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/127789
Special Mail-Order Offer: Video· Sick Air~ Tee Shirt· Sick Air~ Poster · $49.95 ·Tapes available separately for $29.95ea. did battle for every-inch of Italian asphalt. Chili, Corser, Fogarty , Slight and then Chili again led the group at one tim e or another, with Edwards bra vely hanging on in fifth pos ition . Sixth position was secured from the beginn ing of the race by James Whitham, while Reynolds, McCarthy, Ho dgson and Gobert had all set their sights on seventh spot. Simon Crafar had left their company after three laps in a cloud of d ust. " I rea lly did not want to hit the man in front of me," said the Muzzy rider, who had also crashed in collisions at Donington (Rasmussen) and Hockenheim (Gobert). "I hit the brakes as hard as 1 could when he braked a little earlier than 1had expected, and I flew off. 1 hit my head, so 1 was a bit shaken. People told me that it looked nasty on television. But the only thing 1 ha ve is a few bruises and a big right foot." Just as they d id a couple of hours earlier, things started to heat up on the last lap, with five riders still in with a chance to get the full score. Ch ili crossed the finish line in first position as they rolled , into their last lap . In the first chicane however, the Italian braked a little bit too late, an d had to go straight through the gravel pit. Slight took over comman d, followed closely by Fogarty. . Corser was close be hin d b ut lost some ground as Chili go t back on the track right in fron t of his Ducati. On the second-to-last straight, Chili was once again in the slipstream of Fogarty: When the world champion tried to get out of the slipstream of Sligh t, he could not preven t Chili from d iv ing under him in the las t corner an d taki ng both Honda-riders in one clear sweep. This time, Chili would not be hea ded again. The Italian crossed the line first w ith a margin of only seven-thousands of a second over Slight, one-tenth over Foga rty and three-tenths over Corser. Edwards crossed the line some six seconds later, after having lost contact with the leaders a few laps earlier. "A wonderfu l ra ce," sa id wi nner Chili . "Du ring the race, I thou ght of two ways of beating everyone. 1 had to get past the lot in the Parabolica or I had to use the slips tream on the straight line before the finish. The firs t option was canceled a few laps before the end when I knew that I could not make it going much -fas ter throught the Pa ra bolica. Th ings almost went so ur w hen I had so me clu tch problems com ing into the first chicane on the last lap and when I ha d to go straight through the grav el. I was very fortunate to stay on board." After leading so close to the end of the race Slight migh t have been d isap- , pointed abo ut his runner-up finish, but his new championship lead 'took away any sting there might have been. "Again I had a good s tart," said Slight. "I lost the front once in the first ch icane and after that the throttle sticked. But 1 am quite happy about the way the race and the championship has turned out. " Fogarty crossed the line third. "I felt a lot more relaxed in th is race than in the first," the Blackburn rider said. "I though 1 could get Aa ron in the last turn, bu t that didn't work. So I had to try in the straight line. I waited, but on the crucial moment Pier-Francesco came under me. 1had to pull the bike back up, and co uld only see him get also past Aaron and take victory." Australian Corser was fourth after changing to a harder-eompound rear in hope of avoiding his first-race difficulties. "I p u t a harder tire on and that helped," Corser said. "In the end, 1 was riding my own race and was ready to take some more places. But when Pier-