Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

RACE TWO Tw o hou rs later, the stifling heat was g one and a re fre shing breez e had moved in to th e area, bringing clouds that appeared ominous, rem inding everybody of the hea vy thunderstorms that had marred the '92 ed ition of the Japanese round. As the sky darkened, the 40 qualified riders r olled the ir machines to the startin g grid for the second hea t. Th is time, Fogarty, Pirovano and some of the Japanese hotshots were determined not to let Russell walk away from them again. After a holeshot from Fogarty, a leading group was formed by the Briton, Nagai, Russell, Pirovano and Kitag awa. Pirovano was the first to take leave, crashin g his Duca ti while accelerating a bit too eagerly coming out of corner three on lap five. The small Italian would be - a lo ng with St ephane Mertens , who retired with a broken valve - one of the few unlucky ones not to finish the second heat at Sugo. A t th e halfway stage, Ru ssell was leading the pack, with Fogarty, Kitagawa and Nagai breathi ng down his neck. Behind their backs, Yoshikawa was once again preparing an impressive fina l sprint, breaking away from Gobert a n d Sl igh t, w ho had a scr ap which almost took them both out at one time. Slight was the least pleased by the fratri cide battle. "I do not expect team orders," the championship leader said afterwards. "But I expect some common sense from the riders out there." Crafar and Polen, meanwhile, were busy trying to secure some of the remaining points. Up front, things really heated up one and a half laps before the end, when Nagai took over the lead from Russell. The Yamaha rider, however, wouldn't be there at the finish as he overshot the chicane, handing over the rostrum posi tions to Russell, Fogarty and Kitagawa, who crossed the finish line a mere 1.2 seconds apart. "This is one of the best races I've ha d this year," said Russell, w ho - surprisingly - continued on for another full lap after the flag had dropped. "Actually, I hadn't seen the race director," he apologized afterwards. "After Nagai got off the track at the chicane, I onl y wanted to stay in front of the Ducati, the thundering sound of which seemed to be getting closer and closer. 50 I just put my head d own and rod e as hard as I could." Fogarty, who had used the spare bike for this second heat, was fairly pleased to ha ve finished secon d. " Afte r o ur en g in e prob lem s in Indo nesi a, m y mech an ics bu ilt two bikes from several bi ts and pieces," the man from Blackb u rn sai d. "50 I was ver y worried to know if we would hold the distance. The chassis was a problem, too. I lost the front end everywhere, and that is why I was quite ple ased to see Nagai saili ng off the track at the en d of the race, when we ha d to ha ve a go for our money. He is a sca ry gu y to be behind .. . " Kit aga w a took th ird , in front of Yoshikawa, Naga i and Gobert, who ha d finally gotten the best of Slight. Takuma Aoki, Rymer and Whitham completed th e top 10, while Crafar finished 14th (due to front-end chatter) and Polen just m issed the last World Championship point, on ce again due to clutch problems. For World Champ ionship leade r Slight, the return of Russell is not a surprise: "E ve rybody has a lways had a false conception of Scott Russell being on form. That guy is al wa ys on form, bu t sometimes his bikes do not work as they should. But that doesn't worry me . The championship is still long." Oi (Above) Scott Russell's double victory In Japan put him back into championship contentio n. The Georgian now trails championship leader Aaron Slight by only six po ints. (Left) Italian Fabrizio Plrovano fin ished second In the fi rs t race, but crashed out of the second. Sug o International Racing Course Sugo,Japan Results: August 28, 1994 QUALIfYING : 1. Yasu tomc Nagai (1:31.788): 2. Keiichi Kitagawa (1:31.896 3. Carl Fogarty (1:31.993); 4. ); Fabrizio Pirovano (1:32.104);5. Scott RUS5e1l (1:32.277); 6. Wataru YoshikaWA (1:32.375); 7. Noriyuki Ha ga (1:32.397); 8. Norih iko Fujiw a ra (1:32.441); 9. Terry Rymer (1:32.497) 10. Shouichi Tsukamoto (1:32.614);11. ; Anthony Gobe rt (1:32.836);12. Simo n Crafar (1:32.845); 13 . Shinya Takeishi (1 :32 .868); 14. Aaron Slighl (1:33.063); 15. Toshiyuki Arakaki (1:33.072); 16. Doug Polen (1:33.148); 17. Takuma Aoki (1:33.173); 18. Akira Yanagawa (1 :33.186); .19. Piergtorgtc Bontempi (1:33.225); 20. lame> Whi tha m (1:33.270); 21. Andreas Meklau (1:33.645); 22. Stephan< Merten> (1:33.735); 23. Kerdchiro Iwahas hi (1:34.033); 24. Alex Vieira (1:34.2b6); 25. Addeo Marillas (1:34.267) ; 26. Brian Morrison (1:34.5 15); 27. Shawn Gil es (1:34.533); 28. Toshiya Kobayas hi (1:34 .548) ; 29 . Katsuyoshi Taka hashi (1:34 .700); 30. MakOID Suzuki (1:34.754) ; 31. Ryuji Tsuruta (1:34.756); 32. Tomohiko Kaneyasu (1:35.149); 33. Tatsuroh Arata (1:35.175); 34. Valerio Destefanis (1:35.354); 35. Hideo Senmyoh (1:35.421); 36. Ma..o Nakata (1:35.824); 37. Shigemasa Miwa (1:35.937); 38. All Ja-""'n,all the wa N "I had to cope w ith a front-end chatter, whereas the rear obody expected the Japanese riders to sit back and watch the Westerners battle it ou t for the finest starting positions end lost grip in several critical points," the Briton explained. on Saturday, so it was no big surprise to find two.local Fabrizio Pirovano repeated his excellent practice result of runners on the front row of the starting grid. Yamaha's Yasuto- one week earlier and parked his Duke between Foggy's bike mo Nagai and Kawasaki hard man Keiichi Kitagawa not only and the ZXR of Russell . The American had found a new bike put themselves on the front row, but their efforts also gave their (built in Japan) in his garage on Friday morning. "Unfortunately, I lost a lot of time on that machine," Russell guests som ething to worry about. It was also a reminder of just how we ll Yama ha has been . said. "It does accelerate a little better than myoid bike, but it doing in the All-Japan Superbike Series (and surely so on this uses the rear tire too much because of its snappy characteristics. Yamaha test circuit), and that the impressive effort put on by Without all those experiments, I should have been third on the Kitagawa in Hockenheim had not been a fluke . The excellent grid." The second row was with the exception of Rymer - Japanplacings of both homeboys was not th e only surprise to be noted during the two practice days. On Frid ay, Terry Rymer ese territory, whereas the first Honda was only 11th; and that had gone around the technical Sugo track faster than anybody was the "borrowed" RC45 of Australian Anthony Go bert, else, including his teammate Scott Russell, on his Muzzy who was making his World Superbike debut at Sugo. Simon Kawasaki >his finest practice result of the season. The London- Crafar was 12th, followed by Shin ya Takeishi and Aaron er attributed his return to form mainly to a ... different riding Slight completing the officia l (and semi-official) Honda foursome. Doug Polen was 16th, having 'waited in vain for a betposition. Carl Foga rty was credited with the third fastest time, after ter gearbox to be put in his bike, whereas Piergiorgio Bontemhaving tried a different linkage system on the rear suspension pi (19th), Jam es Whitham (20th), An dreas Meklau (21th) and of his bike, an apparent flaw in the Ducati 916's chassis design. Stephane Mertens (22th) hadn't been this far back on the grid The new setup didn't resolve the problem, though. all season. > 19

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