Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) WIlliamCostes rides his shift. Costes was paired with Eric M lzera on a Honda RC45 and came out on top of a heated battle with the third-place Kawasaki of Steve Manley and Bruno Bonhuil. (Above)The Honda-mounted team of Christian Laviellle and M ichel Simeon faced mechanical difficulties at the rider change . The team suffered a one-lap penalty when an anxious Simeon exceeded the speed limitexiting pit lane. (Below)The victorious Mertens (left)and Mattioli are showered with champagne atop the rostrum. tion wh en we go to Kawa sak i w ithi n a couple of week s to ask for more su p po rt fo r th e .Su z u ka 8-Hou r race . We ju st have to get a good result here." Former Superbike and new Thunder bike rider Stephane Mert ens w as also quite happy about the practice result. "At fi rs t, I wa s n ot go ing to race here," the Belgian said . "With only one week to go before the first Thunderbike round at Jerez, I d id not want to ta ke any chances. But on the ot her h and, it looked li ke a go o d rehearsal for m e before I enter so me more World Superbike races during the year on the D'Hollander RC45. Guignabodets Hondas are also very well prepared, and with these bikes it shou ld be p ossible to ha ve a good finish here." LEG ONE Just like in the good old endurance d ays, the battle for the leading positions was going to be done by Honda and Kawasaki. Stephane Mertens took th e lead during the first couple of laps, followed by Robert H olden (Kawasaki ) and William Costes (Ho nd a). The second Guignabodet Honda was making up gro und fast after a s low start. "I lost a lot of time behind a slowe r Kawasaki," Michel Simeon said. The first three-hour heat didn't ha ve many su rp rises in store. Everybody wa s running at a very fa st p ace, and most machines stood up to the hard treatment without too man y com plaints. Onl y the experienced Bolliger team from Switzer lan d had to go in to the pits after a few mi n utes. Right from th e first laps, the engi ne temperature ha d risen alarmingly, and every h alf-h ou r the Kaw asaki had to come in to have its rad iator filled _u p w ith a fres h bo ttle of water . Amo ng the top teams, only one rider got into · trou b le . During th e firs t hour, Gr and Prix 500cc rider Bruno Bonhuil su rvived a ne ar-cra sh on a punctured fro n t tire. Aft er this sca ry moment, he lost some , more minutes in the pit lane when the Phase One mechanics changed the tire . · When th e checkered flag came out for · the first time after three h ours, a fir st pro vi sional cla ssification could b e drawn up. Mertens /Mattioli were lead ing. Only 18 seconds behind came Hold "en / Stro ud, followed at another h alf a minute by Simeon /Lavi eill e. Manley / Bonhuil, Costes /Mize ra and Planken / Markin k were one lap d own. . LEGTWO An h our and a half lat er, the 23 remaining bikes were taken out of parc ferme and - after a brief intervention in the pit lan e - they started their sighting la p. Stephane Mertens and Andrew Stroud were well aware that th e battle for victory was still wid e open; both riders put up a grea t show during the first hour of the second heat. Mertens led for most of the lap s, but still he had to let his Kiwi rival go at the end of his turn. "That guy is crazy," th e Hond a rider said afte r he h ad ca ug h t h is br eath . "I had just taken the exit leading to the pit lan e wh en he cam e flyin g past me full throttle." This tactic offered Stroud and hi s teammate Robert Holden the first position for only half an hour, with JeanMichel Mattioli running some 15 seconds behind the Kawasaki on the track. If nothing changed, victory would be for the Honda team an yway. But things did change a little bit later. Around halfway through the second heat, Robert Hold en came into the pit wi th a broken throttl e cable. From th at moment on , the p ositio n of Mertens / Mattioli would not be jeopardized again. Unfortunately, Guignabod et w ould not have an easy end to their race. At about the same time that the Phase On e Kawasakis replaced the throttle cable on the Holden bike, Lavieille came into the pit for his scheduled stop. This took the team longer than expected and, slightly stressed, Michel Simeon took ove r and raced out of the pit lane...at 