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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127587
G R~D AAa~d~~~~ _e_Se_rie_s:_~_m_d_6 _er_b& ~ Flyin' Fred Merkel finished fifth in the seco nd race, b ut is hopeful of doing we ll in th e final races with he lp from Ducati. Giancarlo Falappa lost hi s lead in the championship when he crashed in the second leg and fail ed to score any points. 16 was surprised that I got away that easily from him, but I'm glad I could." Slight checked in some 15 seconds behind Fogarty, after a somewhat lonely race: "I was slowed up during the first laps , an d I never got back in touch with the two leaders." In the end, Pirovano, who had received some pain-killing injecti on s before the start that somewhat hindered the use of his right hand, got the best of a frustrated Falappa. "The bike just was not good today," Falappa said. "The time we lost during practice was paid in cash here. I only hope that we get our act together in the second heat." Lucchiari was sixth, after having suffered from brake problems in the last . three laps. It was only then that he had to let go of his two more experienced countryman. The 25-year-old Ducati rider finished in front of Bontempi, Weibel, Rymer and Mertens. Nobles was 21st, after a race-long fight with Kawasaki rider Marcel Kellenberger and Rebuttini and Rogier on Du catis, Having Race Two ju s t lo st h is Wo rld Championship lead to his rival Russell, 147.5-146, in the first race, Falappa had every reason to try and take revenge in the afternoon. And in the first couple of lap s, the Italian was back where everybod y expected him - up front. After four laps , Fogarty led with Falappa and Russell tucked in behind. Slight was already a distance behind and Weibel had passed, fast starter Bontempi. Mertens was riding one of the best races of the season, having set his sights on the le ad of the chasing group. Rymer, Merkel and Pirovano were also part of that group, and Nobles followed not far ~_ behind, in the company of Deletang, Gschwender and Lindholm. . Pre tty soon, how ever, things started to go terribly wrong up front. Monti had already lef t the track in an amb ulance . (broken shoulder), and after six lap s, Fogarty came through in fron t of th e d eserted grandstands, Russell al so appeared , but the pit crews waited in vain for Falappa and Slight. Both riders had crashed, only a few h un dr ed yard s apart, but in separate accide nts. "I wanted to get away from Carl and Scott, and I got nerv01.!s behind Carl's back," Falappa said. "I tried some d ifferent lines in a corner, and my front wheel hit sa nd which covered oil on the track. There was nothing I could do . This is just one of those days in which nothing works out." . Sligh t, who injured his hand, got on the photographers' shuttle b us, which took him to the paddock. From there, he left for the airport to go to Suzuka, where he will compete in the Eight-Hour with his teammate Russell. On the track, the lanky Georgian, meanwhile, had .taken over th e lead from Fogarty, whose Ducati started to sound very unhealthy. Two laps later, Rymer went into the pits with a leaking head gasket and another tw o laps lat er Lucc hia ri went down. This changed the order up front quite drastically: with 12 laps d own and six to go, Russell was lead ing Fogar ty, w hile Weib el had pu t so me d istanc e between himself and Mertens. Bontempi tried to ho ld off the attacks of Merkel, and Piro va no jus t s truggled w ith hi s painful hand to stay in front of Merkel's bold teamma te Aldeo Presciutti. The Italian wo uld finally pull himself together and race back into the top four in the last couple of laps. Nobles .was the third Ame rican in the top 12, putting up an incre d ib le perfo rma nce on the old Honda RC30. Fo u r laps before the end, We ibel re ti re d with a blown head gaske t, paving the way for Mertens' first rostrum position in a long time. Russell won his second race of the year, notwithstand ing some front-end chattering problems. "The fight with Carl was over pretty quic k; I braked him out and I got away without any problems. But I noticed that he had some problems with the bike. My handling problems d id not affect my riding too much. I just concentrated on getting into 'the corners cautiously and to try and acc el erate as fast as possible. And it seemed to work out. " . After the race, the Briton was quite happy to have finished: "The bike started to make some ominous noises, and I smelled some oil. I looked to see if there was not any oil leaking out of the engine and if the smoke coming out of the exhaust co u ldn ' t tell me a nythi ng. Fortunately, the Due' only broke down after we passed the checkered flag. I am. glad to be second in the point standings. I hope to do even better in Anderstorp, one of my favorite tracks." Mertens was a happy and lucky third: "Finall y, I feel back on stride again. The last couple of races, I ha ve had a lot of handling problems. The new Michelin 16.5-inch tire proved to be a very grippy tire, but it also meant that the chassis had to be set up differently . This also explains some of my front-end crashes, which I have suffered this year. The problems were even made bigger when, at Zeltweg, I got a wider tire at my disposal. After the first heat we changed the front suspension even more, and now we seem to be on the right track. I feel confident that I ~ also get up front in ~e next couple 'p f races. The new wide tire allows me .to brake even later, and that has always been one of my strong points." .