid ers with more midran ge pow er. Ka wasa k i ' s main fa ctory eff o rt co mes from th e Australian-based , j apanesc-spon sored T eam Moving Kawasaki du o o f Rob Phillis a nd Aa ro n Sli ght. T he gr itty Phillis, 35 a nd still rac ing lik e a 25-year-old, look s a threat almost every race. H e doesn 't a lways qual ify stro ng but wh en h is race face is on , Phillis ge ts ser ious. H e's finished seco nd three times this year a nd took a lon g overdue win in th e. fi rst leg a t Spa . Okay, you co u ld say he was helped wh en Fal a ppa took o u t Pol en a nd Piro va no cras hed o n th e last la p , but th e point is Phill is was in front where it mattered ! H e'll tak e th em any way th ey co rne. Perh aps th e 'o ld man ' has been spurred on by the arrival o f hi s Kiwi teammat e Aa ron Slig h t. The 25-yearo ld co uld not have had a better sta rt to th e cha m p io ns h ip , winnin g a sensa tio na l first race at Albacete, Sin ce the n he' s on ly been on th e podi um o nce, th ird p lace in Germany. Slight 's bi ggest fail ing is his sta rts. On the occas io ns he hits th e fir st turn in front , he invariab ly gets swa llowed u p b y th e pa ck. Even tea m boss Peter Do yle admitted it's a weak poi nt and Slight is well a ware o f th e, prob lem . Almost every race, th e sight of the gree n, red a nd white ZXR 750 co m ing through th e field has been a major feature, It's a spe ctacle for the crowd but when Slight starts gelling th e hol eshots, everyo ne had better wat ch out! T he other fu ll factory ZXR7 50 we' ve seen this year was ridden by T ak ahiro So hwa of j a pa n - a more ag gressi ve customer you are not li kel y to fin d. His unique forward ridi ng position, head somewhere down near the fro nt tir e, is a joy to watch. Sadl y, Sohwa also crashes a lot. In fact , he contrived to th ro w it away at each tra ck and wh en he went do wn in Germa ny rig ht in front of Sl ight, he got hurt. But the japanese rider was schedu led to go back horn e after the third ro und to carry out development work on the factory ZXR -7. But th e fastest ZX R750 in Superbike bel ongs to th e Mu zzy camp and is p ilo ted by SCOll R ussell - the speed tra p a t H ock enheim proved it. Russell neve r quite put a race -win ni ng ride to gether but he was a lways th erea bouts in th e first four races. H e grabbed three third p laces - not bad for a Eu ro roo kie a nd this 27-yea ro ld American fro m Georgia, is des- assemhled a good crew, including Norr is Fa rrow , previous ly on the Rum i tea m with Fred Merkel. BYRD has been running. twin ca rbon Brem bo ro to rs in the last two ra ces and at Hockenheim fronted with a new da ta ga thering system, designed by Russo. Pirovano, like R ussell , ha s run up front virt ually every race with on e of the best all a ro u nd bikes in the series. The bike is a jet and comes off the turns like a rocket. Bu t sources clos e to Pi rovan o say their rider lacks concentration late in the race a nd has blown several po tential race wins. At Spa this was never mo re eviden t whe n he went from first to fo urth in the last lap a nd eventually bi nned itl Two-time Wo rl d Champio n Fred Merkel shou ld have also bee n on the BYRD Ya ma has and many paddock p u nd its point to th e #5 Yamaha and say, "T hat's Fred 's bik e - he wo uld have won th e title on a bike like th at. " After seei ng Merkel ba ttling a way last year o n th e ' d ino sa u r ' R C30, the Co n tenders Ra ym on d Roche (2), Fa brizio Pirovano (5) and Scott Russell dice. tined for much greater things. U nfortunatel y, team politics mean he has to co ncen tra te o n winning th e AMA National Superbike Championship this year and will miss several World C hampio nship rounds. T he Euro series is going to miss th e li keable so u the rne r. T he German Team Kawas akis of Ernst G schwender a nd Andreas H offman hav en 't really done too mu ch so far, bu t Briti sh rider J ohn Reynolds showed what ca n be don e with virtu a lly a sta ndard mach in e o n a tight track like Alab acete. H e led th e second leg but faded to eig h th after letting th e ·m o ment get to him ! The T eam Green UK bikes are p retty mu ch o ver-the-co u nte r kit bi kes wi th th e addi tio n o f some facto ry (back do or) Kayab a suspe nsion. Like th e Muzzy team, they ha ve their priorities in domest ic cha m pions hips which means Reynolds' nex t World outing will not be until Assen . T erry R ymer , ra n ked sixt h in Worl d Su pe rbike. had inten ded ca m paigni ng a full series o n hi s Mobil 1 ZXR7 50, bu t hi s spo nsors wi thdr ew thei r supp an a n d , after spendi n g ten s o f th ousands of do lla rs of 'h is own cas h to keep hi s sma ll team ru n ni ng , gave up to tak e a paid rid e on a j PS Norton rotary in Briti sh Nat ional s. Fabrizio Pirovano' s pe rfor ma nces o n the Yamaha OWOI have surp rise d everyo ne th is yea r. Las t year, th e 0 W loo ked to be co m ing to th e