Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

si d e rs a ls o s tayed n ea r the front on Saturday, when the real lap record hunting started. During the morn ing session Fogarty p ut do wn a record -breaking lap time of one-minute, 33.76-seconds which would no t be bettered in the afternoon. Even though nobody go t near to his pole time, the Brit d id not have it all his wa y. In the aft ernoon, he started the second pra ctice session with a bike tha t misfired right from the wo rd go. After a few laps, he swi tched bikes, only to ha ve the second Duca ti break just a few miles further, an omin ous p uff of smoke manifestin g itself from behind the fa iring. Fog arty walked back to pit lane, where team manager Raymond Roche d idn't worry too much about the smoking bike. "We have got enough engines and the bikes are well insured." he said . Fogarty got ba ck on the track on his best bike, bu t did not succeed in going any faster than a few hours before. After the second pra ctice session, his mecha nics 'foun d out tha t a faulty plug lea d h ad cause d all the trou ble. Falappa suffered an even worse fate, running into trouble too often while desperate ly tryin g to get the Michelin 165-inch tires and the automatic shifting sys tem d ia lled in. Th e Italian even crashed during the first sessio n and fina lly had to be hap p y with sixth position on the sta rting grid, eq ual with Rymer, who had clocked his 1.34.91 d uring the morning session. . Russe ll was the man who mad e the biggest improvement on his times in the afte rnoon, go ing almost a seco nd and a half faster: "I did my best time on a race tire, and I d idn' t expect to go very fast here. This is the first time I've been here and my shou lder (w hich h e h urt in his Friday crash) doesn't make things much easier. And when I finally got the possibility to go for it during the second session, the exhaust sp ring broke, which cost me a few minutes." . Slight had been thi rd fastes t a n d Whitham fourth, with Rymer completing row one. Fred Merkel put down the ninth fas test time, having he ard a few d ays before that he wo uld not get any special trick parts in Malaysia or Japan. "Falappa and (Mauro) Lucchia ri have broken an engine too often during the last co u p le o f weeks, w h ich m eans th a t Ducati can't give me anyth ing before Donmgton ," Merkel said . "It's especially the pistons that turn out to be the problem. But with the Ducati factory and their piston suppliers closed down during the month of August, there is no way we can hope for better material. Still, yo u wo n't h ear me compla in in g abo u t th is bik e, even thou gh its engine is a bit slower in a ccelera ti on in th e crucial 7-8000 rev range. " . Trip p Nobles had his Rumi-Hon da in the 21st sta rting position , after having s u ffe red from a gearbox prob lem . Lucchiari was the big surp rise of the day: after having in ju red hi s shoulder in a crash during a national Italian race two weeks be fore, heavy braking seemed to be quite a problem for the 24-year-old Italian, who also had to make do with an 888ccengine instead of the bigger one. Race One On the first lap, Whitham led the pack. Afterwards, Fogarty took command. And although nobody re ally expected the Briton to be take n back again, the battle raged in earnest for the next tw o rostrum p laces. Fast starters Wh itham, Falappa, Ryme r and Pirovan o were soon joined by the Kawasaki Muzzy duo or Russell and Slight. For Rymer, the fun was over after fou r lap s when th e Brit on led his sick Yamaha back to pit lane . A bad omen for th e Londoner, as h is mechanics had exactly tw o hours to find ou t the cause of the fuel-starvation problem, given the fact tha t teammate De Vries had ruined his spare bike during his second practice crash. After nine of 23 laps, Lucchiari was the next to re tire, his shoulder causing hi m too much pain to go on. The Italian had been lying around 20th at the time. Meanwhil e, Fogarty had built a threesecond lead, while Russell and Slight had closed u p on Pir o vano, Fa la p p a and Whitham. For a few laps, the Kawasaki gu ys seemed to have control of the ItaloBritish trio, but the n Falappa got qu ite reckless, lead in g to the ne a r crash o f -Slight, who was bitter after the race. " It 's a h opeles