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(Far left) Fabrizio Plrovano finished third
In the first leg but an 011 leak kept him out
of the hunt In the second leg. (Above)
Engine and brake troubles slowed Doug
Polen to ninth In the first leg, and
continuing engine bugs relegated him to
eighth in the second race. (Left) A pair of
lifth-place finishes put Glancarlo Falappa
into fourth place In the series point
standings. Here, he is pursued by
P1erglorgio Bontempl.
"I didn't expect to win the race," Fogarty said of his warmly received victory.
'There's no better race to win all year.
Hearing the crowd just gives you a lift.
" I always fe lt under control.
Pirovano and Troy passed me and I
could s tay with them, no problem. I
could see they were having more trouble than we were. I might try a little.
harder in the second race." Unsettling
news for the others.
"It was a great day for us ," Slight
said of the Honda debut. "I wasn't surprised I was able to catch them. It was a
four-second gap, then I closed it down. I
had two encounters with an Australian
friend of mine (Corser): the first one
bent my clutch lever, the second one he
crashed."
Through an interpreter Pirovano said
that he'd had some problems with his
tires just past the halfway point and
decided to take the longer view. "I think
the championship is very long and I
d idn't want to risk anyth ing," the
diminutive Italian said.
"After practice I didn't put in as
much thought as I should have," Russe ll
admitted. "We were just off on the se tup. With these guys, if it' s not perfect,
it's the difference between first and
fourth."
RACE TWO
Falappa again got the jump on the
38-rider field, leading into tum one wi th
Russell, Fogarty, Slight, and Kawasaki
Bertocchi's Piergiorgio Bontempi in pursuit. Russell's crew had lowered the rear
ride height between races and he found
it much easier to ride in the second race.
"It was nose-heavy in the first one, "
team owner Rob Muzzy said. "Going
from left to right in the chicane it would
stand up on its nose and shake, and all
those things they do . We added a little
more rear weight."
By the third lap Russell was in front
of Falappa, who would lose the spot to
Fogarty on the next lap and drop to
fourth after six, with Slight moving up
to third.
On the 10th lap, Russell had
increased his lead to 3.17 seconds, but
on the next lap it was Fogarty in the
lead after Russell had slowed toward
26. Denis Bonoris (1:37.68): 27. Michael Rutter (I:37 .n);
28. Mk hael Paquay (1:37 .76); 29. Jean Marc Deletang
(1 :37 .78); 30. Ray Stringer (1:37.92); 31. Serafino Fori
(1:38.04); 3 2. Lee Pullan (1 :38 .07); 33 . Alex Vieira
(1:38.09); 34. SIephane Mertens (1:38.21); 35. Gianmaria
Uverani (1:38.30); 36. Jose Kuhn (1:38.49) ; 37. Roberto
Partichi (1:38.59); 38. Thierry Rogier (1:38.68); 39. Aldeo
Pn:sci ulli (1:38.69); 40. Stefano Caracchi (1:38.74).
the end of the lap, putting his hand up
to signal engine troubles.
"It felt like the engine was slow ing.
Maybe it was tightening up, and ma ybe
it would stop," Russell said. "I thought
about pulling in, which wou ld ha ve
been a big mistake. I slowed down and
checked for an oil leak."
On the lap he slowed, Russell's lap
tim e was 1:40.15, better than four seconds slower th an Foga rt y. Once he'd
discerned there were no problems, he
put his head d own, dropping into the
low 36's on the ne xt lap and into the 35's
for the next three. The push carri ed him
into the lead on the 16th lap, and a lap
later he had a cushion of nearly a second.
It increased to 1.54 seconds on the
next lap when Slight moved past Fogarty for second, as the Briton began to
experience rear tire p rob lems. Corser
was now fourth, afte r m oving there on
the 16th lap and knowing that was as far
as he would likely get.
The team had raised the rear ride
height, but the fix hadn't worked and it
exacerbated a wrong rear tire choice.
"We put a softer rear tire on to get it
to drive a bit. It lasted about half th e
race, and with the rear ride height up it
made it worse," Corser said, adding tha t
he also felt sore from his first-race crash.
"I didn't want to crash again."
