Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

dislikes, his game plan was, if he didn't get a break at the start, "to stay with the other guys and then see at the' end of the race if they could go any faster," Puig and Criville led from the start, with Capirossi forcing past both of them by the end of the lap and Doohan also consigning Criyille to fourth. The Italian led for three more laps, told Spanish journalists that he had shrunk back from trying to pass Doohan on the grounds of team politics. '1 knew it wouldn't be a good idea," he said. But there remains serious doubt about whether he was capable. Doohan's slowest-possible speed had already taken into account those behind him. Capirossi had fallen back into the (Above) Ralf Waldmann (28), Tadayukl Okada (2) and JeanMichel Bayle battle over second place; Waldmann earned the spot with Okada third while Bayle crashed. (Left) Dirk Raudies (4) won his first 125cc Grand Prix of the season; here he leads a throng of 125s early In the race. and then Puig began his push, moving past smoothly on lap five into the horseshoe Strubben. Doohan wasn't about to let him get away, and he outbraked Capirossi half a lap later at the chicane to take up his second-place station again. . Puig led from then on, with Criville also passing Capirossi to close up on the other two Hondas, But Doohan was leaning on the Spaniard all the time, and also taking cautious cornering lines, sweeping wide on the entry so as to accelerate out in the middle of the road, rather than drifting onto the adverse camber on the outside. At one point he appeared to be attacking round the outside of the last fast left-hander, only to be forced to run wide and lose several yards. But it was nothing important. "Puig was good on the brakes but his corner speed was slow. That's a characteristic of the 16.5inch Michelins he uses, compared with my 17-inch front. I took a little look up the outside, and found I was about to hit his exhaust pipe with my shoulder. That wouldn't have been too special, so I had to lift. I was close to the white line, but there was plenty of spare track on the other side." Doohan's real attack came into the chicane at the end of lap 17. It was a clean pass, but even after that he continued his policy of winning at the slowest possible speed, taking just enough of a gap on Puig to be safe. There was one last drama. Puig knew he was beaten, and had settled for second. But he'd forgotten Criville, who mounted a surprise attack under brakes for the most distant pair of fast rights. He not only swept past to claim a convincing second, but was seriously snapping at Doohan's heels through the last corners, crossing the line only one tenth of a second adrift. Cnville's last lap was the fastest of a fairly fast-paced race, though still short of Schwantz's 1991 lap record. Later, he hands of Barros a little way behind, but had then outpaced the Brazilian toward the finish to claim a career-best fourth. Abe had been alone all race long, but was riding with impressive enthusiasm to hold on to sixth, closing to within less than three seconds of Barros. Another 15 seconds back a t the finish came his teammate Cadalora, who had in the end drawn away from race-long companion Itoh. A similar distance back came three more longtime companions, with Loris Reggiani succeeding in the end in putting the V-twin Aprilia fractionally ahead of fast privateers Juan Borja and Bernard Garcia. This trio had been the last to swallow up the desperately disappointed Scott Russell, who had started strongly only for his practice-long brake problems to return on the second lap. The difficulty seems to be in finding the right rnaterial for the AP carbon brakes that will suit his style, which is much more progressive and gentle than that of Schwantz, whose bike he has taken over. 'They'd work in some comers, but at the end of the back straight the lever was coming back to the bars," he said. "I had to brake real early, and I was still running wide. One guy even hit my leg passing me into the chicane, because I was going so slow." Britons Neil Hodgson (ROC) and James Haydon (Harris) took the next. two places, with the latter - an impressive Assen first-timer - catching right up in the last laps, outdistancing 15thplaced Adrian Bosshard in the process. Scott Gray retired after two laps. Doohan thus reclaimed the title lead from Beattie by one point, 120-119. Puig is third with 99, then Criville (92), Cadalora (79), and Itoh and Barros (both 60). 