Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Wild card works Yamaha rider Norihiko Fujiwara was 10th, riding quite alone. Cagiva's Doug Chandler was also hampered by injuries after his crash in Malaysia two weeks before, and was 11th, another 30 seconds behind. A strong privateer battle for 12th saw slow starter Niall Mackenzie and the Valvoline Roc-Yamaha catch up to claim the position, only to lose it again to Arakaki who went shooting past at the chicane on the last lap. The Scotsman protested that in fact the Japanese rider had completely and deliberately missed the comer, but the protest was rejected and the result stood, with Arakaki claiming the position by three-tenths. Udagawa, who had been with them, was 14th, 24 seconds behind at the finish; Briton Emmett was 15th, claiming the last point. In fact he had fallen at the hairpin, but climbed back, losing only 15 seconds, to defeat Laurent Naveau by half a second. There were 24 finishers: retirements included Marlboro Yamaha's Luca Cadalora, troubled by bad handling with the same Mk3 frame as teammate Rainey, which was not cured when he pulled in for a tire change; chicane crasher John Reynolds (Harris Yamaha), Mat Mladin, whose Cagiva broke down, "The engine stopped so I parked it. I don't know what was wrong.", and Lucio Pedercini, lucky to escape serious injury in a very heavy highside crash that almost took him into the bridge under the main straight. The circus now goes to Europe with 11 races left, and Rainey leading Schwantz, 7lH>1. Beattie is third on 49, and ltoh and Criville equal fourth on 32. 250cc Grand Prix Nobody could have asked for a better race than that which started the day. It featured local heroes in triumph, but only over a truly valiant effort by the opposition. It carne from Loris Capirossi, whose last lap crash out of a very hard-won lead may have broken his own heart, but certainly won many of those watching. As pole qualifier Harada dashed straight into the lead, he was pursued by a gaggle of Hondas, ridden by Romboni in second, Capirossi third and Max Biaggi Schwantz on pole, agc=::ain.::.....-. _ he top class arrived for the third race with all the important works riders in an improved state one way or another. Title leader Wayne Rainey had a new frame - MkIII - as did teammate Luca Cadalora; Michael Doohan was in better physical condition, and also had an ingenious way of recovering his use of the back brake, lost since June last year; Doug Chandler wasn't quite fit, but his injured hand was a lot better than it had been in Malaysia. But the best off of all was Kevin Schwantz, not merely still favorite because of his strong preseason tests, but also with factory-fresh engine modifications for his Suzuki, designed to improve carburalion accuracy both for starting (after two slow starts at the previous rounds) and also better top-end. "The bike is running stronger at the top and also feels smoother. In fact, though the Honda might still be a . . little better in top speed, the Suzuki seems all round to be the best bike out there at the moment:' he said. Schwantz did much mOre than merely qualify on pole, almost a full second ahead of the next fastest man. He dominated every practice session, able to lead without risks or even conspicuous effort, and. sitting pretty {or a strong race, as long as it remained dry. "If it rains, it's a new ball game for everybody," he said. He was really enjoying the bike and the ease with which he could dominate. "I tried sorne steering changes on Saturday morning to see if I could make the bike better..It was worse, but it doesn't matter. We were still fastest, and I know not to carry on III that direction. My only choice is which tire to use - we're faster than everybody on either one of the possible choices." He was even pleased when he looked over his shoulder. Instea~ of title leader Rainey, his major opposition, it was Shinichi Itch second, from ~ closmg stages of the final session, exhibiting determination and local knowledge III equal measure, ~d expressing himself surprised to be the fastest Rotlunans Honda rider for the first time. "I think I could have gone faster than Schwantz too," he added. "But I couldn't find a clear track." Rainey was third, less than a tenth down on Itoh, but. almost a .full sec~d slower than Schwantz. Never to be discounted for the race, he still had qw.te a bamer to surmount, and remained huddled with his engineers in the pit for a long lime after the session. Significantly, Team Roberts had discarded their electronic CES Ohlins suspension, used for the past year, out now ad~ another tric~ variable to their chassis setup difficulties. But Rainey was pleased Wlth the new chassis. "1 believe I'll race it," he said. "It's a step in the right direction. What it's done is to bring us back to the mi~e of the avail~ble !!djustrn~t for weight distnbuti~and pension. It still has a kinda vague feeling III the middle of the comer, but It turns III good and the whole bike feels more relaxed." Less than two-hundredths slower, a remarkable showing, came Doohan. The Australian has been relaxed and cheerful all season, but had much more to be happy about here in spite of a spectacular spill on Saturday mornin§ at t~e fourt~-gear Dunlop curve. "My left wrist is a lot better so I can brake harder, he SiUd. "But It was still stiff. I fell because I misjudged a tire on only my second..fast lap on i~ - I like to get to the point where it slides so I can judge how it feels, but this one let go III a hurry and I was down. Anyway, the crash bent my wrist back and loosened it up. It was like a lot of physiotherapy all at once.