Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

• Now there' was only Criville to go, just over a second ahead, and four laps in which to do it. Certainly he could catch him, but could he get past, given the Spaniard's strong finishing laps in recent races? ' Could he heck. Criville glanced over his shoulder on the penultimate lap, and found his visor full of Repsol Honda. This was different from Austria and Bmo, when it was him doing the chasing, and he showed that he has not yet quite reached the standard oLhis teammate as he suffered a couple of slip-ups on the final time round. "When I saw him there," he admitted later, "I started to get nervous." Doohan meanwhile had cut the lap record three times in the last five laps, with his final lap his fastest. The crucial error came on the ron onto the back straight. Criville ran wide and over the curb, and had to back off slightly. It was enough for Doohan. Full on the gas, he blasted past down the straight and stayed there to the finish. "I think I need a bit more practice at leading races," Criville said later. Checa had been alone for the last 14 laps or so, but one more lap would have seen him in a very different situation. For most of the distance he'd been alone, with Cadalora losing ground slowly behind him to be engulfed by Barro.s' gang on lap 11. Cadalora stayed behind the Brazilian, with Russell behind him, then Okada, with Bayle closing up inexorably to join The top three celebrate: Crlvllle (left), Doohan (center) and Abe (right) spray the bubbly after their epic battle: the party by lap 16. Bayle kept on moving through, and was on Barros' tail when Cadalora got ahead on lap 20. Barros was at home in Brazil, however, and found the wherewithal to fight back, repassing Cadalora on the penultimate lap and dosing right up on Checa. Bayle never did find the way past, but by now Okada had run inside Russell, who was running wide as the tires went off. They finished in that order, fourth to eighth within four seconds, and the disappointed Russell less than three seconds adrift after slowing on the final lap. Doohan takes his ei hth O nce the weather settled down - the first untimed session was so wet that only 15 people went out, the Hondas and Suzukis not among them - bumps were the keynote of the Nelson Piquet circuit, with suspensions working overtime and riders' heads bobbing as they were thrown around, It was of course the same for everybody, and it is possible to argue that since there are bumps on real roads too, this condition is simply part of life. It was not an argument that convinced Mick Doohan, a stern critic of a circuit that is not only rough but also slippery and dirty off-line. None of this, nor even the fact that he's already won the title slowed him down, and when his pole position came under threat in the closing minutes, when Norifurni Abe moved ahead, he responded at once to reclaim his rightful position for the eighth time this year. "This is the bumpiest track I've ever raced on," Doohan said. "We've hardly touched. the bike settings or suspension because it's so bad you're never going to be able to get the bike right. You just have to try and find the smoothest way you can. It's possible to ride round, but when it comes to racing it's going to be a different. To overtake you'll have to go off line and it's either dirty or super-slick. I can see the race being a bit of a procession." His response to questions of why he was bothering, with the title already won, was unequivocal. "I couldn't come just to ride around," Doohan said. "I always want to do the best I can. With the title won, it means I can take more risks than usual." Pretty formidable. Abe's close second was yet another sign of his growing maturity. At the start of the season he was reliably slow in practice and fast in the race - leading to team boss Kenny Roberts' deathless comment: "We should only let him out of his cage on Sundays." The Japanese GP winner had no explanation for the improvement, and said, "My fast lap was not the ultimate. I could have gone faster, so when Mick went quicker, I didn't worry too much. Later Tfelt some regret that I had lost my fir t pole position." Roberts' explanation again took his unusual style into account. "It's real slippery here, so everyone's sliding around a lot. Norick's used to that, and he just pitches it in and leans it right over." The pair were one-tenth apart, but more than threequarters of a second ahead of the rest. Then came a howling pack, third to 12th within a second, and individuals separated by tenths and hundredths. In the end, Jean-Michel Bayle was the best of the rest, and he repeated his motocross joke. "I did a motocross Fortuna Honda's Alberto Puig was almost 20 seconds away in 10th, having put Shinichi Itoh another three seconds behind him in the closing stages. There was another big gap to Loris Capirossi, who had never been on the pace all weekend. Fellow Marlboro Yamaha rider Kenny Roberts Jr. was well behind him, dropping back all race long with terrible front-wheel chatter. A long way back, Juan Borja managed to get his off-tune Elf 500 back in front of a fearsome privateer battle between Lucio Ped.ercini and Jeremy McWilliams, race last week - to me this track is really smooth." More seriously, he produced yet another businesslike two days of work and development, getting better all the time. Then came Carlos Checa, buoyed by his