Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE ~ World ChampionshipSeries: Final round - -- - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -- - -- -- • • . arros, ara atrium In Ina- e ... C1") rl ~ Q) ..0 o ~ u o By Henny Ray Abrams )ARAMA, SPAIN, SEP 26 t began as a weekend wit hou t much ex pecta tio n and ended with a iew ' surprises. The FIM Grand Prix, th e fin al ra ce o f a grueli ng season that began six m onths ea rlier, crowned a firs t-time 500cc winner, an upset 250cc World Champion, and a somew hat pred ictable World Ch am pion in the 125cc class. All in all, it brou gh t a taxing season to a fitting end wi th the emphasis ba ck on racing for the crow d of abo ut 60,000 on a brilliantly su n ny Sp an ish afternoon. Brazilian Alex Barro s, a rid er until . now ye t to deliver on a w o rld of promise, finall y won his firs t 500cc GP in th e fina l rac e of his first year w ith Lu cky St rike Su zu ki, and in doing so became the first Brazilian to w in a GP in road racing 's pr emier class. For Barros it was a ma tter of being in the right place at the righ t time on the )ar a ma circuit just outside of Madrid. His bit of luck came on the 18th la p wh ile he w as runn ing fourth . Thirdplaced Luca Cad alora, who had led the race in the ea rl y stages, cr as hed hi s Ma rl boro Ro berts Yamaha while in third, moving Barros up one spot. Then, on the 21st of 28 laps, the 22-year-old from Sao Paolo took over the lead when leader Shinich i Itoh and his Rothman s Ho nda cras hed in a fast left-hander, taking ou t Cagi va 's John Kocinski, then a close second. Kocinski, w ho ran over Itoh wi tho u t injuring him, re-mounted, but his right front brake .d isc began to break u p as he ro d e awa y, and he retired. Rothmans Honda's Daryl Beattie celebra ted his 23rd birth d ay by fin ishing second, close to five seconds back, w ith World Champion Kevin Schwantz third on the Lucky Strike Suz uki, still suffering wi th injuries to his righ t hand. "I knew from the start tha t the tires would be critical and it woul d be risky to push too hard early on," Barros said. I 6 "My aim was to stay close to the leade rs w ithou t w orking th e ti res too hard . When I go t in the lead I tried to go fast an d did not wa nt to think abou t the win. I want to think ab ou t my lines until 1 cross the finish line, then I think about the w in," Barr os completed the 28-lap, 66.987mile race in 44 minutes, 22.944 seconds a t an average speed of 90.558 mph. His margin of victory over Beattie was 4.736 seconds. Spaniard Al e x C riv ill e fi nished fourth in his final race for the Marlboro Honda Pons team. Followi ng the race, Philip Morri s Spain, the parent company of Marlboro Spain , annou nced that Criville would not con tinue his association with fellow Span iard Sito Pons next yea r. Philip Morri s said they expected to have an ann ouncemen t in the next few weeks abo ut their plans. Fifth and sixth went to Cagiva teammates Doug Chandler and Mat Mlad in. Chan dler spe nt most of the race by himself a fter pass ing Bri ta in's Jo h n Reynolds early on. It was his best finish for the second half of the year. Mladin's finish was his best ever in his debut season on the Cagiva team, though it may not have sa ved his job. Mladi n's manager, Harris Barne tt, said after the race that Mlad in wou ld not be back with Cagiva next year, d esp it e ha ving two yea rs remainin g on his three-year contract. Ya maha Mo tor Fr ance ' s Berna rd Garcia fini sh ed seventh, al so a career best, afte r getting passed by Mladin on the fi nal lap . Nex t ca me Scot N iall Mackenzie, the Team Valvoline Yamaha rider slowing with brake problems early in the race. By mid-d istan ce he'd used u p h is re ar tire and had to settle for eighth. The top 1\':'0 s po ts in th e World Championship didn't chan ge, Schwa ntz increasing hi s poi nt total to 248 to Marlboro Rob erts Ya m a