Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Schwa nt z fo llo wed h im home, nursin g his injured hand and sa ying la te r : " It wa s go ing n umb . At that sta ge, I jus t wanted the race to finish." He als o re vea led that h e expects to hav e carpal tunnel surgery at the end of the season. Daryl Beattie wa s fifth o n the Rothmans Honda after an other steady race. His only real passing move of the da y had been on Chandler on lap 10, by which time the Cagiva rider was already fadin g, saying later: "I made a mistake with too soft a front tire - a C compound ins tead of a D." Tw o laps later, w ith Beattie already gone , he paid the price, with a spec tacular crash under braking for the second corner. Luck ily he was unhurt. Shinichi Itoh, on the third Rothmans Honda, was sixth and a long way out of tou ch - almost 20 seco nds behind. " In fact, the fuel injection worked the best it has all year," he said later. "The problem was wheeIspin and a lack of circuit knowledge." Marlboro Honda's Alex Criville and Valvoline's Niall Mackenzie had been with the Japanese rider for most of the race, but at the finish they spread out a little. Way back, and the last rider on the same lap as the lead ers, was Brit ish Ch amp ion Jo h n Reyn old s, on th e Padgetts Harris Yamaha, taking ninth to equal his best finish of a first GP year that he is fmishin g more strongly than he began. Juan Lopez Mella was 10th, prevailing over the rest of the privateers. Jose Kuhn was six seconds behin d, Irishm an Jeremy McWilliams was 12th, then sean Emmett piped Serge Davide, leaving the final point to Laurent Navea u. As well as Doohan and Ch andler , Andrew Stroud, Bernard Garcia, and Luciano Pedercini crashed ; Doorakkers retired with clu tch tr ou ble , and Ma t Mladin pitted the third Cagiva with rear br ak e p ro ble ms. Am erican wil d card entry Danny Walker was also a non-finishe r, ret iring wi th brake trouble (see sidebar). The p oints a re no w acad e mic for Schwantz, who has 232 to Rainey's 214. Dooha n and Beattie, however, are now equal third on 156 poin ts each, with Cadalora close on 145, with one race left to decide third to fifth. 0\' Results SOGe , Q UALI FYI N C : 1. Mich a e l Daoha n (1:26.417/91.277 mph); 2. John Koci nski (1' 26 .563); 3. Alex Barros (1:26.868); 4. Kevin 5ch wantz (1:26.911); 5. Luea Ca dalo ra (1:27.036); 6. Da ry l Beattie (1:27.172); 7. Doug Chandlet (1:27.650); 8. Shinichi ltoh (1:27.814); 9. Alex Criville (1:28.006); 10. Joh n Reynolds (1:28.069); II . N ia ll Ma ckenzie (1:28 .25 4); 12. Freddie Spencer (1;28589); 13. Michael Rudeoll (1:28 .950); 14. Lucio Ped errini (1:29.103); 15. Jua n Lopez Mella (1:29.281); 16. Berna rd Ga rcia (1:29.322); 17. Jose Kuhn (1:29.470)" 18. Ma t Mladi n (1:29.670): 19. Laurent Na veau (1:29.720): 20. Jeremy McWilliams (1:29.959); 21. Tsutom u Ud agawa (1:30.100) : 22. Renzo Co lleo ni (1:30.249); 23. And re w Str oud (1:3 0 .33 6); 24. Cees Do or ak ke rs (1:30.389); 25. Serge Da vid (1:30.396); 26. Kevin Mitchell (1:30.426); 27. Dere k Je fferi es (1:30.474); 28. Sean Emme tt (1:30.587); 29. Tierry Crme (1:31.065); 30. Bruno Donh uil (1:31.762); 31. Ma rco Pap a (1:31.990): 32. Danny Walker (1:32.008); 33. Andreas Meklau (1:32.428). SOOC, GRAND PRI X: I. John Koc ins ki (Cag); 2. Alex Ba rros (Suz); 3. Luca Cada lo ra (Yam); 4. Kevin Schw an tz (Suz) ; 5. Daryl Be-attie (Hon ); 6. Shinichi Itoh (Hon); 7. Alex Cri ville (Hon ); 8. N'oa Mackenzie (Yam); ll 9. John Reynolds (Yam); 10. Juan Lopez Mella (yam); 11. Jose Kuh n (Yam) ; 12. Je rem y Mc Williams (Yam) ; 13. Sea n Emmett (yam) : 14. Serge Davi d (Yam) ; 15. Laurent Neveau (Ya m); 16. Derek Jefferies (Yam) ; 17. Tsu tomu Udagawa (Ya m) ; 18. Micha el Ru d r o ff (Ya m); 19. Andreas Mekla u (Yam); 20. Bru no Bonhuil (Yam) ; 21Michael Doohan (Hon); 22. Andrew Stroud (Ya m): 23. Ilemard Garcia (Yam); 24. Cees Doorakkers (Yam ); 25. Doug Chand ler (Cag) ; 26. Ma t Mladin (Cag); 27. Danny Wa lur (Yam) ; 28. Kevi n Mitchell (Yam ); 29. Ren zo Colleoni (Yam); 30. Marro Papa (Yam); 31. Tlerry ~ (Yam) . Ti m~ 48 min. , 17165 sec. Dis tance: 33 laps. 72.6 mi les. Avera ge SPft'd: 89.846 mp h. .trgi n of Vict ory: 6.375 5eC. u trst up: Kevin Schwantz. 