Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE RoadRace Series:R ound11 ~ Patrick vdGoorbergh was 14th, after dropping back from a strong start. But then he held on to the position from a big gro u p that clo sed up in the final laps, with six bikes crossing the line in just over a second. Fred Protat was just behind him to take the last point; then . came Maurel, Bosshard, Jurgen vdGoorbergh and Haengelli. There were 22 finishers, 10 ret ire ments included Andy Pre ining, who crashed early on, as well as Chesterfield ApriIia's Iean-M ichel Bayle, complaining of overheating and a loss of engine power, and Eskil Suter, who crashed out of a good poin ts-scoring pos ition. With three rounds left, Capirossi's clash helped make Harada's title lead a little more secure, though also slightly sh ru n ke n . He now has 161 p oint to Capiross i' s 137 , and need not w in another race. Biaggi is third on 126, with Romboni on 109, Reggiani on 106, and Bradl o n 105, one point ah ead of the luckless Ruggia. Freddie Spencer made a less-than-spectacular return to racing. He ran well off the leader's pace before dropping out, ,. iri' y's rst . ince 1991 i when he needed it; while title rival , Keyin Schwantz -' with whom he was now almost on level pegging on points coUld hardly have chosen a worse time to run into bike balance and set-up difficulties. • Perhaps it was not so surprising: Brno's long medium-speed comers with downhill entries severely tests front-wheel adhesion and confidence; areas in which Rainey and Dunlops generally excel, and where the Suzuki and its Michelins have often struggled. "I guess the bike just likes this track," said Rainey, who won here the last two times. "I hate the front wheel stu ff, because it's too easy to make a mistake when you try to go faster. But this is the first time all year we haven't changed the bike hardly at all throughout practice." 'He was back on the Roc chassis after switching to a Yamaha frame for the British GP, and relishing the prospect of the new four-race championship. " I've been through it all before, and I 'm not thinking about the . title. But I sure am happier with the posi, bend s and majestic hillside layout; enjoying himself enough to end up narrowly faster than his Rothmans Honda teammate Daryl Beattie, who was in tum two-tenths clear of a puzzled AlexBarros, on the second Lucky Strike Suzuki, the only one of the top 15 not to improve his time on the second day as he castabout to solve his Suzuki's adhesian problems: ... ' . . .. . ':', . . . ;"1' . . " He was not alone: Alex Criville was all at sea, leading row three but not only 1.2 seconds slower than Barros, but fully 2.4 seconds off Rainey's time, blaming insoluble front suspension patter for his below-par performance. Dou g Chandler also had hi s rea sons - placed 10th and three-tenths d own. "Physically I'm okay; the problem is trying to get my confidence back," he said as he faced his first race since the European GP three rounds ago. He narrowly fended off Niall Mackenzie, perennially top privateer, with Michael Rudroff ultra-close to complete row three . John Reynolds led row four from Jose Kuhn, the Briton benefiting from a newly available front Dunl op; crasher Juan Lozez-Mella was next, with Irish youngster Jeremy McWilliams a strong 16th on the strength of a Friday time, another to fall off on Saturday. Freddie Spencer was back but stiff and far from fit, qualifying 20th on the wrong end of row five, and lookin uncomfortable. "I can't use the rear brake properly," he ~;~;~~~~j~t_i~ri~r~~t~it~~r:i~::~b~6~~~~:~~'was also enjoying him~l{;~:' . sai~s usualiri"the mas 24 the Rothrrians Hon~a;ul'm still not able to ride like I could last year before the ,accident, but I'm still getting better every time I go out. I've been using production front tires for the last few races, but here I've switched to a more triangular profile that Michelin developed last year. It's not strong under brakes, but you're on your side for a long time here." As for his chance of intervening in the championship struggle: "Of course I have a favorite out of Schwantz and Rainey, but nobody helped me last year when I needed it, so I'll just ride my own race." He had new Cagiva rider John Kocinski along side, putting up a mercurial performance that included a high side crash during the first session, several on-track clashes with Schwantz that came close to having both off the track, and a hand ful of really fast laps, the last of which put him on the front row . He looked good on the bike throughout, riding aggressively and with flair, though he admitted: "I' ve been out of 500s too long really to think about the podium." . , ' His last-minute flyer pushed Rainey's teammate Luca Cadal ora to the far end of , front r()\V by a hundredth ofa second, the British c:;P winner's second top-four q ualify ing position of his first 500 jrear, and all dtie (he averred) to the .improved front-wheel adhesion wrought by his team and by Rainey