Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·ROAD.·RACE: Roild Race series' R d8: S tu Wortd . shipSupertlike aun en I ----------------------------- By Johan Vandekerckhove Photos by Gold & Goose SENTUL, INDONESIA, AUG. 18 nly 15,000 spectators showed up at the eighth round of the world superbike championship, run in tropical conditions at the Indonesian circuit of Sentul. But those present just might have witnessed the turning point of the season. Just when everyone was fooled into thinking that Troy Corser and Aaron Slight would fight among themselves over who would become the new world superbike champion, Carl Fogarty and John Kocinski stepped in and broke the title battle open again. The top four in the title chase are now just 40 points apart - hardly a comfortable margin for new leader Slight, with four more rounds to go. As expected, Castrol Honda teammates Slight and Fogarty performed well, trading the lower rostrum positions in the two races, but it was Ducati Corse's Kocinski who took the maximum score on this "Honda-friendly" track, despite feeling more and more isolated from his team. The Arkansas native won the first race with relative ease, but returned in the second race to face a serious challenge from Promotor Ducati's Corser. After a race-one mechanical problem that left him struggling to finish sixth, Corser returned in the second race determined to win back points and establish a more solid lead in the season standings. Things started off well for the Australian as he jumped out to an early lead in front of Kocinski, but it didn't last. As the Ducati-mounted duo battled for the lead, Kocinski forced his way past on the inside and the Australian was forced to run wide, dropping to eighth place in the process. Corser eventually finished fifth. O And while Corser's luck might have seemed bad, at least he got to race. Anthony Gobert's weekend was finished at the end of quilifying when he high-sided his Kawasaki and broke his collarbone. Corser now trails new points leader Slight by seven points, 257-250, while Kocinski:s title hopes have improved considerably as he now sits third, leading Fogarty and Colin Edwards II, who finished fifth and fourth in the two races. RACE ONE Pier-Francesco Chili took the holeshot when the lights turned to green Sunday at noon. He was followed by Kocinski, pole-sitter Edwards and Slight when they dived into the first comer of this not-too-spectacular circuit just 18 miles outside of Jakarta. After one lap, Kocinski had taken over the lead, showing the rest of the field the way. The American, who had lost precious points with a secondrace crash at Brands Hatch only two weeks before, was eager to make up for that loss and set out early to try to build a safe margin over the rest of the field. It nevertheless took until half-distance for Kocinski to establish what was at least a somewhat comfortable lead. Behind the leader's back, Chili had his work cut out for him in a battle with the Honda duo of Slight and Fogarty. Edwards also had been part of this chasing group for a while, but he eventually fell back, down on top speed compared to the Ducati and the Hondas. Chili, Slight and Fogarty each took turns leaaing their group, but as the race wore on, the Italian had ever more trouble staying with the Hondas. Due to a bad bike setup, Chili's tires had begun losing their grip and he finally lost enough ground that there was no hope of gett:iI)cg onto the rostrum. Edwards was running a lonely fifth, in no danger of being challenged by Corser, who was struggling to hold on to sixth as a result of engine trouble. Nothing much would change in that order until the finish and Kocinski would take his fourth victory of the season, in front of Fogarty and Slight. "We have been working very hard to get the bike set up as 1 wanted," Kocinski said after his late arrival to the press conference. "It was a long and a hot race, and 1 am glad that things are now looking a bit better for me again in the championship." Briton Fogarty was pretty pleased with second place after having struggled during free practice and qualifying. "1 went as fast as 1 could," the two-time world champion said. "And eventually 1 noticed on my pit board that 1 was catching Kocinski. But 1 was tired and I've got a problem on one particular corner and that was holding me back in the chase. Moreover, the bike was sliding around a lot. We had taken some sort of a gamble for the setup, and that didn't work out too well. Unfortunately, the modifications we did can not be undone in a couple of hours, so I will have to go out for the second race on almost an identical bike." Fogarty's spare bike was not an option since it wasn't equipped with the new, more-powerful engine Honda has developed for the RC45. Apart from the typical front-end problems, third-place man Slight also struggled with the pain in his broken toes. He settled for a safe third place and 16 championship points. The New Zealander's finish put him within two points of series leader Corser, who finished sixth. "The race has been good for me," Slight said. "1 could have stayed second until the end, but then 1 started The first World Superbike race In $entul gets under way with Pier·Francesco Chill (1) leading Aaron Slight (3), Carl Fogarty (1), Colin Edwards II (45) and the rest of the field. to lose the front a bit. My foot was especially painful when 1 downshift. Before 1 do, I anticipate that pain that is coming and it is leading me to make mistakes." Edwards finished fifth, apparently down on power compared to the Hondas. "No way that Yamaha could have gone faster," the Texan said. "At the end of the race, the rear tire started to overheat. But my main concern was the fact that 1 could not stay in the draft of the Hondas anymore. As soon as they shifted into third or fourth, 1 had to let go. Their new engine is definitely giving them a major advantage. Before, 1 had no problem whatsoever to keep up with them in a straight line." Edwards had for a time been struggling with Neil Hodgson, but the Briton crashed on lap nine, sliding into the gravel pit with the bike on top of him. He got away with some cuts on his right elbow and leg. Corser, on the other hand, never even got a chance to mingle with the top five. '1 had exactly the same engine problem as in Brands Hatch," Corser said. "Right from the start, it started misfiring, and after the race we found the oil pressure had dropped dramatically. At Ducati they say we just have 'bad luck' having tw~ of these problems in a row. 1 was happy to finish and to take some points, but 1hope this does not happen again." Mike Hale finished 10th after another lonely race, with a battling trio of Wataru Yoshikawa, Paolo Casoli and John Reynolds in his visor. "It was going better today than during practice, but the steering damper freezed ~ in

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