The top four was set - only the intervals would change, In Russell 's case, it
increased every lap as he turned up the
hea t o n Slight, who gave the Honda
another second.
"Donington's always been a favorite
track of mine," Slight said. "The Honda
turns and stops and th at's what you
need at Donington."
"I tried to stay away, but I had a few
near moments," Fogart y sai d o f his
attempt to leave Russell behind.
Corser was fourth with Falappa fifth,
again complaining of a rear tire that had
spun on the rim. He took the spo t from
Bontempi, whose brakes failed on the
21st lap.
Team Rum i's Simon C rafar was
sixth, with his teammate Brian Morrison
seventh in fron t of Polen, who'd put on
more durable carbon-fiber brakes for the
second leg and found he could bra ke
better, but his engine was still off-song.
"It's just one of th ose race meetin gs
where everything di d n't qui te hap pen
the way I wanted it to," Polen said.
a
Donln gton Park
Donington Park, England
Resuns :May1, 1994
QUALIFYIN G: I. Scott Ru ssell (1:34.96/94.770
mph); 2. Jam ie Whitha m (1:35 .46); 3. Troy Cors er
(1:35.49); 4. Carl Fogarty (1:3558); S. Giancarl o Falappa
(1:35.63); 6 . Aaro n Slight (1 :35 .72); 7 . Terry Rym er
(1:35 .78); 8. Fabrizio Pirovano (1:35 .87); 9 . Piergiorgio
Bonlempi (1:36.40); 10. Mauro Lucchi ad (1:36.49); 11.
Simon CraIar (1:36.66); 12. Mauro MoroN (1:36.73); 13.
Steve Hislop (1:36.80); 14. Brian Morrison (1:36.86); IS .
Matt Uewellyn (1:36 .95) ; 16. Va le rio de Statanb
(1:37.00); 17 . Do ug P olen (1:3 7.10); 18. Jim Mo odie
(1:37.24); 19 . Adri en Morillas (1:37.33); 20. Andreas
Meldau (1:37.35); 21. Mark Farmer (1:3 7.40); 22. Nick
Hopkin> (1:37.42); 23. Jean-Yves Maunier (1:37.46); 24.
David Jefferies (1:37.48); 25. Andrea PerseW (1:37 .54);
RACE 1: I. Ca rl Fogatty (D ue); 2. Aa ron Slight
(Hon); 3. Fab rizio Pirovano (Du e); 4. Scott Russell
(Kaw); 5. Giancarlo Falap pa (Due); 6. Simon Crafar
(Han); 7. Piergimgio Bontempi (Kaw); 8. Brian Morrison
(Hon) ; 9. Doug Polen (Hon); 10. Mauro Moroni (Kaw);
11. Valerio de Stalanls (Due ); 12. Jean-Yves Meunier
(Due); 13. Michael Rutter (Due); 14. Jim Moodie (Yam);
IS. Andres Meklau (Due); 16. Andrea Perselli (Due); 17.
Adrien Morillas (Kaw); 18. Stephane Mertens (Due); 19.
Matt UeweUyn (Due); 20. Nick Hopkins (Yam); 21. Alex
Vieira (Hon); 22. De nis Bc norts (Ka w ); 23 . Mauro
Lucchiari (Yam) ; 24 . Jose Kuhn (Han); 25. Lee Pu llan
(Yam); 26. Mark Farmer (Yam); 21. Gianmaria Uverani
(Hon ): 28. Roberto Panichi (Due).
NOT CLASSIflED
29. Troy Corser (Due); 30. David Jefferies (Due); 31.
Stephan< Foti (Due); 32. Terry Rymer (Ka w) : 33. Steve
Hislop (Han); 34. jeen-Meec Deletang (Yam); 35. Thierry
Rogi er (Duc ); 36. Stefan o Ca racc hi (D uc); 37. Aldeo
Pn:sciutti (Due); 38. Michael Paquay (Ha n).
llDle: 40 mins., 16.42 sec.
DiBw.= 25 laps. 625 miles.
Average speed: 93.104 mp h.
Margin of vicloly: 1.33 seconds.
RACE 2: I. Scott Russell (!