Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

didn't know it was the last lap . You see a million pit boards out there along the pit lane, but I still haven' t figured out which one was mine. Even when I saw Chili going berserk in the last com ers I hadn' t thought about it being the last lap . If I'd known befo re, I wouldn't have been so courteous on the last lap - joining in the line everv time before the chicanes." The "Chili incident" in the Sachs Kurve took away the Italian's final (Right) The second leg of the open ing round gets underway with Fogarty (1) charg ing to his second holeshot of the day. (Below) Fogarty celebrates en route to his double victory. Corser's surprise pole A hopes of getting onto the rostrum. The Italian had almost come alongside Schmid en tering the famous left-hand Ll-turn in the Stadi um, but got it wrong trying to outbrake the German. Chili went wide and got off the track. Fortunately, he s tayed on both wheels and was able to resu me the battle 200 yards later, albeit in the next group of riders who were ba ttling it out for 11th. Chili on ly succee ded in gra bbi ng th e las t Wo rl d cha m pionsh ip po int fo r 15th position . Wi th Russell finishing eigh th and Gobert finis hing just out of the points, things were not looking too good in the Muzzy Kawasaki pits. "The bike is down on power," ad mitted Russell. "We might need a new factory engine soon. I had the impression that I was riding backwards on the straights, but who knows, maybe I'm not riding the bike well enough..." Gobert blamed part of his disappointing result to a possible lack of prerace practice. RACE TWO Nothing much cha nged for Fogarty in the second race: As soon as the lights turned green, he went for it an d never loo ked back . No one go t into his slipst rea m th is time, and aga in a group of some 10 riders offered a fine demonstration of close racing . Most of the rostrum h unters of the first race were also among the fro nt -r unners a few hours later... with a slightly better showing by Russell an d Gobert, w ho had replaced thei r new twi n exhausts (used in prac- fter the first official practice session, no one cou ld h ave ~uessed that the traditional Superbike hierarchy would shake on its foundation s. At first, Carl Fogarty set the best time in front of Aaron Slight and the surp risinglv fast Iochen Schmid. The Muzzv Kawasakis were also among the top runners: whereas the Yamaha factory riders seemed to be confronted with expected teething problems. By the way, after the first practice session no less than 20 riders were within the same second... It is only at the end of the second - and decisive - practice session that all hell broke loose at the Hockenheimring. In the last 15 minutes, the final starting positions were in place and it was Troy Corser (right) grabbing the pole in those final minutes. The Australian set a time of two minutes, 2.29 se~onds, o~e second better. than the official lap record set by Slight in 1993. Second quickest - In another surpTlse - was World Superbike newcomer Pierfrancesco Chili. The former 250cc and 500cc Grand Prix rider set his time on standard Michelin radJ:tg til'es ~d aboard a relatively standard Ducati 916. Fogarty was thrown back to third, Just In front of John Reynolds, yet another big surprise in Hockenheim. Fogarty didn't seem to mind not being on pole: "We still have a bit of chatter at t~e front," he explained. "But that's about the only problem we had. The guys didn't want me to use the fastest bike too much during practice, and save it instead for the race tomorrow. So I'm convinced that I could have gone at least as fast as Troy." Paolo Casoli - another former 250cc rider - set the fifth-fastest time, boosting the Italian's confidence after having to make do with less of the trick Yamaha stuff than Nagai and Edwards. The second row was completed by Mauro Lucchiari, [ochen Schmid and Scott Russell . The lanky Georgian (as well as his teammate Anthony Gobert, who ended up 18th starting position) had suffered the whole weekend from a slower top speed than most other factory bikes. Additionally, they had received the bIkes ~ly a few da~s before the race, which didn't leave them any time to get the setup TIghtbefore gOing to Hockenheim. . "W~'ve lost a lot of time trying to find the right setup, the best engine and the TI~t tires ?uTlng free and official practice," Russell said. "Especiall y getting into the chicanes gtves me .some problems. The steel brakes don't make things any eas ier; stop ping power rrught be the same, but you feel the extra weight when you throw the bike from one side to the other." On top ~f that, the Kawasa~i ~ide~ had to see Dr. Corbascio on race day morning when he d iscovered tend onitis In his left arm, a problem that started in Daytona. Despite an acceptable top speed, Slight was even worse off than Russell. The Kiwi was ninth fastest. . "I'm riding a fuJI second faster than last year," Slight said. "Top speed is very good (185 mph); last year I need ed a tow to stay with the fastest guys. Now I know that I can make up lost ground on my own; and this is the first time that we ha ve been faster than the Mu zzy Kawasakis. But we' re still struggling with a lot of problems. We l,?st a lot of time trying to make the wrong tires work. On top of that, the heavy traffic never allow ed me to go a few clear laps in a row ." Colin Ed wards II qualifi ed lith and wasn't too unhappy with that "I tried to set a good time in as little lap s as possible - my leg injury still gives me some trouble. But ~par.t from that I feel very confident; the top speed is good, acceleration is okay, But It WIll be very tough to beat the Ducatis which hav e a big advantage over the four- cylinders." Terry. Rymer d id not qualify, partl y because of problems with the fuel d elivery on the.Blmot~ SB7 works bike. When asked if he found his bike was underpowered , the Bnton said : "Underpowered? It looks more like this bike is over-chassised..." Top speed of the Bimota was not too bad (178 mph compared to Iochen Schmid 's fastest 185.7 mph). ell ~ 17

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