Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

'* . ., t ., ROAD'RACE:' .' .'.. .: '" . Round 9: San Marino , World Championship Superbike Road Race Series . (Lett - from lett to right) Aaron Slight, Carl Fogarty and Mauro Lucchlarl celebrate after the second leg In Italy. (Above) Doug Polen had a weekend he'd rather forget, with seventh-8nd fourth-place finishes. from a safe distance, and in the last minutes 1 got past him on the straight." Slight tried to claw back, and in the last few miles he even dove inside of the recently crowned AMA Superbike Champion in one of the slower comers, "Today is an example of what has been happening all year," Slight said. "The Ducatis are so damn fast, and our bike is not completely ready to start winning races. 1would have been happy with third, but because of the lack of speed, 1 had to try and compensate by pushing even harder. When 1 fell off the back of Carl, 1 had to slow down to make the b ike feel more comfortable. Too bad 1 lost some more points later on when Troy got past me." His teammate, Doug Polen, didn't fare too well due to persistent chattering problems, and he finished only 14th. "My bike just didn't go as well as Aaron's," Polen said. "The telemetry on the b ike will confirm that. But the biggest problem was, once again, the chattering; I will try. a different tire (different construction) for the second heat, and hope that will cure the problem." Crafar was confronted more or less for the first time this season with some handling problems - a surprising feat considering he's a member of the Honda RC45 club. "The front end is chattering for the first time this year," the Ohlinsequipped-Honda rider said. "I'm still lacking confidence in the bike and in myself here. I just can't ride the bike as aggressively as 1would like." RACE TWO ~ 0\ 0\ ...... N ...... I-< Q) E o 16 Twenty-six riders had crossed the finish line in race one. The following heat would, however, be a lot tougher on both man and machine . Trouble began even before the riders got underway, when Meklau couldn't get his bike started. On Sunday evening, the team had still not figured out what had caused the problem, and it cost the Austrian his fifth place in the point standings. When the lights turned green, Fogarty seemed very desperate to win a race in front of the Italian crowd. He led for about half a lap, then Russell was all over him and once again seemed on his way to a comfortable and lonely race to victory. An equally uninteresting race threatened to develop for Fogarty, who could do nothing but try to keep Russell in sight. Lucchiari, meanwhile, after having an engine problem in the first race, circulated in third place. At the start of the fourth lap, Casoli crashed, and only a few miles later Corser ground to a halt. "We've never seen anything like this," Corser said. "Four teeth of the rear sprocket had broken off. I tried to go on , but the severe shocks the rear wheel was put through during acceleration persuaded me not to push my luck too far. I would like to get to Donington next week with myself and the bike in one piece." One lap later, 41-year-old Virginio . Ferrari ended up - for the second time over the course of the weekend - in the gravel pit, putting an end to his comeback to racing. At half distance, nobody ·'·'e I'" .". ' Y•••: BrI I'" . f' seemed to be able to get close to Russell or to Fogarty. Lucchiari, on the other hand, soon had to fend off the attacks of Slight, who had escaped from a group of six furious riders - Whitham, Jochen Schmid, Pirovano, Bontempi, Polen and Crafar. But, four laps from the end, a big roar came from the Italians in the grandstands - Russell had just pulled into the pits with an engine that sounded very sick. "All of a sudden, the engine went sour," Russell explained later. "I thought it had something to do with the speedshifter, so 1 went into the pit, cut all the cables from the shifter system and wet out of again. But after only a few hundred yards, I noticed the prob- . . . '. '. ' ", ,. lem hadn't disappeared. I parked the bike and went back to the pit. For me, the race was over." And indeed it was. After being unexpectedly promoted to the lead and well on his way to a big points lead, Fogarty didn't make any mistakes in the last couple of laps. Just when Russell had pulled out, Slight had moved in front of Lucchiari, who later explained that he had suffered from some unexplainable