Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 2: Hockenheim, Germany (Left) Doug Polen had his best outing of the year, posting a 4-3tally on the Castrol Honda. (Belowleft, from left to right) Plrovano, Russell and Polen celebrate their 2·1·3 finishes after the second leg at Hockenhelm. had to give some hundred meters on the straights, but got it all back again in the tricky part of the circuit - especially in the Sachskurve where 1 mad e up tons of ground on th e brakes. And the tir es stayed good - even at.the end of the race 1still managed 2:03.805,which was a full second faster than 1 had done in practice. My kn ee and foot injuries d idn ' t cause too many problems, except in the fast Ostku rve, where you have to hang on to the bike; the gas tank was heavily padded in order not to bruise my knee too mu ch. SCi 1 gue ss I sho uld n' t complain - third in the bike 's second race isn 't bad." Falappa finished fourth in front of Keiichi Kitagawa, who was in his first European World Superbike race. Rymer had mixed it with the leaders in the beginning of the race, but then lost more and more ground until he got passed by Kitagawa in the final laps. Destefanis, on a Ducati 888 entered by the same team Fred Merkel ran for last year, finished a lone seventh. C'i Hockehelm Circuit Hockenheim, Germany Results: May 8, 1994 QUALIFYING: I. Sco tt Russe ll (2:03 .06) ; 2. Gianca rlo Fata p pa (2 :03.27)j 3. Fab rizio Pirovan o (2:03 .39); 4 . Aa ro n Slig h t (2:04 .25) ; 5. Pier giorgio Bontempi (2:04.30); 6. Valerio Destefanis (2:04.30); 7. Do ug Polen (2:04.74); 8. Keiichi Kita gawa (2:04.83); 9. Terry Rymer (2:04.99); 10. Ca r l Fogarty (2:05.10); 11. Udo Mark (2,Q5.U); 12. Roger Kellenberger (2:05.38); 13. Maur o Lucchiari (2:05:42); 14. Edwi n Weibel (2:05.54); 15. Adrien Morillas (2:05.57); 16. Alex Vieira (2:05.61); 17. Rainer Janisch (2;05.69); 18. Ma uro Moroni (2:05.75); 19. Simon Crefar (2:05.89); 20. Steve Hislop (2:06.02); 21. Micha el Paquay (2:06.03); 22. Rob Phi llis (2:06.10); 23. Bria n Morris on (2:06 .12); 24. Ma rce l Kell en be rger (2:06.15); 25. Ste fan Schesc howttsch (2:06.34); 26. Martin Wimmer (2:06.40); 27. Denis Bonoris (2:06.43); 28. JeanYves Meun ier (2:06.49); 29. An dreas Mekla u (2:06.55); 30. Serafino Foti (2:06.59); 31. Andrea Persc Ui (2:06.62); ed an all-or-nothing braking maneuver on leader Pirovano. "Falappa should see Dr. Corba scio more often; he can give him a tranquilizing shot before every race..." Pirovano said later . Finally, it all came down to a threeway battle between Russell, Slight and Rym er . Rym er lost ground first, bu t Slight held on to the very last comers, only to be beaten by Russel by .35-0f-asecond . Despi te the minimal margin of victory, the Georgian claimed to ha ve had a pretty smooth race. "I got a pretty poor start, but 1 knew that I wouldn't lose too much ground on the front-runners. 1 wasn 't too worried abou t Falappa, but 1 mus t ad mit tha t 1 had expected some more resistance from the Ducatis. On the last lap, 1 had to be very carefu l. Aaron (Slight) wa s rig ht behind me, and my tires started sliding a lot. 1 almost go t it wrong in the Sachskurve, but fortunately 1stayed ahead of the Honda until the checkered flag." Fin ishin g second is beginnin g to become somewha t of a hab it fo r th e Kiwi after he twice got the same resu lt in Donington . "On the last lap, 1 passed Scott in the fast Ostkurve, but then he got by me again in the 'chicane, But I'm happy - second pla ce is not ba d for a .machine which is still at the beginning of its development. It is especially nice to be on the rostrum again, on a track which is so different from Donington." Rym er finish ed third , w h ich was more than he'had hoped for a few days earlier: "My arm still ached; it's got 40 stitches. However, it was my back that got me into trouble in the chicanes. 