Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

* .ROAD RACE . . . ~ . World Championship R oadR series ace Round 1 as :E ternCreek Raceway competitive and it wasn't until the very end th a t Itoh showed his su pe riority. "I would have been happier if I'd left Itoh beh ind, bu t after halfw ay I had a problem with m y ti res ," Reg giani said after finishing eleventh . " Th ey were practically finish ed and the suspens ion wasn' t properly so rted." break until Robe rts Jr. who was atoning for muffing the start. "I just killed the eng ine. I let the clu tch ou t too fast and then I had to pu sh it," Roberts Jr. sa id. " I sta rted going and I was pissed off that guys were in my way . My bike w as a litt le down on acceleratio n . I was p as sin g th em anywhere I could . I' d pass so me guys, then they'd come by me, so I had to stuff them again. Abo u t th e th ird time I stuffed them I could take off." His progre ss w as impressive, moving from 17th on the first lap to 12th by the fifth, th en ninth on the 15th. From there it wa s heavy sled di ng and he o nly made up two spo ts. IX 250ccGp Aft er Ralf Waldmann bolted to th e front of the 250cc class it w as only a matter of time before he would come under a ttack. But th e time was g re a ter than expected an d the German w as able to contro l the pace while a couple of wo rld champions came at him. He had the benefi t of a new swi nga rm that Honda had flown in just for this race to help cu re a traction problem . And there w ill be new cylinders for the next race in Malaysia. It w asn't until he felt his tires starting to go th at h e felt any p ressure, bu t when it came it came hard . It wasn' t until the about the ninth lap that it appeared that Ha rada and Biaggi were closing. Har ada's best lap was his 10th and it wo uld hold up as the fas test o f th e race . For th e next fiv e laps h e began to chip away at the lead and on the ·16th took the point. The lead w as sho rt-lived - o nly two laps - with Biaggi taking his tum at the front for the next Seven laps. But Biaggi knew that he'd chosen th e w rong rear t ir e and wa s in troub le - Waldman n kn ew it too - and they both knew what would com e next. "From the first lap the bike wa s slid ing a lot," Biaggi sai d . "The rear tire wa s absol utely no good. I tried to push har d Eastern Creek Raceway Sydney , Austra lia Results: March 26, 1995 12See QUALIFYING : 1. Dirk Ra udi cs (1:37.380); 2. Kazu to Saka ta (1:37.518); 3. Garry McCoy (1:37.902); 4. Peter Oettl (1:37.956); 5. Masa ki Tok udo m e (1:38.008); 6. H id eyuki Na ka jho (1:38.217); 7. Em il io Alza mo ra (1:38.334); 8. Tom oni Man ako (1:38.366); 9. Gian luigi Scal vini (1:38.392); 10. Hem To rro nt egui (1:38.404); 11. Akira Saito (1:38.446 ); 12. Manfred Geissler (1:38.563); 13. Stefano Perugi ni (1:38.564); 14. lock Bodc licr (1:38.624); 15. Olive r Koch (1:38.642); 16. Haruchika Aoki (1:38.655); 17 . Jo rge Ma r ti nez (1 :38 .762 ); 18 . Yos hiako Ka to h (1:39.09 1); 19. And rea Ballerinl (1:39.381); 29. Tomoko Igu ta (1:39.393); 21. Noboru Ueda (1:39.596); 22. Stefan Preln (1:39 .6 42) ; 23. Vittor io Lopez (1 :39 .866); 24 . H iroy u k i Kikuch i ( 1:3 9. 993 ); 25 . Ga b rie le De bbie (1:40.175) ; 26. Ken Miyasaka (1:40.235); 27. Takeh iro Yamamoto (1:40.750); 28. Glen Richar ds (1:41.378); 29. Stefan Kurfiss (1:41.940); 30. Yoshiyuki Sugai (1:42.166); 31. An d rew Duk e (1 :42 .925); 32 . Ivan Cr emo nini (1:44.185). 250cc QUALIFYING: 1. Max Biaggi (1:32630); 2. Ralf Waldmann (1:33.011); 3. Tadayuki Okada (1:33.074); 4. Tet suya Harad a (1:33 .12 4 ); 5. Do riano Rom boni (1:33.529): 6. Carles Ch.sea ( 1:33.546~ 7. Roberto Locate lli (1:33.562); 8 . Jean-P hillipe Ru gg ia (1:33.611); 9. Ol iver Jacque (1:33 .817); 10. Jean-Michel Bayle (1:33.849); I t. Luis D"Antin (1 :33.898~ 12. Kenny Roberts Jr. (1:33.919); 13. Nob uatsu Aoki ( 1 :33.938 ~ 14. [u rgcn Fuchs (1:34238); IS. Jose Luis Cardoso (1:34.240~ 16. Eskil SUler ( 1 :34.321 ~ 17 . Craig Con nell (1:34.4 24 1; 18 . Ju r gen va n de n Goo rbergh (1:34.525); 19. Patrick va n d en Goo rbe