Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

year-old Briton Simon Prior flyin g into , the g ua rd rail on th e ri gh t side of the track, where he would land, face down and slumped over, Pa rze r, a 31-year-o ld Austria n, got up slowly and removed his helme t a t trackside. He was later transported to a hosp ital in nearb y Ludwigshaffen and was released later in the evening with minor spinal injuries. Prior, who was a passenger with Yoshi Kumagaya, was taken to a hosp ital in Mannheim wi th suspected head injuries and was put on life support machiries. The race was re d-flagged and declared official after 13 laps, with World Champions Rolf Biland and Kurt Waltisperg ta king the win aboard the Schlossgold Raci ng LCR -Swissauto. Web ster was second on th e LC RKra user ba cked b y Arco Techniques, wi th fellow Briton Steve Abbott third in a Windle-Krauser. After two of eight ra ces, Webster leads the championship with 36 points, 11 better than three drivers tied for second. 500cc GRAND PRIX After taking the pole position by better tha n a second, there was little doubt that Doohan was the man to beat. After fini shing the first lap in third, Doohan sped to the lead on the second lap in the far-end Ostkurve and would never be headed. Early on Schwantz and Pu ig could stay close, but that was onl y beca use Dooh an was bein g ca utious. After having a tire come apart while leading the race last year, Doohan fitted an extra -hard Michelin, designed just for this circuit, and wa ited for it to start working. Once it did , about five laps into the race, Doohan began to pull away an d there was nothing anyone could do. "I knew I really couldn 't break away at the start because my rear tire wasn' t goo d enough," Dooh an sai d . "Once I was in front , I got some feel in the tire and I was able to ma ke a break." Doohan se t a new lap record on the 10th of 18 laps, dropping his own mark down to a 1:58.586. He wo uld turn two more 58s and would be the only rider to do so. By the 10th lap Doohan had close to two seconds on Sch wa ntz, a nd he w as able to increase th e advantage at will. Five seconds ahead two laps later, the gap wo uld be close to 14 at the end. Doohan explained that he'd chan ged his rear tire on the start line, fitting the , s ame compo un d tire, but one with cuts ,in the left side so tha t it would get heat into it soone r. "The tire I used was the tire we tested here. We abused it and p u t a full race on it. I knew at the end of the race it wo uld be strong," Dooha n said . Schwantz had chose n the softest tire Michelin would allow for Hockenheim an d was doing his best to stay in fron t of Puig . "In fact, I had my hands full with Puig," Schwantz said. "He was rid ing well, 'a nd though I was faster through the chica nes and the stadi um sectio n, his bike was really quick down the straights." His task was m ad e harder by hi s ina bility to brake whi le leaning into the corners. . - "The main problem is under braking. It's good in a straight line, but when you try and pull it off line under brakes, it wants tie itself in knots," Schwa ntz said. • His best lap ha d come on the fifth, a low 1:59, after which he settled into the hi gh 1:59s and 2:00s . Late in the race 'cam e his slowest la ps, 2:01s, but he'd been watching the times and had intenti onally slowed for a late-race push . It came on the 17th lap, when he ran past Pu ig in to th e second ch ica ne . Almost (Left) Doohan's win In Gennany was his fourth of the season and his th ird in a row. He now hol ds a com manding lead In the World Championship. (Below) Shin ichi Ito h and Alex Barros fought throughout the race over fifth pla ce. Barros ended up beating the Japanese Hon da rider by ju st fra cti ons of a seco nd. immed iately, he pulled awa y from the Spaniard and was well clear by the fin ish. "W hen Alberto (Puig) got by me, I slowed down a little. I was quicker into the stadium and I felt I could beat him there," Schwantz said. "It wasn't a plan in the beginning (to tak e over second late in the race ), it w as mor e o f a makeshift plan at the end." When Schwantz m ade h is surge, Puig had no answer, and his lap times his slowes t lap of the day was his last reflected it. Still, he'd spent four laps in second and was never fa r off; his first podium was a cause for celebration . "Since the first race of the year I was quite 'good in qualifying, but not good in the races," Puig said. "Before the start of the race I knew I had to follow these guys. I was a little lucky on the