Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"When I was in the lead I saw some riders behind me and I thought it was be tt er to go ba ck from this group," Raudies said. "One mistake from a rider and I fall d own and (Kazu to) Saka ta can win this race . It' s better tha t I win the championship." T h e 12Scc r a ce was wo n by Marlboro Aprilia's Ralf Waldmann, his firs t win of th e year. Th e German was pa r t of the pack that had trai led Raudies early on, before Waldmann took over 'the lead for good with 11 laps to go . Second place would go back and forth, but Waldmann strengthened his advantage and beat FCC Technical Sports' Takeshi Tsujimura to the line by 2.642 seconds. Tsujimura 's teammate, Kazuto Sakata, the only rider with a chance of beating Raudies for the title, was third . Marlboro Team Pileri's Fausto Gresini was fourth, just ahead of Team + Co Promotion's Stefan Prein. Waldman n completed the 26-lap, 62.202 mile race in 44 minutes, 12.494 seconds at an average speed of 84.422 mph. Raudies season point total was 280, 14 better than Sakata. Tsujimura was third with 177, with Waldmann fourth at 160. For the sixth time in eight races, Biland Racing 's Rolf Biland partnered with Kurt Waltisperg to win the sidecar race. It was Biland's 70th Grand Prix win, extending his record for the most w ins in a ny class, two more. tha n 15time World Ch ampion Giacomo Agostini ha d won in the SOOcc class. Bilan d (Right) John Kocinski (3) lea ds Shinichi Itoh (6), Luca Cadalora (7), Kevin Schwantz (hidden) and Daryl Beatt ie (4) (Below) The SOOcc race win went to Brazilian Alex Barros, the first Grand Pri x win of h is career. f ,.....-t ~ Q) ..0 o ..... u o had clinched the World Championship a race ea rli er, his six th World Championshi p da ting back to 1978. Kocinski/Cagl=-v=-ao n~:::....=-----,-_ =-' = ole ince it was the third Grand' Prix in Spain this year, finding a name for the final race of the season became something of a chore. Officially it was called the FIM GP, but it might as well have been called the Meaningless GP, at least for the bulk ofthe SOOcc class. Very little of consequence was on the line - only a few spots in the final championship s tandi ngs -,and t he absence of t h ree-time Wo ,<:hampion Wayne Rainey was palpable. For only the third time in its history, and the ill time this year, a Cagiva made its way to the po le , position, this one guided by Ll.S, GP winner John Kocinski (right) . The 25-year-old set a new qualifying record of o ne minute, 32.849 seconds, averaging 92.759 mph on the 2.392-mile circuit just outside of the Spanish capital of Madrid. Recently crowned World Champion Kevin Schwantz had held the previous mark of 1:33.940which he'd set during the last GP held here, in 1991. Still, Kocinski felt that he could use a little more power out of the comers. "We're still trying to make up for the lack of acceleration," Kocinski said. "The team's trying ha rd. It's not like Laguna where there are fast comers and short straights. It doesn't slow you up as much.Here there are a lot of first gear and stop-and-go corners. ",;';" '" ' • "The bike has not changed t!'at inuch sinceI first-rode it just four GPs ago,it'sj . ad jUstments and sma ll changes. Like I said then, it's ,a case of me learning how far to take the 500 and getting it set up right. It's the guy who has the bike set up best who goes fastes t." . . . The middle two spo ts on the front row of the gnd were taken by Lucky Stnke Suzukis, Brazilian Alex Barros upstaging teammate and World Champion Kevin Schwan tz by a qua rter of a second . Since Schwantz had clinched the World Championship, it was the first race tha t Barros felt he could go out and win without facing any consequences. . "When Kevin was trying to win the cha mpionship, I knew I couldn't really win. It affected me inside. Now I know I can go for the win and I'm riding better," Barros said. He added that he thought he might have gone better if he'd been able to sort out his machinery a little sooner. . "My best lap came when my bike w asn't qui te right," the 22-year-old said. "Later we changed ~es!Jspension al'\<:l it ca~e pe tter,. but then I ~idn:t hav e theright tire on. " Then p'~astice w,asover and w~,h,adnot more time, RJl,t I thirik It would have.b~en pos sible to go'fas~er. I think I have a good cha nce of .wi~ni1'lg t0l'l'0rr.ow, though It ISnot easy to predict. I do know that two weeks ago In Laguna I decided t? stay safe to sure of third place for my first rostrum with Lucky Strike Suzuki.:' '." . Barros finished second in the U.S. GP moving up a place late In the race when Mick Doohan fell. Schwantz was third fastest, the 29-year-old Texan looking for his first race win since the Dutch TT at the end of June. If he was going to do it here his injured right hand