Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"Simon (Crafar) pushed me really hard. But given the situation of the championship, Troy (Corser) was the one who worried me the most. 1 made a few mistakes, but fortunately that didn't . cost me too dearly." Crafar's second was a career best: "In the middle of the race, I thought I was going to get past Carl. But then he just went a little faster. I tried to retaliate for a few moments, but after a few slides it seemed to be a bit too tri'cky - so I backed off and waited for another opportunity." That opportunity never came, but Crafar had every reason to be pleased, finishing in front of Corser and his teammate Slight. "I had a bad start," Corser explained. "The first corner here is pretty important. If you get it right there, you can stay in front. We'd come into the race (Above) The race tor second In the second race: Cratar leads Troy Corser (11) and John Reynolds (33). (Left) The Dutch crowd braved rain during qualifying but was rewarded with a dry race day. some more dry tires. The gearing was the biggest problem; I couldn't get away from the group I was in. Nevertheless, I will keep modifications to the setup minimal for the second race. The last couple of races have shown that changes in between the two heats mostly made us go backwards." RACE without really knowing how the bike had to be set up for the dry. Now we know more or less what to choose for the second race. Most of all, I wanted to end up in front of Aaron, who'd got pretty close to me in the point standings." Slight complained about an adjustment problem with the brakes. There was too much play and the lever kept coming back to the bars. Gobert made due with ninth: "Actually the race wasn't too bad, considering the fact that 1 hadn't done many laps during warmup because I had to run Two Fogarty showed even less pity in the second heat, despite the fact that he'd just won the world title. After one lap, he already had a one-second lead over his colleagues and that lead would continue to grow until he started to slow with just a few laps to go. Behind him, however, all hell was breaking loose with Crafar, Corser, Slight, Reynolds and Lucchiari battling it out for second. And as everybody prepared for a dazzling finale, things started to go wrong. First Corser and Crafar went down together, in an accident similar to what had happened to Corser and Gobert in Monza earlier that season. "My own fault," Corser admitted. "I bad a big wobble, and 1 tried to brake. into the Dutch round, ended up second-quickest and he was convinced that he could have gone faster. "1 only did some six laps during the second practice session because 1 still didn't feel too well," he said. "Fortunately, 1 got out on intermediates just at the right moment. It was just a matter of good timing, apart from that the RC45 performs quite well here. There are no slow corners where you have to throw the bike nitely need some pain-killing injections... and some nicer weather." Pier-Francesco Chili, John Reynolds, Mauro Lucchiari and Adrien Morillas filled the second row with the fickle or the first time this year, it was raining cats and weather conditions taking some of the front runners by dogs during practice. And this only made the battle surprise. Fabrizio Pirovano (lOth), Colin Edwards II for pole even more intense than usual, especially (11th), Anthony Gobert (12th) and Yasutomo' Nagai when the rain stopped falling in the last 15 minutes of (16th) lost precious time when they didn't have the right the second qualifying session. In those last 15 minutes, around." tires under their bikes at the right moment. . Castrol Honda's Aaron Slight was first to take the pole The Honda's liking of the track seemed to be con"I just got caught out," Edwards explained.. "Whenevposition that for so long seemed destined to fall to Pr0firmed by the third-quickest qualifying time, set by er it started drying 1 was on the wrong tire. motor Ducati's Troy Corser. Only a few minutes later" Simon Crafar. "I didn't realize that I'd been on pole for a I tried an intermediate early in the session, but it was Simon Crafar was even more in a hurry, retaining .pole short while," the New Zealander said. "At that time, 1 just too early so I changed back to a wet. Towards the end position... for just a few minutes. Slight took over command again, just before Corser got back on top just prior was out on the track trying to go even faster. Maybe 1 of the session I was on an old rain tire which was no good. would have if we had put some fresh tires on earlier in The tI:ack was drying so [ came in with three minutes left to the arrivar of the checkered flag. ''The'bike has worked okay during practice," Corser that session. But I didn't want to take the chance to pit in to change, but tQen I didn't get a chance to put a lap in." Gobert wasn't too happy with his result. "We've had said aiter nailing down his fourth pole of the year. '1t's those final minutes for new tires while the track was getserious problems with the setup here," he complained. the first time I'm on this track, but things worked out' ting drier and drier:' Carl Fogarty ended up fourth, the final man on the "This is a difficult track to learn. And you can't afford to pretty well. The weather conditions are good and bad for front row. make any mistakes - as soon as you hit the grass, you've me: good because the wet trad< keeps the lap times of "Yesterday I had a rough time due to my hand reached the point of no return. I slid off the track once everyone pretty close and the slower pace allows me to learn the track better. And the Michelins give good trac- injury," Fogarty said. "When we got back from Sugo, my today. Everybody had told me that the track still oeMs tion out of the CQI'I1e!S. Bat on the other hand, the strong hand was still swollen. I wellt to the hospital to have it enough.grip in the wet, but I piliated not to make any wind worries me a bil We'll see what happem on race X-rayed, and then the doctors diagnosed a broken borle. more mistakes and try to keep up with !be from t . . . .s. .day." Throwing the bike- from one side to another turned But some extra practice lime would have belen heIpiIt as _Jl SIight,Who had been suffering from the au.coming out to be quite painful 01\ F~. Tomorrow, I_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _~ year." will defi- 1 showed at Laguna Sea earlier this Corser's fourth F 7

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