ROAD RACE
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROAD RACE SERIES
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front for laps 12 and 13, then Harada up
until the final lap when his engine began
to slow. That's when Kato realized it was
time to make his move.
"Harada was in trouble... and Ukawa
and I were catching up," Kato said. "At
that time I realized that this was a big
chance for me."
He ran hard into the final chicane, outbraking his more experienced competitors
and holding the front through the final
bends and to the line. Ukawa thought he
might have taken the win if he hadn't
caught a lapper a t the end.
"Unfortunately, 1 made a mistake
because I found a backmarker on my line
and Kato passed me," Ukawa said.
"They stole my victory in a last-braking contest," bemoaned Harada. "I had a
good lead for the win going onto the last
lap but then the engine slowed a little and
Kato and Ukawa caught me. They surprised me as I braked for the chicane.
Maybe if I had chose a tighter line I could
have kept them out, but they were closer
to me than 1 had realized."
Tsujimura held on to fourth, about
seven-tenths back and well in front of
Waldmann, who struggled all weekend
with setup and qualified 13th
"We changed the front and rear
springs and, though the bike wasn't perfect, it was good enough," Waldmann
said. "I could stay with the leaders until
the last few laps when I started getting a
few slides, but I'm really happy with
fifth"
Yukio Kagayama ended up sixth, farther back than he had been after an offtrack excursion. Right on the tail off the
top five, Kagayama ran off the track in the
Spoon Curve, but was so far in front of the
rest that he didn't lose a place. He ended
up about 16 seconds behind Waldmann.
Then came the valiant Biaggi, the Italian doing his best to ride through pain
after considering sitting out the race.
"I can't hardly believe I got seventh,"
Biaggi said after beating Matteoni Racing's Haruchika Aoki to the line by .040 of
a second. 'The pain in my shoulders was
just unbearable, especially under braking.
I was braking early but still running wide
and wobbling around. In the second half
of the race, I found I could control my
slides better than the other riders I was
with - that surprised me."
Biaggi was hooked up with Aprilia's
Loris Capirossi for most of the race, along
with Marlboro Yamaha's Kensuke Haga
and a few others. Haga exited spectacularly, crashing on the 12th lap and slamming
into the airfence.
Biaggi went from seventh to 10th and
back to seventh in a span of five laps, taking the spot for good on the penultimate
lap.
Then Aoki moved by Molenaar Lucky
Strike Suzuki's Noriyasu Numata on the
final lap. Compile Racing Yamaha's
Naoki Matsudo was at the tail end of the
pack in 10th, seven seconds up on
Capirossi.
C\
Japanese Grand Prix
Suzuka City, Japan
Resuns:April20,1997
125cc QUAl.lFYlNG, 1 Noboru Ueda (2016879),2.
Jorge Martinez (2017042), 3 Masaki Tokudome a17.178);
- 4. YOUlchl UI (2.17.233), 5. Kazuto Sakata (2.17.719); 6
Tomomi Mannko (2:17.912); 7. Valentino Rossi (2:18.011);
8. Yuzo Fujioka (2:18.093); 9. Yoshk,ki K.ltoh (2,18.123); 10.
Kazuhiro Takao (2'18.255); 11. Garry McCoy (2:18.527); 12.
Roberto Locatelli (2,18.694); 13. Masao Azuma (2,18.705);
14. Lucio Cecchinello (2:18.763); 15. Hi.deyuki Nakajo
(2:18.797); 16. Jaroslav Hules (2:19.020); 17. ](atsuji Uezu
(2:19.197); 18. Cianluigi .Scalvini ~2:19.335); 19. Toshiaki
Ozawa (2:19.380); 20. Dirk Raudies (2:19.407); 21. Peter
Oettl (2:19.448); 22. Frederic Petit (2:19.555); 23. Gino
Bor.;oi (2:19.668); 24. Jun Lnageda (2:2().472); 25. Josep Sarda
(UO.949); 26. Juan Enrique Maturana (2:22.186); '17. Mirko
Ciansanti (2:22.307); 28. Manfred Geissler (2:22.136); 29.
Ivan Goi (2:22.64]); 30. Steve Jenkner (2:22.808); 31. Angel
Nieto Jr. (2:23.290).
125ee GRAND PRIX: 1. Noboru Veda (Hon); 2.
Kazuto Sakata (Apr); 3. Hideyuki Nakajo (Hon); 4. Masao
Azuma (Jion); 5. Jorge Martinez (Apr); 6. Yoshiaki Jsura (2:11.881); 18. Haruchika Aoki (2:12.007); 19.
Jamie Robinson (2:12.008); 20. Jeremy McWilliams
(2:12.977); 21. Luis O'Antin (2:13.099); 22. Jose Luis
Cardoso (2:13.561); 23. Olivier Petrucciani (2'13.738); 24.
Luea Boscoscuro (2,13.808); 25. Franco Sattaini (2:14.372);
26. William'Costes (2:14.411); 27. Cristiano Migliorati
(2:14.773); 28. Idalio Gavira (2:15.563); 29. Eustaquio
Gavira (2:16.190); 30. Kurtis Roberts (2:16.632).
250cc GRAND PRIX: 1. Daijiro Kato (Hon); 2. Tohru
Ukawa (Hon); 3. Tetsuya Harada (Apr); 4. Takeshi
Tsujimura (Hon); 5. Ralf Waldmann (Hon); 6. Yukio
Kagayama (507.); 7. Max Biaggi (Hon); 8. Haruchika Aoki
(Left) Valentino Rossi crashed
out of the 125cc Grand Prix while
contending for the lead. The win
went to Noboru Ueda (above).
going.
