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/127594
UR~D~CE~~~~~ioo~~_R__d__ Se_ri__ o~_d_n~~~~~~~_ oa ~ce_ eS: R_ e A crowd estimated atSO,llOO strong fill ed Laguna Seca Raceway as Grand Prix racing made a popular return to the United Slates, (Left) Alex Criville (8), Shinichi Itoh (6) and Niall Mackenzie (11) raced for sixth place. Doohan- grabs Role for U GP .S. or Michael Doohan (right) the dosing minu tes of practice wer e crucial. He ran in to the Cork screw lik e he 'd done 93 times al ready over the fo u r sessions, and prepared to tackle Laguna's most d ifficul t corner. "As I was going in, the bike ju m ped in to neutra l, th en b efore I could grab the dutch it ju m p ed in to fi rst, it loc ked the back w he el, and I was thrown ove r the ins id e of the bi ke, and it chased me down the hill." Luck ily, he survived unhurt to start from pole position, ha vin g dominated every practice ses sio n, "T he trac k' s much the same as two years ago, and so is the bike, " he sa id . "It's not so hard getting throu gh the flat rights (turns three / fou r) as it was. I guess the tires are better now. But yo u still have to baby it in. Otherwise you 'd just go straight on." The grid was tight again on the front row, in sp ite of the ab sen ce of Wayne Rainey. Just over a ten th down came John Kocin s ki, ha vi ng a th ird and aga in hi ghl y impressive Cagiva ou tin g and making the red bike move. The kid still has pl enty to p ro ve, and w as again riding very ha rd in deed, sp inni ng and sliding much more ob viously than an yb od y else. "I' m no t thi n king abo u t w inning - just tr yi n g to be consistent," he said. "It's been harder to try an d ge t the se tup her e than anywhere so far. The main thing is to look for more traction ." The p ai r of Suzukis came nex t, Alex Barros tried a new type of bottom tripledamp th at extends down the side of the fork o uter to give extra b ra cing. The Brazilian was the fas ter, relieved now of any thoughts of having to try and help h is (usually quicker) tea mmate's world title b id , and ab le to concentrate on his ow n business. "I 've h ad a couple of bad races. I jus t wa n t to finish, and if it' s on the podi u m th en I'll be satisfied ." Barros was fas t, bu t s till not consistent, going much slower on Fri d ay af ternoon than he ha d in the morning . He av oided the same thing on Sa tu rd ay, but even then was puzzled at an appare n t change in the surface during the lunch break. " It feels d ifferent to me, and I d on't know why," he sai d. More a ttention was on Kevi n Schwant z, w ho now revealed that he has been riding with a broken bone in his hand for the last two races , the legacy of his pair of Donington Pa rk crashes. "It gave me some trouble in Czechoslovakia," the new World Cham p ion said, nursing an ice pack over hi s right hand . "And a little in Italy. N ow racing two weekends back to back I can't do .more than four or five F Alex Barros, John Kocinski, team owner Giacomo Agostini and Luca Cadalora. 8