s tas k to fi ght the Ducatis," Slight said later. "I even got the impression that the differen ce is even bigg e r th an la st year. A n d it ge ts qu it e impossible when a gu y like Falappa starts to make mistakes. I went inside of him in a slow corner, he panicked an d almost came to a stan dstill in the middle of the tu m . We nearly crashed togethe r, but I we nt in to the grave l p it, losin g so me 10 places in the process." Not a happy in ciden t for the N ew Zealander who had alread y been ru n into in the first comer. And as Slight resumed the battle in around 15th, Me rtens and Pier giorgio Bontem pi could only wa tch fro m a "safe" distance as the four su rvivors in the chasing group continued their ba ttle a mo ngst themselves, w it h Whitham regu larly beating Falappa and Russell on the brakes. Merkel, who had started the race in a fine fourth position, found himself back in 10th a fte r the long s tra ight an d h e could only watch the faster bikes go by, kicking him back out of the top 10. Nothing much changed during the last five laps, w ith Fogarty cruising to victory and Piro va no los in g his last chances to ge t second when some lapped riders got bet ween him and Falappa. Russell finished a disappointed fourth, in front of Whi tham, Mertens, Bontem pi and Sligh t, wh o had turned in the third qu ickest lap durin g his catch-up race from the back. Nobl es m issed the last champio n sh ip point by half a bike length to Jean-Marc Deletang a ft er a lo ng battle w ith th e Frenchman and h is coun try ma n Herv e Moineau. Race Two Fogarty was even more in a hurry at the s tart of th e second race . When the bikes go t back after one lap , the number four Ducati was clearly in command . But so meho w he wasn 't able to build such a co m fo rta b le lead as both Ru ssell a n d Falappa stayed in touch . That was more than could be said about some other riders. Rymer re tired after one lap w ith the same p roblem as in the first leg . Lucchiari again d ecided to give up w hen his shoulder sta rted to hurt after a few laps. On the sixth lap it was Merkel's tum to roll h is Ducati back to pit lane after going straight at the end of the straight trying to make up for a terrible start. With one - thi rd of the race distance covered, Fogarty led Russell, Fa lappa, a n d th e du o of Pi rovano a nd Sl ig ht . Whitham was a bit further behind w ith Mertens way back and Bontempi losing more gro und w ith each and every lap. Bontempi finally enga g ed in a d ue l aga ins t his fellow countryman Fabrizio Furlan, d ou btless one of the main revelati ons o f th is s easo n o n his p ri va te Kawa sa ki. A ctua ll y, th e d ifferences between riders only got bigger, w ith suspense on ly reall y devel opin g around n inth pl a ce w he n Du tchman De Vri es and a wh ole bunch of oth er riders go t nearer to the struggling Bon tempi. Of this g ro up, Fr ench p riva teer Jean- Ma rc Deletang (wh o is managed by Dominique Sarr on) dropped back con siderably with a fau lty gearbox , before retiring in th e final stages. Five laps before the end, Whith a m Jamie Whitham (69) lea ds Aaron Slight (6) an d Ste phane Merte n s (7) in the first leg. (Fro m left to right) Scott Russell, Carl Fogarty an d Giancarlo Falappa celebrate. ga ve up his sure sixth p lace due to an oil lea k in th e crankca se of hi s Ya ma ha , while fur ther d own the field Nobles lost his race-lon g opponent Aldeo Presci u tti. The race lost Nobles as he crashed later in oil. For Fogarty the race gave him his secon d win of the day . "This was a lon g race," he said . "And I couldn' t stop thinking about Brno where 1 almos t made the d oub le. I thou ght we were in trouble in the first coup le of laps . I'd chosen a hard er tire for that race, and it took him qui te so me time to get up to temperature." Russell took second pla ce, bu t wa sn 't happy about it: " I'm worried about the rest of the seaso n," he said. "In the first race, I couldn 't even d raft past Pirovano. l used the other bike for the second hea t, bu t I still couldn't get any closer to Carl." Falappa continued to suffer from sh ifting problems, but sai d h e was q ui te happy to ha ve limited the dam age by finishin g third . Pirovano was fourth after an uneventful race, but h is mechan ics were