Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

The top 10 500cc 1:43.9 1:44.1 1:44.3 1:45.1 1:45.1 1:45.7 1:47.1 1:47.2 1:47.3 1:47.3 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Honda Aprilia Suzuki Suzuki Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha 14. (Right) Doriano Rombonl had his first outing on the Giacomo Agostin i Honda NSR250, ushig Michelin tires after many years on Dun lops. (Below) World Champ ion Kazuto Sakata was the fastest of the 125cc GP riders at the test. AlbertoPuig Loris Reggiani DarylBeattie Kevin Schwantz Luca Cadalora Norifumi Abe Jeremy McWilliams Neil Hodgson Sean Emmett Adrian Bosshard Jimmy Filice Yamaha 1:48.5 250cc (Right) Marlboro Yamaha 's Nor ifumi Abe and his recentl y cropped hair were also on hand at Jerez. Abe was sixth fastest in the 500cc class. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Marcello Lucchi RobertoLoca telli Jean-Michel Bayle Rail Waldmann CarlosCheca Doriano Romboni Eskil Suter Olivier Jacque Luisd'Annn Jean-Philippe Ruggia Aprilia Aprilia Aprilia Honda Honda Honda Aprilia Honda Honda 1:47.8 1:44.8 1:45.1 1:45.6 1:45.6 1:46.6 1:46.8 1:46.9 1:47.3 1:47.4 125cc 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Kazuto Sakata Stefano Perugini Dirt< Raudies Masak Tokudome i Jorge Martinez EmiliA1zamora Yoshiaki Katoh Gianluigi Scalvini PeterOetll Noboru Ueda 1:49.7 1:51.0 1:51.1 1:51.3 1:51.5 'Honda 1:51.6 Yamaha 1:51.6 Aprilia 1:51.7 Aprilia 1:51.7 Honda 1:51.8 Aprilia Aprilia Honda Aprilia Yamaha '· . efl,Y'.• .r'. B' ·1 . Schwantz arid Beattie were ridin'g both as he adapied to the 500 , .and .he ended up .amodified version of last year's bikes with a best lap of 1:48.5 on s unday. That was • • . and the , outward ly ' s im ilar new . .prior to his last-session eiash that left him with .. machlne , distinguished by slightly altered fairing venting and . a hairline,fracture in his right leg. Filice is expected to be.frt for The annual preseason IRTA tests at Je~ez jn Spain saw Loris because they were unpainted, in VIrgin black. Beattie was down the Australian GP at Eastern Creek where he will make tiis 500cc Gp.debut: . ' ". · Reggiani's"400cc Aprilla throw down the gauntlet to the v -tour .in the 1:45 bracket by the third day, but said: "lNe'ie.chasing our 500s 'with .renewed vigor in mid-February, as the V-twin "super' . tails: trying to test a lot 'of Michelins, and because of the weather, . 250' set the fastest time overall in the official test But Aprilia .we lost a lot of time. We tried the 'same ,tires in Australia, but ' . The 500 times were broug ht under a pitiless scrutiny by 'the ' could hardly become comp lacent. Only one of the full 500cc they work differentl y here ." While clearly happy to back on best 'of the'250s, as often happens ,at Jerez".Spice was added · works team was there _Team MiulbOro RobertS Yamaha; while '. Michelins after his awful Dunlop year with Yamaha, he .added: because the two classes were running together: Dor ian o Rom"The tires have changed quite a lot since I last usedthem, It's bonl was the first toqo fast, slotting his new Agostini Honda ' the only, works Honda entered, by' Alberto 'Pulg, crashed oui while dominating · untimed" tests the day before the officlal lRTA more a case .ol being happy with the whole combination of bike into fourth position overall' on Friday. His bike was also unsponsessions began . The sessions also proved a bad start to the and nres." : . sore d , team boss Giacom o , Agostini',s expected deal with '' . -; Pepsi Cola had fallen through the week before, though he said season to three highly fancied Japanese rtders.. Noboru Ueda broke an ankle' - it is suspectedthata brake disc failed on his The other rider to have tested for Suzuki during the winter was he was still hopeful of picking up something else before the Sean Emmett, who ,~~~ at th~ IRTA tests back on an unlea,ded