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/127592
ly said "sui t m y s ty le better th an ·the
Brid gest on es."
The battl e b etween the p ri v a teer
H o nd a ri de rs w a s fa scinating, b ut
seemed weighted in favo r of Raudies,
who was o n ly over taken o nce, and
im medi a te ly repa s se d, s ayin g later:
"Kazu to wa s fas t when he was following, not so fast w hen he was in front. "
So i t ca me to the fi na l lap, wi th
Sakata di vin g in side at th e sta rt o f it,
only to run w ide onto the grass three
comers la ter. It seemed Raudies had it
won, but th e Japanese rid er was in a
desperate mood, and forced back insi de
under braking towards th e end of the
lap.
They were side by sid e as they ran
up th e hill in to th e fina l fas t left-righ t
comb in ation, and th ere they coll id ed
quite violently. A big wobbl e from each
saw Sakata em erge slightly in front and
in jus t th e right po sit ion to control the
las t bend; and tr y as he might Raudies
just couldn't quite muster the power to
. d o m ore th an pull almost alongside
across the line.
Two more Hond a s were lock ed in
co mba t alm ost 20 seconds b ack , with
Veda and Tsuj imura al s o s w a p pi n g
back a nd for th on th e final lap . Veda
s urv ived one slid e, but then had to slow
briefl y to av oid a collision in the last
co rner, and he too w as beaten by less
than a ten th of a seco nd.
By the fi nis h th e pursu ers were
al most an other 12 seconds be hi nd, w ith
Stefan Prei n (Ho nda) losin g th e group
with a big slid e on the last lap. This left
Akira Saito to clai m fifth o n ye t an other
H ond a, w ith Carl o s Giro's w orks
A p ril ia close b ehind in s ix t h , Pe te r
Oe tt l' s si milar bi ke seventh , pract ice
falle r Jorge Martinez (Honda) ei gh th,
and O live r Petruccian i's Aprilia n inth,
w ith Prein recovering to tak e 10th.
Th ere we re 26 fi nis he rs . Ralf
W a ldm ann crashed o n th e firs t la p ,
Harajuki Aok i had a sp ecta cular hi gh s ide two laps la te r , with Bru no
Ca sa nova also crashing with two laps to
go.
Saka ta t oo k t he fas te st la p , a nd
closed to within 12 poi nts of Ra ud ies to
ensure tension fo r th e closing races of
the ti tle battle. Raudi es has 222 poin ts
a nd Saka ta 210. Ts ujim u ra is third on
134 , w ith W aldma n n hangi ng o n to
fourth on 108 from Saito on 107, and
Veda on 106.
SidecarGP
Rol f Biland /Ku r t Wa lt is perg h ad
already tied u p the tit le, and qua lified
on pol e, bu t a rotten start saw them finish the first lap down in ninth posi tion,
with Klau s Klaffenbock / Ch ri stian
Parze r lead ing from the G ued el brothers
and Ralph Bohnhorst and new p assenger Peter Brown.
Steve Webster/Gavin Sim mons we re
in fo u rt h, a nd dropped to fifth on lap
five as a cha rgi ng Biland came blasting
past.
The Swiss rid er had another goal his 69th G P wi n would ma ke him the
mos t successfu l G P competitorIn a ny
class , ec lipsi ng Giac omo Agos tini's 68.
And he made short work of it, d isp lacing Klaffenb ock fro m the fro n t on the
ninth lap, and con tinu ing to p u ll away
In fami liar dominan t fas hion to w in by
;.5 seconds.
A goo d b a ttl e be hi nd saw