Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Japan's Shinichi Itoh wa s fifth after race-long rival Alex Criville on a similar Honda ran out of gas on the last lap, with Marlboro Yamaha 's Luca Cad alora defea ting Da ry l Beattie an d his Rothmans Honda to take fifth place. Cagiva had a bad time in their home GP . Top rid er Doug Chand ler was already out of the race, after suffering concussion in a heavy fall in practice. Teamm ate Mat Mlad in, returning afte r his own absence through injuries, wa s 10th after pain and fatigue forced him to give best in a tussle with top privateer Niall Mackenzie on the Valvoline RocYamaha. A serious crash on the las t lap sa w Japanese p riva teer Ts utomo, Ud aga wa highs ide under the wheels of Brit on Sean Emme tt du ring a fierce battle for 12th . Ud a gawa lay crump led an d unconscious on the track, but was later certified out of danger, with only a fractured shoulder. A superb 2S0cc GP was won at the last gasp by 20-year-old Loris Capirossi on the Marlboro Honda after drafting past his Aprilia-rnoun ted countryma n, veteran Loris Reggiani, in the last yards. It was the former do uble 125 champ ion's second win this year. At the finish the pair had outdistanced titl e lea de r Tetsuya Harada 's Telkor Yama ha , the Loris Capirossi (65) leads championship leader Tetsuya Harada (31) in the 250cc GP; Capirossi won for the second time this year. th"d Stfaig 1 'ht e 00 an D h S If ~o I test track, but lucky enough to survive a monumental crash in the last session qu ite unscathed. "I hadn't even put the power on when it highsided me," he said. He kept hold of the handlebars but the bike was head ing straight off the track, and he sensibly baled out and went somersaulting through the sandtrap whil e the bike completely othmans Honda's Michael Doohan's (right) third destroyed itself against the wall. "It was my best bike," he commented rue fully. pole in succession came after a dominant perforJapan's Tsutomu Udagawa was next, completing the second row, top privateer for mance, looking on-form and aggressive throughthe first time on his Roc. "It's a hard track to learn," he commented, making the out. His reversion to last year's torquier cylinder spec achievement even more impressive. had allowed them now to develop a bike superior to He was a tenth ahead of Luca Cad alora 's works Yamaha. Riding at home, the 250 that he rode then, the development of wh ich (in his champion remained cautious and beset with problems , afte~ rejecting his Yamaha eyes) went backwards after he crashed and Wayne frame for the first time following back-to-hack tests with a Roc. On Friday, an out-o fGard ner took over as the top rider. round Dunlop wasted him much of a sess ion, on Saturday he wa s suffering frontThat bike was a "top-speed 'missile: ' Now he was wheel patter problems. "If I push hard it feels as if I will crash, and I'm losing comer speed, which is so important here," he said . sure that the improved grunt ou t of the comers were Mat Mladin was alongside, battling and depressed.in his first outing since his crash actually allowing him to achieve an highe r top speed. "It's faste r than before," Doohan insisted . "And the at Assen. "My collarbone injury is painful, my leg starts hurting after a while, but in drive makes it quick betw een chicanes . I'm also ridany caseevenOoug Chandler was two seconds off the pace at Cagiva 's own test track. ing better myself now." . '9;1. .There's not much to be.happy about at the moment.';I\lJ . ' Mugello is Honda's nominat¢g test circuit, and he . ... al1Ma ~kenzie came!'ext, stillfiddling a bout by was thus alreadywell ahead ,!f the.game in choosing:' gearbox right, but happy.to be among the factor . ~"gearing, leaving himtheluxury ;of sorting through ' pleted thetlji~dro\\T" ~ x . , ' , ti~es while others were starting f1}r~er back along the . •. ' It had been .a long time since 250cc GP star . ..... ... was on pole, ed a development road , . ,N"; . ~ pos t-practice Tv, interviewer. Loris looked even mores,!l~rnn than usual. "The last Amongthem the Suzuki riders: Kevin Schwantz had been second throughout prac- time," he said slowly, "was in 1938:' " , : ,.