Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"I drafted past Casoli and (Wa ta ru) Yoshikaw a d own th e stra ight, but the rear lifted as I brak ed fo r the left-hand er an d th e bike started to fish tail. As w e turned in, the rear of the bike swung out and clip ped Casoli, " the Australi an explained. Naturally, Kocinski was very pleased with his World Superbike debut. "The start d idn't go very well, " he sai d after the fin ish. "This is th e first time we practiced it. I went into the first lap in seventh or eighth position. It was a strange experience for m e to have so m an y gu ys around m e. I thought it was all a bit risky and I deci ded to get away as soon as possib le from that situatio n . When I got out of th at group an d I go t into my rhyth m, everything went qu ite smoothly." Corse r knew by the h al fw ay m ar k th at thi s wasn' t go ing to be h is race . "I guess the result is not ba d, but, of . . course, I would have liked to w in," he said. "Unfortunately, the rear tire di d n't allow m e to do the lap ti mes Jo h n (Kocinski) was doing. I had a goo d start, bu t seven la p s into the race the rear started to slide. I backed off a little , and John came b y . There wa sn 't much I cou ld do; I saw his tire was ha ving be tter gri p than m ine, so I ha d to settle for seco nd." Chili was su rprised to finish thi rd . "We received the bikes only Thursd ay eveni ng, an d to be quite honest I was still not ha ppy about the way it was set up after Friday and Saturday practice," th e Italian sai d . " After this m o rnin g' s w armup we decided to change everyth ing d rasti call y, an d that seemed to work out al l rig h t. I only got a scar e in th e second la p, w hen Troy's fro nt tir e hit m y knee." C r afar ended ul? fourth. " My tire (Muzzy's team use s Dunlops... Editor) seems m ore cons iste nt than Anthon y' s (Gobert's), but he and th e two Yamaha fa ctory riders u sed exa ctly the s ame tires. You ca n' t blame th e tire, it's the way you use them. The bike is still not perfect in handling, but th at' s a problem that w e'll no t be able to fix here . I'm very happy with this place; I wanted to be th e firs t Jap an ese (bike). I'd hop ed to be on the ros trum, but I hadn't expected Chili to be up th ere." Go be rt was fifth after losing a lot of ground in the last few World Su perbike races because of poor tire choices. "Th e setu p o f the chassis for th is circuit is pretty difficu lt," he explained. Sligh t's m ai n proble m was th at his Michelin tire went off, causing hi m to lose grip. "Unfortunately, this is the best tire [ have, so I'll have to stick with it for the seco nd race ," th e Kiwi said. Still, he was better off than his teamm ate Fogarty, w ho was 'still a bit dizzy afte r his Saturday crash and rode to a lonely seventh. Like Slight, Fogarty's problem was grip, but with bo th front and rear. "The lack of grip was so bad that [ ha d to use lower gears on some comers toward th e end of the race," Fo rgarty said . " Bu t it wasn't just me that s uffered . Even so me of the Du cati tir e s looked wrecked at th e end of th e race and th at is unusu al." Fourth after one lap, Edwards looked to repeat his Dayt ona stu nt and hav e a go at the rostrum . Unfortu nately, the Yamaha rider lost three places in the first half o f th e rac e, and moved even further bac k in th e second half, ha ving no chance to fig ht agains t the likes of Lindholm (o n a "ho me-grow n" lOOOcc Du cati), Yoshika wa a nd Pi ergi org io Bontempi, who go t th e best of th e Texan in th e final tw o laps . " We just m ad e t h e wrong t ire (Opposite page ) The World Superbike Series gets under way in Misano, it aly, with Troy Corser (2) leadi ng the way off the start; Colin Edwards II (45) and Anthony Gob ert (4) are also amo ng the fast start ers. (Above) Gobert leads Corser and John Koc inski during the ir epic battle in the seco nd race. (Right) Gobert (4) leads his teammate Simon Crafar (6) and Edwards (45) in the firs t race. ..... ;..; 0... ~ 7

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