Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 6: F chGrand Prix ren mi ssing h im by inches, before he was able to leap to safety, Jean-Michel Bayle crashe d his Marlbo ro Yamaha at the end of the sixth lap, wi thout inju ry, spoiling his hop es of a good home result - he w as lyin g fourth at the time. Checa fell one lap later, and Shinichi Itoh lost the front w hee l of his Repsol -H onda V-twin a lit tle further along . Anoth er tw o lap s alon g and Juan Borja fell from his Elf 500, lyin g a careerbest sixth at the time. Kenny Roberts Jr. stayed aboa rd h is Marlboro Yam ah a when a brak e d is c br oke , bu t rod e straight to the pit s. Earl ier, Ma x Biaggi had taken his Chesterfield Aprili a to a fourth successive massive win, his fifth this year, stretching his title lead still further and underlining h is u tt er dom inance. His margi n wa s increase d still fu rther by a co llision between early leader Olivier Jacque's ElfChesterfie ld Honda and a charging [urgen Fuchs's HB Hon d a. Fuc h's brakes we re giving trouble, and he ran right into Jacque's back wheel at the end of the start straigh t. Both went flying. to the dism ay of the partisan crowd. This left second to HB Honda's Ralf Wa ldmann, with Tetsuya Harada counting himsel f lucky to make the rostrum well ou t of touch with the leaders, after roundly s lam ming his Yamaha' s trou bles om e motor in a blistering post-practice attac k. By Michael Scott Photos by Gold & Goose " 14 L o rd " M ichael Doohan was ennobled in the Queen's Birthda y Honors list on Sunday. He responded with a truly aristocratic performanc e at the French GP, back at the picturesque Paul Ricard circuit after an absence of five years. The lat est recipi ent of The Order of Au stralia ga ve a demonstration of maste rfu l ta ctics, s kill an d co n trol as he humbled pole-starter Alex Cr iville, his Reps ol-H onda teamm at e, to m a ke it fou r wi ns in six races, and draw yet further ahead on the road tow ard the 1996 cham pions hip. Dooha n claims he's just out to enjoy himself this year after winning the title for the pa st tw o stra ight; whil e the everimprovin g Cri ville' s strong pra ctice perform ance raised Spanish hop es that the younger m an mi ght be ready to take advantage o f th e Australian' s casual approach. It wa s not to be. Doohan once again used his experience, letting Criville lead in the early stages, keeping the pressure on , then choosing th e perfect moment for a decisive attack. By the finish he was more than 10 seconds ahead, with CriviIIe having deeded a safe second place was better than any further humiliation. "A t the last minute, I decided to use a harder rear tire than him, and I think it paid off," said Doohan, while Cri vill e ad mitted that he'd lost heart after leaving his braking too late at the end of the start s t r a igh t, und er pressu re fr om Doohan, a nd had ru n w ide to let hi s rival pass easil y. Luckless Da ryl Beatt ie was already out with yet another injury - the Lucky Strike Suzuki rid er's third this season. A heavy cras h in the last practice session mad e him one among many victims of the track' s much-criticized p redominan ce of right-hand bends, which allow the left of the tire to cool down da nge rous ly . He broke hi s le ft arm and suffered bad intern al bruisin g after his bike hit h im in the chest. The two H ond a riders rem a in e d head and sho ulde rs ahead of the rest, in .a race in hot sunny cond itions in front of a cr ow d of 45,00 0 at th e tr a ck in th e coa sta I m ountains above t he Cote d'A zur, There w as a good b attl e for thi rd , with at one stage five bikes dukin g it out, in spite of a nice of attrition with a number of crashes and retirements that left onl y 15 finishers out of 26 starters. The last rostrum place went to Spania rd Alberto Puig on th e Fortun a Pon s Honda, narr ow ly ahead of Jap anese GP winner Norifumi Abe 's Marlboro Yarna- (Top) Michael Doohan (center) marches on. The reigning World Champion's calculated win over teammate Alex Crlvllle (left) and Alberto Pulg leaves him 40 points ahead of his nearest rival. (Above) Fortuna Honda's Puig pressed hard late In the race to secure his spot on the pod ium and nearly collapsed after the race with exhuastion. ha and Sco tt Ru ss ell ' s Luc ky St rike Suz uki . It wa s a popular result - marking a co u rageous return to form one year after Puig broke his leg badl y at the French GP at Le Ma ns a year ago. After the r a ce, he a lmost co ll a psed w ith exha us tion. Two V-twi ns had been wi th this battle, but Ta day uki Ok ad a ' s Reps ol Hon da retired w ith a h ol ed radia t or from one of the many stones thrown up onto the tra ck, and Doriano Rornboni 's Nastro Azz urro Apri lia rattl ed to a stop soon afterw ard with a sus pe cted broken primary drive. Th e cra shes s ta r te d on lap two. Puig's teammate Carl os Che ca ran on at the first com er and swerved back onto th e tr a ck ri ght in front o f Lori s Ca pi rossi' s Marlboro Yam aha, and the Italian crashed frighteningly in the middle of th e pack trying to avoid him. Bik es swerve d p ast the fallen rid er, Benetton Honda rid er Tohru Ukaw a won a race-long battle for fourth wi th fellow-Japanese rider Nobuatso Aoki on his Rheas Honda; some wa y back came a huge pack of mainl y privateers, narrowly lead by Luca Boscoscuro's Ap rilia . . Stefano Perugini prevailed over a typ ically fearsome 12Scc race, with nine bikes battlin g for the lead and the first four crossing th e line a lmos t abreast. U GT-Europ a H onda rid er Tomom i Manako w a s seco nd , Spain ' s Em ili o Alzamora third, and N ob oru Ueda fourth. Teena ge se nsa tion Val entino Rossi cra shed out of thi s gro up, but had the consolation o f th e lap record and having led a GP for the first time in his career. Adrian Morill as won the Thunder bike race, with Bernard Garcia a distan t se con d an d Stefan Schesch owits third . Jeffry d e Vr ies was fourth, narrowly defeating Yves Briguet's Honda. SOOcc GRAND PRIX Doohan' s tactics were those of a man in command, but it was A lex Bar ros who burst off the 'line first and led into . th e bottleneck first corner and for the re st of the lap . Crivill e w as behind, Doohan on hi s back wheel. Dooh an stayed in third as Criville took the lead on the second lap .

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