Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

half h o u r operation alongside local Macau surgeons as they repaired Taylor's injuries. Costa said later that the .Canadian was recovering well, and would be fit enough to be flown home within a week. Sadly, Taylor's accident was no t the only tragedy of the meeting as two other riders lost their lives in separate accidents. Du ring Thursday morning's Novice p ractice session, local rider Zoe Rosario was killed when he crashed. Then on the eighth lap of the ACM Trophy Novice final, a 30-year-old Hong Kong racer hit the Armco on the ou tsi de of the high-speed Yacht Club Bend and was hit by a following rider, He died soon after in the hospital. Surp rising ly, these were the first mo torcycle fatali ties since 1972 on th e very dan gerous road course, situated in !he Portuguese governed territory tha t ISd ue to be ha nded back to the Chinese in 1999. The Taylor crash forced the firs t race ,to b e s topped, a nd the res u l t was declared official at the end of lap nin e. Only Uls terman Jeremy McWilliams was happy about that. On the 10th lap, Dunlop sto rmed past McWilliams, w ho had .le~ fr?m the sta rt desp ite on ly qualifymg SIxth. But Dunlop di dn' t stay in fron t for long. Fast qualifier Hislop was ninth at the end of the opening lap, but h e quickly charged through the field to shadow Dunlop on the 10th lap. Then with a sensational overtaking manuever, Hislop nipped past Dunlop to grab the advantage. Then the red flags came out. McWill iams was given the vic tory, just .69-o f-a-second ahead of Dunlop with Hislop some 2.5 seconds d own on the diminutive Ulsterma n. Fou r th, a long way behind, was Scotsman Roger Bennet t on a 750cc Kawasaki. McWilliams, who had a narrow escape from serious injury in practice when the front brake failed on his Joe Millar Yamaha YZRSOO, had some wo rrying moments before the first leg when the carbs s tarted floodi ng jus t befo re the warm-up la p . Luck ran ou t for McWilliams, though, before the second leg started. The quick-shift system on the Yamaha suddenly jammed and the man from Northern Ireland was out. In a determined mood, Barnes launched the Fastline/MCM Racing Suzu ki GSXR1100 off the grid to lead the way in the second race . A n d i t wasn't until the third lap that the 500cc GP bikes found a way past. Both Hislop and Dunlop moved by on the third lap, a nd a lap later Mark Farmer a nd his Ducati also got by Barnes. On the fifth lap, Phillip McCallen m o ved his Ho nda RC30 past Barnes, but that was as far back as the Floridia n would fall. Hislop kn ew he had to bea t Dunlop by more tha n 2.65 seco nds to ta ke the overall win, a nd after a few laps o f passin g and repassing, H islop d ived insi de Dunlop at Fisherman's Bend, in a rare moment of recklessn ess. He went on to win by 7.2 seconds, ta ki ng the overall victory by four seconds, selling a new lap record in the process at twominu tes, 33.l8-seconds. Farmer managed to stick to the two Roc Yamahas for a long tim e, but the tw o-strokes eventua lly pu lled awa y. At the finis h line, Farme r wa s 11 seconds be hind Dunlop, but·that was enough to give hi m th ird p lace ove rall and firs t four-stroke. Tay lo r 's crash ha d d one li t tl e to improve morale in the North American p it s . Only Barnes s howed consistent form , and he qualified fifth. The effects of the fIu d idn't have time to show itself too much in the shortened fir st race and Barnes finished sixth , though he had, in fact, gone ahead of Taylor and Truchsess before the crash. His second race ride was splendid and it earned him fourth overall - only Schwantz's win here in 1988 was a better showing for an American at Macau. Fritz Kling, the lanky ma n from Michigan, blew up the en g ine on his Gold Hill Racing Yamaha FZRlOOO after just five laps in the first leg. That came a~ter a disastrous qualifying that saw him only able to log a time in the first of the two sessions, again because of mechanical problems. Kling didn't even have a chance to go out in the second leg. Chuck Graves managed only one more lap than Kling in the first race before being forced to pull out with overheating problems on the Valvolinebacked Suzuki GSXR1100. The sa me prob lem again forced him out of the second leg. Andy Deatherage finished 20th in the first leg on his Team America Honda CBR900. Despite being upset by Taylor 's accident, he managed to finish 15th in the second leg for a 14th overall finish in his Macau debut. L~ Results Q UAU FYlN G: I . Steve Hislop (2:35.08); 2. Robert Dunlop (2:35.84); 3. Sean Emmett (2:36.38); 4. Phillip McCallen (2:36 .69 ); 5. Micha el Barnes (2:36.96); 6. Jeremy McWilliams (2037 .92); 7. Roger Bennett (2:38.00); 8. Michael Taylor (2.:38 .86); 9. Peter Rubatto (2.:38 .98); 10. Nick Jefferies (2:39.52); 11. Andrew Stroud (2:39 .50); 12. Karl Truchsess (2:39.84 ); 13. Michael Simeon (2:40.25); 14. Derek Jefferies (2:4053); 15. Chuck Graves (2:41.00). RA C E 1: 1. Jeremy McWilliams (Yam ); 2. Robert Dunlop (Yam); 3. Steve Hislop (Yam); 4. Roger Bennett (Kaw); S. Michael Taylor (Kaw); 6. Michael Barnes (Above) Racing in the streets - Macau style. (Left) Fritz Kling (31) leads Chuck Graves . (24). Neither of the se two Americans had much luck in Macau. (Below) Steve Hislop (center) celebrates his victory along with second and third place finishers Robert Dunlop (left) and Mark Farmer (right). (Suz) ; 7. Peter Rubatto (Due); 8. Karl Truchsess (!

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