Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Opposite page) Pole-sitter Scott Russell (1) leads the pack off the grid In the first race, but Glancarlo Falappa (5) led coming ou1 of Donlngton Park 's first tum during the opening round of the World Superbike Series. (Right) Russell (1) leads Aaron Slight (3) and Falappa through Goddard Corner In the second race. After finishing fourth In the first race, Russell came back to win the second race, posting a time 11 seconds quicker than Fogarty's winning time In the first leg. onds later, with Ducati Tardozzi's Pirovano third just .68-0f-a-second back. Russell wa s fourth ahead of Ducati's Giancarlo Falappa, who led the first leg and finished fifth in both of them. RACE ONE Scott Russell got the holeshot, bu t it was Giancarlo Falappa leading into tum one ahead of Russell and Fogarty. Troy Corser had been left at the line because he was unfamiliar with the startin g proced ure. " I was just wa iting for everyone to go," Corser said later. At the end of the first lap, Falappa was still in the lead with Russell second. Aaron Slight was a surprising third on the Honda RC-45's maiden voyage, with Terry Rymer fifth. Exiting the esses on the third lap, Slight got into a big slide and Corser clipped his clutch lever when he made unavoidable contact. Slight lost a few spots, and Corser was up to fifth. By the fifth of 25 laps, a pack had formed at th e front that would ba ttle clear to the end. Falappa still led , bu t just barely, with Fogarty up to second ahead of Russell and Rymer, and Corser up to fifth in front of Fabrizio Pirovano, whose spare bike he was riding. Falappa wa s braking harder and deeper than anyone, the bike wobb ling and uns tead y - certain to come undone if he kept it up . He dropped back to fifth on the sixth lap, then lost ano ther spot on the following lap , later saying th at his forearms were pumping up and that the tire had come unbalanced when it spun on the rim. It was Fogarty takin g the lead, something he was n' t expecting, but he was prepared to make the best of. Corser was up to second in front of Russell and Pirovano, but that would soon change. Russell was struggling to stay with the leaders as he discovered the handling troub les he'd had all week en d hadn' t been fixed. "The bike w ouldn't tu rn," Ru ssell said. " It wa s understeering a bit and had a bit of chatter when acceleratin g at full lean angle com ing out of the cor ner." Th e crew had changed engine s after Sunday's qualifying and had mad e internal rear shock changes between the morning warm-up and the noon race. Russell's problems were minor compared to Polen's. The 33-year-old Texan was languishing in 10th place with significant brake and engine problems. Because of engine troubles, which he wouldn't di vulge, but which p lagued acceleration, Polen was forced to make up ground on the brakes, braking far deeper into the corners than normal. Because of that, the carbon-fiber brakes that he'd chosen, which were meant to work between 200 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit, were overheating. "I had to go in leaned over because I couldn't stop well and I couldn't turn as tight and (had to) late apex it," Polen said. Falappa led a trio for fifth, with Slight an d Rymer jus t trailing, though Slight forged ahead and soon rid him- self of the other two. By the halfway point, it was obvious he was moving on the leaders. By then Corser was in front, having taken the lead from Fogarty on the run up to Goddard Comer, the final hairpin. "I could run into Melbourne (the penultimate comer) a lot faster," Corser said . "I could get the bike turned and get it upright for the run up to the next comer. I'd passed Pirovano there and I passed Carl a couple of laps later." But it was in the esses leadi ng to Melbourne that Corser was struggling. "I was having trouble changing direction. Into the chicane I was goi ng a bit slower , so I Corser overcomes ~ wo new bikes, new tires, and a new .track would seem a !frl r~ ~:~:gb~~~~ci ~~;I~;=::eWl:~~.:;,:~:~ could get the bike turned," Corser said. It was down to a fin al qu artet of Corser leading Piro vano, Foga rt y and Russell, with Fogarty content to sit back and learn, "I didn't want to be leadi ng. I was pleased someone passed me so I could see where I wa s qu icker and where I motor is definitely better, stronger throughout the power range. I'm pretty sure we might get one over in America this year." Since he had only one machine, he lost considerable time when adjustments were made during Saturday's untimed