Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

the lights went to green, the numberone bike jumped to the lead and was never headed. Foggy took the holeshot ahead of the series' other start specialist, Fabrizio Pirovano. The pocket rocket from Milan held on to second position for ~ few laps, doing not much more than annoying the full factory riders on the faster machinery just behind him. Corser was the first who got past the Taurus Ducati, and for a few moments looked like he was preparing a counterattack on Fogarty's lead. But pretty soon it was clear that nobody would get any nearer to the Blackburn man. Instead, Corser got tangled up in a fight with six other riders' which would last until the closing moments. Gobert, Pirovano, Slight, Nagai, Jochen Schmid and John Reynolds all had their sites set on second place. That dream ended for Reynolds on the 14th lap (out of 22), when the Kawasaki man slid off the track. By that time, Gobert had been doing most of the leading work within the chasing group, but Gobert and Nagai looked like strong candidates to finally take at least the third position. It all boiled down to the last lap, when the leaderboard showed Fogarty on top with Gobert, Corser, Slight, agai and Schmid in the following positions. Corser seemed to have the most breath left out of this group, and in one of the final corners, the Promotor rider prepared for his final attack. Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan. "Coming back from a slow start, I lost precious time in the first laps. Moreover, the engine was not revving fully," said Corser. "On the last lap, I really went wide when I tried to go for second place. There was just enough room for me left in the last esses to stay on the tarmac." Corser had to settle for third, behind the surprising Gobert. "I was pretty sideways for most of the race after charging hard after a bad start," , Gobert said. "But that did not worry me too much. That is the way the Dunlops work, and it happens to be also the way I work. Around halfway, I got into second position, and I could see Carl iIi the distance. But I soon gave up the plan to go after him. I decided to concentrate on holding on to that second spot as long as possible. I knew where Troy could pass me; I could feel him in the drag, so.l had to go harder on the brakes. I was lucky to get away a little on the straight on the last lap." Slight finished fourth, a disappointed man. "I had a problem with the bike still understeering, especially in the esses," he said. Simon Crafar finished a low 14th with similar problems. For Fogarty, the day had started well. "I knew that this was going to be a pretty easy race if I could get away right from the start. Troy. and Anthony and all the others really got into each other's way, and that is how I managed to escape that early," he said. Colin Edwards got home ninth, after a battle with Andreas Meklau. "I could not get enough traction," Edwards said. "The engine was better but the setup was all wrong with too much weight on the front. But that will be changed for the second race." With seven laps to go, Doug Polen retired while in 15th. "The bike started vibrating badly," the Texan said. "I thought it was the engine and I decided to come in. We still do not know what exactly caused the problem." Corser's fellow Australian, Anthony Gobert (17), was Impressive at Salzburg, finishing second and third. Here, he leads Corser (11) and the rest. RACE TWO The hope for an Austrian victory in Salzburg had been halved already in the first heat, when Andreas Meklau had broken two toes after being hit by some stones thrown up by another rider in the chicane with the off-road shortcut. Fortunately, the tall Austrian would not suffer long from his new injury in the second heat. As Fogarty and Corser dashed to the lead after the start, things went terribly wrong in the first chicane, when Polen, Andreas Meklau and Pier-Francesco Chili went down. For Polen - whose team had not found the reason for the engine problem in the first race - this was the end of another disappointing race weekend. Corser would, however, compensate for the off-day for the Austrian Promotor team. This time, Fogarty would not get it all his way; he and Corser were all over each other for the whole race, but still managed to make a gap to the following group, that was once again led most of the time by Gobert, with Slight a strong contender. Nagai, Pirovano, Piergiorgio Bontempi and Mauro Lucchiari stayed in touch, but rarely proved a threat to Gobert and Slight. In the final stages, Lucchiari and Bontempi had to let go, leaving the battle for third to their four colleagues. Up front, Corser had gotten past Fogarty on the next-to-Iast lap during heavy backmarkers traffic, and he was going to stay there. Some minutes later, Corser notched up his first WSC victory in his career in front of Fogarty and Gobert, who had won his private battle with Slight, Pirovano and Nagai. "I am happy to have pulled it off her.e, which is a good thing for my Na ainabs ole A ndreas Meklau has always done wen in front of his home crowd. Two years ago, he unchained a minor palace revolution when he shook the established. hieraIclly in one of his first WSC parti.cipations, and last year he took two ~ and places. No wonder the Austrians expected a lot of the local boy. Meklau. havmg won a national race on the same circuit two weeks before, seemed to be ready for stardom in the first practice session,'when he took best time. Unfortunately, he would not stay there. The oext day, he was thrown bad: into a more familiar p0sition 01\ the third row. "My best engine was showing siglIs of fatigue this morning," the taU Promotor rider said. "80 I bad to DlaIr.e do with my secoad bike fDr dte final official practice session." Meklau dropped bad: to Ri:atb.. YMUtomo N.tpi. seconi OIl the lint day, did even better on the IIeCXIIId day _ grabbed pole positioD. much to the suzpiIIe fJi e.ayhocly. TIle Jape EN - . wfIo &'allied tile &rat __ 18paPese pole P ...-.,. ill WSC mc::iIlIllIIIt JeU' at Sup. _ . . tl:Ipci die Jilt b'__ 01. the pndice lid Ii 11I~ 1IIIlIil Cat FopdJ ad Troy OlDer .... .oRr b'. few DriJ..... "'MleIa I saw_ray pit 1xIIBd that Iliad dwppd t.dctD wiIIl _ _ Jape a-. 1Dp,1 .... jdedtDlHne . . . . eo it.Fon , '), . . . . flaDmy . . . . . . Celia Pale r""'" -1IIiKIIr JIIlt lie iwpM..... bat I WlIDIed a pc or PUlIldlei.Ulw,h g I sfad tilt lIbielllniMlcee

• Cover