Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

reshu ffl e the c~rds e ve n m ore, th ose a ffecte d bein g the leadi ng Kawa saki and th e leadin g private bike. For Bontem pi, first pla ce was lost when he had to co m e in t o put on the obliga tory reflective armban d, which he h ad for go tten in th e previous pit stop. It was worse for world ch ampion Jean-Michel Ma ttioli, who w a s forced to p u ll into the pit when his visor fogged ov er. As a re su lt, th e p osition of firs t p ri vat eer bi k e w a s t aken o ve r b y th e Daffi x Honda of Brigu et /Cazade /Mizer a. After the tim e 1055 in curred by Bontempi, things looked go od for the lead- . ing Suzuki of Rym er / Goddard / Gomez, but not for lon g. After 10 hours of racin g, the positions seemed to be stab ilized. Bont empi was leading again, one lap in front o f th e Suz uki o f Ryme r, Goddard and Go mez a n d th e tw o Yam ah as a bit further . Vieir a had come back to fifth p osition a fte r Lavieil le's cras h, but the differ ence between the Honda and the leadin g Kawasaki was still some 10 laps. Behind th e top -five, th e p ri vateers showed some more enthusiasm to figh t fo r a fe w extra w orld cham pionship points. Brigu et ran into several p roblems wi th th e ign iti o n and t he fue l injection; later on, a defec tive va lve was fou nd, which w ould ultim ately lead to th e tea m 's reti r e m ent. The pri v ate Kawasaki of Coutelle, Haquin, Dob e also had lost a lot of tim e due to an oil leak, w h ich allowed the Guignabodet Honda of Mattioli, Simeon an d Guigou to get a hold of the first privateer spot again. During the n ight, on ly so me mi no r pro ble ms distu rbed the runof the leading m achin es. The Kawasaki a n d the Suzuki m ad e a n unpl an n ed s top in or der to cha nge ti res and one of t he Yamahas had to pit to repl ace the front fairing su pport. At five minutes befo re six on Sunday mornin g, th in gs wen t reall y w rong for the top Su zuki team. After a p it s to p, the bike refused to sta rt and had to be pus hed back into the pit box whe re the cylin der he ad was taken off and a valve problem was di agnosed. Team m anager Domin ique Meliand decided to replace the cy lind er head. "We had it comi ng, " ex p la ined Goddard afterw ard. " Fo r some seven hours, the bike had show n so me p robl ems to start agai n after a stop . Mayb e it is due to a bad material choi ce." Teammate Rymer w as.even more d isappointed. " We co u ld h a ve wo n the race the w ay we wer e goin g." he said . "I feel this bike is ready to tak e th e ch a m p io nshi p in h is first ye ar already ." , More than an hour later, Gom ez took th e bike b ack on the track again with 'only one mission: go as fast as he could and try to get as high as p ossible in the stand ings, sta rting from 13th position . . At a b o u t the sa me tim e th at th e Su zuki crew started their repairs, their co lleagu es a t Yamah a w ere urged to solve an electrical problem and later a sh ifting problem on th e bike of Morillas, Delet an g an d Nic otte. In one hour's time, th e top five cha nged drast icall y, with the Kawasaki still lead in g, but thi s time with a comfortable difference of 11 la ps ove r th e Yam ah a o f Bon o ri s / Mah e /Mounier, th e H onda of Vieir a / Lav ie ille / Cos te s and th e Yamaha of Mori llas /Deletang /Nicotte. With th e Suzuki out of the top five and the Kawasaki on the ro ad to a nearcertain victory, the attention turned to the battle for second place between the Honda of Vieira' and the Yamaha of Morill as. But then bad luck fou n d a new victi m. At 11 a .rn., four hours before ·the finish, d 'Orgeix broke the Mattioli /Simeon /Gu igou (H on ); 6 , Thoma s /Neff! Mo reira (Ya m ); 7. Ry mer / Godda rd / Gomez (5u z); 8. Sebileau /Lentaigne /Camb ra y (H on ); 9. Mon neret / H arm ati / Van den Bo s ch (Yam ); 10 . Ama lric l Bertin / Gu inand (Hon) ; 11. Petit /Dubois / Basi (Hon ); 12. Vivo li /Havet /Cottard (5uz ); 13. Gu ittet /Ulmann l Nogueira (Kaw ). 