Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Lucky Strike Suzuki's Scott Russell, who'd caught the blocked-up pack and moved through to fifth on lap seven, only to narrowly escape crashing with Abe and Barros, dropping back again to ninth to do it all again. Barros dropped back to hold him up again, and he was deeply disgruntled after eventually moving past him to seventh behind Kanemoto Hon<;la's Luca Cadalora, only to see the red flags. The victory moved Doohan closer to his third successive championship. He needs only to finish second to Criville at the next race to claim the crown with two races to spare. But the battle for third remains open, with .cadalora, Abe, Barros and Russell all within 15 points. Kenny Roberts Jr. was out of luck on his Marlboro Yamaha, finishing 10th behind Shinichi Itoh's V-twin Repsol Honda after lagging all weekend. Doriano Romboni was back after missing four races with a broken wrist, but the V-twin Aprilia rider was still below par, finishing 14th. . The 250cc Grand Prix was closer than usual this year - but that was not the major cause of tension. It was won by German HB Honda rider Ralf Waldmann, his fourth of the season, with· Chesterfield Elf Honda's Oliver Jacque narrowly fending off rostrum first-timer Tohru Ukawa and the Benetton Honda for second. But the sensation was Max Biaggi crashing out' of the leading group, after failing 'to find his usual superiority on a Chesterfield Aprilia that simply wasn't happy on the track of many bumps and comers. The hitherto dominant Italian was not hurt in the high-speed fall, but he opened a window of opportunity for Waldmann, who closed to within 12' points. HB Honda's Jurgen Fuchs was fourth, dropping back from the leaders with cl11tch trouble, but just fending off substitute rider Marcellino Lucchi (the Aprilia factory tester) over the line.. Ditter Plastic Aprilia's Masaki Tokudome closed to within three points of defender Harachuki Aoki with a fine victory in a 125cc GP of wildly changing fortunes. The Japanese rider had earlier had his hands full with Italian teenager Valentino Rossi before his engine went sick - by then Aoki had already retired after working his way through to the top 10 with a broken gear linkage. Front-row qualifier Stefano Perugini had not even started after his engine broke on the warmup lap. Cepsa Honda's Emilio Alzamora was a close second, with pole starter Jorge Martinez less than a second behind in third and Australian Garry McCoy fourth, just losing touch in the closing stages. "We switched from Bridgestone tires to Michelins at the last race, and it made all the difference," McCoy said. Rossi was fifth, nursing his bike home six seconds ahead of Tomomi Manako's UGT Honda. 500cc GRAND PRIX Doohan made the break, with Okada tucked in behind and Barros third; but by the end of the lap, Criville had succeeded in passing Abe and Barros to make it a Honda threesome. By now Chris Walker was already out, crashing heavily after being forced onto the curb by Fred Protat's ROC. The same incident forced Romboni's Aprilia onto the grass, losing him a clutch of places. The Hondas rapidly drew away as Barros held up the pursuit, so they were seven seconds ahead by lap nine, when Bayle had just managed to get past the Brazilian after moving through convincingly on the tail of a charging Russell. At this point there were six works Vfours in the traffic jam - Barros ahead of Abe, Cadalora, Carlos Checa (riding in spite of his painful collarbone injury) and Russell, who had narrowly escaped crashing while trying to take Barros himself one lap before. The focus was on the front, however, where Criville was hanging on to Doohan without apparent difficulty, riding smoothly and comfortably, and able to close right up again after the Australian made a half-second break on lap 12. The Spaniard set the fastest lap of the race - establishing a new record at the revised circuit - in the process. This one looked like it would go to the checkered flag - if only there'd been one. Instead, quite abruptly toward the end of lap 18, Doohan sat up and raised his hand and Criville also slowed in response. Seconds later, with commendable promptness, the red flags were out and the race was stopped. "It's just as well they were so quick, because the rain was so heavy and so sudden that there would certainly have been some accidents if they'd waited," said a grateful Doohan, saved by circumstances from having to see if he could resist his junior teammate this time. "My plan was to really go for it in the last five laps, then, if that didn't work, to go in deeper and square off the turns." Sadly for the race fans, we were denied this spectacle of old-time tailsliding riding. Okada had hung on for the first eig~t laps until dropping away gradually. He