Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Va riante d el Re tti fil o ), purs ued b y Russell, Piergiorgio Bontem pi, Palap pa, Christ er Lindholm and the rest of the pack. On ly a m omen t later, o ne of h is Lucchiari's young colleagues end ed his ra ce in th e g rave l p it. In the Cu rv a Ascari (the thi rd chicane on the highspeed track), Bon tempi wen t down, soon to be followed by several other riders. By that time, Russell had taken command, leading Lucchiari, Falappa and Mertens. One lap later, Mertens crashed his Ducati in the sa me co rne r that saw Bontempi lose contro!. On the next goaround, Lucchiari followed their example. Five laps later, Falappa cru ised past Russell in the style tha t reminded man y of the self-con fid ent Falappa they saw earl y in the season. Unfortunately, th is too came to an abrupt end. On the 10th lap, Falappa cr a shed • in th e sa me co rne r as Bontempi, Mertens and Lucchiari. It was not until Virginio Ferrari did the same four laps from the end that the marshalls became suspicious about the state of the track there. Of course, they were helped in their thinking when the former 500cc Grand Pr ix winner gra bbed th e sand bucket and brush from their hands and started to clean the track himself. At the hal fway stage, however, things st arted lo o king goo d for the M u zz y Kawasak i team. Russell had in herit ed the lead after Falappa's crash, an d Slight w as a sa fe seco nd. Pirova no a n d Fogarty, meanwhile, seemed to be getting in each other's way as they fough t over third place. Even more su rprising was Tripp Nob les, w ho was sit ting in fifth place. But as the race d rew to an e n d, Russell s ta rted losing groun d, and Piro van o had been able to escape from the clutches of Fogarty, Three laps from the e n d, Sli ght m ad e co n ta ct with Russell and everybody e xpected the New Zealander to stay in his teammate's slip stream until the flag dropped. But it didn't work out that way. "I'd been waiting for three laps before I made up my mind," surprise winner Slight said later. " Of course I want a Kawasaki rider to win the title, but I'd also noticed that Scott had cooked his tires in the first half of the race. He was sliding more and more, and I'd been riding in a relaxed way , and got anxious to lose my J hy th m behind him. I finally decided to ge t past him. The new rain tire from Dunlop , which I used for the first time here, worked pretty well. Onl y in the last seven lap s did it start to slid e." Estoril- Scott Russell (11) came out of Italy with his points lead intact; his teammate Aaron Slight (6) was the hero of the race, posting a 1-2 tally. Russell, who unlike Slight used the new engine, lost his chance to win in the last coup le of laps: " I could have won easily here," he sa id . "The bi ke . worked very well, and I passed Falappa withou t any problems during our shor t figh t in the first couple of laps. But the tires went, and I could do nothin g when Aaron went past me." Pirovano, who during Sunday morning warm-up practice had tried out a Ckit bike, which deliv ers its power more smoo thly - finally opt ed for the more ag gressive A-ki t Yam aha, sliding h is wa y to third position, in front of Fogarty and - Nobles. "Th is is one of the best weekends I've ever had ," Nobles said. "There was only one person w ho passed me (Pirovano), and when - five laps before the end - my p it crew showed me the + 20-sig n, I thought Jeffry De Vries (num ber 20) was righ t behind me. I looked behind me, but I d idn't see anybody. It was only later on that I rea lized tha t the next guy was 20 seconds behind ! I had been seeing Fogarty in front of me during the whole race, and the red Ducati didn't seem to be able to pull away. Which was another surprise for me." Race Two After the excitement of the first race, the second heat was going to be les s interesting. Firstly because most of the riders knew which tires to use, and secondly because most stayed on board this time around. For Ferrari and Alex Vieira, however, the race ended on the sighting lap when both crashed in the same corner that had already taken Ferrari in the first heat - ending the Italian's one-off comeback. That wasn't al!. Vieira then tried to strangle h im because o f hi s "reckless driving" - which he said had led to the double crash. After bo th bikes and the possible oil Y~T--:-' . .