Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

;: ROAp~~ACE"}:>:>: Round l'' Australian Grand Prlx . . :W ~hampionshlp Road Race Series orld (Above ) Texan Kevin Schwa ntz fin ished fourth despite breaking his ann only thr ee weeks prior to the race In a mountain biking accident. (Left - from left to right ) Luca Cadalo ra, John Kocinski and Michael Doohan celebrate on the winner 's rostrum. have beenhigher, bu t his steering damper failed early in the race, making it hard to put the power on in the rorn"ers. The last point went to GP firs t-timer Christian Migliorati, one lap adrift and ahead of Big-Bang rider Laurent Nauveau. Thus Cagiva leads the World Championship for the first time ever; while the Japanese works teams lick their w ounds and start to wonder how to find a big improvement over the remaining 13 races. 250CC GRAND PRIX Capirossi led from pole position, and for most of the race, but he was never free from the close attention of Biaggi, who frequently nosed alongside and sometimes had to run wid e to avoi d hitting the Honda. Early in the race, this looked impetuo us and likely to end in disaster, bu t after half-d istance the ro les in this ga me were rever sed, as it became clear that Biaggi could now hold tighter lines and Capirossi was beginning to feel the press ure, which came no t only from Biaggi, because a si milar p a ir were right behind them wi th Rom boni mainly lead ing over Ruggia. Then the French Aprilia rider moved into third for seven laps and closed righ t up on the leaders, only to opt for .ca u tion after some bad slides"and drop back to a safe four th. The action up front was heating up. Biaggi nosed ahead several times, leading across the line on the 20th and 21st laps, but Capirossi would always get him back, even though he was having a problem wi th grip. "The race was warmer than practice, and though we set the bike up well, I was having trouble in the slow corners," he said. He was still leading for most of the last lap, with Biaggi poisedon his back wheel. The error, when it carne, seemed almost inevitable. Capirossi ran too fast into the Tum Nine hairpin, his front end started to chatter, and he ran wid e. Biaggi dived s traight th rou gh und erneath h im. H I could see he was having trouble, and for the second haIf of the race I had the feeling I could win ," he said later. The advantage he gained was enough to carry him across the line in fron t. Biaggi w on the 1991 European title on an Aprilia, and his first GP in 1992 on one, as we ll, before deserting the Italian factory to switch to Honda. Now he was back with his old team, an d if all had not been forgiven already, it certainly was now. Ever impetuous, Capirossi didn't give up and he ran wide again in the final corners, foo lishly, for Romboni had closed up in the finishing stages. As they ran onto the finish straight, the yellow Honda was right u p behind the red one, and Romboni ducked ou t of the slipstream to cross the line less than four tenths ahead of his luckless coun tryman. Rom boni was as jubilant as Capirossi was glum. "Because of my en gine trou bles in practice, w e had to se n d that motor back to Japan for tests. In the end, I decided to use my un tested spare engine, which was a real gamble." Ruggia was some four seconds beh ind in a safe fourth. Almost 20 seconds furth er ba ck Ta dayu ki Okad a narrowly triumphed in a race-long duel with fellowcountryman