Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD· RACE Race Series . Round 10: Austrian Grand Prix Championship Road Wo~d Max Blagg; (1:34.051~ 3. Ralf Waldmann (1:34.238); 4. jurgen Fuchs (1:34.392); 5. Luis d' Antin (1:34.426); 6. Tohru Ukawa (1:34.844); 7. Jean-Philippe Ruggia (1:35.062); 8. Eskil Suter (1:35.116); 9. Roberto Locatelli (1:35.262); 10. Luca Boscoscuro (1:35.352); 11. Cristiano Migliorati (1:35.377); 12. Osamu MiyazaJci (1:35.486~ 13. Tetsuya Harada (1:35.610); 14. Alessandro AntonelIo (1:35.709); 15. Nobuatsu Aoki (1:35.855); 16. Takeshi Tsujimura (1:35.918~ 17. Sebastian Porco (1:35.966); 18. Olivier Petrucciani (1:36.213); 19. Regis Laconi (1:36.259); 20. Gianluigi Scalvini (1:36.434); 21. Sete Gibernau (1:36.756); 22. Yasumasa Hatakeyama (1:36.920); 23. Jamie Robinson (1:36.932); 24. Davide Bulega (1:37.061); 25. Christian Boudinot (1:37.281~ 26. Jurgen van der Coorbergh (1:37.697); 27. duistophe Cogan (1:37.705); 28. j. Cardoso (1:37.936); 29. U. Bolteraurer (1:39.247); 30. Jose Barresi (1:39.818); 31. T. Stadler (1:40.546); 32. J. Wolfsteiner (1:41.485); 33. R. Haidegger (1:42.i52). SOOcc QUALIFYING: 1. Michael Doohan (1:29.430); 2. AJe>c Criville (1:30.126); 3~ Luco Cadalora (1:30.157); 4. Tadayuki Okada (1:30.446); 5. Alberto Puig (1:30.491); 6. Nor;fumi Abe (1:30.621); 7. Scott Russell (1:30.722); 8. Alexandre Barros (1:31.005); 9. Carles·Checa (1:31.176); 10. Kenny Roberts Jr. (1:31.288); 11. Jean-Michel Bayle (1:31.399); 12. Loris Capirossi (1:31.466); 13. Terry Rymer (1:31.781); 14. juan Borja (1:32.220); 15. jeremy McWilliams (1:32.346); 16. M. Lucchi (1:32.672); 17. Shinichi Itoh (1:32.798); 18. Lucio Pedercini (1:33.302); 19. Frederic Protat (1:33.351); 20. James Haydon (1:33.498); 21. Eugene McManus (1:33.530); 22. Chris Walker (1:33.985); 23. A. Busshard (1:34.819); 24. Sean Emmett (1:35.008); 25. P. Young (1:35.278); 26. J. jeanda' (1:35591); 27. K. Truchsess (1:37.132). 12See GRAND PRIX: 1. Ivan Goi (Han); 2. Dirk Raudies (Hon); 3. Valentino Rossi (Apr); 4. Masaki Tokudome (Apr); 5. Peter 0ettI (Apr); 6. jorge Martinez (Apr); 7. Youichi Ui (Yam~ 8. Tomomi Manko (Hon); 9. Kazuto Sakata (Apr); 10. Manfred Geissler (Apr); 11. Nobo,TU Ueda (Hon); 12. Akin Saito (Hon); 13. Hem Torrontegui (Hon); 14. josep Sarda (Hon); 15. Frederic Petit (Hon); 16. Yoshiaki Katoh (Yam); 17. Jaroslav HuJes (Han); 18. Lucio Ceec.hinello (Han); 19. H. Danninger (Han); 20. Loek Bodelier (Han); 21. A. Nieto (Apr); 22. G. Hofer (Hon); 23. G. Schar] (Hon). Time: 41 min., 50.829 sec. Distance: 24 laps, 64·.267 miles. Average Speed: 92.269 mph. Margin of Victory; 0.767 sec. Fastest tap: D. Raudies, ):41.254/95.206 mph. lap 22. 250ce GRAND PRIX: 1. Ralf Waldmann (Hon); 2. Luis 0' Antin (Han); 3. Jurgen Fuchs (Hon); 4. Tohru Ukawa (Han); 5. Jean Philippe Ruggia (Han); 6. Nobuatsu Aoki (Han); 7. Luea Boscoscuro (Apr); 8. lurgen van der Goorbergh (Han); 9. Regis Laconi (Hon); 10. Takeshi TSlljimura (Hon); 11. Olivier Petruccciani (Apr); 12. Alessandro Antonello (Apr); 13. Sebastian Porco (Apr); 14. Christian Boudinot (Apr); 15. Yasumasa Doohan naturall N points to Tokudome~s 133. Perugini has 119 - he retired with engine problems; Manako has 109 and Veda 98. SIDECAR GRAND PRIX The weather had settled to a gentle drizzle by the time the sidecars came out on Saturday afternoon, which meant at least conditions were predictable if very slippery, and Steve Abbott charged off to an early lead pursued by Steve Webster, whose passenger David James set new standards of acrobatics as he threw his weight over the rear wheel with both legs high in the air. Pole qualifier Rolf Biland took over on lap four, and led for the next 12 laps, interrupted only once and briefly by defending champion Darren Dixon, who was on his tail for the rest of the time. Behind them, the Guedel brothers moved to fourth, only to run off into the gravel on one of the tight bends. Keeping the power on, they slithered back onto the track, down in seventh, but on a major charge. They caught the leaders up at the rate of two seconds a lap, forced past Dixon into second on lap 16, and one lap later moved inside Biland to seize the lead. Soon afterwards, Biland started to slow, and Dixon nipped past to keep an eye on the leaders. On the last lap, he closed right up to mount a late challenge, but the Swiss brothers