Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

left Ditter Plastics Aprilia rider Masaki Tokudome and UGT Honda's Tomomi Manako to scrap over second, while erstwhile leader Valentino Rossi on' the AGV Aprilia dropped back to retire. The Italian teenager nad ridden another sensational race until that point. Defending champion Harachuki Aoki took the Rheos Honda to eighth, and his points lead over Tokudome shrunk to 24 points. On Saturday, defending sidecar champion Darren Dixon claimed a third win in the four-race-old season, with former champion Steve Webster inheriting second after Steve Abbott rattled to a stop and third-placed Rolf Biland also dropped back with a chain jumping the sprockets. . Victory in the Thunderbike Trophy -went to Honda-mounted William Costes for the second time this season, wi th Stephane Mertens second and Eric Mahe a close third. Jeffrey de Vries did n9t start after breaking bones in his hand in a practice crash. 500cc GRAND PRIX More than 10 years after his father ~topped making,a habit of it, it was again Kenny Roberts leading off the line at the British GP, and he held on up front for two laps with Capirossi on his wheels and Barros behind that. Doohan picked his way through to fourth by the second lap, trying to stay out of potential trouble. "The way soine of them took off you'd think the checkered flag was just round the first corner," he said later. Roberts started to lose ground to his elders and betters 'after the third lap, while teammate Bayle, also with the leaders, was heading for a crash at Coppice Corner leading onto the back straight. Top privateer Jeremy McWilliams had already fallen on the second lap, and Terry Rymer went off two laps later. Then on lap 10 Roberts also slid off, at the same place as Bayle. It had been an impressive performance nonetheless. Capirossi was the first to displace Roberts, making a fairly convincing attempt to break away as he led laps fotir to seven, with Barros in second delaying the pursuit a little. But still Doohan was there, and he pushed past th.e Brazilian at the chicane on the sixth lap, and from then on Capirossi's fate was sealed. Doohan was quickly on his back wheel, and only had to wait a short time before the Italian ran wide down the hill, and he was able to move cleanly past on the inside. From lap eight to the finish Doohan was never challenged and certainly never headed. But the race was far from dull. Criville had gotten away slowly, and finished lap one in sixth. But he too was moving steadily through, and as Doohan took the lead he slotted in behind him. From then on it was a familiar picture: Doohan controlling the race from in front, and gradually stretching away, tantalizingly just out of reach. Criville did try to kick again in the closing laps, but he came close to crashing and thought better of it. Doohan explained his tactics later. "I had the usual trouble getting past Barros, but once in the lead, in the interests of tire wear, I decided to try and ride as smoothly as possible. When Alex did . close the gap 'on me a little toward the end,. it wasn't 'panic stations because I knew I'd be able to push a little harder if needs be." He expanded on the topic of tires, which he blamed for not beating the Superbike time. "Maybe if we had their (Left) Scott Russell gives chase. The Georgian ended up setting the fastest lap of the race en route fo finishing fifth. (Below) Kenny Roberts Jr. (10) qualified well, but crashed out of the Grand Prix. tires, we could do the times. It seems to . . me that Michelin just don't have any compounds soft,enough for this track. It's different from all the rest. 1 used the softest 1 could get, and I'd still like them softer." Criville had taken the other gamble, choosing harder rubber, and felt it might have paid off if he hadn't had to work so hard in the opening laps. "The ·important thing (is) I was constantly in second, and I'm still second in the championship." The words of a man resigned to his fate: Capirossi and Barros gradually faded, hunting for grip, the latter .losing ground faster so that he was soon embroiled in the next scrap: Abe and Okada were fighting it out, with Russell joining in behind after scything through from. 12th on lap one. Barros soon dropped off the back of this too. They then swallowed up Capirossi too, although by the finish the trio was still very much together. Abe just managed to cling on to third, saying later: "I usually qualify on the third or fourth row. I knew when I was on the second row here I had a chance of the rostrum." Okada had made him work very hard for it, nosing alongside several times. His problem was tire chatter that meant he couldn't g.et the power on early enough in the final turn. He was two-tenths behind across the line. Russell was riding as well - and eventually as fast - as anybody. "I was chasing grip all race long." he said later, but