himself. "The front is much better than usu al, but Wayne is one step higher than everyone else," he insisted. Kocinski also pu shed Schwantz onto the second row, wh ich may have angered the Texan more than he admitted. Certainly a close personal rivalry between the two was clearly visible to all, with a number of near collisions out on the track, and a shouting match in pit lane at the end of the final session. "It wasn't so much that he got in my way to spoil a lap, but on the cool-down lap after the checkered flag had come ou t (and before Schwantz knew he'd been knocked down a place). He came across and banged into me on one corner, then did it again a bit later. I don't think he could see me. It's like he has tunnel vision. It's dangerous. I stopped in pit lane and told him I would really appreciate it if he never did that again." . This was all something of a sides how as the erstwhile champion sh ip leader found his d~eam year starting to go wrong, leaving him struggling in practice in much the sam~ !\Vay ~~ R.ai11.ey had earlier as he chased elusive front-end bite. At least he did get going in the .right direction in the final session;saying later: "We're not that far off and we have more things to try tomorrow;" though he also admitted that losing time on the first day had spoiled their usu al practice sched ule and left them with more things to test in race-morning warm-up. Row one was covered by almost three-quarters of a second ; row two by four-tenths, with the pu rsuers packed up close. Schwantz was just over two-tenths clear of Shinich Itoh, seeing the circuit for the first time, and also overcoming pro blems on day one with his injected Honda. But he was an instant fan of the grand track with its sweeping 125ee Grand Prix A typ ica l '93-s tyle race, w ith the huge battling pack going for lower positions, and po ints leader Dirk Raud ies running away ahead. But he had Kazuto Sakata with him, having switched to the same Dunlop tires that he diplomatical- shatt~;~d 250~c . ss this year lap records were during qualifying, and there were three ifferent leaders in the four sessions; The other theme was that common one this late in the season - injuries and bandages and pain, with title leader Tetsuya Harada, returnee Doriano Romboni and close-to-home hero Helmut Bradl all riding injured. The important session was of course the last, and Loris Capirossi waited until the very closing minutes before putting his decisive charge together to claim his fifth pole of the season, twa-tenths inside the time of his victor at the last race, Jean-Philippe Ruggia. "Tha t was absolutely as fast as I could go," said the Italian Hond a rider. "We still have a little front-end problem with chatter, but basically the bike is good ." Ruggia had dominated the previous two sessions, but was thwarted in the final one by heavy traffic, Apriliahad the latest engine here , which was fast, but both Ruggia and teammate Reggiani decided to stick with the tried-and-tested old bike for the race. "I think I can win aga in, but firstI mu st be sure of fini shing," said the Frenchman, Romboni was back for his first race since breaking his leg at Assen, ridin g with it in a special protective cast, and rather surprised to have led the first un timed session, eventually qualifying on the front row . "Of course it is painful, arid this track is very tiring, with no chance to rest. But I will try for a top-three finish all the same," he said. Max Biaggi was the last man on the front row, and the first rider not on Dun lops. As all year, he complained abou t a lack of front grip from his Michelins. "The soft tire is good, but won' t last race dis tance. But I am hopeful because I am on the fron t row at least," he said. Loris Reggiani was pushed to lead row two in the closing minutes, after he had waited in vain for a clear track to try and set a fast one. "There was too much traffic, but the bike is going well," he said. He had Alberto Puig alongside, the Spa nish Honda man continuing his stunning return to form after his d readful start to the year. "It is me that is better - we have not done anything to the bike," he said. Then came Bradl, who broke his right collarbone testin g h ere two weeks before, and sat out the Saturday morning to rest the injury. "When it is s trapped it is not so painful. I have to hope for a good start, some good luck and the supp ort of my fans," he said. P.P. Chili completed row two; top Yamaha, with Luis d' Antin's NSR Honda heading row three from Haru chika Aoki's similar bike, and the Yamahas of Harada and [ochen Schmid. Harada's case was most interesting to his rivals. Although his team had made light of his inju ries after his Donington crash, his cracked shoulder blade was giving him eno ugh trouble that he was forced to rest up d uring both timed practice sessions. His race performa nce was certain ly in doubt, and his title lead looking under severe threat. -

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