Nobuatsu Aoki. The pair had been back and forth every lap, and were only five hundredths apart across the line. The Japanese d uo had overtaken Ralf Waldmann, who had been so astounded to be running fifth in his first-ever 250 race that he made a mistake and almos t ran Dffthe track at one D the hairpins. He f was s till delighted with an impressive seventh, achieved in solitary splendor. Another 15 seconds back, WilcD leelenberg had pulled ahead from a pODr start to join battle with Luis d'An lin and a most-impressive Bayle. They were back and forth, though Bayle lost tou ch in the closing stages. Zeelenberg. however, was just tOD fa r back to ca rry through his planned attack in the closing stages. There we re 25 finishers. They did not include Ca nadia n Rodne y Fee, w h o retired from his first-ever Grand Prix. 125CC GRAND PRIX Kazuto Sakata, the first Japanese rider tDtake a European works ride, started his Aprili a season perfectly with a conv incing win in the first race of the day, starting from pole pos ition, then inheriting an early lead after fast-starling Yamah a rider Yoshiako Katoh cras hed out on the second lap . Sakata, second ove rall last yea r, kept a comfortable cus hio n all the way, which he allowed to shrink to just over five seconds at the end . Behind hi m, Ge rma n Peter Oettl battled with Takeshi Tsujimura until the Japanese rider's Honda blew up ostentatiously on the way int o Tum Five at half-distance. From then 00, 0etU was unchallenged for second. . The hero Df the day was Au stra lian rider Garry McCoy, who was almos t last away after stalling on the start line. He - was 20th by the end of lap one, and just kept on moving forwards until he was embroiled in a close battle with Fausto Gr es in i. Th e Italian vetera n, a former champion himself, und erwent something Df a revival after switching to the ScotHon da team , but G resini cou ld n' t hold off McCoy' s AGV-Attac Apri lia, and was al mos t five seconds behind after losing touch in the later stages. Gresini took fourt h, and Swiss rid er Oliver Petruccian i's Aprilia was fifth . Aki ra Saito jus t p ipped fellow Ho nda rid er Noboru Veda, Herri Tor ront egu i's Aprilia and Japanese newcom er Tokudome's Honda to secure sixth after a typically fierce 125 d ice. The new Yamah as had been well on the pac e, with both Jorg e Martinez and Katoh qualifying on the second row of the grid. But the Spanish vetera n lasted on ly five lap s before copying his team mate at Tum Nine, and slid ing off without injury. Stefan o Perugini was an other to crash after running his Aprilia well up among the gro up disputing fourth place early in the race. All the while, d efendin g champion Dirk Raudies was d ropping back, from second on the first lap all the way down to a n eventu a l 10 th ; almost into the clutches of Loek Bodelier (Honda) and Gianluigi Scalvini (Aprilia), who had also been batUing most of the race. "I made a bad tire choice, but this is only the start of the season," Raud ies said later - bu t he's ma de his title defense a lot harder by a poo r start to the seasDn. L' Eastern Creek Sydney, Australia Results : March 27, 1994 12Sec Q UALIFYING: 1. Kazuto Saka ta (1037528); 2. Dirk Ra udies (1:37.904); 3. Peter Oe tt l (1:38.016); 4. Faus to Gresini (1:38.049); S. Jo rge Martinez (1:38.196); 6. Takeshi Tsju m imu ra (1:38.237); 7. Her r! Torronteg ui (1:38 .252) ; 8. Y. Katoh (1 :38 .29 8) ; 