Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

The 12Sec GP brought a th ird win to Givi Hond a 's Noboru Veda, achieved under severe pressure from countryman Takeshi Tsujimura and his FCC Honda. On the last lap, both outdistanced Aprilia's title leader Kazuto Sakata. Apriliamounted Peter Oettl was fourth, with defending World Champion Dirk Raudies and his HB Honda battling with a poor tire choice and "just hanging on to fifth ahead of Jorge Martinez's Yamaha. (Left) Once he got th rou gh fro m his poor start, this was all anybody saw of Dooh an. The Australian wo n his sixth 500cc Gran d Prix of the season and his seventh In nine starts. (Below) Kevin 5c hwantz chases Alberto Pulg In thei r race for fourth . 5chwantz crashed on the last lap while disputing th ird place with Spaniard Alex Crlvllle. Fortunately, the Texan didn't suffer any further . InJ es. uri 500cc GRAND PRIX The starter held the lights a fraction longer than usual, and caught out both pole man Doohan and front-row fellow Luca Cadalora on the Mar lboro Yamaha. Both moved forward and then stopped just in time before their rear-wheel spindles crossed the line, only to be left behind as the rest took off. As Doohan embarked on his potentially d isastrous first-comer battering act, Puig led the field away, chased by the two Cagivas, wi th Chandler taking control of second place by the end of the lap. Doohan was working his way through . to the front, with Schwantz - also slow away - behind him, but the American couldn't match Doohan's pace, and when the Honda finally took the lead at the start of lap eight, Schwantz was fourth. Almost all Doohan's many overtaking moves were made at the end of the pit straight under brakes for the first comer or at the next hairpin - there are few other places where passing is possible. Once ahead, nobody could touch Doohan, even though his best lap was four-tenths slower than his own lap record (the race average was also slower, at 95249 mph against 96:878 mph). Only his own error could ruin his day. And he came close with his unguarded fistful of throttle on the last left-hand bend. "It slid straight onto opposite lock. I pulled in the clutch and it came back in line. I won't be trying that in a race again," he said later . Puig was. hanging on to second, with Schwantz getting among the Cagivas Kocinski now ahead and Chandler ridin g much harder and more riskily than he had for over a year. Then on lap eight,Chandler's race was over - his en gine suffered a bro ken con rod and subsequent major blow-up, and he pulled off the track forthwith. Kocinski took second from Puig under brakes for the first hairpin on the next lap, and kept pulling ahead. "1 tried to stay with Doohan, and that meant I ran away from the ot hers," he said. But it was a hopeless quest, and second was the best he could garner. Now Puig came under renewed pressure from Criville and Schwantz, while behind them Itoh, Barros and Cadalora were also battling. That fight fizzled out, but the trio ahead had plenty of action to come. As the race wore on, Criville took the lead in the group, and seemed to stretch away. Then with five laps left Schwantz started to close again. All race long he had been taking his left hand off the bars on every straight, but now he was hunkered down and going for it He outbraked Puig into the first right hairpin, la Chapelle, then started cutting awa y at a gap of more than a second on Criville. In the final bends, he seemed just a little too distant; but the Spaniard was running wide and th e target was there . "1 could hear Schwan tz corning, but there was nothing I could do about it," he said. The American had earlier decided to let third place go, but was surprised at how he made up ground. This suckered him into a crazy move that brought him hard up behind the Spaniard in the last left-hander, just as the Honda rider slowed and cut across for the apex . Schwantz hit him in the rear three-quarter, and though the surprisedCriville survived, the American did not, falling unhurt, then walking back to his pit to a sta nd in g ovation from the grandstand crowd. Puig was thus fourth; while Itoh had gradually drawn clear of Barros, the Brazilian suffering from a lack of mid-corner grip as his tires went off. Cadalora reported similar problems, losing touch with Barros then slowing even more to cross the line more than ll-seconds adrift. There had beenan all-British battle for the top privateer position, with Niall Mackenzie holding the advantage until his bike started misfiring with nine laps remaining. He