Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Honda of Vieira/Kuhn/Nicotte, seventh went to the Ducati of Mounier / Sebileau /Rubio and eighth went to the Suzuki of Bonhuil /Monneret/ Gomez. The French MS Coumeuvien team (with World Champion Dou g Toland) ended up in 14th. The number 1 team had initially entered an RC45, but finally opted to take out last year's RC30 (the first one on the starting grid). Californian Toland was quite happy about that performance. "We received the RC45pretty late, and we didn't get enough time to dial it all in. We brought the bike on the track for a few laps on Thursday, but pretty soon we decided to use the RC30. It did not stop us from getting one of the best privateer times. I do feel that our team might play an impo rtant role in the World Champions hi p . During the wi nt er I had some contacts w ith factory teams, but in the end I thought the best thing to do was to continue with these Frenchmen. In Suzuka, however, I w ill race for a Japanese team." 24 HOURSOF LE MANS Christian Sarron proved to be a very po werful magnet, drawing thousands of spectators to the Bugatti Circuit. The former Grand Prix rider did exactly what was expected from ' him. After Mouchet on the Ducati and Moineau's Suzuki had put on a great show in front of the crowd and the French television cameras, which broadcasted the first hour of the race live, the Yamaha crew got into the lead just before 16.00 hours when Christian Sarron took over from his y ou n ge r brother Dominique. Christian held that place for about an hour before Battistini (Rymer's Kawasaki teammate) got past Deletang on the blue Yamaha. These two bikes seemed set for a lonely race, as Vieira/ Nicotte/ Kuhn were al ready half a m inute back, with only Moineau/ d'Orgeix/Lavieille on the same lap . The first Ducati - Mounier/ Sebileau/ Rubiowas 11th, after having incurred a two-lap penalty right at the start of the race for not having done the 'pace lap. . For Yamaha, the fun ended at around 7:00 p.m.; still fighting to hold onto the leading Kawasaki, Christian Sarron crashed while trying to adjust the brake lever. Fortunately, he didn't suffer serious injury, nor did he have to worry about pushing the bike back from the other side of the circuit to pit lane - the front fork had broken off the bike due to the heavy impact! After having regained some color in his face after his scary excursion, Sarron explained the crash. . "I was on my third lap after having taken over from Dominique. Due to my hand inju ry, I wa n ted my hand brake lever to be put in an unusual position. After having taken over from my brother, I noticed that it still was not perfect, and I tried to ad just it. It should have been an easy operation, especially on a straight. But I may have made a big mistake when I tried to put it right in one of the trickiest comers of the circuit. I am to blame - I lost concentration for a fractio n of a second, got past the braking point, then tried to compensate by braking very hard, but there was a bump on the road which put the bike (with a full gasoline tank) out of balance. There was nothing that I could do after that, except pray that 1 wouldn't hurt myself too much on landing..." Sarron escaped with only his self-confidence bruised. This crash took out the first factory bike in a long row of retirements. At Ducati, the first signs of the team's limited experience started to show: the Ducati of Mouchet lost a lot of time due to a miscalculation in the pit; and as darkness fell over the race track, the Ducati had to be pushed back to the pit with an empty fuel (Left ) Suzuki finis hed third with Bruno BonhuiVPhilippe MonneretlJuan-Eric Gomez (5) sharing the riding chores . (Below) Fonne r Grand Prix road racer Christian Sarron returned to racing to compete on a Yamaha France entry. The race ended prematurely for the tea m when Sarron crashed the bike while adjusting the brake lever. tank. The same mishap occurred to the second Kawasaki of Bonoris/Coutelle/Haquin, who had been closing in on the Suzuki of Moineau. At Honda, things did not work out as expected, either. After the retirement of Sarron, Viei ra had ta ken over second place, but soon afterward, his teammate Nicotte had to make an unforeseen pitstop du e to water and oil leaking out of the engine. The whole system ha d to be drained, which took the Honda mechanics some 12 m in utes and relegated the b ike to 13th. The num ber one Honda RC30 of Toland /Lind en/ Lussiana had spent its first hours in an acceptable seventh spot, d espite some fuel starvation problems and a crash by Toland. Som e mo re technical troubles woul d push the b ike further down the lead erbo ard. At around two o'clock, Peter Linden brough t the bike in for the last time as se veral mechanical problems on the RC30 signed the death-warrant for Toland's team. By that time, things had chan ged a lot up front The leading Kawasaki first came under really h ea vy fire around 21.00 hours, when something went wrong during a routine pit stop and the whole front brake system had to be replaced. Five minutes were lost in that operation, and when Morillas went out on the' track again he only had a four-second lead over the Suzuki of Moineau. Two hours later, the Kawasaki team lost its second bike at around 11:30 p.m. Haquin walked the bike in with a broken valve, putting an end to their story. Only a few minutes later, team manager Bourgeois nearl y suffered a cardiac arrest when his first bike also came in with what seemed to be a big problem. "I felt oil on my boot," commented Terry Rymer, "and I preferred to stop right away. The mechanics found more oil in the airbox, and replaced some parts of the alternator in the engine." Eight minutes were lost, and Suzuki took the lead for the first time - with a three-lap