Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Wataru Yoshikawa (Yam ); 12. Kirk McCarthv (Suz); 13. Pa ol o Casoli (D u e); 14. Iochen Sc h m i d (Kaw): 15. Michael Paqu ay (Due); 16. Ste ph ane Chambo n (Due); 17. Ferdi nando Di Maso (Du e); 18. Anders Rasm ussen (Yam). Time: 39 min., 45.713 sec. Distance : 62.93 miles. Average Spee d: 94.959 mph. Margi n of Victory: 1.031 sec. Fastest Lap: Troy Corser, 1:34.752 WO RL D SUPER BIK E CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS (After 1 of 12 roun ds): 1. John Kocinski (5JJ / 2 wins); 2 Troy Corser (40); 3. Pier- Francesco Chili (32); 4. Sim on C rafar (26); 5. Aaron Slight (21); 6. Ca rl Fo garty (19) ; 7. C hri ster Li ndholm (15); 8 . Co lin Edward s II (14); 9. mE) Wata ru Yoshikawa / Piergio rgio 80n tempi (12). and naturally Gobert wa s disappointed . "I have a lot of respect for John Kocinski's abilities as a rider," he sa id . "Bu t I know tha t I can bea t him, and I h ave clearly shown th at to day. Despite th e points I have lost here, I feel confident that I can win the championship. Just wait and see in Donington. " Team ma nager St eve Johnson explained w here the tech inspectors had clearly a diffe rent interpretation of the regulations th an th e Kawasaki factory an d th e Mu zzy team. "Kawasaki have homologat ed tw o sizes of carburetors for th e new ZXR," Johnson said. "In the race kit you have a part tha t fits on to the fron t of the carbu retor which has a taper Upcom ing Rounds: Round 2 - Don ingto n Park. Great Britain, Ap ril 28 Round 3 - Hockenh eimring. Germany. May 12 (A bove) Jo hn Kocins ki celebrates hi s first-ever World Superb lke v ictory in his first -ev er Wor ld Superb lke race. (L eft) Colin Edw ard s II q ualified we ll bu t had t ire problems to f inally post 11th· and seventh-p lace fini shes. Brieflv·•• . ... in it and the taP!"r, ~;ges in this parti cular case from 39 to 36mm. It is no t part of the carburetor body. Both bikes p assed thr ough scrutineering after the first race. . We didn' t change anything on the bikes, and now there is a problem ..." Crafar ' s bike also pa ssed insp ection aft er th e se cond rac e and th e Muzzy team is expect ed to appeal. According to [ in Inoue, fr om th e Kaw asa ki racing department in Japan, the ca rbu re to rs have not been modi fied in any way and meet the hom ologa tion requireme nts to the letter. A fter th e fin ish , Kocinski said, " I should ha ve been in low 34s during the race, but that didn't really go. I got beaten, which I don't like, bu t it will make me work harder and be more motiva ted ." Crafar was fifth before th e in tern ational jury d isqualified h is te ammat e, and he ended up fourth. "My race went exactl y as the first one," he sa id. "I was very consisten t and I managed to hold off Aaron (Slight). M y ma in problem was ge tti ng grip, but that was ev eryone 's prob lem. If I had known what I know now I would have changed th e tire." Slight wa s happy with his two sixth places (one of which was turned into a fifth afte r Gobert's di squalificat ion). "I could ride th e bumps better than last yea r, so in all I'm fairly happy," he said . Edwards was once again with the lea ding men on th e opening laps, but then gradually lost ground as his Dunlop lo st some big chunks o f rubber along the way. "In this race we ran the same front as this morning, but it wa sn 't turning right and it got w o r se with seve n laps to go." He ended up seventh (after Gobert's DQ)with one seco nd to spare on Hale. "Things went better .this time ," Hale said . "Th is weekend we have been changing front fork springs, suspension oil levels, etc. My riding sty le d iffers a lot from Troy' s (Corser - his teammate). But for this race we seem to have foun d a good solution. A better tire choice also helped." McCarthy to ok th e first Su zuki to 12th pl a ce afte r his team ma te Jo h n Reynolds had cras hed. "I messed up my start, but the race itself was better than the first one," McCarthy said. " I should have tried h a rd er in th e turns, but I didn' t wa nt to crash agai n. That's why I lost some places in the beginni ng of the l~ race." Autodromo Santamon lca Mlsano, Ita ly Results: April 14, 1996 (Round 1 of 