Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Kitagawa , but never .looked to be under too much pressure from the Japanese rider. Fogarty went on to w in his eighth leg of the yea r. "In the beginning of the race, I had some trouble getting out of the clutches of some of the Japanese riders. Tha t is why I pu tmy head down, and why I was in such a hurry to get to the lead," said Fogarty. Russell nev er had a chance to m ingle w ith the guys fighting for the rostrum pl aces. He got en tangled with a group involving Piro vano, Falappa, Slight and Bontempi, a nd they were se veral second s behind the first gro u p at the midwa y point. "We lost a lot of time trying to bea t each other," said a disappointed Russell, after seeing his five-poin t lead tu m into a seven-point deficit. Even thou gh the Japa nese Kawasaki ho ncho s seemed pretty plea sed with the res ults - they had beaten their Japanese ad ver saries - the y al so realized that it was time to think abou t regaining the championship lead. During the break between the two heats, Team Mu zzy got the latest evolution Kawa sak i engine from Shoji Miyazaki's bike, which had impressed them earlier during the weekend. However, it rem a ined to be seen if Russell would feel immediately at home on the bike in the secon d heat. Slight, on the o the r hand , had to make do with the other Japanese engine. "Wha t we go t here, was a top spee d e ngi ne tha t lac ked p ow er in the midrange. Af ter the first he at, 1 a lso as ke d to tr y the ir o the r e ng in e, bu t Scott's doing well was understandably their first pri ority," Sligh t said . Race two The new Japanese engine in Russell's bike might not have been the miracle remedy to win him the title, bu t it surely helped him to produce a rocket s tart with only Fogarty in his slipstream. A few laps into the contest, Fogarty took over th e lead, bu t he would not have it his way this time. Not only did Russell stay withi n stri king d istance of the Du cati rider, but for some reason things started to go terribly wrong for the Italian twins fro m about th e halfway point of race two . First, Merkel retired after his Ducati 888 started to lose oil, then , with six laps to go, Mertens went d own. "The bike was shod on the same tires Fogarty had used in the first heat," said Mertens. After hav in g adapted to the Michelins, Mertens gained one second per lap on a group made up of Pirovano, Tsukamoto and Slight. But entering a bumpy corner, Mertens got out of shape. "I got onto the grass, where 1 crashed," Mertens said. One lap later, Russell passed the grandstands alone. Fogarty had al so crashed while passing some backmarkers and being forced off the track. "1 had this race perfectly under control. 1 knew that Scott had quite some trouble trying to remain in my slipstream, and 1 was ready for the final laps ," Fogarty said. And that was not the end of the story for Ducati; three laps before the finish, Lucchiari retired with gearbox problems and at the same time Falappa crashed and remained lying on the track for several minutes while the Japanese marshals seemed to panic. Finally, it was Merkel, who was walking back to the pits, who snatched up a yellow flag and waved it at the riders. At the finish line, it was Russell the winner in front of Kitagawa, Tsukamoto and Slight. Four. Kawasakis in the first four places was a result even the Japanese would never have dared to dream of. Pirovano finished fifth, rele- ... L!) T-! H Q) 8 ..... Q) c, Q) en Carl Fogarty took over the point lead in the first race, but saw it all disappear after crashing out of a dice with Russell in the second race. New Zealander Aaron Slight finished sixth and fourth in Japan and moved into third in the World Championship point standings. ga ling the first Duca ti , ridden b y Japanese Toshiyuki Arakaki, to an atypical sixth-place finish. Rymer in seventh, Fabrizio Furlan in 11th and Lindholm in 12th were the only other European riders making the top 15. But while the result of the second heat might have given Kawasaki something to cheer about on Sunday night, it remains to be seen if Russell will be able to hold on to his reconquered lead in the championship point standings. "The bike I used in the second heat had the power in the midrange that we have been looking for the whole sea son," said Russell. "The d ifference between this bike and my own was striking. I would have liked to keep it and not give the bike back to the Japanese." But right after the finish of the second heat, the engine was again yanked out from the Muzzy Kawasaki and taken back to the Kawasaki facto ry. Team manager Doyle said, "We desperately need these engines for the rest of the season if we want to win the cham- pionship. We are even willing to pay anything the Japanese ask, in order to use it." ~ Results QUALIFYING: I . Ca rl Fogarty (I min u te, 32.378 srconds); 2. Krii chi Kitagawa (1:32.819); 3. Scott Russe U (1 ;3 2.9 23) ; 4. Aaron Sli ght (1:33.1 43); 5 . Shokh i Tsu kamoto (1:33.295); 6. Stephane Mertens (1:33.369); 7. Plergicrglc Bontempi (1:33.386); 8. Fabrizio Pirov ano (1:33 .686); 9. Fred Merkel (1 :33.705); 10. Gianearlo Falappa (1:33.997); 11. Mauro Lucch ia ri (1:34.362); 12. TnT)' Rym er (1:34.498); 13. Shoji MiyazalO (1:34.653); 14. Tos h iyu ki Arakak i (1 :34 .96 7); 15. Makoto Suzuki (1:34 .968); 16. Katsu yoshi Takaha sh i (1:35.oI2); 17. AIdeD P re sciutti ( 1:35 .49 5 ); ]8 . Fabrizio Furlan (I:3S.708); 19. Masato Mogi (1:35.911) ; 20. je an -Ma rc Deletang (1:36.065); 21. Masao Nakada (1:36.103); 22. Christ er Lindholm (1:36 . 11 7); 23 . Herv" Mo ineau (1:36.199); 24. Jrlfrey 0. Vries (1:36.Jal); 25. Shinichiro Im a i (1:36.334); 26 . Hid.o Senmyo (1:36.5 10); 27 . N arima sa Miwa (1 :36.511 ); 28 . Hirofumi Takada (1:37.531); 29. Takeshi Harada (1:39.228); 30. Katsuya Wa.anab< (1:40.338); 31. Ta tsuo Kanaumi (1:40.974); 32. Hironari Yamamoto (1:41.492) . RACE ONE: I. C arl Fo gar.y (D ue ); 2. K.;; eh i Kit a g awa ( K. w ); 3. Sho ich ! Tsu kamoto ( Kaw); 4 . a Step ba ne Mertens (Due): 5. Giancarlo Fatappa (Oue) ; 6. Aaron Slight (Kaw) ; 7. Fabrizio Pirovano (Yam); 8. Scott Ru. .. 'U (!

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