held him off across the line by three-tenths of a Scott Russell knifed through traffic after his early off-track excursion; here he leads Juan Borja (8), Carlos Cheea (24) and Jean-Michel Bayle (12). second to take their second win of the season. Biland was eight seconds adrift at the finish, fending off Abbott by just onetenth for another near photo-finish. Webster was now 40 seconds behind for a distant fifth, four seconds clear of local hero Klaus Klaffenboek. With two rounds left, Dixon's title lead is not yet secure, with 115 points ahead of new second-placers the Guedel's 89, with Webster on 79 and Biland 69. (N Osterreichrlng Circuit Zeltweg, Austria Results: August 4,1996 (Round 10 of 15) 125cc QUALIFYING: 1. Masaki Tokudome (1:41.254); 2. Emilio Alzamora (1:41.262); 3. Valentino Rossi (1:41.338); 4. Peter Oettl (1:41.S96); S. Jorge Martinez (1:41.838); 6. Stefano Perugini (1:41.994); 7, Tomomi Manako (1:42.182); 8. lvan Goi (1:42.247); 9. Dirk Raumes (1:42.327); 10. Yoshiaki Katoh (1:42.418); 11. Kazuto Sakata (1:43.074); 12. YouichJ Ui (1:43.099); 13. Frederic Petit (t:43.126); 14. Lucio Cecchinello (1:43.167); 15. Josep Sarda (1:43.192); 16. Noburo Ueda (1:43.258); 17. Darren Barton (1:43.347); 18. Gyo hours on Friday came up with few surprises, as Michael Doohan once again displaced Alex Criville to claim pole position in the closing minutes. He had run off the track in the morning, as he hunted for grip on the slick surface, but that improved by the afternoon, at least on the racing line, as the passage of four solo classes plus the (for once welcome) sidecars laid some rubber down. "You still have to be a bit tentative," he said. Doohan was the only rider to get below 1;30, and was almost six-tenths faster than Criville, who was in turn less than a tenth clear of Luca Cadalora, the puzzling rider going through one of his revivals at a track he liked from the start. "Riders are funny people," he said. "When I am happy, I can go fast easily." It was the first all-Honda front row since the opening round in Malaysia. The final man on it· and this was a little surprising - was Tadayuki Okada on the V-twin, his first time since the opening European round at Jerez. "1 didn't expect it, because it is a stop-and-go track," he said. "But we found the same thing in Indonesia, which is a similar sort of circuit." Alberto Puig was fifth, his best for some time, and a reflection that (as at Paul Ricard, where he was on the front row) this track has only two left-hand comers, where his near-aippled left leg makes it difficult. Only then came the first non-Honda: the ever-improving Norifumi Abe. "We used a very soft Michelin," he said. "The grip wasn't tOQ bad. But if I was going as fast as Doohan maybe it would be different." Just one-tenth behind came Scott Russell's Suzuki, an improvement on his Donington qualifying, where he was too far back to capitalize on being the fastest man on the track on Sunday. "We're working on improving our qualifying," Russell noted. 'We need to get the bike right sooner, and [ need to dig deeper. But I'm a racer, not a practicer." He was enjoying his return to Zeltweg (where he raced a Superbike before), even though, as he said: "The track's that much different now that prior knowledge counts for zero." Alex Barros completed row two; Carlos Checa led row three from Kenny Roberts Jr. and Jean-Michel Bayle, the fonner expecting to improve the next day, the latter troubled by tires spinning on the rim. Then came Loris Capirossi, blaming an engine problem for his poor position. "We have to write today off - it should be better tomorrow," he said.. The same wish applied to Terry Rymer, leading row four from Juan Botja, top privateer Jeremy McWilliams, and Marcellino Lurchi, having his first-ever outing on the still-injured Doriano Romboni's V-twin Aprilia - and it came true at least for Rymer, if not in the way he wanted. The Briton, again riding Beattie's Suzuki, was fastest of all on Saturday, but it didn't count for much. The weather was the reason. A heavy cloudburst on Friday evening had left the track covered with streams of mud; no sooner had workmen cleaned it off (working through the night to do so) than an even heavier storm broke, deluging the track with more mud, and even washing it inch-

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