would have to cooperate and he wasn't sure that was going to happen. S .... C1") Biland, who finished second in the two races that he didn't win this year, completed the 26-lap, 62.202 mile race in 42 min utes, 39.380 seconds at an average speed of 87.493 mph. Second place, 2.364 seconds adrift was Steve Webster, the British d ri ver who won the tw o races tha t Bila nd did n't. Web ster a nd pa rtn er G a vin Simmons had led the race before being passed by Biland with eigh t laps to go, Third went to Paul Gudel. The fina l sidecar champ ionship total was 190 for Biland, 119 for Webster, and 106 for ADM Racing 's Kla us Kloffenbock, sixth today. SOOcc Grand Prix Schwantz knew tha t his hand injuries would make it a long race, so he decided to get ou t front early an d cont rol the . pace . Cad alora stuck with him followed by Kocinski, Itoh, and Barros. Cada lora took over the lea d on the third lap , he and Schwantz sep ar ating from wh at becam e a five-rid er figh t for " At the m om en t I ca n go fo r 10 o r 12 laps before I start to lose feeling," Schwantz sai d . "Dr. Costa ha s been giving me la ser and ultra-sound trea.tm en t and migh t try injections if he's not happy w ith th e progress. I' d like to do rea l well in the las t race of the season and the bike is p re tty close now exce pt for a few prob lems wit h the front contact in slow comers. It's pretty easy to ride and I coul d d o . the times without trouble. I have noth ing to gain and everything to lose, but I'll try and keep myself out there, and if I'm in a position to try and win, that's what I' ll do." The first Honda was at the far end of the fron t row, Rothmans Honda's Shinichi Itoh scoring his first fron t row start on the fuel-injected Honda NSRSOO , . 'The fuel inje.:;tionjust keeps getting better," Itoh said."And the big thirtg her e is w,~'ve goti~~qrking well on a ti ht,' , track f or ;the first tim~. ~.~i~!ke gets o f turns so much bet ter no",,:' . " .... "lKi','4Nfk ' Fifth fastest, on the pole for the secon row, was Mad poro Robert's Yal'l'3ha' s Luca . .Cadalora, the Italian testin g tires d urmg mu ch of Satu rday's qu alifying ses~ion after ,ha ving been fastest in Friday's. "We tried a lot of tires in that session," the 30-year-old Italian said. "And I was a little late changing over to m y last tire . We were trying to put a lot of laps in for endurance tes ting and after we'd ma de the change there was only time for one more lap. The bike is working we ll, though we still have one more front to try in the morning warm-up. "Things look good for the race. bu t it isn't easy to race in a group here and the start will be vital. If you're not in the first two or three into the firs t tum you can lose a lot of time on the first lap," Cadalora ad ded. Next up was Daryl Beattie, the Australian looking for ~ way to get his Honda to go over the track's many bumps. ' 'The sus pension is w ha t count~, /.tere. We've been try:\ng to get the. bike to ride the umps and hold a good lineaU/.tesame titfie," Bea ttie~id. "You certainly can't say at my performan~e was realflash, in fact .this aftern oon we seemed to go rou nd in circles. I felt confide nt that I co'-!ld improve my times, o ut we simply didn't get things ri~~:m Valvoline's Niall Mackenzie was seven th fastest, his best qu alifyin g time of the yea r after finding the ROC Yamaha was close on set-up righ t ou t of the box, partially because the team was getting some tire help. "We're pretty close to Daryl an d the other guys on the fron t," the Scottish rider said. "For some reason the bike went well straight away. The bumps at Laguna he lped us set up for here. Dunlop gave us some good tires they had since Wayne (Rainey) is out. " The final rider on the second row was Cag iva 's Doug Ch and ler , the.northern Californian losing precious time trying to sort out his gearbox and losing the use of his bet ter bike when it lost 500 rpm early in the second session. , "I had a hard time ge tting th e gearbox right in every session," Ch~2~I~r said . .dayI used a five-spee d, but IIost\~ much time with it. · ...~ ".. ••. e.track has gottel}pumpier;iiJ!;.~~kend. ~e~~ ~I3? wa y to o ,pft~to tum.11 .pu t going over the n pples; When ~~ got here I tw~ ~moother. u. ~art. see.the n plesand the pavement wa ving up >They re-paved it two weeks 0 . . orrn,aIIy It'S su pposed to be three months, bu t because they cancell ed South Africa la te tftey had to do it now ." . . . ~ Two Spaniards and a Brit and a German filled out the third row, Marlboro Honda Pons' Alex C riville and Juan Lopez Mella ahead of Pa dgetts's Mo torcycles John Reynolds and Rallye-Sport's Michael Rudroff. Thirty-one rid ers qualified for Sunday's 28-lap final race of the year. - _......._ _.....1 7

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