season. ·Rather surp risingly, Rombon i was also on Michelin 125 Honda. Takeshi Tsu jimura was reported to have suffered · crushed vertebrae after also crashing his 250 Honda before offi-' , S h.ell-Harris Ya":,a~a. I, ~ ~rylng .'0 get used to the ,power" he . tires , for the first time in his recent career.' These have often "Th cial testing.began; and likewise Nobuatsu Aoki , who broke a , quipped. ere ISO t any. ' proved a mixed blessing in the past for Honda riders in a class shoulder. .. , " . ' dominated by Dunlops. Romboni, who 'crashed 'twice, missed , ' Puig had the onlyHonda at the' tests, a'nd it was impressive, . the last day, and in his absence the pace hatted up pronto with , ,. .. . leading observers to suspeel new electronic refinement such , a handful of late arrivals, which inclUded two out 'of three of the' ' Kevin Schwantz was ' keen to 'dispel any rernaininq doubts ' . . , as some form of tract ion control because of the smooth but . works Aprilias. They ended up first and second" with Marcello about his forthc oming retirement on the eve of the recent IRTA. .rapid way he was ableto slog out of comers, while still ,flying , Lucchi tak ing .the honors over Robe rto Locatelli and Jean test sessions' at Jerez. Speaking at a lavish press reception to . along the straights. Sure enough, .Puig was unofficially fastest . Michel Bayle. Wortd Champion Max Blaggl had not joined the celebrate the t otn .year of Lucky Strike sponsorship, he .was on Thursday, .while sharing the track with Suzuki and Roberts party. ' . ' quite definite. "This will be my last GP season. I'd like to' go out Yamaha,.and a rag-tag of 250s and .private 500s. Then he as champ ion again; butno matterwhere lfinishat the end of promptly fell oH'heavily, limping back into pit lane unscathed, Bayle's time o f 1;45 .63 equalled Biagg i's ' 941ap reco rd , the year, I don't see anything happening tnatwitl persuade me but having bent the chassis of his machine. Tha t was the end although eight tenths off Loris Capirossi's pole time. It would , to go on. The travel and the stress ofGP racing puts so much . for him, so there was no opport unity to measure .'he H onda ' have placed him' third overall in the 500 Class', just behind Abe. , pressure on you that I just don't think I could find the motiva- . against the opposition when officially timed sessions began on .The Dunlop-shod Hondas had also coma to town. Ralf Wald- , tion to carry on after that," But Schwarrtz also flatly contrad ict- : .Friday. .: . . ." . . . . " ' , ' " " , ' ' . , mann was fourth, wiih Cartes Checa, now on an' NSR after a ed a separate , swell 'of rumors that he would quit before the stro'ng', RS 'season last year, moving into fifth ahead of the ' , end of the year '- even as soon as' after the first three races. "I' . : This left Lues 'Cadalora to dominate Friday's proceedings on ' absent Romboni. .. don't know. how those rumors started, but peoplekeep asking the Yam aha, tu rn ing a time of , 1:45. 11; com pa red wi th . rne, I'll be running the full season .i even if rt doesn't go well for Schwantz 's 1994 lap record of, 1:44.168 and pole position of . Fired Aprilia rider Jean-Philippe Rugg ia was there all week on me." . . 1:43.944. That was enough for.the oh-so-casual Italian, who left his Honda, but did not (jistinguish 'himself, placing 10th even ' after'swrtching to a killed RS-motor in a new carbon-fiber frame . .forth with, seeing no profit in continuing to bash arou nd and The tests were rather 's'parSely attended, wrth just'37 ,500s and around Jerez in track conditions that were far from ideal, and a : that had been ridden. by his interesting new Tech -3 teammate 250s, with the two classes running:together for the first time, " long way short of usual racing temperatures. ' . Olivier Jacques. In fact, the' young Frenchman', a GP novice , ' and 16 1255. B.ul Team Lucky Strike