1:26.837/90.835 m ph. 500cc WORLD C'SHIP PO INT STANDINGS: I. Kevin 5chwantz (232 /4 wins); 2. Wayne Rainey (214 / 4 wins); 3. (TIE) Michael Doohan/Daryl Beattie (156 /1); 5. Lura Cadalora (145/2); 6. Shinichi Itc h (119); 7. Alex Criville (104); 8. Alex Barros (100); 9. Niall Mackenzie (95); 10. Doug Chand ler (72); 11. John Kocinski (51/1); 12. Juan Lopez Mella (46) ; 13. Jose Kuhn (39); 14. (T IE) Mat MladinlJohn Reynolds (35). laps . A bone is fractu red , and it seems it has work ed itself into an awkward position , an d after a few lap s it cuts off the circulation. I hope Dr. (Claudio) Costa can fix it for the race tomorrow. " His race ap p roach was determinedly casu al. "I have nothing to prove, which a lot of other people do . It wou ld be great to win at home, but I'm just gon na ride the way I ha ve all year . If th e bike's good eno ug h and I can ge t into a win ning position, I'll d o it. If not, I' m not gonna take risks to do the impossible." Marlboro Yamaha' s Luca Cadalo ra led row two, racin g with the instructions of his injured teammate fresh in his mind. Shattered by Rainey' s deva stating injuries, Cadalora had wa nt ed to skip the race. "Heck no," Rain ey told him. " If I can 't be there, I don't want no other American to win the race." Unusuall y, the Yamaha rid er was having trouble getting front gri p from his exclus ive Dunl op tires. "It's a difficult track, and we ha ve some more work to do to improve the weight transfer . It's im portan t that you feel comfortable on the bike here." He had Rothmans Hon da's Dary l Beattie alongside, the Australian well up with the fast men at another new track, while ridi ng well within himself as usual after a dec eptively laid-back first season. He wa s only just over half a seco nd slowe r than teammate Doohan on pol e, and as one of the only top riders not yet con tracted for next year could be expe cted to prod uce a stron g race. Doug Chan dle r wa s alongside; the o ther rider who need ed to p roduce something imp ress ive to justify his reputat ion and secure some thi ng wo rt hw hile for next year, after he finally went very public over his dissatisfaction wit h the Cagiva team. A cowboy from nearby Salina s, he complained good and proper abou t the Italian team's lack of or ganiza tion in a local paper interview, praising the bike but sa ying their disorganized approach made it difficult to do it jus tice. Wha t he didn't mention was unwanted teammate Kocinski, riding like a demon at the same time as Chandler's effor t and commitment ha s tra iled off through injury and other reasons. He wa s over a second down on Kocinski, the first big gap in the top times; and less than two tenths ahead of Shinichi Itch's fuel-injected Honda. Itoh wa s having trouble getting to grips with the difficult track and its complex surface. "It seems to be either slippy or bumpy," he said. . Alex Criville led row three, fighting slides while try ing to find the righ t suspension set-up. Mere hundredths slower than Criville's works Honda came British Harris-mounted privateer John Reynolds, really blossoming late in the season to pla ce ahead also of usual top privateer Niall Mackenzie. The next place went to Freddie Spencer, who was looking like at least a shadow of his former self at his home GP; more than at the previous two races where he was much more injury troubled. Sadly, he crashed in the final session, breaking bones in his left hand and heel, and finishing his dreadful season earl y. Spencer's place was taken by Michael Rudroff, at the head of the rest of the privateers; with Bernard Garcia's works Yamaha 16th among them, one place ahead of Jose Kuhn, whose Roc also had a Big Bang engine. There were 33 qualifiers: American wild card Danny Walker, in his first 500 ride, was second last, with Austrian Meklau at the back. Wild card entry Danny Walker suffered through numerous problems with his Yamaha. Nobody said it would be easy "I t's a lot of wo rk,Ha still-smili ng Danny Walker said after drop ping out of the 500cc U.S. GP after only 11 laps. U ad vice to anyone thinking My of ridi ng in a 500cc GP is simple: yo u better have about 10 unbelievably qualified mechanics aroun d you because it's all in the setup." Walker and his Southwest Motorsports crew suffered through a