Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE. World Championship Road Race Series Final Round: Australian Grand Prix Eastern Creek Sydney, Australia Results: October 20, t996 (Left) Australian Garry McCoy (72) took the second 125cc GP victory of his career In front of title winner Haruchlka Aoki (1). (Below) Loris Caplrossl (middle) celebrates his first 500cc GP win with Honda V-twin rider Tadayukl Okada (left) and Carlos Checa. Tokudome third after losing power on the last lap with a broken piston ring. '1 was lucky to finish at all," he said. Martinez was a close fourth, with Cepsa Honda rider Ivan Goi leading the next group across the line for fifth. Stefano Perugini (Nastro Azzurro A prilia) might have influenced the result, but pulled out of the battle for the lead when his engine seized after £i ve laps. Loek Bodelier also retired early with engine trouble; German Manfred Geissler (Marlboro Aprilia) crashed heavily on the fourth lap, suffering a conCU5 ion. Aoki's final points tally was 220, with Tokudome on 193, Tomomi Manako (ninth today) 167 and Alzamora fourth on 158. Martinez moved ahead of Perugini, 131-128; non-finisher Sakata was eighth on 113; Valentino Rossi dropped back to 14th in the race, and was ninth overall on 111 points to Goi's 110. , l"N Criville's last hurrah T he Australian Grand Prix weekend started rainy with predictions of more to come, but in fact it dried up by Friday afternoon. The·weather did play an important role in qualifying, however, with a steady headwind Saturday knocking off serious speed down the front straight. The result: only about half of the riders improved upon their Friday times. Alex Criville was not among them, but he remained fastest nonetheless on his Friday time, a smooth tail-sliding flyer well inside the lap record (though fractionally slower than John Kocinski's 1994 pole) on the resurfaced track. "I like this circuit a lot, and we had some good. testing here, so I'm happy," Criville said. It was hardly fighting talk on the eve of the last showdown of the year with teammate Michael Doohan, but the stopwatches said enough by themselves. Doohan had been second, but was displaced in the final session by Loris Capirossi, a new man after several poor races. The explanation was simple. "We've been making experiments all season with different chassis and settings," Capirossi said. "Today we went back to the bike as it was at tests here before the season. and I felt comfortable again. I like it like this:' Then came Doohan. only a lOth down on pole, and shOWing no visible signs of dismay. "The track seemed to lose grip on the second day, and whenever I tried to take fast lines the bike just wouldn't go where I wanted it. It was just running wide." he said, confirming what had been plainly visible from the trackside. What was t be done, for a race that he clearly wanted to win, not jQst lor his home fans, but as one last chance to put the importunate Criville in his place? 125« QUALIFYING: 1. H.ruchika Aold (1:36.080~ 2. Kazuta Sakata (1 :36.379); 3. Stefano Perugini (1:36.796); 4. G.rey McCoy (1:36.840); 5. ~mHio Alzillllora (1:36.914); 6. Lucio Cecclunello (1:36.945~ 7. Masaki Tokudome (1:36.955); . Jorge Martinez (1:37.128); 9. Tomomi Manako (1:37.230); 10. Dirk Raudies (1:37.302); II. Noboru Ueda (1:37.463); 12. Valentino Rossi (1:37.734); 13. Lwgi Ancona (1:37.840); 14. Akira Saito (1:37.873); 15. Jaroslav Hules (1:37.946); 16. h'an eo; (1:37.990); 17. look Bodeher (1:38.039); 18. Yoshiald Katoh (1:38.203); 19. Youiclu Ui (1:38254); 20. Gabriele Debbia (1:38.436); 21. Josep Sard. (1:38.605); 22. Frederic Petit (1:3 .729); 23. Herri Torrontegui (1:38.819); 24. Mirko Giansanti (1:38.875); 25. Manfred Geissler (1:38.956); 26. A. Duke (1:41.492); 27. A. WiUy (1:42.124); 28. J. Van Vliet (1:44.052); 29. R. Porter (1 :47.381). 