• tice, at a track where he won last year and where the many changesin direction and The veteran Aprilia rider had emerged triumphant after a titanic struggle in the tricky downhill com er entries favored the bike. In the closing minutes, he agreed to closing minutes, with all four of the front row having a go at the top slot, an d Reggiani show Alex Barros the way ro und, and the Brazilian not only cut three-qua rters of a sec- slotting in at the last gasp, almost crashing on the next lap . "The Aprilia seems to work ond off his time, but moved ahea d of Schwantz to take second . better through the co rne rs than the Honda," he said . Aprilia test-r ider Marcellin o "I ha ve been round here so many times on a Cagiva that maybe my mind was a bit Lucchi was testing hop-up parts as a wild-card rider, bu t for reliability Reggiani stayed stuck," admitted Barros. "The bike was right, but I was n't. Then I was able to follow with what he had, an d hop ed he could gain enough through the chicanes to be out of Kevin and see some lines that were better for the Suzuki. He helped me today, I hope I reach of any last-gasp Honda-powered dash to the finish line. can help him in the race tomorrow, by finishing ahead of Rainey:' In any case, it was a Yamaha second . Superstar Tetsuya Harada had accomplis hed Schwantz was apparently unworried by his faster teammate. "We had a front-wheel his usual trick, arriving at a new track, then getting faster and faster every session to problem at Barcelona, but that's a kinda unique race track. There's a lot of off-camber challenge for pole by the end. He also fell into the jocular spirit of the TV conference. and downhill comer entries here too, but the difference is that you flick it in then flick Could he win, he was asked. "The last few races have all gone to pole position, thereit the othe r way - you' re not over on your side for a long time. We found something fore I believe Reggiani will win," he grinned. J.P. Ruggia was next on ano ther Aprilia, having led practice after day one. Bike troutesting at Misano that helped the front, and the bike's been good out of the box here. Mick's fast but he's not out of reach; and I've got the bike and the tire choice settled: ' ble in the last session mean t he had to switch to his spare, but he was less than a tenth Rothmans Honda's Shinichi Itoh was at the far end .of the front row, saying that the behind his teammate Reggiani, so losing top slot hardly meant much. injected Honda was continuing to improve, both in top speed and more impo rtantly Loris Capirossi concluded the front row, three-tenths down on pole after getting out of the comers. He is having little trou ble learni ng new tracks, but had tested exten- balked on his own last fast lap. "My bike is pretty much perfect," the Honda rider said. sively here. "It's like my home track of Sugo," he said. But he remains a shadow com- "Anywhere on the front row is good eno ugh:' . Possibly even further back would still be okay, with the second row also crammed pared with the title battle, with attention heavily on Rainey, who qualified next to lead the second row. with talent and speed , and all the way to ninth position, (row three) within a second. Rainey's struggle to get back on terms is becoming an epic. He did not have the new P.F. Chili led, eclipsed yet again at a track where he was on pole last year by TelkorYamaha chassis that had been expected, and was back on the Roc, moving through a Yamaha teammate Hara da. He was unfazed: "My bike is perfect, but my foot I hU!1 in vast pile of Dunlops, which unlike the Michelini; had no testing time on the track. He Barcelona is still sore," he said. was just over two-tenths do wn on his main rival Schwantz, .and said: "They've got a Max Biaggi was alongsid e, the Barcelona wi"!'er lo~ing his chance at a last-minute good combination, bu t we 're still searching:' But on the stren . past perfor- pole by electing to endurance-test, tires instead of Cll!IiI}g inf or fresh rubber. "That will . ' mances, nobody cpuld rule hirri 9,ut. . be importanttOlporrow," he said . .. . .,.'fj,j'l', lex Criville 'fas alongsideH

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