Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 2: Malaysian Grand Prix World Champion Kevin Schwantz finished a disappointing sixth after starting slowly In the Malaysian heaL catch Biaggi, neither was he in danger of being caught as the race wore on. At the halfway ma rk he was close to five second s behind Biaggi, wi th clo se to three over the battle for third behind him . "I'm very happy with second place today," Okada said. "Once I got into second place, it was too late to do anyth ing about Biaggi." Unlike the more established teams, Okada's Kanemoto Honda squad was formed late in the k winter and they were only able to test once. More testing is planned, but for now they ha ve to cope. "The drop in track temperature hurt us a li ttl e today, " te am ow ner Erv Kanemoto said. "If it was as hot as yesterday our tires would ha ve worked better and maybe he w ould hav e been faster. But, like I said before, we are badly in need of more testing time. Once we have the best equipment to give him, he will win races." b th noIe again oClns I gra S e t' , K l Once Okada broke free, the battle for third wa s among Capirossi, Honda Rheas [ha Racing's Nobuatsu Aoki, and Chestefield Apri lia's Jean-Philippe Ruggia . Aoki took over the spot on the 10th lap and would hold onto it except for two instances w hen he made mistakes and allowed Capirossi to briefly pass him. With five laps to go Aoki crashed, uninjured. By then Ruggia had dropped back, lo sing g ro u nd o nce w h en his engine stopped, and wo uld finish fourth behind Capirossi. "I simply had too many pr oblems to wi n he re, and my goal was simply to finish," Cap irossi said. "I could see that Aoki was havin g more tire problems than me so I was waiting to pass him late in the race. After he crashed I took it really easy and just made sure of third." "I got a good start, but from the first la p the engin e wasn't right," Ruggia said. '1 don' t know whether it was a carburetion problem or something else, but it wo uldn't rev out, even in the lower gea rs. I ro d e as hard as I could for a while and I thought I might be able to stay with Capirossi and Aoki, bu t near the end of the race that was impossible. I was having to take too many risks to stay with them." HB Honda's Doriano Romboni finished fifth, rid ing in solitude almost the entire race once he realized his setup wasn't right. H is teammate, German RaU Waldman, who'd finished the first lap in fourth, dropped back to ninth with a rear brake problem which mysteriously sorted itself out after eight laps. In only his second 250cc GP, Waldmann would finish sixth, one better than Chesterfield Aprilia's Jean-Michel Bayle who also scored his best-ever 250cc result. "I got aw ay just behind [ean-Philippe and I did the first few laps in the leading group, but they were a little too fast for me, " the form er motocrosser sa id . "I had a few spec tacular slides and (Luis) D' Antin came by and after that I was with Waldmann for a while." Repsol-MX Onda-Pepsi ' s D' An tin ended the da y eigh th, one better than Dutchman Wilco Zeelenberg on the DC Racing Honda. ShahAlam Shah Alam, Malaysia Results: April 10 125<. QUALIFYING: 1. Kazuto Saka ta (1:31.685); 2. Tak esru Tsujim ura (1:32..81 3. Dirk Ra ud ies (1:32858); 4); 4. Jorge Martinez (1:32.887); 5. Peter 0ettI (1:32.896); 6. Fa usto Gn:sini (1:33.118); 7. Noburo Ueda (1:33.178); 8. E. A1umora (1:33.184); 9. Oliver Petruceiani (1:33.264); 10. Herri Torrontegu i (1:33.274); 11. Ga r ry McCoy (1:33394 ); 12. M. Tokudome (1:33.439); 13. H. Nekajyo (1:33.496); 14. Harachuka Aoki (1:33 .502); 15. Ste la n Prein (1:33.529); 16. Y. Katoh (1:33.580); 17. Carl"" Giro (1:33.611); 18. S. Perugini (1:33.623); 19. Bruno Casanova (1 :33.627) ; 20. F. Petit (1 :33.693) ; 2 1. A kir a Sa ito (1:33.7 42) ; 22. Gabriele Debbia (1:33 .868); 23. Luigi Bod eHer (1:33 .874); 24. Ne il Hodgson (1:33.975); 25. Lu cio Ce cch inell o (1 :34.102) ; 26. Tom o ko Igat a (1:34.116); 27. Ma rc Geissler (1:34.260); 28. Oliver Koch (1:34. 280); 29. Ma ss imo Ono (134 .613); 30 . Vittori o Lopez (1:35.115); 31. C. Soong (1:35.236); 32. Hans Spaan (1:35.266); 33. Manlred Baumann (1:35.563); 34. Danielle Tognoli (1:36.062). 250« QUALIFYING: Max Biaggi (1:26.618); 2. Loris Capirossi (1:26.692); 3. [ean-Phillipe Ruggia (1:27.