250cc QUALIFYING: 1. Max Biaggi (1 :31.718); 2. Olivier Jacque (1:32.148); 3. Jurgen Fuchs (1:32.443); 4. RaIl Waldmann (1:32.773); 5. Tohru Uka",a (1:32.882); 6. Nobuatsu Aoki (1:32.889); 7. Jean-Philippe Ruggia (1:33.248); 8. Renzo LocateUi (1:33.602); 9. JUTgen van den Goorbergh (1:33.606); 10. Davide Bulega (1:33.706); 11. Luis d' Antin (1:33.719); 12. Esldl (1:33.870); 13. Reg;s L.coni (1:33.886); 14. M. Payten (1:33.981); IS. Jamie Robinson (1:33.988); 16. Sete Cibemau (1:34.066); 17. Christiano Migliorati (1:34.271); 18. Takeshi Tsujimura (1:34.289); 19. Jose-Luis Cardoso (1:34.324); 20. Y. Hatakeyama (1:34.339); 21. Oliver Petrucciani (1:34.424); 22. Alessandro Antonello (1:34.483); 23. Sebastian POTee (1:34.500); 24. Ciovani Scalvini (1:34.526); 25. Luca Boscoscuro (1:34593); 26. Christophe Cogan (1:35'.124); 27. Osamu Miyazaki (1:35.679); 28. Chris Connell (1:35.985); 29. C. Boudinot (1:36.114); 30. Andy w.tts (1:36.3%); 31. Jose Barresi (1:40.515). 500cc QUALIFYING: 1. Alex Cnville (1:30.478); 2. Loris Capirossi (1:30.553); 3. Michael Ooohan (J:30.5B9); 4. Luca Cadalora (1:30.622); 5. Jean-Michel Bayle (1:30.751); 6. Tadayuld Ok.da (1;30.889); 7. Carlos Checa (1:31.073); 8. Alex Barros (1:31.180~ 9. Kenny Roberts Jr. (1:31.302); 10. orifume Abe (1:31.374); 11. Scott Russell (1:31.518); 12. Shinichi Itoh (1:31.996); 13. Lucio Peden:ini (1:32.142); 14. luan Borja (1:32.253); 15. Peter Goddard (1:32.294); 16. Martin Craggill (1:32.329~ 17. Jeremy McWilliams (1:33.043); 18. Frederic Protat (1:33.153~ 19. Eugene McManus (1:33540); 20. Andrew Stroud (1:34.422~ 21. Paul Young (1:34.463); 22. Laurent Naveau (1:35.059); 23. Stephane Mertens (l:35.291~ 24Toshiaki Arakald (1:35.318). 125cc:: CRAND PRJX: 1. Garry McCoy (Apr); 2. Haruchika Aold (Hon); 3. Masaki Tokudome (Apr); 4. Jorge Martinez (Apr); S. Ivan Coi (Hon); 6. Lucio Cecchine1lo(Hon); 7. Yoshiald Katoh (Yam); 8. Noboru Veda (Hon); 9. Tomomi Mannko (Hon); ]0. Aldra Saito (Hon); 11. Dirk Raudies (Hon); 12 Frederic Petit (Hon); 13. Luigi Ancona (Apr); 14. Valentino Rossi (Apr); 15. Hem Tonontegui (Han); 16. Mirko Ciansanti (Hon); 17. Gabriele Debbia (YilIll~ 18. A. Duke (Apr~ 19. A. Willy (Yam); 20. J. Van Vliet (Hon); 21. Kazuto Sakata (Apr); 22. Emilio Alzamora (Hon); 23. Jl1roslav Hules (Hon); 24. Stefano Perugini (Apr); 25. look Bode1ier (Hon); 26. Manfred Geissler (Apr). Su'" Time: 42 min., ] 2.903 sec. Distance: 26 laps, 63351 miles. Average Speed.: 90.041 mph. Margin of Vido~ 0,049 sec. Fastest Lap: HarucNka Aoki, 1:36.080/91.296 mph, Inp 26. _ 250cc GRAND PRIX: 1. Max Biaggl. (Apr); 2. Ralf Waldmann (Hon); 3. Olivier Jacque (Hon); 4. Tohru Ukawa (Hon); 5. Jurgen Fuchs (Han); 6. Jean-Philippe Ruggia (Hon); 7. Nobuatsu Aokl (Hon); 8. Luis d/Antin (Hon); 9. Renzo Locatelli (Apr); 10. Takeshi Tsujimura "When there's no traction, it doesn't help much playing with different settings," he said. "But tomorrow morning we have some big changes planned for warmup, to see if that will help. There's nothing to lose, and if it works that'll be good." On the far end of row one was Luca Cadalora, in probably his last race on a Honda, which he has belatedly got set just the way he likes it. '1 have no problems," he said. "I like the track if it is wet or dry. I think it will be an exciting race tomorrow." He too had improved marginally in spite of the conditions in day two; Jean-Michel Bayle, leading the second row, had slashed almost a full second off his time - remarkable since he had fallen heavily on the fir t day, and was now riding with such a painful left wrist that he was unable to operate the clutch... his mechanics had to feed it in for him to leave the pits. "The bike is good, but my ann might be a problem tomorrow," the French ironmanallowed. All this knocked Tadayuki Okada from fourth place to sixth, in spite of a small improvement of his own. The V-twin rider "had gone back to a narrower rear tire after three races on fullwidth V-four rubber to try and solve the chatter problem, only to have handling difficulties return. 