250cc GRAND PRIX Biaggi's progress was triumphant, but not very exciting. He seized the lead from his pole-position start, and drove away for the. next 15 laps or so. After that he slowed slightly, lending the race some artificial excitement, but he was so far ahead that it hardly counted for much. The reason for slacking off was that spots of rain were falling, though the track remained more or less dry. Realizing this, he picked up the pace, to win by almost five seconds. "I'm 24 tomorrow, This is a nice birthday present," he said. Outpaced behind him, but still out on their own, Waldmann, Okada and Bayle had been battling out the inches all race long. Mainly they were in that order, though Okada was in front across the line once, and elsewhere now and then. Bayle survived a near highsider, then in the last lap went for it. He passed Okada early on; and was attacking Waldmann convincingly at the chicane, trying to turn his first potential rostrum into a second place, only to hit the slippery stuff and fall on the exit. What now became fourth was fiercely disputed all race long, with Jurgen van den Goorbergh battling with Ruggia, gradually dropping back from the trio ahead, while an inspired Patrick van den Goorbergh was closing from behind. Sadly for the delighted crowd, nei~er of the Dutch brothers lasted upright to the flag. Patrick led the group as they approached the last left-hander, but he was slow on the entry and Jurgen swept past round the outside, only for the front wheel to wash away on the damp. "I kept the engine running and got back on," he said later. This distracted Patrick, and he was a bit too late on the brakes at the chicane. Bang-crash, and he was also down, handing a safe fourth to an otherwise beaten Ruggia. There was more to follow. Roberts and Checa had been together all race long, but Checa also slipped off at the chicane. Roberts ended up fifth, with Jurgen van den Goorbergh sixth after remounting. Takeshi Tsujimura lost a season-best seventh when he dropped his FCC Technical Sports Honda in the same place, handing the position to Nobuatso Aoki (Blumex Rheos Honda). Then came Alex Grarnigni (GM Honda), an off-color Luis d' Antin (MX-Onda Honda) and Jurgen Fuchs (HB Honda) all in a rush, with Olivier Petrucciani (Edo Aprilia) crashing out of that group, also at the fateful chicane. Checa remounted to take 11th; Niall MaCkenzie was 12th on the Docshop Aprilia after deciding to give best to Wilco Zeelenberg's Honda only to see the Dutchman crash at the Strubben just in front of him. Patrick van den Goorbergh pushed his Aprilia across the line to claim 14th, behind veteran Adi Stadler's Aprilia, but two seconds in front of Giuseppe Lavilla's Honda which took the last point. After the race, chicane-fallers Tsujimura, Petrucciani and Patrick van den Goorbergh and 19th-place Castilla appealed against the result, saying they had seen red flags before the finish. If successful, the results would have been taken from one lap earlier, making a rather different top ten, but officials ruled that they had only seen red-andyellow (slippery track) flags, and the protest was not allowed. Another accident on only the third lap also made some difference. Oliver Jacque, Eskil Suter and Aprilia's young star Roberto Locatelli were disputing eighth when the first two collided at the end of the straight, taking the third with them into a high-speed fall. Only Locatelli was hurt, for a third time this year, suffering a fractured left wrist and some right knee damage. Biaggi thus regained the title lead, his win moving him exactly 25 points ahead of non-starting Harada, 143-118. Waldmann'has 107, Aoki 74, Okada 69 and Ruggia 62. 125cc GRAND PRIX It would take many pages to describe all the ups and downs of the ll-strong leading group. Suffice it to say that they were within touching distance of one an6fh.er for much of the race, and the only major interruption was the collision on lap 10 between now-and-then leader Alzamora and Veda. One lap earlier Veda had been in front, but his error let Raudies escape to a fine win by almost five seconds. "At last I get some good luck," the former champion said. Others to lead included title leader Harachuki Aoki (Blumex Rheos Honda) and pole qualifier Hidenobu Nakajoh (Jha Honda), who also claimed a new lap record. But as the finish drew near it was experience that counted for the • 7

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