Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Scott Russell turned in the fastest qualifying lap, but finished second in both races. Tripp Nobles raced the only Honda entry in the field and finished 10th in the first race. In the warm up, we plan to stiffen up the front end, which is how we had it in the very first practice. When we tested at Paul Ricard we had no problems, but here it's so bumpy." The weather didn't help anyone. It was cold, windy and sometimes damp, although both the official qualifying sessions were run with a dry track. The final place on the front row was taken by James Whitham on the Fast Orange Yamaha. He was surprised his lap time had got him that high up as he previously clocked low 30s on his illhandling Suzuki last year. "We're closer than I thought. We're a bit down on power. We've only fitted the kit. There's not a lot of tuning work been done yet. And we've not got the bikes set up dead right yet. Where we are really losing out is mid-eorner grip. I reckon it's costing half a second. But we're getting there." Mertens looked his usual uncomfortable self in qualifying, rarely stringing together two fast laps but he still produced sixth fastest time - a 1:30.45. Brian Morrison was seventh on a barely finished Kawasaki. His crew had only finished building the bike on Tuesday at 4.00 a.m. and drove through the night to be at the circuit for Wednesday's un-timed practice. Morrison had ridden the 1992 bike at Daytona and swapped the factory Kayaba forks and rear unit from the bike to his 1993. "The trouble is the geometry on the '93 bike is different to lasfyear," said Morrison. "There's more front end bias so all our last year settings are irrelevant." Bontempi was ninth quickest, this year with full Kawasaki Italy backing for the Betrothing Kawasaki team - and ostensibly running similar engine equipm~t as the Muzzy team. Pirovano completed the top 10 but the Byrd Yamaha team was another with no track time behind them. Brands on Tuesday's unofficial practice was the first time the bikes had been on a race track in the dry. One wet day at Monza was their preparation for the season thanks to the bikes arriving late from Japan. Pirovano didn't expect big things in the race: "I'm not sure we have the solution. We have suspension problems and will try something in the warm-up. I hope it will work." With Brits Rob McElnea, Mark Farmer and Ray Stringer completing the 1:30 range, the top 13 qualifiers were separated by just 1.3 seconds. Terry Rymer failed to break the 1:3Os barrier with his Yamaha. His best was a 1:31.26 and the decision to go for White Power suspension was proving a bad one - at least at this circuit. The Yamaha front end was so unstable Rymer reasoned he was getting ready to bail off in virtually every tum, and no matter what changes the team, and the WP technicians tried, the problems were not resolved. Other top names in trouble and languishing down the grid included Adrien Morillas, Fred Merkel and former 500cc GP star and now Superbike "rookie," Juan Garriga, and like most others, they were struggling to find a compromise suspension setup caused by the testing Brands course with its predominantly tight corners in the short circuit -which is also very slippery - and the long circuit with better traction and slightly smoother, but much fast corners. Mori11as had won a leg of the French National Superbike Championship a week earlier, but found his bike wouldn't turn in at Brands. Merkel looked lean and mean after a winter fitness training. What he lacked was track time with his Yamaha - one wet day at Monza was it. "Basically we're trying to cram a full test program into two days," he shrugged. "The bike has a lot more acceleration than last year. It feels a lot lighter but we're struggling with the suspension." The French entered SERT Suzuki was the sole GSXR750W in the race. The bike looked immaculately prepared, but Herve Moineau was struggling to get a flying lap. "We have two bikes, both have different carb setups but we have the same carburation problem. It's very confusing. The only answer is bad fuel we think." The only Honda in the entry was the Italian Rumi Honda - the official factory entry, ridden by American Tripp Nobles. The 20-year-old from Macon, Georgia, was impressive, considering he had never raced a superbike or been on slicks befor~ - apart from a club race several years back. In the comers he looked good, but the aging Honda lacked the mid range and probably top speed - of the opposition. Nobles was enjoying himself nonetheless: "I was out there following this Ducati guy with Haslam on the back of his lea thers and I figured it must be a relation of his or something. When I got back Merlyn (Plumlee crew chief) told me it was really Ron Haslam'" . Haslam wasn't so happy. He crashed Stephane Mertens turned in 6-4 finishes, and sits third in the series point standings. in Tuesday's unofficial practice when the Sports Ducati throttle stuck wide open as he left the pits. Then on Wednesday he went down again, breaking his shoulder, a rib and two toes. Race One It rained early in the morning and for the warm-up there was a dry racing line, but a few damp patches. Morrison found one and lost the front end under braking for Surtees. He was unhurt in the crash, but the Kawasaki suffered a lot of superficial damage. By the midday start time, the weather was looking ominous. The track was dry but there were rain spots as the field gridded after the sighting lap. Then as they set off on the warm-up lap, the rain came on heavier. At the end of the lap, Falappa drove hard out of Clearways and pulled up at the grid where he and team boss Raymond Roche pleaded with officials for a delayed start until the weather sorted itself out. The officials wisely opted to delay the start by half an hour to allow the teams to swap tires. Initially, most opted for intermediates but as the rain started to lash down, most riders switched to full wets. At 12:35 pm. the first leg got a green. Pirovano, from the third row, got one of his infamous holeshots, but it was Fogarty leading the field as they blasted into sight under the Mobil/Vauxhall bridge before Clearways. However, as Fogarty braked the front end tucked under and down he went. The Ducati sped into the tire-protected barrier and Fogarty followed it in, slamming into the bike as it bounced back off the tires. He suffered sho~der muscle damage and was winded as a result. While Fogarty was sliding, Falappa had to get on the brakes hard to miss him, but got through unscathed. That gave him the break as Pirovano, Morrison and Gschwender, following right behind, had to slow dramatically to avoid a major pileup. Rymer, Britain's other great hope, didn't get that far. He lost it out of Druids and slid to earth. He said: '1 got a crap start, bogged it on the line, but I had done seven of 'em at Paddock and was up to, what 12th? Then coming downhill from Druids I got pushed up on to the curb and lost it." With the terrible conditions, the field quickly strung out and FalapP!l had a healthy lead on the second lap from Morrison, Pirov,ano, and Whitham. Then came a four-man bunch comprising of Russell, Morillas (up from the fifth row), Michael Rutter (from the sixth) and McElnea. Mark Farmer was off at the back of the entire field after miscuing at Druids and running off into the gravel bed. By the third lap, Russell was dear of the group and charging after Whitham. A lap later, Whitham was up to third, past Pirovano. Mertens, who had been 14th at the end of the first lap, pitted to change his helmet which had fogged 17

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