Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Giancarlo Falappa was unstoppable in his home race, winning both legs of the Ita lian rou nd of the series at Misano. Carl Fogarty (4), Mauro Lucchiari (34) and Scott Russell (11) battle for second place behind the already departed Giancarlo Falappa in the second leg. Falappa dominates at home By Gary Pinchin Photos by Johan Vandeckerkhove MISANO, ITALY, JUNE 27 talian Giancarlo Falappa swept back in to the lead in the Vic tors World Superbike Championship with a perfect d ouble victory in the se aring 95d e gree hea t of the Autodromo Santamonica on the Adriatic Coast of . Italy . Ten thou sand wildly ch eerin g "Duca tisti" watched as Falappa took his time threading the Team Roche Ducati through the pack i n the first leg to battle w ith em e rgi n g y oung star M auro Lucchiari on the Grottini Ducati befo re edging clear to win the .race, In the second leg he took command a fte r an early scrap with Muzzy Kaw asaki ' s Scott Russell, Ducatimounted Carl Fogarty and Lucch iari and took a four-point lead over Russell, who had been held up in the firs t leg with a rear tire that refused to hook up . Kiwi Aaron Sligh t dropped to th ird in the World Championship point I 2.0 s ta nd ings . Slight cr ash ed in the very first practice sess ion an d was left chasin g the correct setu p all weeke n d . Never happy with the suspension on h is Muzzy Kawasaki, he 'n evertheless plugged away to scor e two sixth place finish es. Fogarty moves to fourth in the championship. The Brit ran into transmission probl ems in t he fir st leg a n d then bounced back to finish third after running with Russell for much of the second race. Quali fying Although the Wo rld Supe rb ike Champ ionship v isited th e Mi sa n o Adriatico "Autodromo San tam onica" in 1991, the track layout has been extende d by 610 yar ds - including a tight chicane that takes the riders down to a sw eep ing left and then returning to the old track pa st the pits via a right/left dogleg. Surprisingly, the new po rtion of the track, used for the first time earlier this year for an Italian Superb ike Na tional, was not be tter than the res t of the track: It was slick and rippled th ro u gh th e turns, the righ t of the Varia nte Del Parco dogleg being pa rticu larly ba d . Baldassarre Monti wo n bot h races of the Italian Championship on a De Cecco Ducati earlier in the ye a r, but th e lap record was set a t th e sa me ra ce b y Fabrizio Pi rova no o n a Ya m aha . Pirovano cl ock ed th e one-m inute, 36.779-second lap on h is custo me r kit bike, not the full factory YZF. Bu t i t was Fa lap pa who se t th e quickest ti me on th e fina l la p of th e fi nal sess io n, a 1:35.467. The time, though, wa s de fini tely a case of one or two fast laps an d not cons ist ent 35s. Falappa was still hurting from his testing crash at Mu gello the Monday prior to Misano, s uffe ri ng a badly bruised right foot, and was not strin ging a lot of hot laps toge the r. Falappa was us ing a thumb operated, electric gearshift on his Team Roche Ducati and - like all official Ducati team riders - tes ted a 16.5-inch fron t Michelin for the first time durin g qu alifyin g. Lucchiari was sec ond quicke st , he and the factory Gro ttini Ducati the only combination to di p into the 1:35 range. Bu t the t imes we re close b eh ind as an o the r e ight riders we re in the 1:36 bracket. Russell was third fastest with a 1:36.050, the M uzzy rider not using qua lifying rubber in an effort to concentrate sole ly on race setup. "I tried for a 1:35 but it just wa sn 't p oss ible," Russell admi tted. "The Ducati rid ers, particula rly the Italians, h ave an advantage here beca use th ey ha ve so many lap s on this track . But I don' t think the lap times will be as fast tomorrow . I can't see anyone getting away. It loo k s like it's go ing to be another tough race." Foga r ty was fourth quickest, but the re was only .001-o f-a- se co n d between him and Russell. The Brit d idn't have the .Team Roche Ducati d ialed in perfectly: "The b ike's not steering quick enough. It feels like the fro n t end wants to tuck under. We've n ot had any problems until here. The tra ck is a bit rough. We tried the 16.5 wheel and I hoped it would cure my problem but I d idn't think it made much difference." Piergiorgio Bontempi completed the front row with his 1:3 6.639 on the Bertocchi Kawasaki, but Slight sat right behind Falappa on the grid after setting fifth fastest time. "I suppose it's a good place to be," Slight grinned. "Let him (Fa lap pa ) bu lldoze a big hole into the first comer. "Th e lo cal g uys are going to be a drama h ere," Sli ght con tinued. "The back stre tch with the fas t left-hande rs is where the y (the Italia n riders) make up the time. If you don't get the throttl e on at exactly the right poi n t you can lose up to half a seco nd in that section." Slight ad de d: "Fa lappa has no qualifyi ng tires (Michelins) so his fas t lap was impressive. I tried a so ft compound and hop ed to get on the front ro w but wh en I wen t ou t I got caug ht in traffic and never go t a clear ru n." Stephan e Mertens and Bald assa rre Monti completed the second row. Monti was full of praise for this BYRD ' Yamaha in his first race on the bike: "I love this motorcycle," he exclaimed. "It's very, very fast. But w e have one small problem - the h a n d li n g is not right. We have some work to do ." Mon t i was still quicke r th an h is teamma te Pirovano, who is said to enjoy a five horsepower advantage with his full factory YZF over Mon ti's cus tome r kit motor. Juan Garriga was nin th fastest on the wo rks Grott in i Duca ti, Pirovano 10th and Fred Merkel 11th . Merkel had bee n dropped fro m the BYRD Yamaha team - his place taken by Mo nti - and was aboard a Tea m De Ceccho/ Red Devils Racing Ducati. The Duca ti was bearing a full works motor which had been plugged in for qu alifying, but the mo to r o n ly r an o n o n e cylin der in the last session and finally blew up. That mean t Merkel - who ha d been an impressive sixth qu ickest in the morning session - w ould start fro m the third ro w with a brand new engi ne that really nee ded so me mileage to break it in. Right b eh ind M erkel w as Terry Rym er, who jus t failed to break into the 1:36s. His crew h ad just fi n is h e d rebuilding th e clutch, s p u n the rear wheel only to hear an omi no us clunking sound. Rather than stri p the motor to check it ou t, they op ted for a full motor change on ly m inutes before the fi n a l session. T h e go t the motors s w a p p e d in 34 minutes a n d go t the Pepsi Galp Yamah a ou t on the track missing jus t the first five minutes of the sess ion. . Race One Lucchiari got the jump on the field in to turn o ne. He was chase d b y Bontempi, Monti, Mertens, Russell and the res t of the pack with Merkel bu rsting fro m the third row into ninth p lace. Merkel's charge di d n ' t last lon g as the standard 888 motor was no ma tch for th e fac tory bikes in the race: "Th e mo tor was only pulling. to 10,500 rpm when it should pull 12,000," Merk el sai d. Lucch iari looked in good form u p fron t, building a I.22-seco nd lead in the first five lap s, but behind him Falappa had his head down and was closing. "I didn't want to risk everything in the first few laps," Falappa said. "I knew it would be possible to get to the front so I was patient. If I charged too hard too so on I could have used my tire." The battle for second was between Mertens and Bontempi at this stage while Falappa was in the fourth-place scrap with Rus sell, Fogarty and Pirovano. Bontempi cra shed at the Tramonto Horseshoe on the sixth lap '

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