14. Bousseau /S chaffter /Paillot (Su z); 15. Girardot/Giabbani /Ma rzlo ff (Ho n); 16. Arnbord ! Krurnm enach e r yErnst (Ka w ): 17. Pa rk er /Sm ith ! Hodgson (Yam ); 18. [olivet /Besso n /Lethia (Suz) ; 19. Lherbette /Denis /Mont (Kaw) ; 20. Tanesie /Renault / Danie l (Kaw ); 21. Snick ers /Snickers /Orban (Suz ); 22. cuzin /Ca rra ra /Treffort (H on); 23. Graf/ Knutti / Boner (Kaw ); 24 . Bizotto / Gran ie / Gorse (Kaw) ; 25. Basl e / Ke rbrat j Corn jlle t (Kaw); 26 . Juano la / Al lema nd / Chauvin (Due); 27. Beau vais /E scudier / Peim (Suz); 28. Dallem ag n e / Fou e t /B ad ard (Ya m ); 29 . Muss ar d / Gasse /Labussiere (Suz); 30. Dimari no /Crillere /Pochon (Hon) ; 3 1~ Rob e rt / N a ll et / March an d ( Kaw ): 32 . Pommi er lLheureux lJaggi (Du e); 33. Cucura ehi / De laby / Hambuckers (Du e). Time: 24 hr ., 1 min. , 4.239 sec. Distance: 768 laps, 2112 miles Ave rage speed: 87.826 mph (Above) The defend ing World Champions hip team led by Jean-Michel Mattioli took its RC45 to fifth, some 18 laps behind the winners. (Below) A crash by Christian Laviellle In the early' sta ges dropped the factory Honda to ninth, though It would Ultimately finish third. cha in as he acce lera te d ou t o f the last corner before the sta r t/ finish li n e. It wasn 't all bad luck, thou gh, because the failure cou ld n't ha ve happened in a better place. The Frenchman free- wheeled the bike to the end of the pit-lane wall, turn e d the Kawasa k i aro u n d and pushed it back to the pit la ne - a com pletely legal action, which d id not lead to any pen alti es. If the chain ha d broken 200 yards fart her down the track, thi ngs mi gh t h a v e looke d ve ry d iff e r e nt in deed . Wh en d ' O rg eix left th e pi ts again a few minutes later, his lead was still so me four laps over the Honda of Vieira / Lavieille / Castes. Despi te this, th e race for the top spot of the p odium was still not over. Abo ut an h ou r af ter th e mi sh ap of th e raceleadin g Kaw asaki, the Hon d a go t into tro uble. Vieira h ad to pit after his bik e started v ibra ting for an u n kn own reaso n. More th an two mi nutes wer e lost during the sto p when the brake pads w ere fina lly d iagn osed 'a s the ca use o f the prob lem. Then at nearly the same tim e, Bontemp i ru sh ed int o the pit a n d the Kaw a sak i ' s o nce co m fo rtable lead wasn 't 50 comfortable anymor e. "I had not iced that th e steeri ng damper had co me lo o s e, " sa i d Bon tempi. " The mechanics did a gr eat job and replaced the part very quickly, but when the bik e w as refueled, so meth ing went w rong and fuel splashed ou t of the tank. [ got some in my eyes and for the first cou ple kil ometers [ h ad a h ard time see in g where I was going." Fortunately, thi s was the last misfortune the Kawasaki was going to be con fronted with. At 3 p.m. on Easter Sunday , d 'Orgeix cr ossed th e fin ish line, giving Kaw asaki its sixth victory at Le M an s a n d le a d in g Mo rill a s / Del et ang / N icotte and Vieira / La v ieille / Castes. Th e chargin g Suz uki-mou nte d te am of Rymer, Goddard and Gomez managed to push the ir way back to seventh, one spot behi nd Mattioli, Simeon an d Guigou, who finished fifth and first priva tee rs. Victory at Le Man s is alw ays spec ial, . For d 'Org ei x it w as particu larl y 50. "The Le Mans race is more important to m e th an the Bol d' O r," he sa id . " Four years ago, I crash ed during practice and a couple of day s lat er I saw m y teammates and th e replacemen t rider take victo ry. [ left the circuit in tea rs. Finall y, I have got m y revenge on fate ." Thirtythree ride rs wer e classified. fX Le Mans Le Mans, France Results: April 7, 1996 (Round 1 of 5) O /A : 1. Bon tem p i / d 'Or geix / Morriso n (Kaw); 2. Mori lJas/Deletang /Nicotte (Yam); 3. Viei ra /Lavieille / Cas tes (Han); 4. Bon ori s / Mah e / Mo un ier .(Yam ); S. Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 - Assen, Holland, April 28 Round 3 - Spa-Francorcharnps, Belgium, July 14 . . Briefly---,-~ ... Herve Moin e a u ," former world end urance some minor modifications had been carried out ' season. champion. will not race this year. the 38·year' .o td Frenchman willspend all of his available time on manager the Fre nch "Equipe de.. The "official Kawasak i te am. as always France - team; which should take young French " ntered by the French importer, did.not take riders to the Grands Prix within a couple. of e the new ZXR to Le Mans. "The new bike will years. . be raced only atthe Bol d'Or at the end of ihe .season." team' rnanaqerChris t ian Bourgeois Des pite the exce llent re sutt at" Le Mans, said. -At Kawas akl ..they are building four' Yamaha Motor ' Fra nc e will concentrate endurance-spec .zxas. ':'hich' will.make the lr this year on the Thunderblke Trophy. where ·debut at Suzuka.and which will be shipped to " they have two bikes ente red. one for for. Europe after thai race.- Itdid riot prevent riders .Adrien Monllas and the other .for Eric Mahe. BontemptMcrns on and d'Orgeix from' claiming Apart frem Le: Mans, they have only planned ·victory at Le Mans on the older version. Only participation in the' Bol d'Or'at the 'e nd of the . ·on the bike that had beenvery success ful ln . 1995. The main differences 'concerned.a differ- SIMA . the French Ducatl importer. waited in' · ent rear suspension linkage, which allowed the vain for the factory 916s he wanted to enter In riders to go ' one full. second faster.around the '. the first endurance race of the season. At French track during the private practice ses ". Bologna. 'however. .only two complete race slons. and heavier crankshaft which offered . bikes have left the workshop · the bikes 'used more inertia and made the engine run a bit by John K . ocinski and Neil Hodgson.. Even the mor e smoot hly . The bigge st pro blems ~ere Aust ria n Prom ot er t eam. the secon d official caused by the tires. The team had found a pret- . ·ty good set during private practice sess ions, but ran' into a lotof treuble when temperatures' · on race day proved.to be much higher than doring the spring practice: .'. Superbike team in the worldchampionship. had . . not received a complete bike at the end of March. Finally, SIMA boss Michel Seurat decid-. ed to lend to the French privateer team of Zone Rouge Competlon one of the two fact o ry Ducatis he had used in 1995. .. . World Champion Stephane Mertens will not · '. defend his title this year. The Belgian. who cam- _Peter Goddard might also do the rest of the paigns a Honda CBR600 in the Thunderbike Tro: ' world endurance championship. "Team manger phy in the 'same team.as Dut hman' Wilco Zee- . Dominique Meliand contacted.me' during last c lenberg; has' given priority 'to the Dutch Open ' year's SLizuka 8-Hour race and asked me if I Championship races. a roundofwhich was run . wanted toride for his.team. ldld some practice on the same date as theLe Mans event. Strange laps on the bike in Le Castellet in.November, , as.itmay seem. the factory supportfor the world .and'decided to have a go at 'the Le Mans race championship team run by former racer Jean· ' and then'see if I liked'it. I will make a decision ' · Louis Guiqnabodet, was very limited. The .Japan- ' within a co uple of weeks as to the ot her ese preferredto channel their "endurance bud- . endurance races. l-still need to speak to the ' ·get" again to the French importer..even though Japanese as well.." . forthe first.time in HRChistorya "lease fee- had to be pardforthe works endurance' bike. Most Two ho'crs afte r the 'finish ofthe 'Fre nt h wo'rkhad been done on the crankshaft and pis- .. endurance race. TerrY .Ryme r was drivenby . , t005, givi~g the e~gine some more acceleration power. and the ignition and the exhaust system. ' e providing the.bike with some mor horsepower. . No other Honda teams. had received spe cial parts, as the kit parts would only be available"the : ·weekafterthe LeMans race. fo rmer Gr and Prix racer St eve Parish to the ' race track of Thruxton: where.the second rOund' of the British Superbike Championshipwas.run. . The Londoner, rides a Ducati.in the series, and treunced the opposition in 'the first race a cou.pie.ofweeks earlier. . . . ..... l-< c,

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