Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.ROAD RACE· Road World Championship Superbike R~ ·Series Round 7: Brands Hatch again, closed in on the two leading men after having shaken off Carl Fogarty, Edwards and Corser. Four laps before the checkered flag, Corser went wide in a comer and rode into the pit lane the next time around. "The engine was not going from the start onward," the Australian said. '1 almost stopped at the back of the circuit and it nearly threw me off. There was nothing that 1 could do, except hoping that it wouldn't stop. The rattle in the engine which 1'd heard in the first couple of laps only got worse and worse. We still don't know what exactly has happened, but according to the data from the on-bqard computer the oil pressure had been dropping all through the race." Corser's retirement left Fogarty and Edwards alone in their battle for fourth. Behind them came a heated figh·t between Suzuki's John Reynolds, Slight and Hodgson. Simon Crafar, meanwhile, was a lonely ninth. In the end, Chili took an undisputed victory, albeit by only 1.7 seconds over Gobert and Kocinski, who finished close together. Edwards and Fogarty completed the top five with Slight finally taking sixth. "1 enjoyed myself in my fight with Anthony (Gobert)," explained the gentlemanly Chili after the finish. "The guy goes well, but he just lacks the power especially on the straights he is struggling. 1 had some trouble in the final stages when the gas tank got emptier and the bike did not always want to follow the racing lines 1 had in mind. When 1 saw John (Kocinski) was coming back, 1 made an extra effort and man- By Johan Vandekerckhove Photos by Gold & Goose \0 0\ 0\ ·rl ~ I""""i ..... rJJ 5b -< ;l 10 BRANDSHATGl, GREATBRITAlN, AUG. 4 or Troy Corser, the "European" round of the World Superbike Championship could have been his big chance to give a serious blow to the Honda opposition as the RC45s were expected to struggle on the bumpy circuit near London. But things didn't go as expected. Corser retired in the first race, losing his lead in the championship to Castrol Honda's Aaron Slight His victory in the second heat, however, gave him that lead again (by eight points) as the weekend ended. But even without Corser's bad luck, the Honda boys managed to limit the damages on race day after two disastrous days of qualifying, and the battle is far from over. The man of the day, though, was Italian Pier-Francesco Chili. The Ducati rider won the first race and finishe<;i second behind Corser in the first, boosting himself to fifth in the championship point standings. Yamaha's Colin Edwards II also fared welJ at Brands Hatch. The young Texan was fourth in the first race and third in the second as his season starts a turn for the better. Ditto for Muzzy Kawasaki's Anthony Gobert The Australian battled with Chili for victory in the first race before ultimately settling for second place; he then dropped to a f'ourth-place finish behind Edwards in the second race. Although Ducati Corse's John Kocinski capitalized on Corser's non-finish in the first race by finishing third, he threw away everything he'd gained by crashing out of the second race. (Above) Troy Corser (2) and PierFrancesco Chili (7) do battle in front of a large crowd at Brands Hatch during the British round of the World Superbike Championship. (Right) Chill (7) leads John Kocinski (11), Colin Edwards II (45), Anthony Gobert (hlddenf and Troy Corser (2) in the opening laps of the first race. So with seven races down, Corser leads Slight by eight points, 229-221. Carl Fogarty, fifth and a non-finish at Brands Hatch, is third with 181 points eight points better than Kocinski's 173. Chili is fifth with 162 points. RACE ONE \ The first race at Br.ands is one the 57,000 spectators will not soon forget The same goes for some of the riders. On the starting grid, Ducatisti Neil Hodgson and Paolo Casoli couldn't get their motorcycles started as the pack gridded for the first race. While Hodgson's mechanics were finally able to push start the bike to life, the Gio.CaMoto mechanics were forced to push Casoli's mount back to the pit lane from where he would ultimately start his race. With aU the engines roaring and the lights turning to green, Chili took command in front of Gobert and Kocinski - but Chili and Gobert were definitely the men most eager for victory. Most of the leading was done by Chili, but you couldn't blame Gobert for not trying to outbrake the Italian in the first corner after start and finish, leading into the steep downhill section. Gobert led for a couple of laps in the beginning of the race, and did the same with less than 10 laps to go. Six laps before the end, however, Chili once again dived under Gobert and this time he was there to stay. By that time, Kocinski had, once aged to get a small cushion between me and John and Anthony." Gobert wasn't too pleased with the result. "Once the tires went off 1 couldn't get off the turns," he said. "We had taken a gamble on the tires, and 1 did the best 1could. Fortunately, 1 like to slide and this track suits me a lot I think 1 was better than anyone on the brakes about everywhere, but 1 lost ground on the straights." John Kocinski explained his strategy: "1 had a pretty good start and then stayed consistent. 1 just tried not to make any mistakes, because 1 don't know the track well enough. And especially after a non-finish in Laguna Seca, getting some points was the thing 1 wanted the most."

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