'We shortened the wheelbase to try and stop the wheelspin, but that made it hard to get the bike to tum in," he said. Carlos Checa was alongSide, only slightly troubled after crashing Saturday morning. Times were still very close, with the Spaniard barely half-a-second off pole position, and only a tenth ahead of Alex Barros, completing row two. Kenny Roberts Jr. led row three with teammate Norifumi Abe alortgside. "The bike's how it was in Spain," said the young American. "Not so good for qualifying, but good for the race. It's easy on tires and easy to ride." Scott Russell was 11th, only just a second off pole but troubled with jerky throttle response, "The bike's on its side such a long time here, and when the power comes on suddenly it really unsettles it," he said. The atmosphere at the 250cc post-practice press conference was crackling with tension. At one end of the table sat pole qualifier Max Biaggi, a shadow of his usually relaxed and good- humored public persona; at the other sat his title rival Ralf Waldmann, wisecracks forgotten and his usual cheery grin replaced with a somber stare. In practice they were separated by more than one full second; in the championship by just one point. Whichever finished ahead torno.rrow would win the title. Biaggi was on pole by a massive margin of more than hall a second. after a masterful perfonnance just like his early-season form. "I like this track a lot, and the bike likes it too." he said. Would he follow his usual win-or-crash plan, or would he settle down and watch Waldmann? He managed a joke. "Ralf's a good. looking guy - but he's not my type. I don't want to look at him all day:' More seriously, he continued; "Tomorrow I don't mind about winning. I must just be in front of him." Waldmann was fourth, at the far end of the row, and almost prepared to concede defeat. '1 am only so close in the championship because Max made a couple of mistakes," he said. "Today he was so fast he wiJl be very hard to catch, as we have seen before this year. Perhaps I will have to be happy with second overall," he said. He was the only one of the top 22 riders not to improve on the second day, a bad omen. "We made some changes, obviously in the wrong direction," he said. "Tomorrow morning we'll have to go back to what we started with. Only if it rains do r feel r have a chance of winning:' Brazil GP winner Oliver Jacque was second. top Honda by only a small margin. "It has been hard to get the bike right here, but we have it good. now. 1 am definitely third overall, so I definitely do want to win the race." he said. Jurgen Fuchs was alongside, also relieved by circumstances of the need to help his teammate Waldmann, as he had reluctantly done in Brazil. "That was hard, but I do want to help my team, and to help Germany have a chance of victory," he said. Always lucid, he explained why the Honda was so difficult to set up. "You are on the brakes a long time here, but then it is hard to get the weight to transfer to the back wheel to avoid wheelspin. Tf you adjust it so it transfers better, then it is unstable in the fast corners. It's a compromise," he said.

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