Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 5: Austria Fogarty .ast and urious By Johan Vandekerckhove "If ZELlWEG, AUSfRIA, jUlY17. that's all I can do, I'm quitting." That's how World Champion Scott Ru ssell s u m m ed the Austrian round of the World Superbike Championship. Not only did the Muzzy Kawasaki rider head for home with a very meager po ints total for the second consecutive race wee kend, but he also lost his once handsome championship po ints lead to his ar ch-rival Carl Fogarty. Whether it was the disappointing performance of the Kawasakis that inspired the Georgian to consider another job, or the ease with which Foga rty once agai n stamped his authority on the rest of the field, remains to be seen. One thing is certain - the Brit was the rider of the da y, even though the 25,000 Austrian spectators that lined the Oes terreichring would have liked their hero Andreas Meklau to have finished on the top step of the rostrum. Fortunately for the Stars and Stripes, another American wen t very well on the Oesterreichring as Doug Polen had his best performance of the season. The Texan finished third on the circuit tha t many pred icted would give Honda its firs t victory of the year. Even though they didn't win, the Castrol Honda squad may very well have begun their assault on th e Ducati and Kawasaki teams as the team ran strong all weekend. The Au strian round of the World Superbike Championship has always been a race the competitors looked to with m ixed emotions . This is a track which separates the men from the boys. The w ide-open circuit on top of the Ze1tweg - like Hockenheim - is all about slipstrea m ing, and Po le n, And reas Meklau, Piergiorgio Bon te m p i and Stephane Mertens desperately tri ed to hold on to the tail pipes of the 916. They kept Fogarty within striking distance for three laps; then it became obvious the be st they could hope for was second place. By th is time, Russell was facing unfamiliar opposition, ha ving rounded the fi rst la p in a round 20th pl ace he stru ggled to get past former 250cc Grand Prix racer Iochen Schmid, Austrian Karl Truchsess, Italian Serafino Foti and Swiss Roger Kellenberger in an effort to get near the top 15 pos itions. Russell's teammate Terry Rymer, meanwhile, was already walking back to the pits. "I didn't like the front tire right from the start," the disappointed Londoner said. "Suddenly, I lost it going into the Bosch Kurve . I might well have wrecked the bike; it went some 15 feet in the air when I got off." Paolo Casali, who had been following the Kawasaki rider closely, also went down in an effort to avo id his crashed colleague. At the halfway stage, Fogarty had built a comfortable seven-second lead over a fast fourso me that consisted of Polen, Mekla u , Aa ron Sli ght a n d Mertens. Simon Crafar followed in a distan t sixth, and Rob Phillis proved that he was gettin g the familiar speed back after a disastrous beginning of the season; the Kawasa ki ride r hung tou gh in a grou p that was struggli ng for ninth position. As soon as it became clear that Fogarty had built a margin that wo uld keep him clear of the rest, the crowd's attention focused on the fight for second. Even though he was only a few yards behind, the under-powered Stephan e Mer tens was the man least likely to get to the ros- (Above- left to right) Andreas MekJau, Carl Fogarty and Doug Polen celebrate their first leg finishes In Austria. For Meklauand Polen, It was their best perfonnances of the season. (Right) Meklau, Polen and Aaron Slight were together for the majority of both races. Fogarty, meanwhile, had pulled clear of the pursuing pack to take easy victories. Steiermark portion of the Alps has nearly been the undoing of many a racing career. Giancarlo Falappa and Baldassarre Monti both escaped fatal injuries in past editions after crashing at the infa mous Bosch Kurve, a very fas t double right-hander that's lined on the ou tside by alarmingly close Armco ba rriers. On the other hand, Zeltweg is also the place where the world hierarch y falls into place - whoever loses touch with th e front-runners here, will likely ha ve a very hard time recovering th e los t ground in the following ro und s. Bu t things are looking good . The gap between the (new) championship leader and the fourth-placed rider in the point standings has narrowed a bit, which definitel y increases the likelihood of a very hot summer. RACE ONE It took Fogarty only a few kilometers before he took command from holeshot specialist Fabrizio Pirovano. However, the Ducati Corse factory rider wouldn't have it completely his own way, as was the case in Albacete a few weeks earlier. trum in th e last couple of laps. Polen, Meklau and Slight, on the other hand, all had their minds set on second place. It was then that Meklau started to play his trump card. Taking advantage of hi s excellent circuit knowledge - and the fast maneuverability of his Ducati - he started to change his racing lines, getting into the comers a bit faster than his two Honda competitors. He went into the last lap fourth, then took Slight by surprise and finally got past Polen in one of the final corners to claim second position. "As usual, I messed up my start," the

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