Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.ROAD RACE Race series Final round: Catalonian Grand Prix World Championship Road The sidecars make the run through the esses at the Montemelo Circuit. Rolf Biland (1) won the race, but Darren Dixon (7) took home the tide. (Below) Haruchlka Aokl (12) battled with Tomoko Manako (20) end Emilio Alzamora (26) In the 125cc GP; Aokl took the win. Retirements started early when Xaus and Lavilla and Kassner crashed on the first lap. Xaus's works Honda had been .given to fellow Spaniard Sete Gibernau • for this race; he also crashed shortly afterwards - it is the same bike Checa feU off with such frequency earlier in the season. Stadler and Laconi also crashed; Mackenzie retired with ignition problems. Biaggi extended is already impregnable lead to 283 points ahead of Harada on 220 and Waldmann on 203. Then came Okada on 136, Ruggia on 115 and Aoki on 105. • 125cc GRAND PRIX Aoki didn't need to win, but why not, after all. It was perfect proof of how much he deserved the title in a year that has seen him in dominant form from 5 tart to finish. Dirk Raudies had made the early running, but ruined his rear tire in the process. He stayed with the leading group, but was responsible for splitting it up just after half distance, with Aoki leading Manako, and Alzamora and Sakata delayed behind the German. There were only five laps left when Sakata got ahead of his rivals, and the gap was more than two seconds, but with Alzamora tucked in behind the Japanese Aprilia rider closed right up so that the last lap began with four bikes almost touching. Into the chicane they swept. Sakata left his braking late as could be to sweep into the lead; but Alzamora had other plans, releasing his own brakes to run back ahead as they approached the corner. And now Aoki showed his class, diving inside both of them to lead through the right-left and for the rest of the lap. Alzamora was second, Manako third and Sakata fourth in a typical close finish. Raudies was fifth, almost 10 seconds away, then came the next batch, led across the line by Katoh's Yamaha from Saito and Tokudome. Veda and new Briton Dennis Barton had been with this group, but collided. Veda fell, Barton survived to take ninth. Thus Sakata saved second overall, 140 points to Aoki's 124 and Alzamora's 129. Saito dropped to fourth on 127. fN Montemelo Circuit Barcelona, Spain Results:October8,1995 UScc QUALIFYING, 1. Haruchika Aoki (1:54.272); 2. Noharu Ueda (1:54.418); 3. Dirk Raudies (1:54.534); 4. Kazuto Sakata (1:54.623); 5. Akira Saito (1:54.764); 6. Emilio Alzamora (1:54.873); 7. Tomomi Manako (1:54.973); 8. Dennis Barton (1:55.044); 9. Takehiro Yamamoto (1:55.OS7~ 10. YoslUako Katoh (1:55.061); 11. Loris Capirossi (1047.351); 5. Daryl Beattie (1047.412); 6. Shinichi Itoh (1:47.422); 7. Alex enville (1:41.n1); 8. Norilumi Abe (1:47.787); 9. Alex Barros (1:47.896); 10. Scott Russell (1:48.076); 11. Neil Hodgson (1:48.187); 12. Loris Reggiani (1:48.4lJ.l); 13. Juan 80* (1:48.906); 14. Sean Emmett (1:49.592); 15. Laurent Naveau (1:49.708); 16. Jeremy McWilliams (1:49.860); 17. James Haydon (1:49.993); 18. Jose Kuhn (1:50.173); 19. Lucio Pedercini (1:50.261); 20. Frederic Prota (1:50,438); 21. BernaJ:d Garcia (1:50.473); 22. Marc Garda (1:50.493); 23. Adrien Bosshard (1:50.516); 24. Bernard Haenggcli (1:50.690); 25. Enrique de Juan (1:50.980); 26. Christiano MigHorati (1:51.168); 27. L. Pullan (1:51.374); 28. Jean Jeandat (1:51.857); 29. Eugene McManus (1:52.770); 30. Marco Papa (1:54.230); 31. Scott Gray (1:57.251). USee GRAND PRIX: 1. Haruchika Aold (Hob); 2. Emilio Alzamora (Bon); 3. Tomoko Manako (Hon); 4. Kazuto Sakata·(Apt); 5. Dirk Raudies (Hon); 6. Yoshiako Katah (Yam); 7. AJdra Saito (Hon); 8. Masaki Tokudome (Apr); 9. Dennis Barton (Yam); 10. Stefano Pe.rugini (Apr); 11. Oliver Koch (Apr); U. Hideyuki Nakajoh (Hon); 13. Lwgl Ancona (Hon); 14. A. BOIlerioi (Apr); 15. Stefan Prein (Hon); 16. j. de Gea (}ion); 17. Gabriele Debbia (Yam); 18. A. Folger (Apr); 19. J. Maturana (Yam); 20. H. Kikuchi (Hon); 21. D. Garda (Hon~ 22 K. Miyasaka (Hon); 23. Noboru Ueda (Hon); 24. Y. 5ug.,; (Hon); 25. Jorge Martinez (Yam); 26. Herri Torrontegui (Hon); 27. T. Yamamoto (Hon); 28. Manfred Geissler (Apr); 29. Peter OettJ (Apr); 30. Luis Alvaro (Hon). Peter Oettl (1:55.088); 12. Manfred Geissler (1:55.220); 13. Masaki Tokudome (1:55.225); 14. Stefano Perugini (1:55.784); 15. HerTi Torrontegui (1:55.797); 16. Ken Miyasaka (1:55.928); 17. Hideyuki akajoh (1:55.940); 18. Gianluigi Scalvini (1:56.031); 19. Andrea Ballerini (1:56.271); 20. jorge Martinez (1:56.292); 2]. Oliver Koch (1:56.305); 22. J. de Gea (1056.414); 23. M. d' Agoano (1:56.428); 24. Yoshiyuki Sugai (1:56.592); 25. Lwgi Ancona (1:57.000); 26. Tomoko Igata (1:57.022); 27. Hiroyuki Kikuchi (1:57.040); 28. Stefan Prein (1:57.256); 29. Cabriele Debbia (1:57.276); 30. O. Garda (1:58.966); 31. J. Maturana (1:59.182); 32. A. Folger (1:59.926); 33. Luis Alvaro (2:00.278); 34. J. Sarda (2:03.483). 