ha ' s inj u red Wayn e Rainey's 214. Rainey remains in a Los Angeles hosp ital recovering from career-ending inj uries in th e Ita lia n Gra nd Prix a t Mi sano. Bea t tie, wh o came into the race tied with teammate Mick Doo han for third, finishe d third w ith 176 . Do ohan inju re d h is r ight shoulder in the U.S. GP and d idn 't compete in Spain . Instead, he wa s able to ha ve su rgery - earlier than planned - on the righ t leg which he injured last year a t the Dutch TT. He ended the year fourth in points with 156. Cad alora will carry th e number five plate next year, earning 145 points, 20 better than Alex Barros who was sixth best in the 500cc class. The 250cc World Champ ionship came d own .to the final race of the year and it was a stunne r. Coming into the final race, Marlboro Team PiIeri' s Loris Capi ro ssi needed to fini sh third - if Telkor Vales i Yamaha's Tetsu ya Ha rad a wo n the race - to clinch the title. Since Harada ha d n' t fi nishe d in fr ont o f Cap irossi since the first European Gran d Prix at Jerez on May 2, it d idn't appea r such a tall order. Capirossi was ahead of the Japan ese rider unt il making a tactical blunder with six laps to go. Then, as Capiross i was fighting a rear tire which he'd used up , Ha rada began h is ascendance, moving up to third on the 22nd lap , the same lap in w hich Capi rossi ran off the track at high spe ed . Harada was then up to second on the 23rd , and past Ches terfield Aprilia's Loris Reggiani for the lead on the 24th. He wou ld win the rac e, and he wo n the title in h is firs t attempt. Reggiani wa s seco nd , 1.217 seco nds back, w it h Rot h m a ns Ka ne moto H onda's Max Biaggi th ird . Rid in g for Ducados Honda Pons, Spaniard Alberto Puig was a popular fou rth, one' better than Cap irossi. "I started toda y concentrating en tirelyon winning the race, not the cha mp ionship," said Har ada, wh o becam e the firs t ever Japanese rider to win a 250cc World Cha mpions hip, and only the second Japan ese World Champion. "And I didn' t know I'd won the title until I got back to the pits and my team congratu- Th e 500cc FIM GP gets underway at Jarama with the front row of John Kocinski (3), Alex Barros (9), Kevin Schwantz (34) and Shinichi Itoh (6) leading the way. lated me. When 1 was beh ind Capirossi I could see he had a problem because he wa s slidi ng around a lot, but I didn't know he'd run off the track." Putting the championship into words was something that the 22-year-o ld from Chiba, a subu rb of Tokyo, had a hard time doing. " Now, it's hard to say what's in my mind," Harada said. "I don 't have a special feeling yet: I'm just glad to win this race. But more will come after this." The onl y o the r Jap an ese World Champ ion was Takazu m i Katayama who won the now-d efunct 350cc World Championship in 1977. In winning his fourth race of the year Ha rada averaged 89.691 mph. He completed the 27 lap, 64.594-mile race in 43 minu tes, 12.677 seconds. Cap irossi, wh o took over the World Cha mpionship po ints lead with his victory in the U.S. Gl', was stoical in defeat. "I' m second in the World Championship, not last," Capirossi said. "I'm disa p poin ted, bu t I'm ha ppy becau se 1 was figh ting for the title until the very end. I tried to slow Harad a down a bit at first , bu t the n I began to hav e some rear tire prob lems ." The fin a l po in t s ta nd ings sh ow H arad a wit h 19 7, fou r beller than Capirossi. Reggiani finished third with 158, Biaggi was fourth with 142, and HB H onda ' s Doria no Rombon i, w ho a llowed Capirossi to finish in front of him today, ends up sixth wi th 139. As ex p ec te d , th e 125cc World Champion sh ip went to Dirk Raud ies, the German coming into the race with a su bs ta n tia l ad va n tage and riding a calcula ting race aft er the onset of rear tire problems while in the lead . He would finish eighth, but easily took the title .

• Cover