power loss in the last couple of laps. "I heard the engine making more noise as the race went on. I preferred to slow down a little and not risk any major damage," the Italian said. Whitham stayed in front of the pack in an exciting' final rush to the finish. ., .. , ". '. L·' mate in the official team. Vasutomo Nagai nowseems to be out of contention for one of the works bikes; as Yamaha seems to prefer keeping .. I him in Japan, where the National Superbike Championship is getting ._ . more important every year. . Ducati broughtevery one of their race-ready' 916s to Mugello...and even ' .. . . . . ' . ' . . . .. . ' .' : more. Apart from II)e "regular" factory riders Carl Fogarty (two bikes): For Itahan P,erg,orglO Bontempl, hiS Incredible stnng of bad luckC?nMauro Lucchlarl (two), Fabi1zIo Plrovano (two) and James Whitham .tlnuad at Mugello. After the 26-year-old from Ancona secured Identical , (two), Ducati'had also provided a sts.for Virginia Ferrari and two for . ma~hl~ery to that being used by Scott Russe,lland Te~rx Rymer at the , Troy Corser. The bike,Corser usad on race day was actually the "tresh- b~nn.,ng of the .s eason (a token ofKawasa!:1 0 posrtl~n InI e provisicna poontstan Ings. ..' from the month o'Jul(onward.'Andfinally,.Meldau's former tuner (who Commentaryiroma top team manager'to vlfginlo Ferrarl"aftai itie vethad helped .him to won the Austrian round at Ze~tweg last year~ has eran Italian crashed in the second heat: "Usten, Virginia,'I have serious doubis about mat new rider iri your team..Notonly is he too old to offer devaloped hIS own.916 racer basad on ~he SP.ve.rslon., . long-term perspectives: but he also crashed in practice and nowalso in , The 1994 season definitely ends;n A~stralla,tiut the next World the .second race. I think ,the team manaQer.shouldfire that.guy." . , Superbike campaign may also begin Down Under. Even ttiough the offi, ·. cial calendar isn't expected 'un~i1 November, some basics' have beecme .. Pier-Francesco 'Chill made a return.to 'racing when' he was 'lnvitad to ,known. The se~n will ~mpnse 13 races at the most, startlng proba- . ride a Supermono in the fifth (and 'final) race for the Sound of Singles ·bly on Api'll 23 In AustralIS, fOllow~d byround tw?,on May7 In Hocken- '. Eurocup.' The farmer ,Grand Prix star, who had recently become a . helm, Germ~ny .. Talks are. ongoong as to the oncl.uslon of rounds In' father; qualified his bike on POle position. nearlytwofull seconds in front France, Belgiumand the UMed States . . . of Alan Carter, Gianluca Galasso and Alan Cathcart. Chili also won the . . race in front of'Galasso and Carler. German Thomas KOmer finished . According to the 'Filimmini' Group,. Harley-Davidson ' applied for an ' . fourth arid won the first unofficial European Singles nne, seven points · entry with the Italian promoter.to take partjn the Mugello round of,the clear' of Cathcart and Dutchman Maurice Bolwerk, who was absent at ' .series with the.VR1000Miguel DuDamel. has been ,using in the AMA . · MLigello.· · . . . . . . · championship: Since the American V-twin has yet to be homologatad, . ' . . ' . Aammini preferrad not to open the door to specials, and refused the. . Glancarlo Falappa didn't show up at Mugello. The Italian, who crashed . .. , - .. . ' . .. . . heavily during private practice at the circuit of Albacete in Spain, had entryfrom Aarley. .said in an interview onlyone week before the,San Marino round: ."When· Yamaha'decided the weekafterthe'ASsen race to base its officiai race I comebackto a superbike'paddock:it will be as a competitor, not as a .team for next year in Italy, mosi likely at localimporter Belgarda (who visitor: Falappa, who is allowed to leave the hospital once in a while, enter Caseli aod MeregaJli inthls year's championship). NO other lmpor- :- likes to spend most of his free time afMarco LUCChinelli's house: Bal-' · tant decisions have beenmaoe, even thOugh Americari Colin Edwards dassare Monti, on the other hand,was in attendance at Mugello. The II has signed an agreement willi Yamaha; which is rumored to allow him. '"former Team,Rumi rider is still recovering from a nearly.fatal crash 'at, to run' in ertt:ter'the A~A'or Wo.rid Championship. II,Edwards comes' to the Isle of Man. "Sarre" can walk' by himselt, but still speaks very,slowly: Europe' he mighi ge! f~~er G.ralld Prixrider.Paolo Casoll .as his team- . It is unlikely that he will everraceagai,n. . . .

• Cover