Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

pro vis ional point stand ings. A few weeks after the British race, the international fed eration took away the po ints that Slight and And reas Meklau had scored in both heats in England for using ill egal fuel. After an appeal by both the Castrol Honda team and the Promotor team, the two r iders were reinstated before the East Asian camp a ign. And now, a few w ee ks a fter another official appeal by Virginio Ferra ri (the official Duca ti team manager) and Oriol Puig Bulto (president of FIM's own technical commission), the FIM have changed th eir minds agai n, and have take n away the points from only one heat. "This decision is very wrong," an u nders ta n d ably d isa ppoint ed Sli ght sa id. "The FIM should not have accep ted this la test appe al in th e first p lace; unlike with the appeal presen ted by our team earlier, there was no new evid ence n ow to change the point tab le o nce again. The FIM loses all of wha t is left of its credibility in this affair. And it's p retty strange tha t FIM foot the bill for the court costs (ro ughly $30,000), and not the so-called offenders..." This was not th e onl y s u rp risin g move in the point s ta nd in gs. On race day, the fastest man on the track was not Fogarty - as could be expected from a Ducati works rider who spends so much time on the Mugello track that he could probably set lap records with his eyes closed. Instead it was Russell who was the man to beat on the circuit in the Tuscan hills . The Georgian World Champion had received the engine he'd used to win both races in Japan. But simply being the fastest didn't help Russell climb back to the front of the point standings. After having recorded an uncontested victory in the first heat, electrical problems cost him another 20 points in the second heat. Thus, Fogarty is now leading the points table with 255 points to Slight's 237 and Russell 's 223. Troy Corser's Ita lian outing is also worth nothing. The young Australian did exactly what was expected from him in the first heat, finishing third behind Ducati teammate Fogarty, but in front of Ho nda riva l Sligh t. In the second heat, fo ur teeth broke off th e Ducati's rear sprocket, ending his race p rematurely. RACE ONE Fo r a few h u ndred ya rds, Fog arty was hopeful of scoring another runaway victory - much like his Assen feat. At the end of the very long straight, however, the Du cati rider - capable more of keeping a high comer speed than of bra king very la te - had to let Russell go . And that, basically, was it as far as the battle for victory. The Georgian had put a gap on his rival by the end of the firs t lap, and that would only grow u ntil a few laps from the end. By the time Rus sell had grabbed the lead, h is teammate Rymer was already lying on the pavemen t. "I don't exactly remember wha t happened," the Bri t said . " I had a good start, bu t so mebody from behind me had had an even better start. A few seconds afte r the sta rt, I saw him coming across th e tra ck, and I hit his bike." Rymer wen t do wn (his third crash that weekend) and injured knee ligaments. He hop ed to be back in action for th e next race at Donington Park . And as the tall Londoner was taken to the medical center , the a tten tion of th e 20,000 specta tor s focused on the figh t for second place - behind Russell . Fogarty los t second place to Slight at exactly the same spot he'd lost the lead to Russell. The Brit would, however, strike back a few laps later, thanks to the better acceleration and top speed of his 916. At the halfway mark, Russell was leading comfortably ahead of Fogarty, who also had a sma ll lead over Slight. Behind, things were a little rougher , with a group consisting of Corser, Meklau and Fabrizio Pirovano fighting it out for fourth spot. As the race d rew to a close, Corser escaped from the clutches of the two other Ducati riders and started inching towards Slight. With seven laps to go, Corser passed the New Zealander, helping his teammate Fogarty in his points battle with Slight. Three laps before the end, th e final top five was settled. Russell took victory in front of Fogarty, Corser, Slight and Pirovano. The Italian had finally gotten the best of Meklau who was riding a Ducati 888. Paolo Casali, .Iames Whitham, Simon Crafar and Piergiorgio Bontempi completed the top 10. "My plan worked out just fine," said Ru ssell. "I wanted to get away right from the start, because this track is pretty d ifficult to pass other riders at some pla ces." Fogarty said the paying public lost a great opportunity to see