1 fina lly lost contact with the front-runners when Pirovano ble w up his bike just in front of me." Pole n lost contact wi th th e front group qu ite earl y in the race, when he saw Destefanis spraying his oil all over the track. After a race-long ba ttle with Frenchm an Adrien Morillas, the former World Champion had to be happ y with fifth pla ce at the finish. French privateer Jea n -Yves Mounier go t home sixth , while Simon Crafar took the Team Rumi RC45 once again to a fine seven th place finish, strengthening his position as best priva teer in the point stan dings. RACE TWO A few hours later, Falappa and Slight took their 33 colleagues in tow for the second heat. One lap later, though, Russell was back in command and aiming for another victory. Falappa, Pirovano, and Slight had the same idea, and this was the beginning of another slipstream fight that Hockenheim is so famous for. Russell led most of the way, but around midrace, Fal ap pa and Pirovano eac h had a go at the lead position; it would not last, howe ver. Shortly thereafter, Slight had to bury his ambitions. "I think I lost the rear end going into turn one," he said after his crash . "I was desperate to hold on to those guys, even though my bike wasn't the fastest of the lead group. Too bad ..." Afte r the du st cloud had blown away, things got clearer in front. Falappa gradually lost ground due to gearbox prob lem s, an d Russell and Pirovano succeeded in building a small lead over the Italian. In. the final laps, Polen got past Falappa and started to go after the two leaders, but the checkered flag came out before he could start to mix it with the du o. For Russell, his second victory of the day was the icing on the cake: "I'd never expected to win both races today. Becau se of my long first gear, 1 didn't get away too fast, 1was 10th or so when 1 came back after one lap . Once I realized that 1 couldn't get awa y from the front group, I decided to wa tch where I would get p ast the m, w he n it reall y mattered. 1 didn 't want to have a braking contest with some of those guys, especially not at the speed we are doing on this trac k. Bu t it all went p retty well." Pi rovano was able to get some revenge for his bad luck in the first heat by finishing second, in front of Polen. "The more 1ride the bike, the better it gets:' the Texan said . "I had a pretty good start, and in the first couple of laps 1 got a good tow from Aaron. But after his cras h, 1 wa s on my own . Towards the end, it was a bit of a see-saw deal. I 32. Stephane Mertens (2:06.71); 33. Matt Llewellyn . (2:06.73) ; 34. Christer Lindholm (2:06.78); 35. Joc hen Schmid (2:06.83); 36. Roberto Panichi (2:06.90). RAC E ON E: I. Scott Russe ll (Kaw); 2. Aaron Slight (Hon); 3. Terry Ryme r (Kaw); 4. Adrien Morill as (Kaw); 5. Doug Polen (Hon) ; 6. lean-Yves Moun ier (Due); 7. Simon Cra far (Hon) ; 8. Edwin Weibe l (Duc); 9. Rob Phi llis (Ka w); 10. Roge r Kellenberger (Yam); 11. Alex Vieira (Ho n); 12. And rea Perselli (Duc); 13. Michael Paquay (Ho n); 14. Brian Morri son (Ho n); 15. Ucla Mar k (Duc); 16. Ma rce l Kelle n ber ger (Kaw); 17. Matt Llewe llyn (Duc); 18. Robert o Panichi (Duc ); 19. Ioche n Sch mid (Kaw ); 20. Marrin Wimm er (Kaw); 21. Stephane Mertens (Duc). Time: 29 min ..B.36 sec. Di stance: 14 la ps. 58.95 mil es. Average spe ed: 121.391 mph . Margin of victo ry: 0.35 sec. F..test lap: Scott Russe ll. 2.03.74/1 84.512 mph. RACE TWO: 1. Sco tt Russell (Kaw ); 2. Fab rizio Pirovano (D ue); 3. Do ug Po le n (Han) ; 4. C ia nca r lo Falap pa (D ue); 5. Keii chi Kitaga w a (Ka w) ; 6. Terr y Rymer (Ka w) ; 7. Valerio Des tefan is (Due) ; 8. Edwin Weibel (Due); 9. Udo Ma rk (Duc); 10. Andreas Meklau (Due) ; 11. Mau ro Moroni (Ka w); 12. Christer Lindh olm (Yam); 13. Joche n Schmi d (Kaw); 14. Jean-Yves Mouni er (D ue) ; 15. De nis Bono ris (Kaw): 16. Bri an Morrison (Han); 17. Alex Vieira (Ho n); 18. Marcel Kellenb erger (Ka w); 19. Matt Llewellyn (D ue); 20. Micha el Paquay (Han); 21. Raine r Janisch (Suz). Time: 29 min. , 7.49 sec. Di stance: 14 laps. 59.955 miles . Average speed: 121.451 mph. Margin of victory: 0.25 sec. WORLD C'SHIP 58 SERIES POINT STANDINGS (Afte r 2 of 12 rounds): 1. Scott Russell (73); 2. Aaron Slig ht (51); 3. Doug Polen (41) ; 4. (TIE) Gia nca rlo Falappa /Carl Fogarty (35); 6. Fabriz io Pirov ano (32); 7. Simon Crafa r (29); 8. Terry Rymer (25); 9. Jean-Yves Moun ier (21); 10. Brian Morri son (19); 11. Edwi n Weibe l (16); 12 . Ma u ro Mo r on i (15) ; 13 . (T IE) Valerio De ste fani s ! Andreas Meklau (14) ; 15 . (T IE) Troy Corser ! Adrien Mori Ilas (13). Upcoming rounds Round 3: Misano. Italy - May 29 Round 4: Estoril, Portugal· June 12

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