12) Q UALIFYING : I. John Kocinski (1:33.750/ 96.660 mph ); 2. Troy Corser (1:.33.946); 3. Neil Ho dgson (1:34 .572); 4. Colin Edwards II (1:34.728); 5. Simon Crafar (1:301.750); 6. Anthony Gobert (1:34.844); 7. PierFrancesco Chili (1:34 .95 2); 8. Christer Li ndholm ( 1:35 .01 7); 9 . Aa ron Slight (1:35.123 ); 10. Wataru Yoshikawa (1:35.211); II. Carl Foga rty (1;35.344 ); 12. Kirk McCarthy (1:35.736); 13. John Reynold s (1:35.895); 14. Iochen Schmid (1:35.981); 15. Piergio rgio Bonternpi (1:36.003); 16. Mike Hale (1:36.129); 17. Brian Monrison (1:36 .801) ; 18. Paolo Casoli (1:36 .875 ); 19. Ste p hane Cha m bon (1:36.985); 20. Michael Paq uay (1:37.149); 21. An d reas Mek Jau (1:37 .555); 22. Bernh ard Schick (1:37.947); 23. Igor Je rm an (1:38.147 ); 24. Bou st as (1:38. 784 ); 25. Red a m o Assirelli (1;38.831); 26 . Ferdinando Di Maso (1:39.179); 27. Bernhard Haen ggeli (1:39.317); 28. An ton Gr usehka (1:39 .365); 29. Bru n o Ciraflci (1:40.072); 30. Henrik Rasmussen (1:40.936); 31. A ntonio G iang~aeomo (1:4 1.335 ); 32 . Pi ttalunga (l :43.850~ 33. Pallis (1 :45.274~ RACE ONE: I. John Kocinski (Due); 2. Troy Corser (Due); 3. Pier-Francesco Chili (Due ); 4 Simon Cra far (Kaw); 5. An tho ny Gobert (Kaw); 6. Aaron Slight (Hon); 7. Carl Fogarty (Ho n); 8. Christer Lindh olm (Due); 9. Wat ar u Yoshikawa (Yam); 10. Piergiorgio Bontem p i (Kaw): 11. Colin Edwards n (Yam); 12. Neil Hod gson (Due ); 13. Mike Hal e (Due); 14. Brian Morri son (Oue); 15. Michael Paqu ay (Due); 16.Jochen Schmi d (Kaw); 17. John Reynold s (Suz); 18. Stephane Charnbon (Due); 19. Bernhard Schick (Due); 20. Ferdinando di Maso (Due); 21. Redamo Assi relli (Ya m ); 22. Bernard H aen ggeli (Hon); 23. John Bous tas (Due); 24. And er s Rasm ussen (Yarn); 25. Igor Jerman (Kaw ). Time: 39 min, 49.259 sec. Di stance: 62.93 miles. Average Speed: 94.819 mph. Margi n of Victory: 11.061 sec Fastest Lap: John Kocinski, 1:34.296. RACE TWO: I. John Kocinski (Due ); 2. Troy Corser (Due); 3. Pte r-Pra ncesco Chili (Due); 4. Simon Crafar (Kaw); 5. Aaron Slight (Hon); 6. Carl Fogart y (Ho n ); 7. Colin Edwards 11 (Yam); 8. Mike Hale (Du e); 9. Chri ster Lind h olm (Due); 10. Piergio rgio Bontempi (Ka w ); 11. . According to the race departmentman' -the · superbike teams won't have any pro blems due to this sit uation (eve n' though seve ral. pnvate teams ."sto rmed " therace shop during the last couple of week s in order to buy the last avail- . For the firs t 't ime in -the W orldSupe;;'ike .history; Team .R u m i wi ll no t part lcipate in .the 'able' mcing part s). '-W e have planned 'to b uild se ries . In I he earl y day s <1 9 8 8-8 9) : Fr ed · 30 mce 9 16s .this yea·r. Fift een 'of these have Mer keltook.twotitles for the t eam of Italian · bee n fi nished and are now' w it h the W orld 'm illlonatre' O scar Rumi. The. Ber gamo . Italy- · Superbike teams . The other 15 -. all 'destined for teams not com peting in the W orld series based team will concent rate on the Thunde rwill be ready by the end of next week ." . bike Tr oph y th is yea r : en te ri ng a Ho nda CBR 600 for Ita lian ta le nt lnamora tl. Th e 1: .· If the situation' does nOI.clear up soo n: even ·year-old semioffipial' Honda .RC45 s that were .destined ,fo r SimonCrafa r in '95 (but were · the two factory teams mig ht- ge t nervou s.' According'lo A lf....d I nzingar; manager of 'used 0~1y 'o n a few occasions afte r ·HRC . prothe Promotor team, things 'might be' a bit more vided the ex-Polen bikes to the New Zalander) have been given to .the' Gavira broth ers, -The , · comp licated with the Ferrari team (the in-house factory te am) than .with his ow n t eam. ' W e ' Spaniards will enter the bikes in the European "Superb ike C hampionship and, if everything ·have 'a contract with Ducati which allow s us to purchase . Cing part s 'at other 's uppliers. W e ' m goes we ll. -they might -also ' show .up at some W orld Superbike rounds. Technical assistance 'have exce llent relat tons with TWR (T om will be provided by some of the Rumi mechan- · W alk inshaw ' Ra.clng). a c ompany tha t does ics . . . .. deve lopment and productio n 'work for car manufacturers such as Volvo. Saab and GM." St ill, . . . . .. . ' John Kocinski is determined