pulled in and left the circuit at once. That left Jeremy McWilliams and John Reynolds. The is su e was resolved on the penultimate lap when Reynolds seized and was thrown off. Eighth was a best-ever result for Ulsterman McWilliams. With Sean Emmett 'also pitting in the closing stages with a serious m is fi re, Marc Garcia was ninth, also a career best; with Lopez-Mella 10th, the Spaniard one lap down on the leaders . .With on ly 18 finishers, only the last three didn't score points. In spite of all his own attempts to leap off the rails, Doohan's train just kept on rolling at Le Mans . With Schwantz non-scoring, he now has a massive 76-point lead - 211 points to 135 - and a three-race buffer. But with five races remaining, nothing is certain yet merely very, very likely. Kocinski is drawing closer in third on 107, then comes Puig (103), Barros (100) and Criville (99). 250cc GRAND PRIX On the endless twists and slow turns, this was not, for once, a particularly exciting race. Biaggi led off the line, .but by the end of lap one he was third, with Rom boni leading and Capirossi second. That was more or less the way it stayed for the next 23 laps . Ruggia was fourth, and did nose ahead of Biaggi from laps nine to 13, even closing on the leading pair. But Biaggi moved back to continue his waiting game, and the race moved on towards full distance. In the last lap, Capirossi's tactic s became clear. "I'd beenwatching Doriano to see where I could attack him. He was riding very well, but was faster out of the comer before the back straight, so I could draft him then take the lead at the end of the straight." And so he did, to cross the line almost seven-tenths ahead. Biaggi had also closed up for the final battle, and may have been close enough to attack Romboni in the last bends, though it would have beena miracle if he'd prevailed. Instead, Romboni had a big slide on the last left and held both of them up. Later Romboni complained that his engine had been 200 or 300 revs down compared with practice, spiking his guns. "If I'd had power I'd have stayed with Capirossi easily," he said. Romboni was racing with a new 16-inch rear Dunlop, the first time it has beenused on a 250 in a race. Despite the Hondas' new-found speed, Biaggi said it was again their better braking and acceleration on the tight bends that beat him. "The Aprilia lifts its back wheel and the power is very sharp, so it's harder to accelerate early in the low-gear corners." Ralf Waldmann had beena little disadvantaged in the next battle because his choice of an ultra-low first left him with only five usable gears . His lucky break carne when Ruggia and Aoki collided in the last lap, giving him the room he need ed to claim fourth. Ba y le was less than half-a-second behind after an excellent race, scrapping with the group and losing touch after missing a gear, then catching right up again. Then carne Aoki three-tenths away, with Ruggia threeseconds behind. "I was just riding carefully and protecting fourth when Aoki came into the comer much too fast and hit me," he said. Harada had an up-and-down race, dropping back to 15th after a mediocre start when his factory Yamaha's engine stalled on lap two. It never did run right, with erratic power and no bottom-end, but he showed his class by passing one rider after another to cIairn eighth. With Dunlop completely dominating the class, Okada was the top Michelin man again, battling with understeer as usual. Most of the race he was behind Zeelenberg, but the Dutchman's error in the closing bends bought him five seconds of ad vantage. Toshihiko Honma was 11th; a long way back came Adrien Bosshard, then Carles Checa, and finally Eskil Suter. Yokohama-shod Patrick vd Goorbergh was battling for the last point until the finish, hampered by a sliding rear tire. Luis D' Antin had made a surprise race appearance, but though his concussion was apparently cured, his left arm was painful, and when he dropped back out of the points he retired. There were 25 finishers, but few crashes, wi th only Rodney Fee falling. The points situa tion is more tense than the race. Biaggi retained his lead by one point, with 144 to Capirossi's 143. Okada has 132, with Romboni closing up on 113, and Waldmann on 104. 125cc GRAND PRIX The race was close as usual, especially for the firs t few laps. But the front-running was all between Tsujimura and Veda, with the latter taking the lead on lap seven and holding it from there to the flag. "Crashing is finished for me," the

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