Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

9ROAD RACE 250cc World Cham ionshi RoadRaceSeries:Round 13 ~ Capirossi takes charge with L Sc aguna eawin 0\ 0\ T"""i By Paul Ca rruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams M ONTEREY, CA, SEPT. 12 t really doesn't seem that long ago that Japan's Tet suya Harada held a virtually insurmountable 54-point lead in the chase for the 250cc World Championship. Five races later and that comfortable points lead is now no more than a faded memory . Instead, all momentum has shifted to young Italian Loris Capirossi. With his perfectly calculated victory in the U.S. GP a t Laguna Seca Raceway, the Marlboro Honda rider has taken charge of the championship and now leads Harada, who was fifth at Laguna, by 10 poin ts with only a single round in Spain remaining. By outscori ng Te lkor-Yamaha Valesi's Hara da, 101-37, in the last five rou nd s, Capirossi now appears to be a 'su re bet to add the 250cc Wo rld Cha mp ionship to the 125cc title he won in 1991. Capirossi now leads Harada, 182-172, with only the FIM Grand Prix schedu led fo r [arama, Sp a in , o n September 26, rem ain ing in the highly competitive 14-race series (seven d ifferent riders have won 250cc GPs in 1993). Capiro ssi's vic tory a t Laguna Seca only furth er proved just ho w worthy of the crown he is. I The personable 2a-year-old started slowly, moved into third on the first lap, took over second a lap later, and then began his ques t to catch the fast-starting [ean-Philippe Ruggia. By the seven th lap, Capirossi was tucked in neatly behind the Frenchman, content to just sit and wait. On the 15th lap, hi s patience p aid dividend s as Ruggia slowed dramatically with a misbehaving gearbox and was forced out of the race. From there it was a Capirossi cakewalk as he carefully measured the di stance between himself and the pursuing pack dici ng for second place. Slowing only in the closing stages of the race, Capirossi held on to win by 1.381 seconds after 31 laps and 67.92 miles of racing, averaging 88.45 mph in the process. "In the firs t laps I was preoccupied with the o ther guys," Capirossi sa id later. "Ruggia gained some seconds, but I caught up and decided to follow him until the end of the race. When he broke his engine, I saved my ad van tage to the end." The confronta tion over second place u ltima tely fin ally fell to HB Ho nd a's AtDunlop wefeelltlat it's . • Sou"", : 1993 Ollicial $65,850 91% $450" 1% . Metzeler $400 1% Michelin $5,000 7% DUNLOP naljUSl wtlal you post- it'swtlal you pay. DuolCll Doriano Romboni after his main antagonist Max Biaggi fell from the Rothm ans Honda on th e final la p . Chesterfield Aprilia's Loris Reggiani made it an allItalian winner's rostrum by barely edging Ducados Honda 's Alberto Puig at the fini sh line. Harada finished fifth after staying with but never leading the five-rider group wra ngling over second place. The only American in the field was Kenny Roberts [r., the yo ung Cali forn ian finishi ng 10th in his Grand Prix debut o n a fac tory-backed, Ma rlboro-sponso red Yama ha TZM250 . (see sidebar). A crowd anno unced by pro moters as being 50,000 strong stood under a cloudless blue sky as the lights turned green on the 250cc GP shortly af te r noon . Timin g the lights perfectly was Biaggi, who led Romboni and Ruggia up the hill and down towards tum two. On the exit of two, though, it was Ruggia and the all-black Apri lia in the lead . Ruggia wasn' t in a playful mood and by the time the 3D-rider field reached the start/finish line for the first time he was leadi ng by over a second with Romboni, Bridgestone f;JI.Aand AMAiCCS ronhngency reports. ••AMAiCCS re;>or1> Itr istruly dedicated to T H E developing motorcycle B E S T R I D E T H E B E S T_ Dunlop congratulates 1993 Champions Doug Polen in are no longer available Superbike . Jimmy Rlice in 250cc Grand Prix, Britt Turkington forthis manufacturer. in 75ecc Supersport, Miguel DuHamel in 600cc Supersport Scoreboard cala .llalions and Scott Zsmpach in Harley-Davidson U.S. Twin Sport. tirepertormanre through are validthr ugh Charlotte, o oN-road in volvemenl- N Croad race event. l!fvelapmenlltlatsproven ' inour race results. DOliI' Polen , L\lA Su perbike, _ Champi on 10 Cap irossi, Biaggi, and Puig leading the chase. Ruggia's lead grew to a high of 2.91 seconds on the seco nd lap. But then Cap iross i s ta r ted his zealous pursuit and instantly started whittling into the Ruggia 's lead. It was down to 2.25 secon ds on the third lap, 1.86 seconds on lap five, 1.23 on lap six, and only 0.99 seconds on lap seven. By the eighth lap the pair wer e locked togethe r and it woul d s tay tha t way until Ru gg ia ' s demise on the 15th lap. "I 'm reall y disappointed becau se I was able to take a very good start and to lead the race from the start to the half of the race," Ruggia said later. "My front tire was sliding and tha t gave Cap irossi the chance to come closer to me. I wasn' t worried about tha t slide, but suddenly I had a problem with the leverage inside of the gearbox and it was the end of my race.. " Ru ggi a' s non-fi ni sh also d ropped him from thir d in the cha m pionshi p point standi ngs into a tie for fourth. The blistering pace set by Ruggia and Cap iro ssi had pulled them some eight seco nds clear of the batt le for second, and Capirossi would main tain that gap unti l slowing late in the race. Meanwhile, the struggle over second place was a dandy. On the third lap, it was Puig leading Romboni and Biaggi in a three-rider dice for third (ul tima tely second with Ruggia 's impendi ng retirement). Then Reggiani joined in, followed shortly by Harada and for a ti me by Harada 's

• Cover