62 miles per h our w h ere a speed limit of 50 mil es per h o ur h ad to be res pec ted (as a t Le Ma ns). A b it la ter, the verdict was known: Simeon /Lavieille were penalized one full lap, which made the team fall back from second, to fou rth pos ition. After the exciting duel bet we en th e leadi ng team s in the first hour, the spectat ors were offered ano the r s cra p for second p osition in the last hour of the race . There wa s no more questi on that Mertens /Mattioli were going to win, but especially in the last half-h our things started to heat up behind th eir blue backs. Th e Kawasaki with Manle y / Bonhuil a n d th e H ond a s w ith Costes/ Mizera and Simeon /Lavieille did not yield an inch and the decision as to who was going to take the rem ain ing rostrum positions was only going to be taken in the last miles of the race. For Robert Hold en, things had really turned sou r during that last hour. "After that gas cable problem I have probably pushed it a little bit too hard," th e ex p erien ced New Ze alander sai d. " A t th e e n d of th e back s t r ai g h t, I crashed th e bike . Fortunat el y , it s lid on one side further and I cou ld pick it up a n d resu me battle imme d iate ly afterward . That lap o n ly took m e 20 ex tra secon ds, so I s hou ld n ot b e com plainin g." Tha t was not the case with the Dutch Yamaha Exclus ief Team. An hour and a half before the end, 250c c rider Rud i Markink had parked the terminally ill Yam aha alongs ide the tra ck with a broken connecting rod. That was the end for the home boys wh o had been riding in fou rth position un til tha t moment. At the end, victory was - as expected - for Me rtens/Ma ttioli, and th ey we re accompanied on th e ros t ru m b y Costes /Mizera and Manley / BonhuiI. For Ste pha ne Mertens, this victory was his firs t in fou r years. " I am h appy to have w on h ere , " Me rtens sa id. " Especially as I will not p art icip a te in m an y w o rld ch a m p ionship races this yea r. Every thing we nt accord ing to schedule, and ] enjoyed myself particularly battling it out with Andrew Stroud . Still, I know that the le vel was not too hi gh toda y . There were no factory team s and lap times were n ot too impressive e it h er. Two yea rs ago, ] went arou nd two seconds " fa st er o n m y facto ry Duca ti on this tra ck." Michel Simeon missed third place by a whis ker beca use of the one-lap penalty for his hurried ex it out of the pit lan e. " Wh a t a shame to miss ro strum thi s way," the veteran racer, who owns a Suzuki dealership in Brussels, lamented. " I would have been less disappointed if I'd crashed the bike." Protest by team manager Jean-Louis Gu ignabodet mad e the international ju ry change th e ir m inds fo r the fi rs t time. The second Gu ign abod et team was classi fied third, at the expense of Manley / Bonhuil one hour after all the spectat o rs h ad go ne h ome. Another two hours later, ho wever, th e result sheet was modified a se con d, a"nd a third time . At on e stage, the ju ry had forgo tten about the Stocksport and the Supers po r t b ikes . The m ain victim of th e .changing moods in the ju ry ro om wa s Simeon / Lavieille who finally lost their third place aga in to Manley / Bonh uil. (~ Assen 6-Hour Assen , Holland Results: April 3D, 1995 1. Mertens j Mattioli (Hon); 2. Cos tes/ Mizcra (H on); 3. Man ley I Bonhuil (Kaw) ; 4. Simeo n / Lavieille (Hon); S. Hold en / Stroud (Kaw); 6. Bosch /V an den Broek (Kaw); 7. Seefeldt/ Boner (Kaw); 8. [osch j Schittko (Ka w); 9. Pow er/Smith (Yam); to. w eynan d Z'Fijssen (Ka w); 11. Goodley /Railton (Yam ); 12. Pa rke r /Henni ng- Norton (Yam ); 13. Spie rin gs / van Dooren (Suz); 14. Snic kers / Sn icke rs (D u c); 15. Co roillet / Mo m me n (Kaw ); 16. Treffort /Leblan c (Ho n); 17. Bettermann j Grandegg er (Suz); 18. Schm id t / Schlil'pt.>f (Yam); 19. Rohrig /Muller (Kaw); 20. Breitenstein /Iacquier (Yam ). Tim e: 6 ho urs. 21.21 seconds. Distance: 242 1aps, 587.82 miles. Average speed: 97.971 mph . WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. C h r isti a n Lav iei lle (53); 2. (TIE) Alex Viei ra j Brta n Morriso n /Rachel Nico tte (50); S. (TIE) jean-Mtchc! Mattioli /St ephane Mert ens (45); 7. Eric Mizera /William Coste

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