condemned to some extra hours of work when the jury decided by takin g numbers th at th e Yama ha had to be torn d own after the race . A bad joke for the Italians, who were already on a tight schedu le like all o ther competit ors - to get thei r bikes to Rome, Amsterdam or Frankfurt to ship them to Malaysia . Slight wa s sixth after a bad sta rt an d after having lost his final chan ce to get by Pirovano when he alm ost cras hed in oil during the final laps . "We were catching Falappa, but the oil forced me on the grass. Too bad , I could have finished third ," he sa id . Mertens, wh o after the Sunday morning wa rm-up had op ted once aga in for the conven tional 17-inch wheel s and tires, repea ted his result from the first race and Finished s ixt h aga in, with Furlan, Bontempi, De Vries and a returning Brian Ol Morrison completing the top 10. Resu lts Q UALIFY INC : I. Ca rl Foga rty (1:33.76); 2. Scott Russell (1:33.86); 3. Aar on Sligh t (1:34.36); 4. [ames W h itham (1:34 .85); 5 . Te rr y Ry me r (1:34.91); 6 . Gia nca elo Fa lapp a (1:3 4.91); 7. Fabr iz io Pirovano (1:35.12); 8. Fabriz io Fu rlan (1035 .24); 9. Fred Me rkel (1:35 .35); 10 . Pi e rgio rg io Bonte mp i (1:35 .63 ); 11. Ch r!ste r Lindholm (1:35 .68); 12. Stepha ne Mer te ns (1:3:179); 13. lean-Ma rc Dele tan g (1:35.84); 14. Bria n ,. Mo rnson (l :3 ~. O 1) ; 15. He rve Moin ea u (1:36.18); 16. A rpad Harma n (1:36.40); 17. Jeffry 0. Vries (1:36.56); 18. Phllt p pe Mouch e t (1:36.72); 19. Mauro Lucchi a ri (1:36.72); 20. Ch ristia n Laviellle (1:36.77); 21. T r ip p N ob les (1:37.16); 22. Thorvald Saeb y (1:37.33); 23. [ean Yves M~u nier (1:37.33); 24. Rolf Valderh a ug ( 1~7.49); 25. C h ns tophe Guyot (1;37.60); 26. Ch ris ty Rebu ttini (1:.37.82); 27. An d er s St u resso n (1:38 .16) ; 28 . lv e n Kli tm-Iler (1:38.27); 29. Ald eo Prosciutti (1:38.31); 30. Ha rri Maikola (l:3 8.71); 31. Michel Amal ric (1:38.87); 32 . Jean -Lo uis Tr a noi s (1:39.08); 33. Le lff Pe rsson (1:3 9.52) ; 34. Clau. W u lff ( 1:39 .64) ; 35 . And ers Rasmussen (1:39.85}; 36 . Robe rto Biagioli (1:39.97) RAC E ONE: 1. Carl Fogarty (Du e); 2. Gian earlo Fa la p pa (Due ); 3. Fabrizio Piro va no (Yam ); 4. Scott Russell (Kaw) : 5. James Whitha m (Yam); 6. Stephane Mertens ,(Due) ; 7. Piergio rgio Bon te mpi (Ka w); 8. Aaron Slig ht (Kaw); 9. Christer Lindholm (Yam); 10. Fabrizio Fur lan (Ka w) : 11. Jean-Marc Deleta!l8 (Yam); 12.. ~red Merke l (Due); 13. Jeffry De Vr ies (Yam ); 14. Ph iltp pe M o~eh et (Yam) ; 15. j ean-Yves Mou nier (Yam); 16. Tnp p Nobl es (Han); 17. Herve Moineau (S u z) ; 18. C hristian lavieill e (Du e); 19. Ro lf Vald erhaug . (Y~m) ; 20. Christophe Guy ot (Kaw}; 21. Aldeo Presciutti (Due); 22. [ean-Lo uis Fran cis (Yam); 23. Ham Maikola (Kaw); 24. Michel Ama lrie (Yam), 25. Leif Persson (Hon); 26. Claus Wul ff (Yam); 27. Robe rto Btegi oli (Kaw). li me: 36 mtn., 28.12 sec. Db-la nce: 23 laps, 57.396 miles. Avenge speed: 94.432 mph . M.u g in of Victory: 730 sec. F;tSt~t l~p: Carl Fogarty , 1.33.81. RACE TW O, 1. Ca rl Fogarty (Due); 2. Scott Russell (Kaw ); 3. C ia ne a r lo Falappa ( Due); 4. Fab r iz io Pirova no (Yam); 5. Aaro n Sligh t (Kaw ); 6. Stephana Mertens (Due); 7. Fabrizi o Furlan (Kaw ); 8. Piergiorgic Bontempi (Kaw): 9. Jeffry De Vries (Yam ); 10. Bria n Morri son (Kaw): 11. Herv e Moineau (Suz); 12. Arpad Harmati (Yam); 13. Jean-Yves Mounier (Yam); 14. Rolf Va ld erh a u g (Yam ); 15. Christy Rebu ttini (Due); 16. Anders Sturesson (Yam); 17. Michel Amalric: (Yam) ' 18. leif Persson (Hon) ; 19. And ers Rasm ussen (Yam); 20. Claus Wulff (Yam ); 21. Roberto Biag io li (Kaw). li me: 36 min., 14.17 sec. D ista nce 23 1aps, 57.396 miles. Average s pe ed: 95.038 mp h. Margin of victory: 2.47 sec. Faste st lap: Carl Fogarty , 13 3.48. WO RLD C'SHIP POINT ST AN DIN GS (Alt er 7 of 14 rou ~d.), I. Scott Russell (197.5); 2. Carl Fogarty (186.5); 3. C ta nca rlc Falappa (l 78); 4. Aaro n Sligh t (150)' 5. Fab rizio Pirovano (139); 6. Stephane Mert ens (lOO)~ 7. Pier-Gio rgio Bontempi (88.5); 8. Jua n Garri ga (71); 9. Fred Merk el (67.5); 10. Mar co Lucc hi ari (62.5) ; 11. Terry Rymer (56); 12. Jeffry 0. Vries (47.5); 13. Adrien Monllas (40); 14. Chris lindholm (33); IS. Andrea. Meldau (27.5). 19

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