rgh (1:34.558); 20 . Takes hi Tsujim ura (1:34.659); 21. Davt de Bulega (1:34 .678) ; 22. Nia ll Mackenzie (1:34.752) ; 23 . Bernd Ka ssn er (1 :35 .298); 24 . Lu is Ca r los Maurel (1:35 .358); 25 . Sadanori H ikita (1:35 .504); 26 . Ol iver Pet rucciani (1:35 .661); 27 . Adi Stadler (1:35.922); 28. (Right) The Grand Prix season gets underway with the Marlboro Eckl Aprilia's Pete r Oettl leading the 125s at the 2.44mile Eastern Cree k Race way. Oett l crashed while fighting for a pod ium spot. (Below) Haruchika Aoki took the lea d on the fifth of 26 laps and rode the Blumex Rhea s Racing Honda to his first 125cc GP win ever. He beat World Cha mpion Kazuto Sakata by 15.641 seconds. lik e th ese guys, but it was ve ry diffi cult." Waldmann was back in front with four laps to go, even if it wasn't exactly a comfo rtable lead . He woul d be helped by traffic, s lower riders balk ing .H a ra d a m o re th an Biaggi , but en ough to ke ep both from mounting a charge. Harada , once clear of traffic, was able to make a run at Biaggi that culmi na ted in a p ass in turn n ine o n th e last la p. Biaggi tried to draft by at the finish, coming up just sho rt . Earl y o n, after th e to p th ree spli t, Dorian o Romboni found himself in front Gray back on track cott Gray qualified last for his first Gr an d Prix , some eight seconds off the pace, and then went on to finish last after dropping out on the seven th la p w ith mechanical problems. But, conside ring what it took to get him here , it wasn' t so bad. G r ay hadn't been on a motorcycle si n ce last November when h e was se vere ly injured in a crash in the WERA Formula USA race at Road Atlanta. Afte r fa lling near the front of a pack of riders, he was struck by Rich Oliver and suffered a crushed pelvis, broken fem ur, and severe internal injuries . He still walks stifflv and doesn't feel comfortable on the bike: "I ha ve a hard time bending my leg," Gray said after Saturday morning practice at Eastern Creek before getting a massage. "I d idn't sta rt walking until seven weeks ago." Gray will be campaigning a 1993 Har ris Yamaha, but without a Big Bang engine. He made the deal for the bike in London whe re he flew after the IRTA tests at Jerez in February, The team too k delivery of the bike about two weeks befo re it had to be shipped to Australia an d the re was no time for testing. "For th e firs t couple of races I w ant to sort th e p ieces o ut and see what transpi res," Gray, whose last SOOcc ride wa s aboard a Su zuki at Lag una Seca, said. "We don 't w ant any thing to happen . Wh en I'm in Europe, I'll be a lot better suited to getting things done." What he d isco vered wh en he returned to the track was that"all the skills are still th ere. 1 can get it to play. I've got to get it to sing," he said. H e also found that he was down about 25 mph on top speed to the factory Hondas and down about 6 mph on the other privateers. Wh at prompted Gray to make the move were two things: One was the state of racing in the U.s . and the second was the future. "Th e AMA situ atio n is a disaster. There aren't any purses, basically. 1 wouldn't have raced in the States th is year. Racing in the States for a privateer is pitiful. You get paid $500 to go 3000 miles. I don't like it that mum" Gray said. "My intent is to check it out this year and see if it's something I want to do as an owner. If it works out, next year I'd hire another rider." Gray's technical crew consists of Bruce Maus and Chris Waller of Santa Rosa, S of a three-way fight over fou rth. He dispatch ed with Ch eca and Aoki and was in cruise mode until he grabbed too much brake and crashed in turn nin e. Without much damage to his bik e, he was able to . continue, coming back o nto the track bet w een Aoki and Checa, the Sp aniard movin g 'quickly past. Checa then made his move with two laps to go to complete his best GP finish ever. "I' m happy today, but the goal for us is to reduce the d ifference tow a rd th e leading group," Checa said . Aoki came next, then Romboni, and a

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