Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Five riders led the 125cc race and four riders were in contention on the final lap , but only two of those ended the race upright. A brilliant race the entire way, it came down to the final half lap. The first of the lea d ers, IP A Corse FMI Aprilia 's Stefano Perugini, high-sided in the chicane while in fourth on the last lap . That left three, soon to be two when Cepsa Yamaha's Jorge Martinez overshot the penultimate tum and slid off onto the painted curb while trying to overtake race leader Dirk Raudies . The HB Team Raudies rider sped to th e win with Marlboro Aprilia Eckl's Peter Oettl second. Third, a few seconds back, was Moto Bum Honda's Haruchiko Aoki, less than one tenth in front FCC Technical Sports' Takeshi Tsujimura. Alone in fifth was Marlboro Aprilia's Oliver Petrucciani. T he 22-la p , 64 .90-mile race took Raudies 43 minu tes, 26.974 seconds to complete, at an average speed of 89.615 mph. It was Raudies' third 'w in , moving him into fourth in the championship a year after he won the world title. The 1994 12Sec crown was won at the previous race by Kazu to Sakata, who finished seventh today. He ended the season with 224 points, 30 more 'than Noboru Ued a, sixth in Spain . Tsujimura was th ird in the cha mpionship at 190. The sidecar race took nearly forever to run after being interrupted by rain . The first try managed s ix lap s before being stopped by rain. Next carne a wet practice, which became necessary since the riders 'had n ' t practiced in the wet. Then the second leg of the race was begun better than 90 minutes after the first race started. In the end the race was won by the Padgett's Racing team of Derek Dixon and Alan Hetherington in a romp over the Guedel brothers, Paul and Charley, on a BP Racing Team Sehweiz rig. Steve Abbott and Julian Tailford were third. Rolf Biland, who had already clinched the World Championship, dropped out while in the lead with six laps to go . He and partner Kurt Waltisperg ended up with 141 points, 37 better than Steve Webster and Adolf Haenni. 500cc GRAND PRIX Threatening skies greeted the 3O-rider field on a cool, breezy afternoon. The ju m p went to the Spaniard Puig, much to the delight of the crowd, with Kocinski s econd in front of HRC's Shinichi Itoh, then Cadalora, Barros and Doohan. HRC's Doohan and Alex Criville dropped Barros to seventh on the third lap with the top six forming up and running as one. Barros was just back, soon to fend off Marlboro Roberts' Daryl Beattie and Sean Emmett in his second ride on the Lucky Strike Suzuki. Cadalora began making his way forward, taking Doo han with him. On the ninth lap he was into the lead with Pu ig second and Doohan third. Puig 's demise would be sudden and swift, as he dropped to fifth on the 10th lap and was soon further back. "I kept up with the p ace until my arms couldn't take it anymore," Puig said. "I wanted a good result here and to be in front was brilliant while it lasted." Cadalora was soon joined by Doohan, Kocins ki and Criville contes ting th ird , then Itoh in front of Puig . Beattie was at the front of the next bunch, catching up to Puig and bringing Barros and Mackenzie along. The first drops of rain began about the midpoint of the race and a few laps later Cadalora was better than 1.6 seconds in front. As the rain increased so (Right) John Koc inski (11) and Alex Crlvllle (8) battled over third place until the last lap; Koc ins ki earned the spot. (Below right) Max Blaggl (4) leads Dorl ano Rombonl, loris Caplross! (2) and th e rest of the 250cc pack. did Cadalora's pace and by the 20th lap he had better than fo u r seco n d s on Doohan. Sensing the possibility of disaster in every tum, Doohan didn't make the push, settling for s econd pla ce, though he thought th e ra ce offici al s might have stopped the race because of the rain. "I was starting to ge t concerned because there were no red flags , " Doohan said. "It was wet in some places out there and it looked like it would take a few crashes for them to stop the race ." Cadalo ra felt just the opposite. "When it started raining I did take some 'r is ks . I just didn' t care," he said. " I wasn't confiden t of winning until I got so me ga p from Mick. Until it showed plus two seconds, I wasn't comfortable." After the top two cleared off, a number of races formed up behind them. The first was for third between Kocinski and Criville and, machinery-wise, it was no contes t. Koci n s ki would throttle the Cagiva through the infield, on ly to get passed easily on the front straight. The pai r swapped back and forth from the 10th lap on, with Kocinski leading across the line for the last three, onl y to get draft-passed into the first tum. . "I'd get a gap on Criville, but the problem was making it to the end of the straight without him corning by again," Kocinski said. "He passed me sometimes very hard, bu t I have paid h im with . the same money," Criville said, adding that part of the problem was the left arm he injured earlier in the year. "I couldn't brake with confidence at the end of the straight." On the final lap Kocinski went in deeper than usual, the two riders side by side going into tum one, Kocinski holding hi m off on the inside . Criville stuck to Kocinski th rough much of the lap, trying to make his move in one of the final left-hand turns as they entered the stadium part of the track. But instead of passing him, Criville ran into Kocinski's rear, breaking his seat, and, more importantly , having to back out of the throttle. Kocinski left the scene of th e incid en t and took the third, crossing the line less than a second in front of Criville. "On the last lap he suddenly hit my rear wheel. I think he lost it a bit on the brakes and we touched, but I'm not com plaining," Kocinski said. "Racing is racing. It was the last lap and it was absolutely normal that he would be trying a bit harder than usual in front of his home crowd." Criville saw it somewhat differently. "In the last lap I tried to pass him at the stadium, but he touched me," Criville said. "We have been very lucky because we both could fall, but he has been a little more than me because he was better placed for the next comer." Fifth place was the next battleground, with no one holding onto the spot with much certainty, until Itoh took it on the 13th lap . Puig was behind but dropping, then Beattie moved up from seventh to challenge near the end. The move was delayed by the rain, which, when it abated somewhat, gave Beattie the chance to forge ahead . He moved up on Itoh with five laps to go, ahead on the next lap and held off the advances of Barros to the end. "I thought the ot her guys would blow by me on the straig ht, because whe n it start ed ra ining I coul d n't do anyth ing '<:t' 0\ 0\ ,..-i -.0 N I-< Cl) E u o 11

• Cover