Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127585
done so anyway, but the re migh t have been a bi t more action behind the top three but for a n umber of cras hes and incidents. First, Criville lost the front wheel on the last comer of the first lap , slidi ng ou t un hu rt. Th en a t the fa r en d o f th e s tra igh t, Shi nichi Itoh ran in to b rak e t roub le, a n d c ras hed h is inj ect ed Rothmans Honda into the back of Doug Chandler's Cagiva at the entrance to the first chicane. The Japanese rider fell heavily; Chandler ran onto the dirt and was trying to rejoin when he hit a rock in the gravel trap and also fell . Meanwhile Cadalora, having already brushed up against Beattie on lap one, was also peripherally involved .and ran off without falling, rejoining almost a lap beh ind after a hard push out of the gravel-trap. Rainey had bee n first away, with Dooha n chasing him and a slow-star ting Schwantz slotting in to third a t th e firs t chica ne, w it h wha t e ven he d escrib ed a s " a g u tsy m o ve ". They stayed in the sa me orde r from there to the end, with Rain ey se tting fas test lap on the fourth, and grad ually extend ing his lead . " I d on't think a nyone's bikes were working real good today," he sai d. "It was a wh ole di fferen t race track compa red with morning wa rm-up, bu t my guys noticed the track tem perature had Wayne Rainey, who had been struggling with his factory frame, sw itched to a Roc chassis and smoked the field. go ne up by five degrees, and fitted a harder rear just before the race:' This might ha ve been crucia l; so too the sw itch to a Roc chassis, with its better "feedback" to the ride r. But the mos t important ingred ient .is surely the rid er, Doohan on the nole again r-. C whose determination mea nt he was able to benefit from his goo d start, and keep the persistent Dooh an safel y at ba y. "I just kep t on pushing," he said. Doohan ha d a simil ar race, just that little bit be hind. At the finish the gap was just 3.89 seco nds. "The track wa s d ifferent for m e too, and m y ti r es weren't working," he said. "I got serious a few times, but every time I'd make a mis take. I kinda figured w ith 10 laps to go it was go ing to be tough, though I ;~~:~TI;p~zd~~ti~athi:!te~ith~~~O!:u~i~;r iillon d~I::~:t~~~I~fi~d ,me spKuhn, on the onto. Spencer's Yamaha, led row four from Naveau;"Garcia and onsorship pr .. ' . . Jose injured om p lain ts abo u t the rip p led s tu tt er-b u mps approa ch ing the corners of the Montmelo circuit - usually blamed on hard-braking Formula 1 cars distorting the Garriga, who wa s ha ving a terrible time in his return to the class as a wild card rider on su rface - were almost uni versal - only hometown hero Crivi lle loyally lied : 'The a spare Cagiva. The Spaniard crashed in'the mud on only his second lap, and said mistrack is perfect, and it is a pleasure to race on it." erably after practice: "It's 10 months since I rode a 500 and now I have changed my The ripples are met while braking has alreadyused up much of the front suspension" style to suit a superbike. I am finding it very difficult." travel; the difficulty lies in finding an acceptable compromise between springs soft There were 31 qualifiers, Papa's Librenti was last as usual. enough to give the compliance needed here , yet hard enough to make the bike stable Max Biaggi's first 250cc pole of the year came at the track where he last year set his on the long almost continuous comers. _ first GP pole, but it was only towards the end of the final session that he really got Doohan solved the puzzle best to take his second consecutive pole, by a quarter of a going, among some acrimony. second, and on a time set early on before searching through the various tires. "I think The first criticism came from his rival Reggiani, who had been fastest on day one, . I'll go back to the one I used for my fast lap, " he said, unsurprisingly. ', an d found B1aggi la tched on to him in the closing stages. "He.is like a trailer: He Clearly, as a week before at Assen, Doohan is rapidly regaining form and was hope- always waits for somebody to catch: he never rides alone. I don't like it when someone ful of his first win for over a year, though he still feels that he is not riding at full pot using you to exceed their own Ii can be dangero~s:': '" " :," \ ........ . • " tial. The big change came from the new cylinders that Honda developed for him before . . The second came'from Max and ddressed to his.'crew·chiefEfuKai'\~otQ asa Assen. "They're more like last year's, with better punch out of the comers. Before, I ~:. back-handed compliment. "I like to . out and do a lot9f laps to get my rhythm, but ' was losing time to the Suzuki because of wheclspin," he explained. . . . . . " Erv is always trying new things, and he only wants me to do a few laps at a tiIpe: .