Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·ROADRACE. . World Charilpionship Road Rac~ Series. Round 13: Catalunyan Grand Prix wheels in line, his lap times didn't change. Al the flag he was less than five one-hundredths behind Doohan. "Obviously I'm nol happy futishing third," Criville said. "I'd like to do better in my home Grand Prix. But I'm happy 10 finish second in the championship." The 26-year-old Spaniard, fourth in the world last year, rrioved to a secure second for 1996. Doohan and Criville had been part of a five-rider pack much of the race, with Kanemoto Honda's.Luca Cadalora part of it after having led the first two laps. After that he settled back behind the Repsol Honda pair and just in front of Marlboro Roberts Yamaha's Kenny Roberts Jr. That's where he would finish, about four-tenths behind Criville with the late-charging Repsol Honda vtwin of Tadayuki Okada taking fifth. The fourth kept Cadalora in third in the championship with two races to go, his 149 points 15 better than Pileri Honda's Alex Barros, a fading eighth today. In sixth place, mostly alone, was the other Honda V-twin of Shinichi Itoh, the Japanese rider taking the spot two laps from the end when Roberts crashed after using too much front brake. "I ran into the first downhill hairpin with a bit too much speed and a bit too much brake," Roberts said after falling out of fifth place. "I was riding really hard and the bike was sliding around a lot. His teammate, Jean-Michel Bayle, aIso fell, his spill coming on the 18th lap when he lost the front end after just moving into sixth place. Seventh eventually went to Checa's senior teammate, Alberto Puig, about a secoJld in front of Barros, who had a second on the first finishing Yamaha of Marlboro Yamaha Rainey's Loris Capirossi. . Roberts Yamaha's Norifumi Abe was 10th after running off the track on the fifth lap and spending the next 20 catching up and passing riders. His last victim was Lucky Strike Suzuki's Scott Russell, the Georgian wrestling an illhandling bike to 11th. Which was better than his teammate Daryl Beattie. After an absence of 14 weeks, Beattie returned, only to suffer physical problems which knocked him out of the race at about the halfway mark. Chesterfield Aprilia' s Max Biaggi continued his up-and-down late-season 250cc run, today being a resounding. up after he bested the field by 10.188 seconds. This one was decided early. As soon as Biaggi's rear tire came in, he wicked it up, turned a new record lap on his fourth tour, then sped away. Chesterfield Elf Tech 3's Olivier Jacque, who led the first .five laps, tried to keep pace, only to get tossed out of the saddle when his rear tire jumped sideways. He backed off, but was able to control his spot to the end. Third, after a furious final lap, was Biaggi's main championship ~ival Ralf Waldmann of HB Honda. Be had to get the belter of teammate Jurgen Fuchs, then Team Benetton Honda's Tohru Ukawa to take the final podium spot. II By Henny Ray Abrams. Photos by Gold & Goose ~ 0\ "'""" ..n N !iJ ~ Q .l!:l 0.. (I) (f) 6 MONTMELO, SPAIN, SEPT. 15 t should come as no surprise that a Spaniard would win his home Grand Prix. What is surprising is that it was Fortuna Honda Pons' Carlos Checa, the 23-year-old Spaniard checking out early to take his first-ever 500cc GP win and lead a Honda rout of the first eight places in front of a rabid record crowd of 62,500 On a sunny day in Catalonia. This is the same race that Checa led last year oefore getting pitched off the side of the machine. "This year," Checa said, ''I. was able to deal with the pressure. Last year when I was leading by a similar amount with six, seven laps to go, I lost concentration. Today I was able to keep concentration. Today I passed my test as a GP rider." And with flying colors. He not only set a new record lap, but he won the Marlboro Catalunyan Grand Prix by 6.591 seconds, averaging 98.025 mph over the 25-lap, 73.43-mile race which he completed in 44 minutes, 56.885 seconds. The less-surprising outcome of today's 13th race of the year was ReP501 Honda's Mick Doohan clinching his third consecutive World Championship, putting him in a tie with Wayne Rainey Spaniard Carlos Checa won his firslever 500cc Grand Prix. Fittingly Ihe win came In his home race. and Kenny Roberts for fifth on the championship titlist list. The 31-year-old Australian spent the race in a tense struggle with teammate Alex Criville, knowing that as long as Checa stayed in front, he could finish as low as fourth. It didn't stop Doohan from scrapping to the finish and swapping the spot with . Criville twice on the final lap around the Circuito de Catalunya. "I really didn't care if I futished third to Alex," Doohan said after becoming the first Honda rider to win three 500cc titles in succession. "As long as I wasn't any further down than fourth I was happy. Today I'm happy to finish second. Normally J'm not happy to finish second, but today I wasn't really thinking from the word go. J was thinking about trying to clinch the third championship and we did it and that makes me more than happy to not win the race." Happy also, though less so, was third-place finisher Criville. He spent much of the race doing lurid power slides trying to keep in front of Doohan, only to discover that it didn't matter whether he was sliding or keeping his One second covered the three-four-five trio. "Today I put a very hard tire on the rear," Biaggi said. "J needed more laps to make it hotter. For sure it was an advantage at the end of the race." The ~in, along with Waldmann's third, added nine points to Biaggi's once-dwindling cushion. With two races left, Biaggi leads Waldmann, 249-228. Jacque is a distant third with 152. "We knew in advance that this track here would favor Max .(Biaggi) and the Aprilia a lot," Waldmann said. "The next two cir.cuits will probably be much more to my liking, so there is no reason for resignation yet." Team UGT Europa's Tomorni Manako moved into title contention by taking his first-ever 125cc win ahead of Scuderia Alfa Bieffe's Garry McCoy. Manako took the lead for good on the 16th of 22 laps to beat McCoy to the line by 1.190 seconds. Behind the leaders was the scrum. Six riders covered by 0.6 second, the whole pack weaving to the line with Team Krona-Aprilia's Kazuto Sakata, recovered from two practice crashes, finishing third. With two races to go, Rheos Molenaar Racing's Haruchika Aoki, fifth today, leads the tables from his fellow Japanese Masaki Tokudome, 175-161. Team Ditter Plastic's Tokudome was out of the race after being involved in a firstlap crash with three other riders. Manako is a point back in third. The final round of the sidecar World Championship went to Schlossgold Racing's veteran team of Rolf Biland and Kurt Waltisperg. Biland took over the lead on the fifth of 22 laps and cruised to an 8.578-second victory over OKM Racing's Klaus KJaffenboek and Christian Parzer, who had led until Biland took over. Third went to Steve Abbott Racing's Steve Abbott and Jamie Biggs, three seconds back with about six in hand on recently crowned World Champions Darren Dixon and Andy Hetherington.. The seven-round championship ends with Dixon holding 141 points, 22' more than Biland and 31 ahead of Webster. A daring last-lap move earned Superbike Racing Team's Ruben Xaus his first Thunderbike win in the final Thunderbike race ever in front of a partisilll crowd. Despite having led the most laps, he was passed by Swiss Yves Briguet On the penultimate lap before taking it back on the final tour. The first and only Thunderbike Championship went to Frenchman William Costes. He futished fifth today on the Honda France entry, and that was more than enough to give him a very he'allhy 26-point cushion in the champion. He ends the nine-race series with 146 points, 26 better than Briguet. The series has been terminated for lack of interest, and will be replaced in 1997 by the World Cup Supers port 600, which will run-.with the'Superbike World Championship. 250Cc GRAND PRIX It looked like this One might be a race. On the first lap, Jacque took a flyer, Biaggi took up behind him and followed

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