if he hadn't lost so much time at the start he would have been a definite topthree prospect. "I really thought I could get third, but 1 made a couple of mistakes in the last laps, and 1 just wasn't close enough," he said. At the finish he was just over half a second behind Okada. Capirossi was sixth, his hard tire choice not paying off as he lost grip as the race wore on. Barros was another eight seconds adrift, and narrowly escaped being swallowed at the finish by Borja, having a best-ever run on the Elf 500. Then carne Cadalora, speeding up at the end after yet another extraordinary' race, spending the first half hanging out well out of the top 10. He explained it later: "We had chassis problems all weekend, and we tried something different for the race. It worked well, bu t it took me 10 laps or so to get used to it." He was a second behind Borja at the end, having dropped Itoh off behind. Puig was 11th, just beating his teammate Carlos Checa across the line; Briton James Haydon was top privateer, 13th, defeating Frenchman Fred Protat's similar ROC by two seconds. Doohan still insists he only cares about enjoying races, but the "just a bonus': title is looking more and more likely, with a massive lead getting bigger still. He has J91 points; Criville, 129; Cadalora, 113; Barros, 100; and Abe, 94. 250cc GRAND PRIX With Biaggi back on form, the racing went back to what we have seen a lot of earlier in the year - a' vain and processional pursuit of the flying black bike. Biaggi got away first, and though he didn't run away as we have seen him in do the past, the end result was much the same, and a 4.6-second win earned the same points as one by a bigger margin. "It was a hard race for me - the Hon- . da-s work very well here," he said. "But I was able to push on when I had to. I did my best, and it was enough." Jacque had led off the line, but was quickly displaced to third by Waldmann after the German had a very lucky escape, losing the front wheel at the chicane on the first lap. "I saved it with my knee," he said later. This three pulled ahead, gradually spreading out, and though Waldmann did try to mount an attack soon after half distance, it was a risky business, and he soon realized it wasn't worth it. Woule! Harada have made any difference? The question remained unanswered after a little comedy of errors: The tachometer failed on the sighting lap, and when he pitted and tried to fix it, one of the intake pipes to the airbox was disturbed. This in turn upset the mixture, and the bike siezed on the warmup lap. End of story. Ruggia gradually dropped away in fourth; at the same time Fuchs was battling through a strong fight behind him. He got into fifth on lap five, and concentrated on nibbling away at a gap of more than five seconds. Bit by bit he closed up, and was finally on Ruggia's tail after 15 laps of solid effort. He passed him on lap 25, and Ruggia crashed at almost the next corner. 'The best dicing came in the fight for fifth, with Tohru Ukawa making the running under constant pressure from Luis d'Antin and the privateer bikes of Regis Laconi and Takeshi Tsujimura Nobuatso Aoki's works Honda dropping off behind by half-distance. D'Antin was ahead when he crashed out unhurt with nine laps remaining, and the rest were somewhat spaced out by the finish. Lucchi, riding the injured Locatelli's ApriJia, also retired - battered after crashing in practice, he saw little point in battling on for a low finish. More spectacular was the departure from the race of British regular Jamie Robinson, who was knocked off when Lucio Boscoscuro cut across his front wheel. Incensed, Robinson resorted to fisticuffs before being calmed by marshals. Biaggi's win reop.ened the gap on Waldmann, 199-146. Harada has 97, Fuchs 96 and Jacque 9Z. 125cc GRAND PRIX The first race saw front-row qualifiers Perugini and Jorge Martinez take the early lead, with pole man Tokudome a little way back in the pack and Alzamora likewise, soon to force through to join the leaders by the third lap. . Rossi was the sensation as they sorted themselves out. The leggy teenager with the girly hair was riding 'with his usual breathtaking aggression as he forced his way forward from 14th on lap one to close on the front men before half distance. On the way he carved past Tokudome and Manako, who were embroiled in the second group. Rossi's imrI¥nent arrival was the signal for Alzamora to get moving. He passed both his rivals at the last hairpin, and got his head down to try to get away. Instead, he crashed, after 10 laps, handing the lead to Perugini once more. Perugini had his hands very full with Rossi, who went to the front for the first (and last) time on the 12th lap. The second group was closing now as well, and as Martinez dropped back Tokudome was coming forward as the final laps counted down. Now it was 23

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