a d irect confr o n ta ti on between the tw o rivals : "Aaron Slight passed me for a couple of laps, and that slowed us down a little. Fogarty's p-- -,-ol_e----,-M ugello has always been one of the more d ifficult tracks, w ith t he flow ing layou t o f the tra ck mak ing your choice of racing line essential. A mistake in one corner has farreaching effects on the rest of the lap. Hence, the official Ducati r iders were highly favored to take home victory - they use the track, which is situated only some 50 miles from the gates of the Bologna factory, almost weekly. For that reason, several teams (Promotor, VZM, Rumi, etc.) had also decided to join HRC during their private practice session some 10 days before the actua1 race. However, an intensive private practice program is not always a cure-all. That was quite obvious after the flag had come out to put an end to the second and final official practice session on Saturday afternoon. Of course, it was Carl Fogarty (above) on pole posi tion, but he was forced by Troy Corser and Scott Russell to up the pace in the final minutes as each took a tum at holding previsional pole position. "We' ve had a lot of problems getting the bike just right," Fogarty said. "The bike is showing its traditional understeering problems,'and the front is chattering here in a frightening way . The first bike proved to be unrideable, and on top of that the rear shock seized with 25 minutes to go. I went out on the second bike on what I thought was a qualifying tire, but it was on a race tire that I managed my best time of 1:56.069. I have done better - my personal lap record here is 1:55.6." Second went - surprisingly SO considering his recent practice Newly crownecl AMA U.S. Superblke Champion Troy Corser fi nished third In the first leg , but struck mechanlCBI problems In race two. The bike was still chattering, but I managed to do w ith it . After I s hoo k off Aaron, I went to catch Scott, but three laps befo re the end I just gave up and settled for second." Corser was third: "I took some time to get my tires warmed up. Then, I put my sights on Aaron, because, at that moment, his position was the best I could still get. I followed him for a while (and race) misfortunes - to Russell with a 1:56.142. "We're using exactly the same setup that proved so successful in Sugo," the World Champion said. "We got the same engine back from Sugo after being fried in Assen and after some serious conversations. We put the suspension back to what we had used in Donington, and that seemed to work out pretty well on this difficult track. The bike accelerates better than the one I've used up to now , and it's a lot better getting from one corner to another." Mauro Lucch iari's third best time showed that the Ducati test rider also knows his way around the Mugello track - u nlike Corser, who created a nice surprise (lik e in Don ington) by notching up the fourth-quickest time. " My first aim is to help Ca rl (Fogarty) here:' Corser said. "But I'm happy that I can have another go at the big superbike boys; this might be an excellent preparation for next year, when I hope to do the whole series. The bike I use here is different from the bike I used at Donington - it's not SO wheelie-happy and now there's enough traction on the front tire. That really helps on this circuit." Aaron Slight ended up on row two, after a very tough week. "Maybe we've tried too many new pieces:' explained the Kiwi, who ended up using only the stiffer front fork from the package of new parts. "The bigges t p roblem I've encountered is the chattering, and the understeering tendency of the bike." In addition, Slight lost precious practice time w hen he had to run-in an engine. Paolo Casoli, Fabrizio Pirovano, Simon Crafar and Andreas Meklau ended up on row two, while Doug Polen struggled to an eventual 14th-fastest time. The former World , Champion also complained about front-end chattering; and he also was bothered by an electrical p roblem (similar to the one he encountered in Indonesia) that cost him another 11 minutes duringthe final session. "It was no use trying to make a good time with the other bike," the Texan said about his long stay in the pits. "Only one of my bikes had the stiffer forks on it. But what worries me most is the fact that the parts that were thought to be fau lty in Indonesia had been sent back to Japan. Now we encountered exactly the same electrical problems with other parts. I hope the team finds the reason for it before we go to Donington." ~ 0' 0' ~ C'i' ~ l-< Q) "B o 15

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