Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127781
RQ\D·RACE World Championship Road Race Series . By Michael Scott Photos by Gold & Goose SUZUKA OTY,JAPAN, APR. 21 ap an ese rid er Norifumi Abe final{ } ly delivered on the promise he made to Japanese fans in 1994 . Back then, he led his home Grand Pri x and ea rned him self a full-time factory ride eve n though he crashed. In 1996, riding in sim ilar brea thtaking sty le, he m ad e it all the w ay to take his firs t-ever GP win on th e Marlboro Yamah a. It was the clim ax to one of th e m ost exciti ng 500cc-class races in years, with a pack of eight rid ers fighting for th e lead , inches apart in a too th-and- nail battl e. As p revious point s lead er Alex Barros crashed ou t of the race o n h is P ileri H o n d a, M a la y s ian GP wi nner Lu ca Cad a lora pitted the Kanemot o H on d a with termin al h and lin g prob lems, and d e fend in g World Ch ampion Mich ael Dooha n drop ped back to six th with a deflatin g front tir e on his Rep sol Hond a, Abe th rill ed the 51,000-s tro ng cr o wd w ith hi s lu rid pow er-slid es and risk-all tactics, over 21 lap s and 76.349 miles of th e classic 3.46-mile figure-eight Suzuka circu it. Abe a lso bro ke Kev in Schwantz ' s 1994 lap reco rd as he became th e firstever Jap an ese rid er to win the 500cc ra ce in Japan, an d o nly th e third Japanese 500cc w inn er ever - the last was Takazu mi Katayama in Sweden in 1982. He is not ye t 21, but m issed by a month the hon or of being the yo unges t-ev er 500cccla s s winn er . That is still Fr eddie Spencer, in Belgium in 1982. The race w as run in sunny but breezy and cool conditions after the rain that had d isrupted practice melted away. Round 3: Jap ese GrandP an rix (Above) Alex Criville (4) leads the Japanese 500cc Grand Prix into the first corner ahead of wild card racer Katsuak l Fujiwara (53) and Jean-Michel . Bayle (12). (Right) Norlfuml Abe (9) leads Crlvllle (4), Michael Doohan (1) and Alex Barros (7) In the ir ea rly race battle. Pole starte r Alex Criville was seco nd on th e Repsol Honda, u nab le to m at ch Abe' s blistering rubber-burning pace in the latter half of the race, arid Scott Russell was thi rd , the Luckv Strike Suzu ki rid e r ' s be st result ye t a s h e m o ve s towards completing his first year in GP racing. Tada yu ki Okad a ' s V-twin Rep sol Honda w as fourth, proving that the new .lightweight production prototype is com petitive on fast as w ell as slow circti its; Daryl Beatti e w as fifth in his comeback ride fr om his p reseason 'testing injury. Doohan w a s happy to fini sh sixth, and gain a slend er points lead for the first time this year. "For the last five lap s, it w as jus t a m atter of su rvival," he said, after running into tire problems at two ou t of three races this yea r, winning th e othe r one. Defending double World Champion Max Biaggi took his seco nd 250cc win of the season, moving into a massive titl e lead as rival Tetsu ya Harada made a rar blunder, crashing hi s Marlboro Yamah ou t of third place on on ly the fourth lap. Th e Ch esterfield Aprilia rid er wa e cs ta tie a fter fla shing a cros s the li n a lmost 15 seco n d s ahead of second placed Lu ck y Strike Suzu ki wild-car rider N oriyasu Numata. Not o nly ha Biaggi smashe d his own lap record as h su rged away for yet anoth er dominan win, but he h ad al so earned $15,00 bonus fr om Aprilia for becoming th a