was by now comfortably clear of the pursuing V-fours for an impressive finish as the V-twin regained some ground lost in the mid-season. "We did some good testing here earlier, and I wasn't really worried about the practice results," he said. Bayle was eight seconds behind when the race was stopped. "I got held up a bit behind Barros, and it was a bit scary getting by him;" he said. "It's a pity because, if I hadn't have been held up in that group, I think I could have run with the three guys in front. The important thing· is I am improving race by race." Abe was next, and fuming mad after having run onto the grass and dropped (Above) The Alex Barros traffic jam: Barros (7) holds off Norlfuml Abe (9), Scott Russell (11) and Jean-Michel Bayle (12).. (Right) Ralf Waldmann won the 250cc Grand Prix and gained 25 points on his championship rival Max Blaggl, who crashed out of the race early. right back in his efforts to pass Barros. He also was sure he could have been chasing Doohan if he hadn't been held up. "That guy (Barros) seems to get in everybody's way," he said. Cadalora was close behind, after also failing to get away well and getting stuck in the serum. He kept trying, though, which gained him some lost credibility. . "1 got a bad start, but I was planning to overtake Abe later in the race," he said. Russell was less than three seconds behind, having just having made his own long-delayed pass on Barros. "1 nearly got by earlier, but 1 guess 1 was riding over my head to try and do it, and 1 dropped right back again to ninth," he said angrily. He had been closing on Cadalora on the discounted lap 17. As it was, Barros was less than a second behind, and two ahead of Shinichi Itoh's V-twin Repsol Honda. The Japanese rider had been engaged in battle with Roberts for much of the race, and led him across the line by three tenths. Then came the brave Checa, riding through the pain barrier, with Fortuna Honda teammate Alberto Puig a long way back. Lucio Pedercini was the top privateer, inheriting 13th from Jeremy McWilliams after the UIsterman's ROCYamaha's gearbox fail.ed. Romboni was 14th, Eugene McManus' aged private Yamaha was 15th for the last point, with Sean Emmett (Harris Yamaha), Jean-Pierre Jeandat and Wild Card Marco Papa trailing in a long way back on a pair of Patons. Terry Rymer retired his Lucky Strike Suzuki after seven laps. He'd fallen in the morning warmup on a damp patch and aggravated the troublesome right ankle injury from the Nurburgring. "1 kept missing the brake pedal, ~d it was too dangerous to carryon," he said. By then, Loris Capirossi and his Marlboro Rainey Yamaha already were out after running on straight at the final chicane and losing so much time turning the bike around that it was pointless to continue. Juan Borja was an early retirement in the Big Bang Elfs debut, after the rear wheel skewed in the swingarm on the first lap. "It was either a wheel spindle or brake problem - but with my hand injury 1 didn't think I'd make race distance anyway," Borja said. Doohan departed Italy witli a 57point lead and 75 left on the table. He need only finish second to Criville at the next race in Catalunya to be sure of the overall victory. He has 256 points to Criville's 199. The battle for third is still close: Cadalora 136, Abe and Barros 126, Russell 121. 250cc GRAND PRIX Biaggi's diffiOllties made this one of the more exciting 250 races of the year, with a close five-bike battle for the first 10 laps, and the Italian getting the worst of it for once. There was a bit of business at the first comer to get out of the way first, however, with Eskil Suter performing a near-suicidal outbraking move that Olt a swath into the top 10. He hit Jurgen van den Goorbergh with a glancing blow, bending his exhaust pipe, and did something similar to Jean-Philippe Ruggia, who retired soon afterward as a result. Regis Laconi and ~tiano Migliorati were not so lucky, being felled on the spot. Jacque made the early running, with a regular brawl behind him - Waldmann forcing past Fuchs for second on lap two and commencing to harry the Frenchman hard until moving inside to take the lead at the chicane at the end of lap five. He was never headed again. Fuchs already was having trouble after cooking his clutch at the start, and soon succumbed to Biaggi, and one lap later to Ukawa, who was going gangbusters. Nobody was ridmg harder than Biaggi, though, dearly on the ragged edge. He moved up to third, was forced wide by Jacque and dropped to fourth again· behind Ukawa, then moved past to attack again. But it was desperate brinkmanship, and he would have been wiser to accept that it wasn't his day. "I tried to win because that's the kind of rider I am," he said later. 19.

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