"I am pleased that I was able to make the front row because I had some
problems with the engine this afternoon and thars why 1 was in and out of
the pits so often." He was still able to lap within four-tenths of Doohan.
Nobuatsu Aold's brother Takuma was fifth-fastest on the second row
ondas took the top six places at Suzuka, a certain presage of things to
filled with three Hondas and, in seventh, the lone Yamaha of wild-eard
come. That it was Repsol Honda's Taclayuki Okada on the pole, with
rider Norihiko Fujiwara, who might have been higher on the grid if not for
a new lap record, was something of a surprise, though the times for
everyone might have been better if the 3.64-mile track had been cleaner a crash in the moming practice. The 23-year-old Takuma, who last year
won the All-Japan Championship Superbike Series for the second year in a
and the air more calm. More of a surprise was how many of the factory
row, was the top twin-<:ylinder rider. "On the long straights I am losing out
machines filled the lower spots on the grid.
to a lot of the four-eylinder bikes, but I can regain this time going through .
. For the second race in a row Okada was on the pole position, but this
two comers in the twisty part of the circuit," he said.
time he didn't turn in the fastest lap of the weekend. That was done by
The Movistar Honda Pons bikes of Carlos Checa and Alberto Puig
three-time World Champion Mick Doohan who clocked the fastest time in
sandwich~,(\ Fujiwara, who'd crashed his Marlboro Yamaha coming onto
Saturday morning's free practice, but was unable to match it in the timed
the front straight in the morning practice, injuring his right elbow.
qualifying after going the wrong way on setup, and being bedeviled by
"My mechanic; were still fixing the bike when qualifying started, so 1
crosswinds. He had to settle for second behind his Repsol Honda teammissed some valuable time," Fujiwara said.
mate on the front row of the grid.
Puig wasn't happy with being eighth, but noted that "other riders are
Doohan said his team had m;lde some adjustments to the machine at
quite down the leaderboard."
the beginning of the session.
The third row started with the Yamaha Tearn Rainey machines of Nori"At the end I put it back to how it was this moming," he explained.
"Basically, every time I went to push hard I made a bit of a mistake so basi- fumi Abe and Sete Gibernau just ticks apart. Then came Yamaha Promotor
Racing's Troy Corser, who hadn't been to the track since 1993 and found
caUy I wasn't able to capitalize on how fast I could go. We only have an
that he had to completely relearn it, in addition to trying to set the bike up
hour and I couldn't put the lap together in that hour. Even at the end there
in the three dry sessions.
we were doing a lot of consistent fast times, but J knew I also had no tires
'1t's getting better," Corser said. '1 still just need more time. Now that
left. I was very smooth.l knew that I was close to Tady and 1 knew that I
['ve kllocked a second off my time from this morning the bike's working
could go a bit quicker if everything was pieced together. I was pushing the
differently at that pace SO we needed to make another change to the susfront a lot this afternoon, to teU you the truth. Not so much because of tires,
pension."
but basically the wind whenever it was the wind before the Spoon Curve
The Marlboro Team Roberts Modenas bikes were on the fourth row
and the front was getting away from me. So I couldn't capitalize on how •
after a weekend marked by development gremlins. Jean-Michel Bayle, who
fast Tady went. Tady put in a quick lap early and basically it was there for
ended up 13th, has had the greater share of mechanical difficulties, breakus to all catch and none of us could catch it.
ing a crank in Malaysia and a connecting rod and another crank here. He
"The wind was affecting everybody a little bit. r felt that pushing the
was stranded on the course at the beginning of the morning's free practice
front. I put a new rear tire to try and basically that was enough J was getwhen a connection to his fuel pump came loose.
ting a lot of grip and not a lot of load on the fronL That extra bit of wind
"This afternoon was my first real session here," Bayle said. "Irs hard to
just gave it a bit of a helping hand to flyaway."
Okada's lap time of 2:07.952 was weU under the oJd lap record of keep your concentration when you're in the pits all the time and when the
2:09.009 set by Yamaha Team Rainey's Norifumi Abe in last year's Japan- other guys are out on the track."
Kenny Roberts Jr. had his share of problems with slightly more serious
ese GP. Doohan's time was a scant.065 of a second slower, enough to keep
consequences. He crashed in the Spoon Curve, the furthest turn from the
him off the pole position.
paddock, after a water leak coated his rear tire. He made it back to the pits
"I think the main importance of qualifying is to be on the front row,"
and was able to improve his lap time to a 2:10.038, within a 10th of PromoDoohan sa.id. "fhere's no points at all for qualifying on the pole. Though
tor Yamaha's Luca Cadalora.
ird be nice to qualify on the pole position, 1didn't really get the lap I was
"I reckon I could have got in a low nine, but the engine started missing
looking for and I consistently ride around that time. 1 wasn't able to find
on my last lap," Roberts said. '1[ I hadn't fallen down I believe the second
that extra bit. Basically last year here ( didn't finish qualifying on the front
.
row, so thars basically what was concerning me here - just to be quick row was a possibility.
The last of the factory machines were on the fifth row with Lucky Strike
enough to be on tbe front row and to evaluate tires because this afternoon
Suzuki stand-in Peter Goddard 18th, two spots ahead of teammate Daryl
was the only real time we had. So ( was also doing four or five laps at a
Beattie. Goddard was ricling in place of the injured Anthony Gobert and
time just to get a feel for tires."
was nearly a casualty himself. He crashed heavily on a wet track on Friday,
He also pointed out that this was the first time in a long time that there
but was only banged up and sore.
were three dry sessions and it gave everyone a chance to improve their lap
'1t's been quite a hard clay, trying to play myself back into riding a 500
times. Okada seemed to benefit the most from it. After a year on the Vtwin, the 30-year-old Japanese rider has adapted quickly to the four-