myriad of problems w ith th eir leas ed Harris-framed Yamaha YZRSOO. The problems started early and lasted throug hout the weekend, taking some of the glitter off their wild ca rd en try in to the Gr and Pr ix. Still, Walker said he'd do it again if the opportunity presented itself. " I'd do it again if I could jump on a good bike," the Colo rado native said. "A bike like (Niall) Mackenzie's, with his crew. I'm happy. I just did n't wa nt to jus t en d up th ro w in g i t on th e ground." Walke r go t his firs t im pressions of the 500cc GP class du ring the first practi ce session o n Frid ay morn ing. "Doohan and Schwantz blew by me like I was in reverse," he said, adding. "Nah, it's not that bad . They're really jus t riding moto rcycles. The imp ressive part is ho w they come off the corners. They really get off the com ers hard. I was ou t there tooling around looking for some-. bod y. (Shinichi) Itoh came by me. I outbroke him goi ng in to six an d then he was gone... boy', did he make up some grou nd going up the hill. "To just ride it this thing is okay, but to go fast the setup has to be right. You can ride one of these things aro und here all day doing 33s and 34s - but 31s is getting around." Michael Doohan ended up on pole position with a lap of 1:26.417. Walker 's best ended up being a 1:32.428. Walker really wasn't given much of a chance to impress. The Harris Yamaha he'd rented from Padgetts in England was fairly beaten and it took the effort of all involved just to make Walker feel halfway comfortable on the bike. It w asn't until the 11th hour th at they attributed most of the problem to footpeg positioning - that and some bad ly prepared front forks. "This is the first time I'v e had sore shou ld ers since I rode the Go ld Hill Yama ha 1000 ," Wa lker recalled on Fr iday afternoo n . "R ig h t now I just don't hav e any con fiden ce to throw it down in the comers." The next problem the team encounter ed was wi th th e fro nt brak es. The brake pads were actually hitting the buttons that hold the d iscs to the wheel. Those were quickly filed down. "It's ne ver-ending," Walker sai d on Saturda y morning. "It's just one thin g after ano the r wit h th is thi ng , but we kind of expected that. We're still fighting the steering geometry. We had an oil level problem with the forks. It's a lot of work, a lo t of wo rk. Every time we turn arou nd it's something else." You d on 't reall y q ua li fy as a GP up sta rt un less yo u've come under the wrath of Doohan , and Walker d id just that on Saturday morning. "I've been s tayi ng o u t of eve ry bo dy 's w a y all weekend, and then I get in Mick's way," Walker said. "At least he didn't flip me off or anything - he just looked over at me." Prior to Sunday morni ng's wa rm-up session, Walker had th in gs abo ut as good as they were going to get. "John Reynolds has been a big help," he said. "We' ve changed a ton, but we don 't have anything to lose. We can only go faster." Then the team had its biggest scare of the weekend. Walker brought the bike into the pits compla ining of a bad vibration: "If it was my 250, I'd say the crank wen t," Walker said. " It was a whole differen t motorcycle today with all the changes. I could stay w ith (Kev in) Mitchell even when the moto r wen t bad . Now it won' t even run." Good news came quickly . The problem w as s im ple: the pulley o n th e pow er-valve had pulled off, causing the bike to run poorl y and vibra te bad ly. In the race, Walker was surprised at the slow initial pace: "I d id a 31.2 and I was jus t cruising aro und," he said. HI was really surp rised at how slow they w ent in th e fi rst few lap s . They all freaked out on the start. I think it's the rotors (brakes). It was chattering like a dog. They'd grab more with the hotter they got. Going up into six, I was waiting for them to pa ss me. I wasn ' t even us ing the brakes and it chattered and grabbed. It picked up the back whe el. After that I thought the rotor was coming apart. "It w as definitely an ex perience. I can't blame the Padgetts people. It's the end of the year and this is all they've got. I really enjoyed riding the bike - it's just a lot of work. .. Paul Carruthers U 9

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