straight because I was faster than him (Schwantz) wi th my bike . It's good for me to have someone fas t I can follow . Tha t's why I ma de a good race today." Criville m oved in to fo urth on the seven th lap an d didn't see much of anyone after that. "I expected a better resu lt, but I had a lot of problems," Criville said. "The first is th at my ridin g was not at (its) best, second, I had a bad start, and, finally, I ha ve not chosen the best tire. With the bad start I lost contact with the l ead ers in the firs t la p and after (that) it has been impossible to catch them ." Behind Criville was the Barr os-Itoh ma tch, the Brazilian riding hard after he had run straight on in the chicane on the seven th lap, causing him to lose touch with the lead ers. After that, he ha d to overcome the horsepower deficit he was suffering and was 'constan tly looking , over his shoulder. Itoh was there every time, except when he pa sse d Barros, which would be often, with the last time coming on the 15th lap . Barros took the po sition back entering th e s tad ium on the 16th lap and would not be headed again, nor would he have much of a cushion, but tha t came as no su rprise. Barros said tha t Itch's Honda "was so fast that I couldn't get away, so I was pleased to beat him over the line by just over a 10th of a second ." Barros added that, like Schwantz, he had a problem wi th instability under braking. "I missed the start a little, then lost the slipstream of the riders in front," said Itoh , who wa s rid ing with a right hand injured in a practice crash. "From then on, I just could not get any closer . The bike ran well all (through the) race, bu t at Hockenheirn you have to ha ve a good start or you can do nothing." Next came Chandler, the Northern Californian dropping back after an optimistic first few turns and settling into , seve nth, his eventual finishing spo t, on the fourth lap. "The bike ran well, the top speed was good, but we still miss out on acceleration through second and third gears., And at this track if you can't ge t into the slipstream earl y in the straights, it is a disast er, and that is where we can 't hold the Hondas," Chandler said. 250cc GRAND PRIX Biaggi led fell ow Italian stallion s Romb oni and Capirossi at th e star t of the 250cc ra ce. German Ralf Waldman was next up in front of the Japanese riders Okada and Aoki. Biaggi was in front across the line for the first three laps, w it h the r id e rs be hind him sh uffling back and forth u ntil a q ui n te t fo r med . It wo u ld n 't include Wald mann since the HB Hon da Germany rid er ran straigh t in th e firs t chicane on the fou rth la p and had to d rop back to sixth. At that point, he became part of a thr ee-rider battle that would contest sixth for the d uration. Up front, Biaggi was s till in control but by only the slightest of margins, and Capirossi was ready to pounce, which he d id on the sixth lap. Biaggi got the lea d back a lap la te r, with Romb oni moving into second in front of Capirossi and Ao ki in fr ont of Okada. During pract ice the Aprili a ri ders enjoyed a slight top-end ad vantage , but it didn't show in the pack and there was little . between the top five riders. Halfway into the 16-lap race the leading five ha d better than eight seconds on the ba ttle for sixth, now led by Chesterfield Aprilia's Jean-Philippe Ru gg ia with Yamaha Motor Fra nce's Tet suya Harada and Waldmann close up. Further back were five riders goi ng after ninth with DC Racin g's Wileo Zeelenberg at the front. Capirossi took over on the 10th lap wi th Okada back in fifth. Their positions reversed a lap later, w hile the rest of th e lea ding fiv e s wapped spots in between. Tw o laps la te r a nd th e top three Italians began to split. Oka da and Aoki caught back up , but not for long. Though they were close, it looked like the winner would be decided among the lead trio . Biag g i led th e 12 th through 14th; Romboni took his turn on th e penultima te lap, the n Ca pirossi sped by for the win. He had drafted by Romboni go ing into the stadium for the last time and st aye d clear of the bat tl e fo r second. Ro m boni was th er e, t w o r ig ht-hand turns from th e end, but he left qui te a big opening undernea th himself, and Biaggi took advantage, riding har d and nearly pushing Romb on i off the track. The two would rac e to the line with Biaggi p utting the Ap rilia in front of the Honda by .141-of-a-second: . "I must thank Dr. (Cla udio) Cost a

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