Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACEWorld Championship_R_oa_dRa_ce_Se_rie_s:_Ro_u_nd_8_, _ _ _ -:.- ~ Wayne Rainey (1), here leading Michael Doohan (2) and Kevin Schwantz (34), scored his third win of the seri es. By Michael Scott Photos by Gold & Goose 20 B ARCELONA. SPAIN, JUtY4 a y n e Rainey had to ditch his Yamaha chassis to return to winning form in the Gr and Prix of W Europe at the Circuit de Catalunya this weekend. After seeing his title prospects dwind le race by dismal race on the unsuccessful new fa ctory fram e, the trip le World Champ ion finally cri ed eno ug.h, and fitted his works engine _ wi th a p riva teer-style Roc fram e built in France, based on his ow n works chassis o f 1991. The me ta mo rphosis gave th e Ma r lbo ro Yamaha ri d e r a typica ll y d emoralizing start-to-finish win in th e race, Roc-ing on ho me a head of Ro th m ans Honda's Michael Doohan, less th an fo u r seconds behin d, a nd Lucky Strike Suzuki's Kevi n Schwantz wh o was third . Rothmans Honda's Daryl Beattie was a dis tant four th in a race that m igh t hav e been very different but for a spa te o f m ishap s. Marlboro Honda 's Alex Criville was with the leaders when he fell before th e end of th e first la p ; Sh in ich i Itch' s injec te d Rot hm a n s Ho nda's brake trou ble at the end of the second lap no t only put him ou t wit h a heavy crash, but also eliminated Doug Ch andler 's fas t Cagiva an d sen t Luca Cadalora into the d irt , in wh at h ad threat ened to be the Marlboro Yamaha ride r' s first good race since he cam e to SODs this year. The track played many tricks: stu tterbumps .on the corne r approa ches mak ing sus pe nsio n settings and tire choice cru cial; then a late temperature change combined with half-a-gal e completely altering the character of the highl y technic al mod ern circ uit from m orning to afternoon . The near-hurricane de laye d racing by 30 m inutes, bu t a fai r- size crowd o f ab out 50,000 braved high wi nds , hi gh temper atu res and high ticket prices for th e se co nd GP a t th e modern Catalunyan circu it o u tside Barcelona. Th ey saw a pr ocessional race of a ttri tion, with little in the wa y of close racing excep t for a stirring but unavailing attempt b y N iall Mackenz ie ' o n th e Valvoline-R oc Yamaha to take fift h pl ace fro m Ale x Barros's Lucky Strike Suzuki. Racing in the other classes made up for anytbing lackin g in the main race of the da y. With 250cc title leader Tetsuya Harada of the Telkor Yamaha team an d Assen w inner Loris Capirossi of Marlboro Honda both out early on with e ngi ne fail u re , Rothmans Honda ' s Massimiliano Biaggi prevailed over a fearsome fiv e-bike battle, usin g ba ckmarkers in the closing stages to pull out a 2.6-second lead over Japanese triplechampion Tadayuki Okada on a similar bike, and an inspired Albe rto Pu ig on the Ducad os Hond a, with Kanem ot o Honda's Nob uya tsu Aoki and Ap rilia's Jean- Phillipe Ru gg ia foll owin g th em hom e w ith n o d a y li ght s howi ng betwe en them. Th e 125cc GP was an other thr iller, a n d a popula r w in fo r Ma rlb oro Honda's Noboru Ved a, at the last gasp fr o m Ma rlb or o . Apri lia's Ralf Wal dm an n, after ano ther loca l hero , Carlos Giro, crashed his factory Ap rilia while in a clear lead. Akiro Saito of Elf Tea m Kepl a wa s th ird , H er ri Torrontegui four th, w ith Dirk Rau di es taking the champions hip lead for fifth pl ace, d isplacing non -fin isher Kazu to Sa ka ta, w hose FCC Tec h nica l Sports Honda had engine troubl e. ' 500cc GP Long before half d istance the 25-lap, 73.5-mile 500cc GP had turned in to a replica of one of those borin g 500 races fr om the old days, when th er e was a sho rtage of works bikes and people w ho cou ld ride them, a de arth of privatee rs, and too many processions. From the fifth lap on, th e top fiv e places remained 'the same, with the d istances between most of the riders gradually stretching as time and race distance gradually passed by. Thi s is no refl ection on the ,rid ers especially Rainey, who quite naturally pre fers to win going away, leading from start to finish . He probably would have

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