Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

straighaways to let 'em cool down. I couldn't do nothing with it." The locals' hope for a strong effort was further dashed when DuHamel was forced to pit orrthe fifth lap. "I honestly don't know what was wrong with it," DuHamel said. "It's something with the front end on.the left side. Going over one it would just tuck. It didn't do it all weekend, so I don't know why it would do it now. The third time it did it I knew something was wrong and I was at risk. I was just trying· to ride and not fall and that's not going to work out there. I got a pretty good start and was trying to catch the leading four guys. We found an oil leak on the left fork, but the tire has been checked and it's fine. We won't know if it's fixed until we go out." By this time, Kocinski had used an inside line to dash by Corser heading into turn two; ditto for Edwards who had moved around Gobert and was starting to eat into the lead duo's lead. On the eighth lap, Gobert returned the favor and the top four were running together, two Ducatis, a Kawasaki and a Yamaha. The race was on. (Opposite page) Troy Corser (2) leads John Kocinski (11) and Nell Hodgson (9) on the run down the hili towards tum two at Laguna Seea Raceway In the opening leg of the U.S. World Superbike round. (Above) Kocinski (11) and Corser (2) stayed this close throughout the first race. (Left) Anthony Gobert (4) leads Kocinski and Corser en route to winning the second race at Laguna. On the ninth lap, Gobert passed Corser with a late-braking move into the recently revised turn 11, the slowest corner on the track, and instantly went after Kocinski. Two laps later, Gobert moved around the outside of Kocinski on the exit of Rainey Corner and slid under the former 250cc World Champion on the run to turn 10. By the time the Australian headed up the hill out of turn five he had 0.61 of a second on Kocinski as he tried to make a break for it. It all came to an abrupt end for Gobert in tum 11, the Kawasaki sliding to a heap in the dirt. "I was outbraking them everywhere and I just wanted to demoralize 'em," Gobert said. "I just got a little too keen. I probably should've been more patient. I'll do everything the same (in the second race) except I'll brake a little earlier for that corner (turn 11)." "He never started to pull away," Kocinski said later of Gobert. "We kept going and it was like, 'plus 0, plus 0' - so when he came up around the outside of me, I just kind of rolled off and thought I'd let him lead for a while. And he led for... a lap. It's nothing to make fun of. The guy (Gobert) rides hard and he's going to be tough to beat in the next round. He's a competitor and as you can see he can outbrake anybody in this whole field. It's just incredible some of the things he does. I have respect for him. 1 think maybe he just got in too hot and locked the front wheel up." That left Kocinski and Corser to battle, With Edwards a distance behind and starting to come under some pressure from Hodgson. Behind them came a lonely Slight, an equally solitary Hale and Fogarty, then a battle among Crafar, Paolo Casoli and Yoshikawa. On the 13th lap, both Chili and Suzuki's Reynolds were out, the pair crashing on the exit of the Corkscrew. "1 don't really know what happened," Reynolds said later. "As 1 powered out of the Corkscrew, 1 seemed to lose the back and high-Sided. I've twist- ed my ankle, which is quite painful, but I should be okay for the second race." He was later diagnosed with having cracked a bone in his ankle, and was forced out of race two. Nothing Changed up front until the 19th lap when Hodgson worked his way around Edwards on the run up the hill out of tum 11. "He (Edwards) made a mistake com· ing out of the last tum and it's a tough sport this road racing," Hodgson said later. "He tried to block me and he came across, which I would have done exactly the same, but I was already committed to the inside. '1t probably looked a little bit close and I think my arm touched him as I went passed· but it's only about 160 mph there so it's all good fun. We're good friends, honest. Well, we was." Hodgson wasn't finished. He suddenly ate into the. gap between himself and the lead twosome and with five laps to go was right there. That lasted for three laps, but he couldn't keep the pace in the end and was forced to settle for third place. "1 had such a bad start to the season, 1 actually started to lose a bit of confidence," Hodgson said. "Thankfully, I haven't rushed into it and 1 haven't done anything crazy. In fact, since Donington 1 haven't even been off the bike. So I've slowly built my way up and built my confidence, and now I'm feeling really confident. Third in the first race -I'm really happy. Hopefully, I can build on that for the next one. "I let them go too early on. I didn't feel comfortable pushing so hard so soon. Once my tires came in 1 slowly closed them back. With about four laps to go 1 was right there. To be honest I got it sideways too many times and there's no point in saying, 'If only .. : If 1'd crashed and sat in the dirt I'd be thinking, 'Shit, I shouldn't have tried so hard.' I used my head and eased it off a bit to take my third place. Hopefully, in the second race I'll get away with them a little better and won't let them pull away." That left just Kocinski and Corser. Although the Australian was able to dog him for the entire distance, Kocinski took .the win, his third such victory of the season. '1 didn't really feel too comfortable at the start," Corser said. "1 got a good start and 1 got in front. But the tires were moving a bit and I sort of slowed down a little bit to just stay consistent ~ and watch my board. When (Anthony) 0\ Gobert came by I sort of got on the back ,....; of Anthony and followed him and caught back up to John (Kocinski). When Anthony went down I thought I'd just sit behind John. My motorbike wasn't rUnning really well; it wasn't accelerating good out of the comers so 1 had to settle for second. I'll just have to 7

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