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/127595
sixth in the second race, so I think we 're rea lly go ing the rig ht way n o w . Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we11 get a 92 6 engine this year. The pistons won't be available in tim e . Bu t w hy should I complain ? I'm on the front row, and th a t m igh t help a lot tomorrow when the lights tum green." Merkel 's enthusiasm was a bit tempered la ter on when his best engine broke in the final few minutes of the second session, forcing his mechanics to switch engines. The second row consisted of Jamie Wh itham, Mauro Lucchiari, Ter ry Rymer and Fabrizio Pirovano. Race one As the ribbon of riders passed for the first time on the long straight behind the pa dd ock, Fogarty and Russell already had a small lea d over the res t of the field . For Briton Brian Morrison the race end ed so me m inutes later, when h e crashed in the first com er on the second lap. At the same time, Alex Vieira rolled back onto the pit lane wi th wha t sounded like an electrical p rob lem. In th e Duca ti pits, meanwhile, red alert went out when Falappa came in. The Italian, who had suffered th rough his n inth crash since Anderstorp in practice, just couldn't get the bike ha nd li ng well eno ugh to his liki ngs. The rear shock wa s adjusted, and Falappa went out again with an engine which d id not so u nd too he althy either. He was to retire permanently after the ninth lap , wondering what had gone wrong. "Yesterday afternoon I had not had an y problems with this bike," Falappa said. "And since thi s morning, it do es not want to stee r pro perly." Aft er fi ve laps, Foga r ty was s till lead ing, while Russell desperately held on . A few seconds back, a gr oup consisting of Fabrizio Pirovano, Whitham, Mertens and Sli ght had all se t their sights o n the last ros trum position. Shortly thereafter, Pirovano had to bu ry hi s ambitions fo r a fe w hours a s he crashed out of the race. "What bad luck," the sma ll Itali an grumbled. "Everything went really well; I did not fo rce anythin g, but when I came around a fast comer I noticed a tear-off jus t on the racing line. It was too late to rea ct; th e front wh ee l of my Yamaha hit the small pla stic thing and down I went." It would not prevent Pirovano's three colleagues from going on to bash some fa ir in gs in th eir fight for th ird place. Mert ens, who led the trio for qu ite some ' time, got passed by his two adversaries in the penultimate comer, but still succeeded in ta king his revenge on Whi tham. Slight, however, stayed ou t of his gras p, even though the difference at the finish alone w as only so me twote n ths of a se co nd . A few seconds before, Fogarty had earned his ninth vietory of th e se ason, his o n ly be in g a m inor one with a slip p ing anti-sli p clutch. Russell had lost all hope of staying with the Brit when he ran into some problems at the halfway mark. "F rom lap eight onward , the b ike started to vibrate like hell," Russell said. "I wondered where it came from, and I slowed down a little. Two lap s later, the problem hadn't intensi fied, and I picked up the pace aga in. After the race, my mechanics found out that the front tire I'd used was too soft; it had worn out too soon, which had caused severe imbalance:' Meanwhile, Pierg iorgio Bontempi (o n a wrongly geared Kawasaki) had been lea di ng ano ther gro up, mu ch to the dissatisfaction of Terry Rymer and Merkel. "Bontempi was riding like my grand mother in th e co rners, " Rymer sa id . Aaron Slight (6) leads Jami e Whitham (69) and Stephane Mertens (7); Slight and Mertens each had a third-place fini sh. Scott RusselI has seen his lead in the championship whittled away by Fogarty. "W e ne ver go t the cha nce to over take him as his Kawasaki accelera tes pretty well. It was so frus trating, that I didn't even bo ther in the last corner whe n I came alon gside him . I thou ght, 'Why risk everything and crash afte r suc h a race?" Afte r a prom ising practice, Merkel fin ish ed a d isappointing 11 th on h is Duca ti, after having lost more and more places as the race went on. Nobles and Monti had abandoned the race, both due to pain from their injuries. Race two Half an hour before the start of the second race, the official Du cat i teams decided to change tactics. Falappa had once again not come up to expectati ons in the first leg, and Merkel had not been able to mix it up with the front-runners. Mer tens seemed to be the most appropriate choice to give some extra support to in order to try and stop Russell from finishing second. A mino r ope ration in the electronic unit (by the chief mechanic of the Roche team) of the Merten s' Duca ti (from the Tard ozzi team) turned out to be quite bene ficial in top speed . At least for a few laps . Wh en the riders hit th e long back straight for the first time, the estimated 25,000 spectators couldn't believe their eyes: in only some two miles Fogarty had alread y opened up a sizeable gap, and he was followed by Mertens. "When I looked back after a few corners, and I saw that Scott was n' t in my sli ps trea m, I decided to ha ve a go, " . Foga rty said . " I p ushed realIy ha rd , hoping that Scott would n't get back too soon from what had appa rently been a very poor sta rt." Foga rty's plan didn' t su cceed : after two lap s, Russell got by Merte ns, the Belgian spoilspo rt. But that didn't stop Fogar ty fro m clicking off so me more very fast lap times, until his lead was up to 10 seco nds . From then on, th e top three places were settled. Mertens shook off the attacks from Pirovano (still suffering from his first heat crash and ridi ng h is se co n d b i ke, in which h is mechanics had transferred the engine from th e crashe d bike) and Falappa . Slight and Whitham were further do wn, after they had lost Merkel, who retired with mechanical probl ems, and Rymer, who was lacking rear tire grip . Pirovano, who wa s clearly getting the better of Falappa, suddenly looked set for a rostrum position as Mertens' Ducati started to emit some very ominous noises as the race dr ew to an end. "After Scott (Russell) had passed me, I ran into some brak e problems," the Bel gian sa id later. "I ha d made th e wrong decision to leave the caps for the carbon-fiber brak es on, and after a few laps, the calipers started to rub against the brake disc - that had become too hot. I slowed down a bit, and eve ry thi ng started to work well again. Then, in the las t lap s the eng ine started to misfire. Very strange, as this did not happen in the comers, but on the strai ghts. I figu re the mechanics did not have the time to adjus t everything to the new chip they had bu ilt in. But there will be time for that in the next couple of weeks, before we go to Monza ." Still, it was the Belgian's best resu lt since Brno, when he also made the rostrum after half of the lead ing men had fallen down. He joined winner Fogarty and Ru ssell, who had to se ttle once again for a second place. "The tires I used in this heat, didn't wo rk well either," Russell said . " It' s very sad, but still I haven't given up hope. We've brought a new eng ine with us from Japan. We do n't know exactly what this will be, but we d idn't have time to put it in the bike. But you can bet tha t we will know everyt hing abou t it." Nobles, who had go lien two painkilling injections half an hou r before the start, we nt well in the first half of the race, but then lost gro und again late in the race as the effect of the shots wore off. He finished 23rd. ~ Results Q UALIFYING : 1. Car l Foga r ty (2:06 .20 ); 2. Giancarlo Falappa (2:06.66); 3. Scott Russell (2. 06.68); 4. : Aaron Sligh' (2:07.68); 5. Fred Merkel (2:08.32); 6. James Whith.>m (2;1Il.43); 7. Mauro Lucehiari (2:1Il5 1); 8. Terry Rymer (2:08.77); 9. Fabriz io Pirova no (2:08.88); 10. Plergio rgio Bontempi (2:09.01); t 1. Stephene Mert en s (2;)9.02); 12. Andreas Hoffmann (2;)9 .04); 13. Jeffry de Vries (2;)9.30); 14. Chri ster Undholm (2;09.39); 15. 8rian Mor rison (2:09.49); 16. Arpad Harmati (2:09 .92); 17. Fab rizio Furlan (2:09.93); 18 . Christia n Lavieit le (2:10.11); 19. Be r nha rd Schick (2:10.15) ; 20 . Er ns t Gech we nder (2:10 .17); 21. Alex Vieira (2:10.29); 22. Philip pe Mcuchet (2:10.46); 23. Marcel Kellenberger (2:10.69); 24 . Mile Pol ic (2: 10 .84); 25 . M.auro Mastrelli j (2 :10 .85); 26 . Jean -Yv es Mauni er (2:10.85); 27. Do m inique Sarron (2:10.90); 28. Ucla Mark (2:11.00); 29. Aldec Pr esciut f (2:11.11); 30. Roger Kellenberge r (2:11.5 1); 31. Balda ssare Monti (2:11.55); 32. Tripp Nobles (2:11.83); 33 . John Barton (2: ] 2.26 ); 34. Herbe rt Koeppel (2:12.42); 35. Han, Fischer (2:12.44); 36. Ge rard va n der Wal (2:12.46); 37. Marce l Ernst (2:12.71); 38 . Jean-Marc Deleta ng (2:13.05); 39. Leo Planken (2:13.19); 40. Matt Llewellyn (2:13 .80 ); 41. Richard Defa go (2:14 .57); 42. Urs Wed er (2: 14 .60) ; 43 . An ton Berghammer (2:15.80); 44 . l oo p Bosc h (2:15.98); 45. Roberto Biagiol i (2;16.50); 46. Juha Kyllonen (2:17.18); 47. Ch risty Rebuttini (2:17.97); 48 . Henk van den Broek (2:19.48) RACE ON E: J. Car l Fogarty (Due); 2. Scott Ru.~",11 (Ka w); 3 . Aaron Sl ig h t (Kaw); 4 . Ste p hane Mert ens ( D ue) ; 5 . [ am es Wh it h a m (Ya m) ; 6. P ier g i o rg i o Bontempi (Ka w); 7. Te rry Ry mer (Yam); 8. Andreas Ho ffm ann (Ka w) ; 9. Chrtster Lind ho lm (Yam); 10 . Mauro Luoch iari (Due); II . Fred Me rkel (Due); 12. Jeffry de Vries (Yam ); 13. Fabrizio FurLm (Kaw); 14. Chri stian Lavieille (Due); 15. Erns t C schwender (Kaw ); 16. Arpad Harmati (Ya m) ; 17. MilE" Pajie (Kaw) ; 18. Udo Mark (Ya m); 19. j ea n -Yves Meu nier (Yam ); 20. Ma rcel Kellen berger (Kaw); 2 1. Aldeo Presci utti (Doc); 22. f-i.ms Fischer (Due); 23. Roger Kellenberger (Yam); 24. Mauro Mastrell i (Ya m); 25. Gerard van der Wal (Yam); 26. Herbert Koeppel (Kaw ) TIme: 33 m in., 54 .78 St"C . D i 5u n~ 16 1aps . 60 miles. Av erage speed: 106.164 mph Mong in of vi ctory: 2.80 5«. Fastest lap : Russel l 2.-05.95/1 07.196 mph . RACE lWO, J. Ca rl Fogarty (Due); 2. Scott Russell (K.1w); 3 . Seephane Mmens (Du e ); 4. Fabrizio Pirova no (Yarn); 5. James wrutham (Yam); 6. Aaron Slight (Kaw); 7. Gianc arlo Falap pa (Du e); 8. Christer lindholm (Yam); 9. Terry Rymer (Yam); 10. Piergiorgio Bontem pi (Kaw); 11. Jeffry de Vries (Yam ); 12. Andreas Hoffmann (Kaw): 13. Fabrizio Fur lan (!