practice, and even more when he crashed during the first tim~ session . ~&~;e~=!d proble~ with! :h~ on 'that he 'd ha& Duca ti jumping out of gear, though it w as mostly on the straights. his results are deceiving. After crashing the Ducati 916 prototype that he'd been usin g When it jumped out in Craner Curves, a high-speed downhill in his World Superbike debut, Corser borrowed Team Ducati left on his eighth lap, the front end unloaded and he crashed. Tardozzi's Fabrizio Pirovano's spare bike and qualified third. In " It was damaged enough to whe re it was pointless to fix it. the first leg, he was briefly in front before dropping back to Luckily, (Fabrizio) Pirovano parked his second bike." third, then crashing after tailending Castrol Honda's Aaron So, again, Corser had to adjust to a new bike, one that he SlightAnthe~cond leg, he found that suspenslon and tire ' foun d longer than the prototype and more stiffly suspen ded. "I choices. the team had made between races weren't right and he . just left it like he had it. By tomorrow we should be happy with discretely finished fourth. it," Corser said . Third fastest was imp ressive, but he was on a The 22-year-old AMA Superbike championship leader was faster lap when he overshot the Melbourne Hairpin near the hoping to race at a number of other end of the lap, losing a second. WSB rounds, and was almost cerSince this was Corser's first trip to tain to compete at Hockenheim on Europe, Donington Park was all new to MayS, but the plans changed after him and he was having some difficulty. the race. '''," Because of the number of comers that "I don't thixlk so," Eraldo Ferracflow into eac h other, a sma ll m istake ci, the owner of Corser's American was inordinately magnified. team, said at the end of th e day . "The flowing comers are a bit long, "This was just an incentive, a and so fast that r ou have to get every reward for what he's done in Amercorner right. If you stuff one, you're ica. We don't have enough material, stuffed in the next The hardest thing is and we don't want to take another entry speed and exiting the comers. This bike from another team . When we place has some funn y-shaped comers. I finish the AMAchampionship, we followed Jamie (Whitham) around for can do some. He was signed for two laps and he used p retty interesting Misano and Hockenheim, but I dislines. Different lines th an mine. I was agree. I don't want to give too trying d ifferent lines and feeling slow much pressure to the guy." through the comers." After qualifying "When I signed my contract, I wanted to d o some World third, Corser said that ~.e still was completely comfortable, adding that he was having problems with Redgate Comer, the Superi:like e,,~ts," CO~l" said. " B~rry (Sheene) said the one is to Come over and do the first one." Sheene, the former right-handed first turn,' and a few other comers. "I'll get in 500cc World Champion, is an unofficial advisor to Corser. there, lean it over, then pick it back up." was only going to come over if the bike was going to be In addition to being on a new track with a new bike, Corser good. If it was no good, I wasn't going to bother. When they had one more very important variable - tires. The Ducati team said it wasn't going to be so bad, I decided to come over. I is contracted to Michelin in World Superbike, and Corser camwanted more experience racing with Scottie (Russell), Doug paigns the more forgiving Dunlops in AMA racing, though he. (Polen), and some of the other guys, and to get more time on " used Michelinslast year .in winning the Australian Supe best: ."I the~:J~~t :~~~n1~n~~; :~type Cha"Im~~~h!~: ~~~-~o~n:a~~da. JA~k Ducati 916 at e, They fair y Donington, racing the unfamiliar bike out of the garage of Team well and I'm not having any trouble adjusting. The front Ducati Tardozzi's Davide Tardozzi. "It's all new to me and I doesn't steer as quick as a Dunlop. You can steer the bike don't want to wear it out," Corser said. "It's a completely differ- around the comer on the front with the Dunlop." • em bike to ride. The front end is a lot lighter. I sit closer to the His performance impressed many, though a number of peebarson the thin~ and I have to ride it differently. I tend to ride pie weren' t s~, given his results in America . thiS..,' 'w .o n the back . 'VheeI because it's always wheeIying. This k one. "We did the bi5t we could with what we had," Perracci said ... ".. . "-" ; " N>Y>_ . , , , • ."';:; ,., . : : -~, ,, . ~":_ ,, " ,~, . v" -" . ,,'. ' - " ":-,,

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