lead. With Moin eau out front, p roblems ironically start ed to raise their ugly heads at the Suzuki pit. First, Bonhuil /Monn eret /Gomez had their rea r sho ck replaced, w h ich cos t the m thi rd to the Yam aha o f Lentaigne/ Burgevin/ Thomas. The French privateers would not p ro fi t for lo ng, though, as Thomas crashed and broke his colIarbone. Never.theless, the Frenchman pushed the bike back to the p it. At the halfway mar k, Moineau lead Rymer, who - desp ite the low visibility at ni ght - got ve ry close to his own lap record. Third was Bonhuil/ Monneret / Gomez and fo urth was h eld b y Vieira/Nicotte/ Kuhn. About one hou r later the first Honda RC45 (Bertin/De Puniet/Legaudu) went out; the bike taking in some dust during the rather innocent crash of De Puniet. Just when the sun started to ligh t up the sky at around 5:30 a.m., the faces in the Suzuki pi ts got darker and d ar ker. After having no technical problems since the beginning of the race, Moineau cam e into pit lane before the scheduled stop - with blue smoke trailing his bike. A tom head ga sket took about an h o u r to replace, and Christian Lavieille got them back on the track in ninth place - 24 laps behind the new leader, Rymer. A little bit earlier, Lentaigne and Bu rgevin, w ho had to manage b y the mselves afte r Thomas's crash, had to retire with a broken engine. The Ho nda of Vieira was now second, with Bonhuil third. Fourth went to the Suzuki of Vivoli/Cambray / Ulman while Graf/Ambord/Ammann made a charge into the top five a fter problems w ere encountered by Manley/Holden/Millet and Davi d/ Romanens/ Kru mmenacher. At 8:00 a.m. on Sun day, these guys could cease to worry about the fir st Suzuki comin g back to the top . After several pit stops due to some oil leakage, the Suzuki mechanics finally found the reason and it couldn't be fixed . At that point, the final top three positions were established. Not wanting to lose the other Suzuki (which had also had similar oil leaka ge and overheating problems during the night), team manager Meliand told Bonhuil to slow down and limit himself to safe-guarding third place behind Rymer and Vieira, bu t in front of the best privateers Vivoli and Graf. This was to be the order until the finish, even though th ings see med to go sour nine minutes before the end when Bonhuil went into the pits with a steaming engine. Fortunately, after pouring in some extra water, the bike returned to the track and held on for third . For Terry Rymer and h is crew, this victory was a fine revenge on fate. "Last year, I had missed the race because of a crash in practice," Rymer sai d. "Fortunately, we d id not have any of th ose problems - or major electrical ones - this year, so I am very happy to win this classic race once again." For second man Alex Vieira, things had not go ne so smooth ly: "W e knew tha t the bike wa s a good ba sis to start upon, and my victory at a national race on this circui t a few weeks ago showed good promise. But still, it was unknown how the RC45 w ould stan d a 24-hourlong heavy treatmen t. After the official practice o n Friday e veni n g, Hon d a France decided t o allo w us to take full advantage of the bike, jus t to see how far it would get. The other teams would have to keep a safety ma rgin of about 1000 revs, so th at Honda wo uld gain some ve ry valuable experience. 1 think they got more for their money than they ever hoped for." Unlike most recent editions of the 24hour race at Le Mans, the bikes went all the way, and the specta tors did not storm the track before the checkered flag went out The reason for this was quite simp le. At the end of last year, the French governmen t had passed a law - impos ing a fine of 100,000 French francs. and a oneyear imprisonment for anyone who went onto the track before the race wa s ove r. According .to the organizers, who got more nervous as the race got close to finishing, several video cameras around the track would enable the police to identify any offenders. The law worked to perfection, which was a good thing for the sport, but too bad for some compe titors who were struggling with technical problems in the last couple of minutes - and, of course , for th e Frenc h go vernment, who missed a cha n ce to make a lot of money in fines. Bruno Bonhuil and his Suzuki pit crew, apparently un aw are of the ne w law, had been inviting the spectators to climb the walls and inva d e the track as soon as it became apparent that the thirdplaced bike was in technical trou ble - an invitation which, until recently, no doubt would have been accepted eage rly by the French "motards" (motorcyclists). But a times change... Bugatti Circuit Le Mans, France Unofficial results: April 17, 1994 1. Rymer/Morillas /Battist ini (Ka w); 2. Vieira ! Kuhn/Nico«e (Ho n); 3. Bonhuil /Mo nneret /Gomez (Suz); 4. Vivoli /Cambray / Ulmann (Suz) ; S. G raff Ambord / Ammann (Ka w); 6. Gu yot /Damide/Guigou (Hon); 7. Soulon! Ama lric /Veille (Hon); 8. David ! Romanens /Kr u mmenacher (Hon ); 9. L'He rbette / Lebla nc /Marchand (Ho n); 10. Petit/lelan / Agog ue (Hon); 11. Mo uchet / Ch ambon / Fer racci (Due); 12. Lenoxaic /Comil/Cui nand (Ho n); 13. Jolivet/ Furling / Pinchedez (Suz); 14. Beltzung/Bousseau/Jeannin (Suz); 15. Bonnet/Kuenemann/Lacroix (Hon) ; 16. Mouni er/ Sebileau/ Rubio (Du<); 17. Dobe/Sinatti/Beauvais (Kaw); 18. Nic kmans /Lacrosse/ Leg ra nd (Kaw); 19. Rod rigu es /Dubois/ Thcret (Ho n); 20. Monot / Mon ot l Juanola (Suz); 21. Chauvin /Colaisseau/ Marcary (Yam); 22. Nyman /J oha nsson / Backstrom (Ka w); 23. GuiLud/ Fratti / Kerbrat (K.aw); 24. Piveteau/ Daviaud /Comillet (Kaw); 5. RosieUe/Vankevmeulen/De Backer (Kaw); 26. Muller/Le Garrec/ Bas(e (Yam ); 21. Ferrero/ Buf fa/ EnjaIbert (H an). Diolon

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