=.-t=-=.. .:no .-? o:. ::-:. _ t seems that the 13th round of the World Championshi p Superbike Series, scheduled to run October 17 in Estoril, Portugal, will likely take place - despite reports of the dangers the race track presents. . After superbike racer Davide Tardozzi presented a not-so-enthusiastic rep ort on the work that had been done to the Portuguese track, the top 15 riders voted on wh ether or not to take part in the !as t European. round of ~ Eight ride.rs voted again;>t going; and seven voted In favor of racm g at Estoril. But it now seems likely that all will go, especially since the championship is not yet decided. Man y rid ers need every opportunity to score championship points. And the others ca n ill afford to allow them to do so. Among the most fervent advocates of the Portuguese track were Carl Fogarty, who lies second in the Wor ld Championship, and Stephan e Mertens, sixth in the title chase. . , . " . "Francis Batta, pr esident of the SUBRA (SuperbIke RacmgAssocation was very disppointed with th~ lack of solidarity among th~ superbike racers ,. pparentlya ride:s' asso~ii1ti99 ,~ oe: notwork,' he sai~;" .,.. .• , . ,, ' each and rider are very differen sometimes even contradlctory'i! 1;w'igspughtbe a lot if we hada sgong Jea s~9ciationthat might react agamstthe.,i1cceptance.of er0115 tracks.like Estori!. To(fay,all team managers agreed that tllere ,v,.asno point spending their time and money on a potentially dangero~s circui.fBut, ~fter all, it is the riders who decide. And it is a shame that some of them Just oblige their colleagues . . 'to go into a situation which might end in tears for ~ome of them." . The Autodromo do Estoril, or more recently titled the Autodiomo Fernanda PIres Da Silva, is an ll-tum, 2.7-rnile road course which plays host to a PIA Formula One World Championship rO~,l'Id. I set!es. ----------- trail had been removed from the track, th ings got going again with Fal appa leading the field into the first chicane. After three laps, the Italian had ope ned a small lead over his main rivals, led by Fogarty, Pirovano, Mertens, Lucchiari, Russell, Slight and Bontempi. As Falap pa extended his lead to some sev en seconds, Mertens , Lucch iari and Bontempi started a fade that w ould last for th e e ntire ra ce. At h a lf-d ista nce, Fa lappa was cru ising around, w ith Pirovano, Slight and Fogarty battling it out for second place. Ru ssell, fu rther d own in fifth, was followed - a t a safe dista n ce - b y Lucchiari, . Me rtens, Bontempi, Lindholm and Nobles in 10th. The positions didn't change much in the sec ond half of the race, except in the fight for second. Pirovano, Slight and Fogarty sta rted to ge t nervous in the final laps, with positions changing each and every lap. Two laps before the end, things almost came to an end for Pirovano. The Italian ran into Slight at the braking po int for the Variante del Rettifilo, and he ran off into the gravel pit. Miraculously, the Yamaha rider stayed on board and even managed to get back on track some 30 feet in front of his two companions. In a last-gasp effort, Slight got back in front again, securing second place in the process, in front of Pirovano, Fogarty and Russel!. For the New Zealander, this fine result was the icing on a good day's work. "I never expected to do so well here in Monza, especially in the rain," Slight ad mitted . "The second race was for me almost more exciting than the first one. Especially at the end wh en Pirovan o and I went side-by-side into the chicane after the s ta r t/finish . At th at m o m ent, I tho ught Piiovano was trying to kick me out of the way, but then I noticed that his knee-slider wa s stu ck beh ind mine. He was just trying