Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

RO\D RACE World Championship Road Race series Round 7: Dutch Grand Prix almost four seconds ahead in order to land a podium position. "In the excitement I somehow thought I only had to finish ahead of Barros to get third, but in fact I needed to be 3.7 seconds in front. I left my attack to the last lap, crossed the line ahead of him, then found he'd beat me after all." Their battle preceded the One for fifth, which was waged among a bunch of Yamaha riders and Rymer. Rymer had taken sixth in the first leg ahead of Roberts and Okada, Abe, Juan Borja, and Bayle. But in the second leg he found he was having a hard time adjusting to the brakes and made a few mistakes. Marlboro Yamaha Rainey's Loris Capirossi had finished the first leg in fourth and was running in fifth in the second leg after a Uttle too much drama between races. The team had broken a rear disc in the first part of the race and had to change wheels on the grid. He started the race on a tire which wasn't ros feU victim to Criville and was about a second behind the lead Hondas when the lightly falling rain began to intensify, bringing out the red flag. The order at the end of the eighth lap was Doohan, CriviUe, Barros, Capirossi, Russell, Rymer, Kenny Roberts Jr., and Okada. Doohan's lead at that point was 0.282 seconds, which meant that he could finish that far behind CriVille and still win the race. The finishing order determined the starting grid, with Doohan starting from the pole after a 3D-minute delay and not getting away all that cleanly when his dutch acted up. Criville was in front with Barros' next, then Doohan and Rus~ On the second lap Doohan was up to second and from then on he was on Criville's tail and losing more ground than he would have liked. With five laps to go he was better than a second behind on combined time, but was able to take back half a second on the next lap when Criville ran wide exiting the chicane, then got into a big slide a few corners later. The Spaniard was under attack and showed it, riding nervously as Doohan made his presence felt. Doohan, meanwhile, was calm and fluid, waiting for the right minute to pounce. "Criville started to build up a big lead and I really started to think that I would not be able to catch him," Doohan said. "The other guys in front were not making any impression on him so I decided that I just had to get ahead of them again if I was to stand any chance of winning. I got my head down but kept distracting myself as I kept looking skywards and seeing the black clouds rolling in again. Then I started to catch him. I got a second back and then he overshot the 'chicane and I knew that if I stayed with him I could win." Doohan was actually in the lead on real time while running second with three laps to go and kept it to the final lap when he made his move to the front. At the end of the back straight he went up the inside of CriviJ1e with the (Above) Doohan and Crlville stayed close throughout and the outcome wasn't decided until the final chicane when Crlvllle ran wide trying to pass the two-time W9rld Champion. (Right) Ral' Waldmann was ecstatic with his wtn in the 250cc Grand Prix•. Spaniard returning to the fron t in the next right. Only he went in too fast, drifting wide and allowing Doohan to scoot up the inside. It came down to the chicane and Criville made a desperate late move on the brakes, only to overshoot the comer and allow Doohan an easier win. It was the third race in a row and fourth time this year that Criville has finished behind his teammate. As to when he might reverse the order, Criville said: '1 don't know. I'm still fighting for the victory every time. It's not like racing against just anotht;r guy, he's a two-time World Champion on his way to a third." Barros had lost the leaders a few laps into the second leg and was third on the track and on overall time after finishing third in the first race. The Brazilian had come up with a solution to front-end problems during a test last week at Mugello and was putting it to good use, staying in front of Russell, who'd bt;en with him from the 15th lap on. Then his face shield began to fog up, and he was losing precious seconds as Russell mounted an attack. Russell, meanwhile, was unaware that he not only had to finish ahead of Barros, he had to finish properly warmed up and was looking to hold onto his spot when he ran out of gas. '1 can't beUeve it," he said. "I'm not having any lucky at the moment." Capirossi'~ exit gave the position to. Roberts, who'd passed the struggling Rymer several laps earlier. His race was something of a fight itself, his rear tire not working and causing him to "wobble around." What helped him was the knowledge that he was well ahead of his teammate Abe on aggregate time, so when the Japanese rider came by with two laps left, he let him go. "Near the end Abe came past me on the brakes when I was trying to catch Scott (Russell), but I knew there was no point taking chances trying to go past him again because 1 was six seconds ahead on aggregate time," Roberts said. Abe ended up nearly five seconds back to take sixth, little more than a half a second better than Rymer, who is still learning the nuances of a works 500. "I'm still getting used to slowing the bike down. It's so Ught and the brakes are so powerful that it's hard to judge. I made a couple of slips and ran off the track one time. That lost me three or four positions and meant I had to find my way through traffic," Rymer said of the 16th-lap incident Next to cross the line was JeanMichel Bayle, the Marlboro Roberts Yamaha rider knowing that after finishing 11th in the first part of the race he would have a hard time greatly improving in the second one. Juan Borja managed to stick with the factory riders and finish ninth, the best ever for the Elf and enough to beat the Honda V-twins of Shinichi Itoh (10th) and Tadayuki Okada (13th), as well as the V-fours of llth- and 12th-placed Checa and Puig. Itoh had Tear-tire woes that caused his front end to skid out of the corners and Okada lost his front brakes at the start of the race. AfteT that he had to pump them in order to stop. a Circuit van Drenthe Assen, Holland Results: June 29, 1996 (Round 7 01 15) 12Scc QUALIFYING: 1. Masaki Tokudome (2:14.557); 2. Haruchika Aoki (2:15.096); 3. Emilio Alzamora (2:15.481); 4. Tomomi Manako (2:15.669); 5. Noboru Ueda (2)5.711); 6. Peter Oettl (2:15.763~ 7. Dirk Raudies (2:15.970); 8. Valentino Rossi (2:15.987); 9. Kazuto Sakata (2:16.028); 10. Lucio CecchineJlo . (2,16.030); n. Jorge Martinez (2:16.207); 12. Frederic Petit (2,16.634); 13. Aldn Saito (2,16.365); 14. Darren Barton (2,16.408); 15. Manfred Geissler (2'16.600); t6. Josep Sarda (2:16.771); 17. Gabriele [)ebbia (2,16.771); 18. Jaroslav Hutes (2:16.799~ 19. Stefano Perugtru (2:16.860~ 2ll. Loek BodeHer (2:17.220~ 21. Ivan Goi (2:17.242); 22. Herti Torrontegui (2:17.587); 23. Garry McCoy (2,17.597); 24. Paolo T....ri (2,17.620); 25. Youichi Ui (2:18.213); 26. YoshiaJci Katoh (2:18.215); TJ. Angel Jeto (2,19.842); 28. R. Filart (2,20.927); 29. Benny Janssen (2,21.499); 30. Gerard Rike (2,22.S13); 31. Andrea Ballerini (2:22.748); 32. Gilbert de Rover (2:23.427). l25

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