- I hope it wasn't too much." . ! Row two was led by the impressive Alex Barros, w~o has taken well to the Suzuki and was higher earlier in the session. "I wa,s happy WIth ?ne bike, then I ~~ out the other (my Malaysian race bike) to see the difference, and It went even faster, he said. "I think I will race that one." Daryl Beattie on the third Rothmans Honda was battling, rather surprisingly considering his extensive experience of Suzuka. "I can't seem to get the bike to feel comfortable," he said. "I've lapped faster here before, so i~'s real frustrating. I've been P"laying with suspension and tires. I hope 1 can put something good together ~or the race. Wild card rider Kevin Magee, in his first and probably only GP this year, was along- T su;r Loris Capirossi (65), Tadayuki Okada (18) and Tetsuya Harada (31) in their 250cc battle. fourth ahead of Okada. But Romboni was soon dropping off the back as the Rothmans bikes of Okada and Biaggi forced past. Biaggi was soon to stop, his drive chain snapped after just four laps; by which lime there were only three in it. Harada still led, Capirossi held second from Okada. The Japanese riders were in control on their home track, Capirossi was always trying conspicuously hard just to stay on terms, and he had already been given early warning of the possible cost, only just managing to stay in control of a near high-sider coming out of Degner Curve under the bridge on lap two. Okada seemed to have a clear power advantage, and passed Harada for the side, just four-hundredths slower than Beattie, .but mOre than two seco~ds down on Schwantz, and also battling with injuries including a badly mauled.little finger. . Barely a tenth down and concluding row two came Chandler, his hopes for a strong Cagiva finish in the stronghold of the Japanese rivals dashed by his Malaysian hand injuries. "It's a lot better, but it's spoiled my confidence because I don't have the strength to hold on to it if it slides," he said. "It's painful under braking, and I can't flick the bike the way it needs it through the Esses. We're gonna strap it up real tight for the race. Maybe that'll be better." Second wild card Fujiwara led row three, less than three-tenths ahead of fellow Yamaha rider Toshihiko Honma. Which was a remarkable peforrnance from the latter, since he only rode the bike for the first time on Saturday afternoon, in just one session. He was on Freddie Spencer's Yamaha France bike rather than his own, and the only adjustment he made was to the seat cushion. It came about after a remarkable (and remarkably sensible) rule-bending episode by Ecclestone's event management committee allowed him to take the place of the very rnisfortunate Spencer. Practice carne alight for the 250s with 20 minutes to go in the £inal session, when Tetsuya Harada blazed around, in a superb two-wheel drift almost all the way, to set a time almost 1.5-seconds inside his own lap record. This was in spite of having been briefly delayed on the main straight by the Honda of ~rto Puig.. . Tadayuki Okada responded at once with an electrifying effort of his own, taking off ~anofu~tenthro~~~ But even this was temporary. Out went Harada again, and this lime nobody got in his way as he reeled off a lap faster than all but five of the 500cc-class riders, a scorcher that cut another seven-tenths off Okada's best. It was a remarkable performanceby any standards, from a supremely confident and styli$h rider at the peak of his f~rrn. . "Pole was ve~ important for me, because there are many Japanese nders m the Japanese GP " he said. "1 pushed very hard to get it back from Okada. But I do not think the rac~ will be at such a fast pace tomorrow, because of tire Wear. I will have to think carefully from start to finish." . . Harada's performance on the Telkor-Valesi Yamaha was the more IIDpresslve, for a third race because his team crew speak no Japanese. All communication comes (said team own~r Valesi) "by feeling and body language", and since the Yamaha was below the top speed of the Hondas at this fast track, communication is obviously highly effective. . Okada (like everybody present) expressed surprise at Harada's speed. "I felt ce~ I was going to make pole position. Just the same, I feel 1 can win tpmorrow, .but obVIously it is going to be a pretty close race. I'll try to save my tires so I can pass Harada across the line," he said. The Europeans had no answer to any of this, though Loris Capirossi also stormed out to try and improve in the closing minutes, after watching Harada's ~ fast lap on his in-pit TV monitor, and simply shaking his head at the sight. Romboru was already out there and redoubled his already conspicuously spectacular efforts to make sure of third pla~e on the grid, two-tenths slower than Okada. Then he crashed in the closing minutes at the chicane, lucky to escape injury. "I'm really happy," he said. "I'm the top European, and the bike and tires were perfect. If I can get a good start tomorrow, I'll try and make it hard for the Japanese riders." Capirossi pole qualifier for the past two meetings, was at the far end of the front row and ~used by the speed of the Japanese. He had improved his own time by alm~t 1.5 seconds over the course of one day, but remained over a ~ond adrift.. Row two was led by Jean-Philippe Ruggia, moving up in the closmg stages. ':"Ith the first really impressive ride this year by himself or indeed anybody on an Aprilia. "The engine is good," said the Frenchman. "We have some settings to test tomorrow, and I . . feel I can improve more." Next to him, by dint of a similarly almost superhuman effort, carne John Kocms!d' finally moving up the order after a dismal and difficult time. New engine parts delivered by the Suzuki factory had sho~ up well on the dyn?, ~t had caused a n~er of problems on the track, proving the often articulated PnrlOpal that a GP race IS the wrong place to test anything new. After wasting a day and getting no higher than 10th, the team aband.oned attempts to improve speed and acceleration, and reverted to engine parts they had had before. . Now the returning former champion was again short of acceleration,. but had missed an important day Ior obtaining the ri~ht ~ ~ttings. "The bes~ thin~ about the old engine parts is they can do a lap," saId Kocmski dryly. "Now we ve hit problems with balance and front wheel grip. I don't know if it's the bike or the tires." 17

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