to get rid of the thing befo re he w en t into th e grave l pi t. I couldn't believe wh at I saw. And then he came back onto the track just in fron t of 115. I was so surp rised about tha t move, I almost lost the bike wh en I go t onto the gas a little too eage rly. Fortuna tely, I got h im bac k in th e last few kilome ters before the end of the race." Falap pa was also quite hap py abou t his new success (his sixth race victory of the seaso n): "I did not have any problems during the race . I only went very slowly in the comer where I had crashed during th e first heat. Thi s time, I also had better tires on, and tha t proved to be the key to success here." Russell, on the other hand , loo ked ba ck with mixed feelings: "Too bad . somebod y didn't do their work p rope rly th is weekend," he said . " I know I sho uld n' t com plain too much: my lead over Carl Fogarty is a bit bigger now, but it's a shame that I could n' t def end my chances in the second heat. I'd opted for the standard tires, and they worked out well too, but I ran into some trouble with the suspension." Fogarty fin ished fourth, after a cautious race: "I didn't want to crash here," he said . " I kn ow I'm not suc h a good r a in rider, a nd I also k no w th at my weekend w ill come in Donington. A few weeks ago, I rod e a standa rd Ducati to a do uble victory in a national meetin g. At the sam e time, I also shatte red the lap record. Let's see wha t we can do with a full-fledged factory Ducati..." Nobles ended up 10th in the second rnre . ~ Results QUALIFYING : I. Sco tt Ru.sscll (1:54.834/ 112.132 mph ); 2. Aaron Slight (1:55.475); 3. Carl Foga rty (1:56 .506); 4. Giancar lo Fal appa (1:56.7 18) ; 5. Fabrizio Pirova no (1:56.945); 6. Fabrizio Furla n (1:51.159); 7. Mau ro Lucchia ri (1:57.775); 8. joee Sagardogui (1:58.681); 9. Stephene Mertens (1:59.001); 10. Piergiorgio Bontempi (1:59.264); 11. Tripp Nob les (2:00.902); 12. Brian Morri son (2 :01. 077); 13 . Hugue s Blanc (2 :0 1.162); 14. Ja mes Whitham (2:01.233); 15. Alex Vieira (2:01.488); 16. Mauro Mastrelli (2:01.789); 17. Dominique Sarro n (2:0 1.816); 18. Chri ster Lindholm (2:01.81 8); 19. Den is Bonor is (2:01.862) ; 20 . Nestor Amoroso (2:01.956); 21. Marcel Emst (2:02.036 ); 22. jean- Yve s Mounier (2:02 .238); 23. Urs Weber (2:02.442); 24. Herve Moin eau (2:02.795); 25. Jan Ol av Nolens (2:02 .93 2); 26. Josip Dam es (2:03 .092); 27. Philippe Mouchet (2:03 .207); 28. Jeffry De Vries (2:03.361); 29. Adrien Mo rillas (2:03.417); 30. Jordi Vileila (2.:04.354); 31 . Bald assare Mon ti (2.:05.162 ); 32. Stefano Ca ra cch i (2:05.2 08 ); 33. Virginia Fe rrari (2:05.834); 34 . A1deo Presciutti (2;)6.120); 35. Gera rd Mute al (2:06.225); 36 . Terry Rym er (2:06 .755); 37. Mass im o Broccoli (2:07.055) ; 38 . Bruno Scato la (2:07.157); 39. Vitto rio Scat ole (2.'07 .440); 40. Anton Bergha m mer (2.'07.830) 41. ; B. Recuerieo (2:09 .073); 42. F. Ce lebr ano (2.:09.080); 43. Adriano Narducci (2:10.437); 44. Romola Balbi (2:10.694); 45. Chris ty Rebuttini (2:11.141); 46. Babetta Biagio li (2:11.604 ); 47. Christian Lavieille (2:15.614). RACE 1: 1. Aaro n SJight (Kaw ); 2. Sco tt Rus~1I (Kaw); 3. Fabri z io Pirovan o (Ya m); 4. Carl Fogarty (Due) ; 5. Tripp Nobles (Ho n) ; 6. Christel" Lindho lm (Yam); 7. Alex Viei ra (Yam); 8. Brian Morrison (Kaw); 9. Fabrizi o Fu rlan (Kaw) ; 10. Marcel Ernst (Kaw) ; 11. Dominique Sarron (Yam); 12. Mauro Mestrell i (Yam); 13. Adrien Mor il1as (Ka w) ; 14. Her ve Moineau (Suz) ; 15 ; Den is Bono ris (Kawl; 16. Nes tor Amoroso (Kawl; 17. Jean-Yves Moun ier (Yam); 18. Jord i Viella (Yam) ; 19. Al deo Presci u tti (Due) . Ti mee 37 min., .808 sec. Di stance : 18 laps. 64.728 mil es. Avera ge Speed: 104.925 mph. Margin of Victory: 0.045 sec. Fastest Lap:Gianca rlo Falappa . 2"00.628 / 107.318 mph . RACE 2: 1. Gianca rlo Falappa (D ue); 2 Aaron Slig ht (Ka w ): 3. Fabrizio Pirovan o (Yam); 4. Carl Fogarty (Due); S. Scott Ru ss ell (Ka w) ; 6. Mauro Lucchiar i (Du e); 7. Step han e Mertens (Du e); 8. Piergiorgio Bontempi (J

• Cover