victory in Catalunya. "We tried to soften the suspension, but it didn't work," Checa said. "I couldn't steer the bike so well, so we went back to normal settings." Luca Cadalora led the second row, pleased. with his progress, but saying. "I'm going to be fighting for third tomorrow. That's the best we can expect." Tadyuki Okada was alongSide, the V-twin in the thick of the V-fours, and hoping for better things in the race. "It's quite a good track for us because of the long corners," Okada said. "I've been good to th,e middle of practice each time, then the others improve. But as the race wears on we should find our usual advantage." Alex Criville was down in seventh, and complaining of a lack of feel from the suspension. Then came Scott Russell, after a big improvement. For him, softening the springs had worked without damaging the steering. "The bike's a bit looser than usual, but there are bumps in the comers as well as everywhere else, and the bike's more relaxed over them now," he said. Alex Barros led the third row, still close on time, but disappointed at home, since the one-line track makes a good start very important. Then came Kenny Roberts Jr., who era hed Friday, getting into a comer too fast and basically just bouncing out of control. Alberto Puig was alongside, and then Shinichi Itoh. Privateer Lucio Pedercini headed row four, with Loris Capirossi alongside, the works Yamaha rider baffled that although he was trying conspicuously hard the times just weren't coming. Juan Borja was alongside on the Elf; usual top privateer Jeremy McWilliams down in 20th after a huge crash Saturday morning, when the tire came off the rim midcomer, Australian Paul Young was 20th, crashing Friday; American newcomer Chris Taylor also fell - the Formula USA champion riding in place of the injured James Haydon - injuring his wrist. He was 23rd. Stephane Mertens came next, taking the place of ex-GP Harris rider Sean Emmett. With Daryl Beattie out after the first day, there were 24 qualifiers, Toshi Arakaki last as he takes the place of Jean Jeandat on the Paton. In the 250cc class, the obvious focus is on the title battle between Ralf Waldmann and Max Biaggi, and the news was all good for the German. As at !mala, Biagg; was in all sorts of trouble trying to get his taut and the two ROC Yamaha riders switching back and forth as they fought over the final point. Then McWilliams fell heavily, badly injuring a finger. Fred Protat was next, then Elf's Chris Walker, returned injury victim Laurent Naveau and Emmett substitute Stephane Mertens. Retirees included Australian Paul Young, out. with three laps left with a broken piston, Arakaki, who slid off on the same lap, and Eugene McManus, who had crashed out on the second lap. Doohan's lead was already impregnable, and he extended it still further, to unforgiving Aprilia to work over the bumps, while the softer Hondas dominated the front row. Pole ultimately went to Oliver Jacque, after a big improvement on the second day. "We found a very good setting - a lot different and softer than anything we've used anywhere, and now I can run consistent fast laps," Jacque said. He has been on pole four times, and second four times. "I really feel psychologically ready for my first win," he said confidently. Waldmann leapt from fifth to second in the closing minutes of praCtice, and was also in a happy mood. "After the race, nobody wants to know the practice times anymore, but you can see that the Hondas work well here, and that the Aprilia has some problems," Waldmann said. 'We got th,e bike good at the end of practice, and I think we can have a good race. I just want to finish in front of Max." Teammate Jurgen Fuchs was next, half a second off pole, and likewise happy with finding "a good compromise setting. You need a well-balanced bike here." Fuchs' only worry was his situation with teammate Waldmann. He would like to help Waldmann win the title, but Fuchs is busy with his own battle for third with Jacque. "If at the end of the race we are at the front together, I wouldn't try too hard to beat Ralf on the last lap," Fuchs said. 'We'll have to see how it works out. It's a difficult problem." Last man on the front row was Nobuatsu Aoki, his first time on the front row for many races, who joked: "We have a motocross shock-absorber, that's why." The only one on Michelins, he explained. how they had kept cutting the pressure in the front tire to improve the bike's feel. Understandably, he declined to reveal how much pressure had been dropped. Jean-Philippe Ruggia led the second row, almost a second down on his teammate in pole and complaining of front-wheel chatter; and only then came Max Biaggi. Not for want of effort - he came close to at least one big crash in the final session. "I knew it would be difficult here, but I didn't expect it to be this bad," Biaggi said. Top privateer Takeshi Tsujimura was next, then Tohru Ukawa, a little lower than his previous form as he struggled with the rough track. Row three was led by Luis d'Antin from Christiano Migliorati, Jurgen van den Goorbergh and Regis Laconi. Sete Gibemau was down in 15th on the ex-Tesuya Harada Yamaha, blaming heavy traffic for not getting a decent run in the last session. Osamu Miyazaki was 26th, after a big crash Saturday morning. There were 31 qualifiers. -.0 0\ 0\ ,...-.I -.0' ,...-.I ~ Q) .g .... U o 21

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