to leave. the .. according to Itlzinger, Ducati has also agreed past behind and start wit h a clean slate , - Even .to release ·new parts for the factory teams 'o nly . though I had a very positive season With Cagi- . aft er at least Iw o iden tica l part s have been . made , so t hat-the Ferrari and the Promot or ·va in 1994 , it .was perf ect timing wh en they stopped at the end of that season," he said. "I : Team do nol get an advantage at any time: needed a break to get myself cleared from my reputat ion. Part of that poor image.was caused . Even though ·Troy Cors8'r refuses to com ' . ment on his prospect s for next year. it seems by bad management. That' swhy I took 'care of everything myself the 'last couple of months. '. very likely that he wm at least · have ago at Now I think I'm not only a good rider, but also · testing a 500c c Grand Prix machine (in private a good lawyer and a good accountan t. I neqoti- . test sessions) during 1996. It is alsothe intenated on my Ducati contract personally. On the ': tion of te am manager .Alfred Inzinger to havea circuits 1 want to be cons idered for who I am: : team the 500 cc Gmnd s Prix'next year, even though.he is riot likely to give up his superblke ·and not for what people 'might have said about team. " lt is certai n for about 90 percent t hat ' ·me . I had several opport unltles .to go racing again this year. I could have gone mcing with . we will go on in superbik es, ~ the Austn8n businessman said, ·" We are. one .of the top teams ' (Kenny) Robert s again, but I wasn 't sure if he could give me competitive bike, There was a 'here and il w ould be .not very int elligent ·to.. lot' of confusio n about his team atthe end of · abandon everything and try a whole new ballthe season. Ducat i could give me a bike with . game. .Moreover. the situation in Grand s Prix ·Which I could win races again; and thatts my · is not very clear right now. with Dorna. IRTA. . FIM and so me ' other part ie s fig hti ng .o ver . first objective forthis season: win races, later. · power.." .. . '. we will s.ee how the championShip goes.- in a The sit~~tion v-.:ith· Dueatiis~tili unclear. The . The ' t!alian Sup erbike n;cing 'com'mu~iiy lo st Italians have been stru ggling ';'ith ca sh··flow · several riders in the week leading 'up to t he' problems for quite some timenow, but until a ' Misano WSB :round. FirSl of an•.young supercouple of month s ago the sltuatio n seemed to ' bike rider Bumelli was killed during 'a National ·clear up with an Amencan bank ready to take . . race in Monza one wee k before the Misa'no over partof the company . Accordmqtc .scrne' race r.Mauro' Mastrelli, who collided with Bur· sources. the ltshans need $200 -300 millon to 'nelli in one ofth'e fastest comers of. the Milan ·have sound financiai footinq agai n. The last . circuit, is st ill in the. hospital and will likelY be . couple of weeks . however. have .seen the deal para lyzed . A nd or. Thursday .. A ldeo · P r e , wi th the Am erican bank become. somewhet . sclutti was involved in a-traffic accident gOing ' uncertain. According 1 Ducat i, negot iations' to Mi sano. -The successful businessman and 0 are still going on. even thoug h other possible '. pa.rt.timeWorld Superbike 'Competltor was' still financial. part ners , have also been contacted . ' . ina coma at the 'end of the weekend,. .The Italians also insisted that the 'production lines had not been stopped, despite severa l Form er Superbike ride r M a u fi. Lucchl~rL rumors to the c ontrary. According to' source s. . eas ily w on t he f irst race in t he European seveml suppliers had sto pped all deliveries to ' Sopersport Championship. but Was disqualified · the factory . " tt is true that production 'slowed ( wit h three oth er Ducat i riders) coup le of down constderably du'ring the month of 'J anu- ' hours after the finish due to megal air intakes: ary, - ' ad mltte d en qtoe er D om enic all. " But .. " Form er superbike 'rival Fabrizio Pirovano was since . th e mo nt h of February. "production is promoted .to firSt after a race-lonqscrap with again on.90 percent ·.of the normal capacity.". four other Italians. . '. . .'. . . . : a

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