Suzuki had.been at Jerez , . . ' went fasterthan Ruggia, though he crashed when' he was oblig- ' · for the four earfier,days of the week,'culminating in 'a big press In his absence, he was ousted by ,the most impressive perter- 'ed to switch to the aluminum-framed bike. Team bossHerve reception to celebrate their 10th'year of GP. sponsorship. The rnance of the weekend. This came from Loris Reggl ani : with Poncheral' said the carbon-fiber frame was experimental, and ' Suzuki tests marked a second returritoracmq bikes for Kevin ' ' his'Aprilia 400 still painted anonymous black, and outwardly riot . very stiff. He did not know if they would race it, "If like last year Scbwantz, whose last outing in Australia tnJanuary ended in a . much changed from last year's unreliable debutant. Not only did · we were able to run two bikes, there would be no problem'. We crash on the first day. Prior to that: he: had not ridden since he turn.an impressive 1:44.1: to move 'to the top of the table, but , would .have one of each'. This year we have to make commitcrashin g in practice for 'the U.S. GP in September.·S chwantZ ' he was the only person in the class to improve significantly on rnent to oneor the other. I'm not sure yet." and teammate .Daiyle Beatt ie again had their Schedule disrupt' his lap Jime of the previous year, Last year he was seventh ., . , ed by bad weather, ranging from rain and wind to thick mist and ' overall in qualifying with 1:45.168; with a race best of 1:46.293. ' Scot Niall Mackenzie ended up 16th out of 20 after dowl)grad,general cold track temperatures that meant damp patches 'lin, . He also left after that, feeling the same as Cadalora about coning to the 250 class on the Docshop Aprilia; supposedly in 1994 gered all day long. Only on .Thursday could theyrun a full ses- .. tinuing, but with rather more to feel proud of. ' works spec. He was one place and one h undredth down on sian.."It felt pretty strange at first , and it's such a long time since . . .." teammate Patrick vd Gooroergh. · .. . . . . I rode that I can't really compare the new bike with last year's. I Norifumi Abe , in new short-hair .mode, obviously felt the need ' did about 90 laps today .(Thursday), 'andbythe end I w as start-. to do more laps and stayed 'on, also moving into the 1:45-sec- Masaki Tokudome led the first day of 125 practice on his, nEiw , irig to feel like my timing was coming back, and I was sliding the and bracket ,on' the final day to place third in the class. Then ' Aprilia,'but was eased into second place on the second ,day by bike a ,bit·1was only passedfilto ride in the last week. I'd say ' came Jeremy McWilliams (Yamaha, 1:47.14), ctass new boy ' Kazuto Sakata , by just three hundredths of a second, It wasa my left wrist is at about 70 percent and my right about 90 per.' . .Neil Hodgso n (ROC-Yamaha ; 1:47.27) after surviving .a ·spill ; competitive buslness, with'the first nine all.within one second ot cent. My left thumb isn't a problem." The left wrist, from Which , Sean Emmett (Harris-Yamaha, 1:47.36), . each other by the finish: the two Japanese Aprilia men followed ' three bones were removed in drastic remedial surgery last year, ' . ' by Jorge Martinez (y amaha), Dirk Raudies (Honda), Yoshtako Jimmy Filice provided much amusement in prt lane as he struq- . Katoh (Yamaha), Stefano Perugini (Aprilia), Peter Oettl (Aprilia) was still bandaged: and very stiff. No times were released, but unofficially SChwantz was fastest in the morning, to be overtak- gled to frt his tinyframe to his Padgett's Harris-Yamaha . He . and theby-now absent Noboru Ueda. en by both teammate Beattie and Honda's Alberto Puig in the really makes a 500 look tall, unable to touch the. ground even' , -Michael Scott afternoon. ' ',' wrth'c:ne foot w.hile fully 'on'the saddle. Filice progressed slowly a a.

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