end o f its life bu t the Belgarda Yamaha Ra cin g Divi sion (BYR D) tea m has put some fire ba ck in t he fi ve-valve-percylinder' s bell y. Pi ro va no has a factory su p p l ied O WO l out of the BYR D race sho p. The mo tors ar e tuned by engine wi zard Bep p i R u sso and th e team h a s com bina tio n o f a n aggressive Merk el with a ro cket sh ip wo uld hav e been worth wat ching Ior sure. Right now , Merk el is still sidelined with an ankle injury from pres eason testing. The Californian practiced a t H ocken hei rn but only co mpleted two laps before common sense p revai led . H e co u l d n' t eve n walk w i tho ut cru tches and a few minutes on his feet had th e a n kle bl owing up like a balloon. He certa in ly co uldn' t move arou nd on a ra ce bike. Everyone looks forward to seeing a fill er Merkel in pain later th is month, T he remainder of th e Yamah a riders a re rac ing fo r mi nor pl acings. German P ro Su perbi ke cha m p Udo Mark has a factory bike, entered th rough Mitsui Germa ny a nd has the tal ent to run up front but so far thi s year ha s been plagued by inj u ries . H e was carryi ng a knee inju ry in Spain, cras hed twi ce in Britain - breaki ng his pelvis the seco nd time, was brought down o n the first lap at H ockenheim and is now among th e wa lki ng wo u nded. Other Yam aha p ri vateers incl ude talen ted yo u ngsters Swede Christer Lindholm, lanky Dutchman j effey de Vr ies a nd Fren chm an J ean Yves Mou nier , but all three are being held bac k ridi ng un com petitive mach in ery. Su zuki, cons idering th ere is no full fa ctory effo rt, h as put in " a g rea t sho wing in th e past two races, th anks to Dominique Meliand 's Suzuki End u ran ce Ra cin g T eam (SERT) rider Herve Moineau . He fini shed a promisin g seventh a nd 10th in Germany, but surprised everyo ne qualifyin g on th e front row in Belgi urn . H e also ra n a m ong th e leaders until th e engi ne let go in the first leg . The. bik e is a kitted version o f th e new wat er-cooled bik e, but the tea m obviously benefits from years o f Suzuki experience - and factory help. Mo ineau runs m e same suspension that is filled to the works endurance racer. Moineau is als o an expert at Spa, having clocked cou ntless laps o n factory Suzuki endu ra nce bikes, With me CV carbureted GSXR750 WN , he was ab le to get on me gas reall y ear ly out of the very technical Spa turns a nd was n 't losing out much on top end either. Meliand ran a second ride r at Spa, Christian Laviell e, in place o f m e injured Patrick Igoa. Unfortunately, we won 't be seeing too much o f th e Fren ch team in the remainder of m e series. A few more races and we mi ght have gotten a real shock result bu t their budget o nly extends to one more race, j arama or Zeltweg, en du ra nce raci ng being their p riority. For H on da , 1992 is a mak e weig h t year for riders Baldassare Monti and Rich Arnaiz, T he RC30 is hopelessly out- paced now bu t me two rid ers refuse to give up, ridi ng th e whee ls off the purp le and black Rum i bikes. The '92 Aaron Sl igh t is fou rth in the stan dings. bik e which Monti has (Ca lifornia n Arnaiz is on a '91) is lillie diff erent to last year's. It has slightly stronger mid-range and a lo nger swing arm with more bracing. Monti , now back to fu ll fitn ess after breaking his leg bad ly las t year, pulled off a hi ghly credita ble sixth in th e firs t race a t Albacete and was ninth at th e first Spa ra ce. But th e guy is o n th e limit every whe re, a nd o ften ca n be seen taking off-track excu rsio ns o nto the grass - a nd cras hi ng. One rider co m me n ted, " It' just as well Monti hasn 't got a fast bike - he ca n't even sto p th e o ne he's go t!" A jet-lagged Arn aiz fail ed to q ua lify in Spain th en brok e h is a n kle a nd littl e fin ger in a hi gh speed crash at Craner Curves, Donington. H e mi ssed H ocken he im but returned to -th e ac tio n a t S pa eve n th ou gh he sti ll wore a l ightweight cast o n the a nk le for wa lking around the pa ddock. Arnaiz looked sensatio nal in q ua lifyi ng, han g in g o ff the bike th rough the turns like no o ne else a nd bo u nci ng the V-Four o n th e lim iter in virtually every gea r. H e eventua lly cras he d in th e final qualifyin g session but no one co u l d fault h is co m mi t me n t. H e ma naged 13th in leg one for hi s fir st poi nts of the season and shou ld be applauded for hi s efforts. It 's go ing to be a lon g, hard season for the Honda bo ys - may be next year? While H onda 's du o can only dream of a new bike next yea r, th e rest of the factory guys ar e - gunning for tha t World Championship tit le, II rounds, 22 races away. After witnes sing the a weso me spec tacle a t Spa, one wonders wh ether th e cha m p io ns h ip can contin ue to del iver su ch thrilli ng racing. Or is th a t man Polen just getting into hi s s~d~ Q 21

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