Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

tice form because he had switched to his preferred bike, the trouble it had given him early now fixed. He passed Barros at the chicane on lap six, and closed rapidly on Beattie to make the same move on lap nine. By half-distance he was on Checa's heels, Beattie poised behind him, and Capirossi closing, after also getting back past Barros. At the same time, Itoh was sooOr past the fading Brazilian, with Luca Cadalora coming up on his tail after recovering from a poor start. The pressure was on; and now surely Checa would crack. For the past six laps he'd been sliding all over the place, his tires well past their best already. But no. Instead he kicked again, opening the gap to over a second once more at the end of lap 17. And then he . fulfilled the prophecies. As he opened the throttle on the downhill left hairpin the bike slid and threw him out of the saddle. Running alongside he came close to recovering it before tumbling in a heap in the gravel trap. His day of glory was over. Even without him it was one of the dosest races of the year. But the pattern was beginning to shift. Beattie was slipping back, and then suddenly Cadalora was gone, touring into the pits in agony. "I had a slide and I hit my rib on the tank of the bike. It was bad before that, but now I think I displaced the bone," he said. So it was left to the three Hondas to battle it out, Criville hanging desperatelyon to the lead he'd inherited, Capiressi on his tail though sliding wildly, Itoh breathing down his neck. Itoh made his move at the chicane, diving inside Capirossi with two laps to go. Then he lined up on Criville. The attack came on the last lap, at the last left-hand comer. The Japanese rider left his braking ultra-late and dived inside, to the dismay of the crowd at the amphitheater. He was through and ahead - but, as he explained later, he had mis-shifted and locked the rear, and as he slid wide on the exit Criville dived back underneath. Capirossi also ran wide behind Itoh, so his chance of profiting was lost. "It's a great feeling to win at home," Criville said. "Once I got in front I just concentrated on getting the bike home, and nothing else. When I was behind Checa I didn't think he would be consistent, but once he started pulling away I knew I had to chase him. I had a chance to win that I couldn't afford to miss." It had been his best ride ever, without doubt, especially since he'd chosen a soft tire, and had also been battling slides for almost full distance. Capirossi was thrilled with his firstever 500cc-dass rostrum. "I was so close on several occasions. Now I've finally made it. At the end I decided not to push too hard, rather than risk losing what I had." Behind this trio there was more excitement. Beattie had been hoping for a steady finish, even though his handling was deteriorating. He reckoned without Doohan, whose bike was now handling better without the fuel load. At worst he'd been down to eighth, twoand-a-half seconds adrift of Cadalora and still fading. He'd passed Barros at the same time as Checa feU, and Cadalora's departure promoted him to fifth. With six laps left he was more than three seconds adrift of Beattie. Nothing to a man like Doohan once the bike starts working right. He carved away at the gap, was on his tail on lap 22 and ahead of him two laps later and still charging. "The race was too short:' he said later. (Right) Max Blaggl (1) leads the way at the start of the 250cc Grand Prix. (Below) Rail Waldmann (28) and Tetsuya Harada (7) had the battle of the day In the 250cc GP; In the end, Harada got the nod - but It was lor second place as Blaggl won easily. Beattie was bitterly disappointed, saying later: "I knew the bike wasn't right, but after the start I thought I might get a better result." Barros was a lonely sixth. Behind him came Loris Reggiani, who had shadowed an off-color Scott Russell for the whole race, and nipped past under brakes on the last lap. Neil Hodgson was ninth; James Haydon was 10th, and top privateer. He pulled a celebratory wheelie across the line, only for the bike to run out of petrol and seize, throwing him off without injury and somersaulting to total destruction. What a way to finish. Bernard Garcia was 11th, Law-ent aveau just half-a-tenth behind him. The two had been back and forth for much of an exciting race. Sean Emmett was a lone 13th; Marc Garcia and Lucio Pedercini battl.ed over the last points, finishing in that order and separated by just three tenths. There were 21 finishers: not among them Norifumi Abe, who crashed after losing the front wheel after five laps. By then Adrien Bosshard and Juan Borja had already crashed out. The first six championship positions remained unchanged: Doohan 248, Beattie 215, Cadalora 176, Criville 166, Itoh 127 and Capirossi 108. Barros moved past the injured Puig for seventh, 104 points to 99; then came Abe on 81, with Reggiani 10th on 59. . 250cc GRANO PRIX Biaggi made it look easy. He led from start to finish, making ground hand over fist until he was almost 10 seconds ahead by half-distance, and far enough ahead to spend the last lap showing off and still finish more than 10 seconds clear. It was a demonstration of impressive strength - but it nearly came to nothing on the first lap when he ran onto the dirt before the final corner, lucky not to crash. "I took a lot of risks to make the break. I had a few little problems, but nothing was going to stop me winning. I finished every race this year, and I've won here three years running. I've loved this year." . The excitement came in the battle for second, which started to take shape almost immediately, after fast starter Oliver Jacque dropped out of the way. It involved just two riders, Waldmann and Harada, and was breathtaking, not because they changed places a lot, but because of its intensity. Harada was in front for a couple of laps at first and again later on, but Waldmann did the lion's share of the leading. Harada's tac- tics were just to keep the pressure on, and he did so without pity. He showed Waldmann his front wheel over and over again, moved alongside frequently, and feinted first to one side then the other. He did get ahead now and then, but didn't seem able to make it stick. Or was he just playing games, knowing that his bike didn't have the top speed to leave the Honda? A bit of both, as he explained. "I tried to make a break five laps from the end, but ,that plan didn't work, so I decided to leave it for the last moment so he wouldn't have a chance to pass me back." He made his move on the very last bend, moving firmly inside to lead the German ~ver the line - only a hundred yards away - by less than a tenth. Waldmann was philosophical. There was nothing much he could have done to stop it. ''}'d chosen a soft tire to be quicker early in the race. From lap 10 onwards I had big lides. I knew Harada was faster than me on that corner. Maybe I should have slowed down and tried to block him - but as everybody knows he is a very cleve'r guy." The result resolved second in the championship in Harada's favor. It was an all-action race behind. Jacque was losing ground, having chosen too soft a rear tire. This left Luis d' Antin in fo';rth with Jean-Michel Bayle in pursuit, only to crash again on the sixth lap, landing heavily to wind himself, though he was not badly hurt. ow Kenny Roberts Jr. was coming up to put the pressure on the Spaniard, once he'd passed Jacque, bringing Ao.lO up in his wake. They finished in that order, though Roberts had been ahead briefly, with less than a second covering fourth to sixth. Tadayuki Okada was another four seconds adrift in seventh, off-color but fast enough to hold off the fast-rising Jurgen Fuchs, finishing his first season strongly. Jacque was another three seconds behind, good enough to win him Rookie of the Year honors. Roberto Locatelli was 10th, with Eskil Suter just beating Jose-Luis Cardoso and an off-form J.P. Ruggia for 11th. Jurgen van den Goorbergh had been wellplaced in the group, but had dropped back at the finish, saving 14th for himself after running into an unexpected problem. "We found a really good tire on race morning, and it was brilliant but it meant we ran into problems with the front tire, and I had some really bad slides. I had to let the group go." Takeshi Tsujimura took the last point. Patrick van den Goorbergh was just one place away, but an unbridgeable 12 seconds behind after failing to solve his practice problems.

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