Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE parked right next to Slight's. Russell had clocked the best time in the morning ses- m Piergiorgio Bontempi (10) gQt the jump over Carl Fogarty (4), Stephane Mertens (7) and the rest of the pack in the first race in Spain. Brit Carl Fogarty was unstoppable at AIbacete, winning both Superbike legs. Fogarty doubles, Russell takes points lead in Spain By Johan Vandekerckhove ALBACETE, SPAlN, MAY 30 rands Hatch had been wet. Hockenheim had simply been a question of getting attached to the right freight train at the right time. Surely, the.circuit of Albacete was going to be the place where it would happen: Spain would be the perfect arena for Giancarlo Falappa and Scott Russell to give us the first, no-nonsense confrontation of the season between the two title favorites. Well, both did clash, but their battle ended in the dust during the first of two legs. For Falappa, it was just one of those weekends - a few hours later, he also ended the second heat prematurely, his Ducati coasting to a halt. At the same time, Russell went on to take second place, catapulting him into the lead in the B 18 World Championship point standings. But the man of the moment was Carl Fogarty. Aft~ receiving an updated version of the works Ducati, he rode it like a man possessed to take victories in both legs. The two-race sweep moved Fogarty up to fifth in the standings with 64 points, 17 points behind new leader Russell. The Georgian leads his Muzzy Kawasaki teammate Aaron Slight by on two points, 81-79. Falappa dropped to third with 75 points, just 10 points clear of fourthplaced Fabrizio Pirovano. Qualifying For most riders, Albacete was not a new venue. 1be two-year-{}ld circuit had already hosted a World Superbike round, and even Scott Russell had visited 'La Torrecica' during one of his few trips to the Old Continent. Strangely, Spaniard Juan Garriga was the exception to the rule: "When 1 came down to Albacete, 1did not have a clue as to where the circuit was. And I must admit that this kind of Mickey Mouse track is not really my cup of tea. Despite my second place at Hockenheim, 1 am still not used to riding a superbike properly. Especially in terms of acceleration - a four-stroke is a whole different ballgame compared to a two-stroke Grand Prix Jnachine." Garriga, still some kind of a national hero on the Spanish race tracks Gudging from the number of banners), was 10th after a pretty uneventful official practice. He agreed, however, with all of his colleagues that the track was very slippery. Aaron Slight, Terry Rymer and Daniel Arnatriain were among the best-known riders who crashed during practice. Kiwi Slight and Marlboro-backed Spaniard Arnatriain only had to clean the inside of their bikes' fairings from gravel and dust; Rymer, though, had to go see the doctor, where they found some tom ligaments in the Brit's wrist. It would not keep him from putting down some ultra-fast laptimes, though. Pole position eventually went to Slight, who had only allowed his teammate Russell to lead him after the first (of two) timed sessions. For Slight, this was his first pole position in his World Superb ike career: "Yeah, 1 am pretty happy," he said. "Especially as my headache and my sore neck from Thursday's crash only wore down today. The best engine, which was in the crashed bike, was built into another chassis, and that worked out fine. 1 get to know the Dunlop tires too now; I learnt a lot abou.t sliding a rear tire during our private test session at Brno (Czechoslovakia) a week ago. We didn't have a perfect tire, and I had to start pushing the bike further than I was used to in order to make some decent times. And I agree that it is much more fun when you can slide the bike around. Still, this track will be very hard on tires tomorrow, and we can only hope to pick out the right set" The second Muzzy Kawasaki was sion, but later concentrated on testing race tires for Dunlop: "1 managed to do a full race distance in the second session, and in the last couple of minutes I wanted to have a go at Aaron's times. But then everybody got in my way.w Russell only used one bike the whole day, and his mechanics even removed the computer equipment which had been installed on the bike on Friday. "We just don't have a guy who can concentrate on that data," Russell added. Third fastest time went to Fogarty, who had - like his Ducati colleagues - an evolved engine at his disposal. Apart from the different cylinder and piston. the Italians had put much effort into the oil circulation system, which had caused them so much trouble in Hockenheim. Fogarty didn't change a lot on his bike after the first practice session, but he did use double carbon brakes for the first time. Until Hockenheim, he had felt more comfortable with the steel/carbon mix. But the very tortuous circuit and the high temperatures made him change his mind in Spain. "I am really getting into the groove now," said the man from Blackburn, England. "I am a rider who needs to spend a lot of time on a bike before feeling really well The British rounds I did have allowed me to get into the right gear. Let's wait and see what happens tomorrow." 1be fourth rider on the first row was Piergiorgio Bontempi, who was using a different gearbox in his .Kawasaki after a private practice session at Misano in Italy. Rymer made the Dunlop success story complete by guiding his Henk De Vriestuned Yamaha to fifth place on the start- . ing grid, despite his sore hand after the Thursday crash. The second row was occupied by Falappa, surprising Mauro Lucchiari, Darn Amatriain and Stephane Mertens. An excellent performance by the Belgian, when you take into account that doctors discovered some days after his Hockenheim practice crash that he had five cracked vertebrae and a severely damaged pelvis. "It can be dangerous only when I get off the bike before the £lag has dropped," the Ducati-rider tried to summon up courage. Simon Crafar.(who will use a borrowed Ducati from the Roche Team in four more Superbike races) was 11th and the first official Yamaha was only 12th, ridden by Fred Merkel "We went to do some testing in Misano a couple of weeks ago," Californian Merkel said- "And the carburetion and rear suspension problems seem to be resolved now, but I am a bit worried about the tires. I can't find any traction on this track." Merkel was followed by Rob McElnea, Fabrizio Pirovano ("I don't like riding sideways for half of the circuit") and Adrien Morillas, who still has to do with only one Kawasaki, lent to him by the French importer. Tripp Nobles definitely went better than he had on the "autobahn" circuit of Hockenheim, where pure power is the name of the game: "I'm not so far off the pace here," the 19th placed Georgian remarked. "But I can't get all the power down. Maybe I just haven't chosen the right tires today." Only one rider had to be sent home after the two practice sessions as only 37 riders had tried to qualify for the 36 spots. Race 1 Pirovano and Falappa no longer have the monopoly on holeshots. At noon sharp, with the 30,000 fanatic Spanish spectators igniting their fireworks along the track, Bontempi got away first when the lights turned to green for the first

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