% 2); 4. Ta da yuki Okada (1:27.359); 5. Ralf Waldmann (1:27.370); 6. Doriano Romboni (1:27.714); 7. N. Aoki (1:27.7 52); 8. [ean-Mich el e Bayle (l :28.0n); 9. Lu is clearly struggling on the track, the powerful NSRSOO slewing wildly out of the comers. The problem, he said,was one of balance and little progress was being made. "Our suspension problem is a front and rear thing," Doohan said. "I think we tested - -- - - - - - - so much at Eastern Creek, where the track changes so much, that we've backed ourselves into a bit of a comer. It's a bit like the Suzuki used to be; getting the balance right is really hard. All the guys are complaining about it. We've got a set of last year's forks which we may try sometime. We're also trying to get it to steer quicker. The suspension problems we've got are upsetting it a bit:' What's particularly troubling to the .team is bike is virtuall from last year,,though the s1;15 ion compon~n~re all-new. Fifth fastest, and first Suzu .cky Stiike'sAlex Barros, ri bettering his Friday tim y a second after hitting 0 worked. . "Finally we have some good settings and I am very happy with the way the final session went. I was able to move up on the grid and to improve my time over yesterday by almost a second," Barros said. Daryl Beattie improved his time from Friday, but not his position, qualifying sixth for Sunday's race. Beattie had taken a nasty spill on Friday, totalling his Marlboro Team Roberts Yamaha near the end of the timed session when his front end washed out. The 23-year-old Australian said that after a career spent on Hondas he was still adjusting to the Yamaha. . "It's a case of what I'm used toand what I've got now. They've made me realize I've got to ride the bike differently frpJ:Ilthe way I rode the· Honda. I didn't believe it at first, but now I do, :}Beattie said. ''I'mstarting to get the hang of it, but it'spot going to be an .choose from - a 1993 and a '1994.~ overnight thiiig' ''i3eattie had two. ~OC-Y . ce he didn'ttide the 199.4, though; he was lii\:iited.to . ':\( HRC's Shirlichi Iton 'ilnd Alex Criville wsev~ ''aria eighth . ... . ... .. '., ely, and both in the same quandary as Doohan; FindIDg Ii balance for ·the maChine proved elusive and the changing weather conditions " blistering heatwith occasional, cooling cloud cover - compounded the problem. Making rare and unwanted appearances on the third row were a pair of Americans, Cagiva's Doug ChaItdler and World Champion Kevin Schwantz. More than the others, Chandler was suffering from the heat. "It's just so damn hot out there. When I'm tucked in, the heat comes up from the engine," Chandler said. "My feet feel it the most. I think it affects my concentration. The biggest thing for me it to get comfortable and relaxed and put in some nice and easy laps instead of trying too hard. n What was holding Schwantz back was his broken right arm. It wasn't so much that ss it affected his riding, but that it denied him valuable testing time over the winter. He's Fi~stH~mda honors~e,pt.notto HRC's MiSk Doohan, but to SOOcc debutant Alberto still making up for lost time and the frustration is showing. ,• ;t, Pllig 9f the'rDucad ps.H pnpaiP ons team. In" only;h is second 500cc GP, Puig was~irp ~" .. "Thethi~dro~ sucks ancjI'~ pbyiously a.I a}[;offbein . wantZ & fastest, admittedly still adapting to theha~-li!er machinery and especially the tires:His "" said after completing only nin~·.!a~ in the seCon .hour qualifying~ ~on. "We've besttiffiewas set on Friday, though he nearly equalled it on Saturday afternoon despi.lt ' ·· got lots of little problems rather' than .one big 0 ' . should be okay.Iguess I ........ having trouble sorting through tires and a crash in the morning's free practice session. can ride 95%; it should be 100% by Japan. We're playing catch-up right now, but we ~ "At the beginning, the bike was a little difficult to get used to when we were testing have more tests sched uled and I hope we can narrow the gap after that:' 0... Slick 50 Team WCM's Niall was 11th fastest after skipping the oct: in the winter in Australia. Now the bike is coming better, and especially the tires," Puig practice session due to a Frid ay Mackenzie fellow Englishman John Reynolds atmorning said . crash with the end Next to Puig, at the end of the front row was Doohan , the 28-year-old Australian of the third row . I .... 8 I arm

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