250c( QUALIFYING: 1. Tet5uya Harada (1:48.286); 2. Max Biagg! (1:48.419); 3. Ralf Waldmann (I :49.142); 4. Oliver Jacque (1:49.500); 5. Jean-Michel Bayle (1:49.501); 6. Luis d'Antin (1:49.516); 7. Kenny Roberts Jr. (1:49.502); 8. J. van den Goorbergh (1:49.597); 9. Renzo Locatelli (1:49.724); 10. Jurgen Fuchs (1:49.757); 11. Nobuatsu Aoki (1:50.192); 12. J.P. Ruggla (1:50.209); 13. Tadayuki Okada (1:50.416); 14. EskU Suter (1'50.451); 15. Takeshi Tsujimura (1:50.649); 16. Luis Mautel (1:50.821); 17. P.van den Goorbergh (1:50.951); 18. Alessandro Gramigni (1:51.381); 19. Jose Cardoso (1:51.477); 20. Niall Mac.kenz.ie (1:51.560); 21. Miguel Castilla (1:51.5 8); 22. Sete Gibernau (1:51.599); 23. Bernd Kassner (1:51.656); 24. Giovanni Lavilla (1:51.699); 25. Adi Stadler (l :51.734); 26. Regis Lacon. (1:51.784); 27. Davide Bulega (1:51.839); 28. Oliver Petrucciani (1:52.062); 29. j. Marsella (1:52.626); 30. Jose Barresi (1:53.155~ 31. R. Xaux (1:53.401); 32. F. Padro (1:53.826); 33. R. Loscos (1:54.662); 34. J. Di.. Pan (1:55.314). 500cc QUALIFYING: 1. Luca Cadalora (1:46.335); 2. Michael Doohan (1:46.81); 3. Carles Checa (1:46.812); 4. Cadalora's third ole F riday morning was damp, but conditions improved, only for riders to discover that the track had ~ subtly not only from the last time they ran here, but also from session to session. This considerably complicated tire choice, and everything else. There were other reasons for the line up at the front being slightly different from usual, the Spanish factor playing a huge part. Even so, nobody expected that Carles Checa would be leading the field, in only his fifth 500cc-dass GP after taking over from the injured Alberto Puig. "It's not that a 500 is easy to ride - just that I was never really comfortable on a 250." he said. In fact he didn't survive at the top of the tree. He had displaced Alex Criville, also very much inspired at home; and was in turn displaced by Michael Doohan in the later stages as the final reshuffle began. . And then, once again, on the very last lap, came ,Luca Cadalora, to claim pole position foi a third time this year. "We'd been trying a different front rim size that didn't work, and I was in the pits while the mechanics were changing brake discs and everything to put the old rim back. They worked very fast, and we had four minutes left. It was enough for two laps," he smiled later. He'd used Dunlop tires front and rear, and denied they were soft "qualifiers". "The front already had 15 laps on it, and the rear was the one I won with in Rio," he said. But Cadalora had a problem of his own. He had a broken rib, following a go-kart crash less than a week before. "It's like somebody's stabbing me, and it's very painful. Could be a problem," he admitted. Barcelona is hard on tires, so there is a dilemma of whether to go for a hard compound and risk it being too hard, or a soft and risk it wearing out by the end of the race. Doohan, who ended up second by almost half-a-second, resolved the question in the most popular way. "I'll use the tire that gave me the best lap time," he said. Very much more relaxed than hitherto, having won the title, he said: "I don't know that I could have beaten Luca's time, but I could have been closer," he said. "There's no title pressure on. but I still want to win tomorrow. But the track changes so much all the time. It was only in the last session that I was able to use the tires we've used here for testing." Checa was third: a very impressive position for a class novice. '1 did my time alone, but I am not sure if I can do it all race long. The podium is not as important for me as for some other riders. If I just have 3 good finish I will be happy," he said. He had fallen in the morning, but escaped serious injury. "The bottom of my back is sore," he said. Last man on the front row was Loris Capirossi, for the fifth time, and absolutely thrilled at the effect of the 17-inch front Michelin he had tried for the first time since tests last winter, where he decided he preferred the 16.5-incher. "I felt that at the last race it was time to test them again, because many of the Honda riders use them. The result was amazing - unbelievable. The bike was transformed. It takes much less effort to ride it and I'm really enjoying myself." Daryl Beattie led row two, knocked back in the last minutes by Cadalora's vault from behind him to pole. He'd had a troubled weekend so far. "This is a good track, but the bike's the worst it's been all year. We solved the'understeer problem it had at Bmo when we tested there, but the same things just don't work here. I have to back off. mid-eomer to get it turned, or else it runs wide," he said. Though matters had improved over practice, he was not sure it was by anything like~ Shinicfrlltoh was next; then Criville, whose preferred bike had suffered engine problems on Saturday aftemon; and Norifumi Abe, with times still dose. Discounting Cadalora, the front two rows were within the same second. Alex Barros led row three from Scott Russell, still stiff and sore from his Argentina crash; then came temporary works Yamaha rider Neil Hodgson and Loris Reggiani. Juan Borja was again top privateer, leading row four from Sean Emmett, with Belgian rider Laurent Naveau alongside, in a strong 15th position out of 31 starters.

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