9. Noburo Ueda (1:38.322); W . Cony McCoy (1:38500); 11. M. Tokudome (1:38.527) ; 12. Oli ver Petruccian i (1:38.676); 13. Carlos Gi ro (1:38.858);14. Akira Sait o (1:38.899); 15. Bruno Casanova (1:38.905); 16. Giovani Scal vini (1:39.016); 17. Manfred Baumann (1:39.087); 18. S. Perugini (1:39'c l98); 19. H are chuka Ao k i (1:39 .192 ); 20 . H . Nakay jo (1:39 .25 1); 21. Gabriele Debbia (1:3 9.404); 22 . Ne il Hodgson (1039 .465); 23. O liver Koch (103 9531); 24. Lu igi Bod el ier (1:39 .657); 25 . To moko Igat a (1:39.678); 26 . Gio sepe Fiorill o (1:39.93 1); 27. Lucio Ce cc h in ello (1 :39.960) : 28 . Stefan Prein (1 :39 .9 86 ); 29. F. Pe ti ' (1:40.089); 30. Mar c Geissler (1:40.464); 3 1. K. Fisher (1:41.224); 32. Hans Spaa n (1:41.619); 33. G reg Richards (1:41.636 ); 34. Ma ss imo On e (1:41.715) : 35. Vittorio Lopez (1:42.418); 36. Danielle Tognoli (1:42.737). 250cc QUALIFYING: 1. Loris Ca priross i (1032.200); 2. N ob uatsu Aoki (1:32.584); 3. Max Biaggi (1:32.629) 4. Doriano Rombon i (1:32 .76 5) ; 5. Tada yuki Okada (1:32.958); 6. Ie an-Phi lippe Ruggia (1:32.977); 7. Luis D 'Antin (1033.79 0); 8. Rail Waldmann (1034.123); 9. And reas Preinin g (1:34 .286); 10. Adrten Bosshard (1:34.340); 11. Wilco Zee lenberg (1:34.496); 12. Ca rlos Checa (1:34 5 96) ; 13. Es kil Suler (1:34 .63 2); 14. JeanMichd Bayle (1:34.888); 15. J.V.D. GoorborJ;h (1:34.968); 16. Bernd Ka ssner (1:3 5.214) ; 17. Craig Connell (1035 .246); 18. Alessandro erarnigni (1035.274) 19. Juan ; Luis Cardoso (1035.616); 20. Luis Maure 1 (1035 .737); 21. Ari Stadler (1:36.108); 22. Tetsuya Harada (1:36532); 23. Frederic Protat (1:36. 895) ; 24 . N. Ferro (1037.188) ; 25. Rene Bongers (1 :37 .317); 26 . P .V .O . Go orbergh (1:37 .36 2); 27. Juan Borja (1:37 .724 ); 28. Chris ti a n Boudinol (1037.953); 29. A Patterson (1:38.964): 30. E De Juan Uuc (1039.019) ; 31. Kristian Kaae (1039.053); 32. Rodney Fee (1:39.404). SOOcc QUALIFYING , 1. John Kocinski (1030 .394); 2. Luca Cedalora (1030523); 3. Mick Doohan (1030 .755); 4. 15 Kevin Schwantz (1031.1S4); 5. Alberto Puig (103 24); 6. Shinichi Itoh (10315 27) ; 7. Daryl Beattie (1031.603); 8. Doug Chandler (1:32.151); 9. Alex Criville (1032.996 10. ); Niall MacketWe (1:33.014); 11. Alex Barros (1:33.194); 12. Jeremy Reynold. (1:33.316); 13. Sea n Emmett (1:33.421); 14. Juan Lopez Mell a (1:33.956 ); 15. Sco tt Doohan (1:33 .959); 16. Berna rd Garcia (1:34 .410); 17. Je rem y Mc Williams (1:34 .663); 18. Jean-Phil ippe Ieandet (1:34.99 7) ; 19. Laurent N eveau (1:35.1 44); 20. Lucio Pedercini (1035 .156); 21. Bernd Heenggeli (1035 546); 22. Bru no Bon huil (1:36.336) : 23 . Cristiano Migli orati (1:36.388); 24. Julian Mira lles (1:36.442); 25. Jean Foray (I :JII.818); 26. Mar co Papa (1:36.910); 27. Marc Garcia (1:36 .963) ; 28 . Cees Doorakkers (1:37.782) ; 29 . Kevin Mi tchell (1:38.637); 30 . L. Ne ukirchner (1:40.767); 31. Vittoria Sca rola (1:40.974); 32 And reas Leut he (1:43.366). 125cc GRAND PRIX: I. Ka z u tc Sakata (Ap r); 2. Peter Oet tl (Apr); 3. G a rry McCoy (Apr); 4. Faus to Gresini (Hon); 5. O liver Petrucciani (Apr); 6. Akira Saito (Hon); 7. Noboru Ueda (H on); 8. He rr! Torronr egui (Apr); 9. Masaki Tokudome (Hon); 10. Dirk Reudies (Hon); 11. Loek Bodelie r (Han); 12. GianJuigi Scalvini (Apr); 13. Gabriele Debbia (Apr); 14. Tomoko Igata (Han>;15. Hideyuki Nakayjo (Ho n); 16. Bruno Casanova

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