· Second came Schwantz, who found the peculiar demands of the Catalunyari circuit Anyway, it worked out well here, and at last the front Michelin is good. Itmay be the for the first time found weaknesses in the Suzuki's balance. "We've had more trouble heat. I've always said when the bike is working well then I'll go well too:' . here getting the bike right than an ywhere all year," he said. "But we have the bike right Harada was placed second by three-hundredths, calm and confident as he faces the now, and I was doing consis ten t laps while some of. the others were stru ggling. We'll second half of his debut World title campaign, now with his greatest rival Romboni out have to see how strong the y are at the end of the race." of action. His statement was as typically self-contained as his riding style: 'The bike Rainey pushed through to third with his Roc-framed works-engined bikes, and was a feels very good on the track, with perfect settings. Tomorrow will be hard on tires, so it chang ed man inasmuch as he had achieved forward progress and comprehensible is important to stay in touch without pushing the lap times too hard:' response to adjustment for the first time all year. "On the first day I tested a Roc chassis Capiross i was third after surviving unscathed a crash in the rain on the first day. He back to back with the factory one. It felt so much better that I came in and told the guys left his charge to the very end of practice after concentrating on getting the front susto bolt me up another Roc. I'm getting feedback from the bike. We'll see tomorrow if it's pension as good as possible in the time available. the right feedback. " He won here last year, and (like Doohan) pointed out: "Last year a Reggiani comple\ed the row, .saying he might have been faster but f9r his Biaggi . lot of people went faster in the race than in practice. I was one, and I hop e I can again." roblems. "I backed off when I saw rum be hin d me, and)9st my chance before the end Criville completed row one, and flat refused -to join in criticism of the Catahinyan f practice." ""r:' \ ' . ,';J;'0-'i¥!1\;r . .'" ,';" track. No doubt a hu ge local follow ing moulded this opinion; but his hopes of a win Ruggia was just beh ind on the otlie i'Aprilia, leading row two , and prc;wmg a were d ented by his still-pa inful foot injury sustained at Assen. .. Italian bikes w ith the new cylinders .received two races ago have regained the power Just over half-a-second covered the front row: another two -tenths ad rift ca me equality that made them so competitive with the Hondas last year. Of course handling Chandler, who had led after the first da y as the Cagiva again showed the improvement is the machine's strongest point, and is as important here as top speed. found by fitting Ohlins. Then, chasing the right front-end se tup he sli pped off on Next carne Aoki, regaining speed; and Puig, who gained speed by virtue of racing at Saturday morning, quite UM Urt. "We tested a new front tire with a so fter construction, home, after a dismal showing on his NSR so far. Okada completed the row , after placand it just folde d under me," he explained. In the afternoon, a front fork experimen t ing third on day one. But the Japanese rid er was in pain from his wrist injury, with the was unsuccessful, and caused him just to miss the front row . pins working loose. . Cadalora was alongside, after ea rlier lying higher in a comple te reversal of his pre.Bradl led row three, complaining about the number of younger riders who seemed vious form on a 500. He had decided to stick with the Yamah a chas sis ra ther than fol- to try and use him as a qualifying locomotive. H wish it could be that people would I lowing teammate Rainey Roc-wards, and was thrilled that in spite of his cau tion wi th just go out and try and get their bikes set up, like it used to be in the old days.I slowed the front wheel, his rhythmical rid ing put him on the pace for the first time. He ended down to avoid helping others here, which hurt my qualif}'ing time:' up the last rider in the 1:49 br acket - onl y Doohan had clocked a 1:48. Bradl had on-form Adrian Bosshard alongside on hisRS Honda, with Cardus' NSR Beattie was next, not dissatisfied with a second-row start, "Th e corne rs are long next, the Spaniard still below par with hand injuries; and .C hili on the far.encl"of the . here, and you have to make them flow," he said. "If you rush it you lose your comer . d row, blaming mechanical problems in the final session for a lowly speed. But it's not so much a matter of learning the track as getting the bike set up." rotat led row four from Schmid, d~Antiri and Zeelenberg" with .ro ltoh came next, his fuel-injected bike setting the fastest speed trap times in the final rafar, Patrick van den Goorberghand wild card rider Riba. session - some 190 mph compared with 189 for Doohan, 186 for Schwantz and 185 for Crafar? The New Zealand rider had made a GP debut riding a year-old Harris in the Rainey. . 500 class, culminating in an impressive ninth at Assen. Now he'd been signed up to Mackenzie led row three after improving steadily throughout, his position as top take over the sacked John Kocinski's Suzuki, and he was making a good start on a bike privateer putting ahead of a troubled Alex Barros's works Suzuki. The Brazilian was that still needed many ad justments simply for his size and weight, even before setting puzzled, blaming difficulties with front suspension for the first time all year; while his it up for his rid ing style. . team overnight changed absolutely everything on the bike including chassis and There were 34 qualifiers on nine rows, with former MX superstar Jean-Michael engine in a bid to shake him out of his low. Bayle on the eighth row in 30th position. ':;l1Rit:'#h 21