Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127665
Chris Agajanian Presents the howed not only that his smooth talent neshed superbly with the pretty and lever Cagiva, with its half-carbon frame, ru t also that there were deep cracks in he state of preparation of the Japanese ivals. Doohan's Honda was quite outclassed It his hom e GP, in spite of supposedly .u ccessful tests before the race; while ..1arlboro Yamaha were going racing not vith their new bike, but with a collection )f old stuff out of the back of the truck. ~uca Cadalora pulled through to a dashng second place, proving from the start :hat his second 500 year means a serious mack on the title; but new (ex-Honda) teammate Daryl Beattie was all at sea on his new Yama ha, and was destined to rema in so for the next two rounds. Th e m ost inte resti ng case, however, was that of the defending World Champion Kevin Schwantz. The Texan had the misfortune to break his arm after falling off his mountain bike exactly three weeks before the first race, and while the injury itself posed relatively minor pro blems, it m ea nt he missed the final sh ake-down tests of the production version of the new Lucky Strike Suzuki. In the race, he rode well to take fourth, because the bike wasn't anything special, and his crew just couldn't seem to get it right. Two weeks later in Malaysia, Kocinski was on pole again. Another tight and twisty tra ck minimized his mid- range acceleration deficit, and meant he could gain yards and yards with his high-speed precision corner en tri es . But Mick Doohan was the ma jor actor in this drama, using tactics and experience to overcome special problems posed by the hea t. In fact, what he did was go back to the old-fashioned riding style prevalent in an age of harsher power outputs and impermanent tire adhesion. Drop p ing gearing to reduce comer speed, he'd pick the bike up before the comer was finished to get onto the fat pa rt of the tire, then fire it out using th e wheelspin to complete the tum. It was a canny piece of riding that was enough to win him the race over Kocinski's Cagiva in the soaking heat. Schwantz's handling problems were worse; now quite insoluble. His race finish d ropped to sixth. And with his title defense going all wrong, he and his team d ashed off to the factory's p rivate test track at Ryuo in Japan, to emerge two weeks later for Suzuka wearing sheepish grins and dis-i nforming furiously to avoid the factory 's embarrassment at having to admit that they'd thrown the faulty new frames away, and Kevin was equipped with a choice be tw ee n a straight 1993 frame, and the 1994-frame prototype tested in January. The sheepish grins turned to howls of glee after Schwantz returned to classic winning form at Suzuka, and they face the rest of the season w ith their hopes renewed. Last year, Yamaha had to go back to the parts bin to get a bike that handled well. This year Suz uki has had to do the same. Back to the future was becoming a trend. Doohan was second again at Suzuka, taking the title lead because of his consisten cy on the rostrum - a facet which in years past has often been enough to win the title. Kocinski's Cagiva, on the other hand, gave a fair exposition of the fragility of performance tha t makes it hard to take them over ly seriously as challengers for the crown - tho ugh it is, of course, wa y too early to wri te them off. Short of d ry 'practice time, he qu alified on row three, then blamed a slip ping clutch for a race finish in ninth. He remains second in the World Championship, however. Clearly, Cadalora is threatening a race win soon; the Italian, a former 250 and GATES OPEN: 5 p.m. PLUS EXCrTlNG KIDS FREE! If. ..... ?~!nr,Jk)N~ ol RACER' \ S ) RATE ~ Sheraton Suites Fa irplex (909) 622-2220 15yrs. & Under Two'Per Adult Center Section Only I Zi"'-2~» TICKETS AVAILABLE AT: ASCOT SLiC TRAC (714) 533-4444 Y Local Participating our HARLEY·DAVIDSON Dealer QUIK SHOP adve rc l . l ng m ak e . :f~::~~ents dollar s r,i::"JiCSr M AY CO M P ANY & M U S I C P LUS (213) 48 0-3232 ' (71 4) 74 0· 2000 a . \Nell as sen . e . COMMOTION 7 BY T H E OCEAN Southern California Motocross Championship May 14TH & 15TH, 1994 • Carlsbad Raceway Sound of Thund er 4 Stroke Motocross Series on Saturday I~" ,. . ... Pre-e nter at the Commotion warm-up on May 7th and receive Commotion 7 T-shirtl ' t;iiI!~ PRO VALVE SaturdaY Sunday Beginners & Juniors . Intermediates & Pros 80 125.250. 500. Vet & OT . 80 125. 250. 500. Vet & or . . ,'ENDU A .I1 Sportsman Entry • $35.00 P.ff!i.irBar Pro Entry - $45.00 c;.. D U N L OP If?o -- I~ I!!/I!IP