Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

which came all th e way to the bar." Nothing was found to be wrong with the engine during a check-up in between the races either. Casoli notched up his best superbike result ever (and Yamaha's best for this season) by finishing second. "I just lost some time behind Terry Rymer in the beginning of the race, " the Belgarda rider said. "I am sure that 1 could have stayed with Fogarty.if that had not happened. My best lap times are only fourtenths of a second off his." Slight finished third after what turned out to be a very difficult - and potentially dangerous - race. "Big chunks of rubber came off the tire," he explained afterwards. "The thing could well have exploded. Fortunately, I only got to see after the finish wha t really had happened. It topped off a very difficult race for me . After my usual bad start, 1 got tangled in the massive nearcrash due to Lucchiari in the first comer; somebody hit me from behind and even broke my seat. But 1 guess 1 can't complain about this result.;" Russell had another disappointing race: "We had the same problem as in practice; the front just felt too light; it felt like riding a chopper." Polen came home 11th. "My bike just wasn't fast enough to get away from Meklau , Mertens and Crafar," he explained. Rob Phillis finished just out of the points in 16th spot, after having lost a lot of time battling with Bontempi. RAc e TWO For Fogarty, race two went exactly like race one; he took off when the lights turned green, and he never looked back. If he had done so he would have seen Slight, who actually got a good start, establishin g himself in second place as he toured in front of a group consisting of Rymer, Casol i, Whitham and Lucchi a ri. Russell ended the firs t lap in 12th, and he stru ggled to claw back to se venth at the halfway stage. By th at time, Polen had retired for the first time this season. "A rock had damaged the radiator," he commented after the race. "I noticed in one of the fastest comers that something wa s leaking onto my front tire: 1 almost lost the bike in a big way. That was enough for me and I retired. It was onl y when I slowed down entering the pit lan e that I heard a strange hissing so und coming from the front of the bike. And when I stopped, a big cloud of stea m came from the fron t tire, due to the water leaking out of the radiator." Fogarty and Slight had a pretty easy second half of the race, unlike Casoli, Rymer, Whitham and Lucchiari , whose fight was undecided until the very last lap. Whereas Casoli had done most of the work, with Lucchiari ve r y sl yl y moving forward in the last couple of laps, it all came down to the last straight a pproaching the infamous chicane before the start/ finish line. Casoli was still leading coming out of the fast lefthand kink leading up to.the chicane, but in an all-or-nothing effort from Lucchia ri, the Yamaha rider lost his second rostrum position of the da y when Lucch iari got past him in the chicane. Whitham finished fifth, in front of Rymer and Crafar, who had spent most of his race in the company of Russell. The World Champion had lost ground in the last couple of laps, when his Dunlop tires went off in a big way - just as had happened to Slight a few hours earlier. The Muzzy Kawasaki rider even had to let go of [ochen Schmid during the last kilometers, falling back to ninth. Mertens and Phillis were non-finishers. " 1 still had some minor handling problems," said Fogarty. "We'd altered the forks a little bit, but that did not solve all the chattering problems." As to the championship, the Brit showed his usual self-confidence: "The chances are looking good. If it is dry I can beat Aaron every time. But don't forget Scott; he's not out of the race. Still, 1 hope to do at least as well as here in Mugello within two weeks. It is a track which I like very much after doing a lot of private testing for Ducati there." Slight was quite happy after his race and with his title chances. "Actually, this race was pretty boring. I got a good start, and for a few laps I tried to keep up with Carl. But I think the bike is still not ready to win. Perhaps it would help if the regulations did not favor the twins so much. But I'm not worried too much about the rest of the championship. The races are run on tracks which I like, and in past editions of the championship, it is most of the time the most consistent rider who takes the title. And that seems to be my strong point this year. Still, I hope to win at least one of the remaining heats. That wo uld be nice for Honda." cr Jam ie Whitham (69) tries to pass championship Ie8dar Aaron Slight (3); Slig ht maintained his lead In the title chase with a third and second placa outing. Cir cuit van Drenthe Aasen, Holland Results: September 11, 1994 QUAUFYlNC: I. c.rl Fogarty (2:07.38); 2. Mauro Lucchi ari (2.08.33); 3. Terry Rymer (2:09.02); 4. Pao lo Casali (2:09.47); 5. Aaron Slight (2:09.76); 6. James Whi tham (2:09.78); 7. 5imon Crafa r (2:10.60); 8. Jochen Sch mid (2:10.64); 9. Christer U ndholm (2:10.75); 10. Jeffry de Vries (2:10.94); 11. Fab rizio Pirovann (2:11.07); despite a gearing that was not much to my liking. But it turned out alright at the end." As always in unpredictable conditions, some underdogs shook the establishment. Mauro Lucchiari, one of Davide Tardozzi's proteges, created the biggest surprise when he put down the second quickest practice time. "I'just went out on the ri .res at the right tiII}e," the i . ' . reserved Italian said. Terry Rymer was on g lUsteammate Scott RuS- j sell again qualifying: "This' best qualifying result of the year," the Londoner smiled. "The bike sorted out alright, but 1 wonder if our dry setup will do the trick also on race day." Yamaha rider Paolo Casoli ana Honda man Aaron Slight completed row one. "This is not the first time I've ridden in the wet," Slight said. 'The last time was at Suzuka, beforethe World Superbike season got underway, But then, the bike was not so much developed as it is now, and it was easier to ride. Still, I know that I could have gone faster. I went into the pits some 10 minutes before the end, to put fresh tires on, but changing the front took more time than expected so I only had one lap or so to really have a go at it." Simon Crafar parked his Rurni RC45 in sixth, between James Whitham and Jochen Schmid. The Honda rider felt a little more comfortable on the long Grand Prix track at Assen than most of the other newcomers - riders such as Doug Polen, Andreas MekIau and Rob Phillis. "When we come to anew track which I know from my Grand Prix 500 year, I just try the same gearbox ratios as on the Harris Yamaha," Crafar said. "Up to now, this trick has worked very well." Crafar had been struggling somewhat with the electronics, parts he received from HRC at Sugo. But that was nothing compared to the headaches encountered by Polen and Scott Russell. Polen notched up the 15th best time, blaming his lack of circuit knowledge and the fact that he didn't have enough time to get ; the new chassis components dialed in properly. For Russell, ' history threatened to repeat itself. An untypical 21st quickest time reminded many of his performance at ZeltWeg. "The bike just doesn't haI\dl~well:' he explained. "And I've only got one good bike, so I can't jump on one bike when the other one doesn't go too well." . .., the typical bad attitude of the Ducati is still reiitfo' Russell was also unhappy wj,th the tires, a fact he refused to . admit, but a fact that was confirmed come race day. Rob Phillis tarmac; you have so .mudibottom-end power, that you hav be very careful whenyou .give'it gas after a comer. I noticed made a welcome return to World Superbike racing after last that the Kawasakis droye around the comers a lot easier than" racing in the Austrian round and he turned in the 17th best the Ducatis. On Siituid.iy, we only got the bike going well in the time, running into trouble while learning the technical track in last 20 minutes; so I had to rush out to clock a good tin:,>e the north of Holland. . thit- " 19

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