Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (Left) The factory Suzuki team won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Doug Polen, Peter 'Goddard and Juan-Eric Gomez combining for the victory. (Below) Jean-Marc DeletBng, Jean-Philippe Ruggla and Christer Undholm put the factory Yamaha Into second place, though they ended up well behind the SuzukI. By'JOhan Vandekerckhove LEMANS, FRANCE, APR. 12-13 he 20th edition of the 24 hours race at Le Mans was not one of the most thrilling ones, despite the large number of international four-stroke specialists at the start and the 80,000 spectators along the track. At the end of the day, the FrenchAmerican-Australian team of Juan-Eric Gomez, Doug Polen and Peter Goddard took their Suzuki to the victory, with 10 laps to spare over the Yamaha of JeanMarc Deletang, Jean-Philippe Ruggia and Christer Lindholm. Only the battle for third lasted until the very end. With 20 minutes to go, semi-privateers Christophe Guyot, Andre Lussiana and Michel Simeon saw the second factory Yamaha ridden by Eric Mahe, Norihiko Fujiwara and Jean-Louis Battistini storm past. The Kawasaki could not match the pace, and the team had to be happy with fourth. The first hour of the race was marked by an extremely slow race average. This was due to a private Belgian Suzuki leaving a long trace of oil from the Dunlop bridge to the famous "Virage de la Chapelle." Some riders fell '(among them Ferstler on the second factory Suzuki). The pace cars came out and the race was neutralized for some 35 minutes. The fast start by Miguel Duhamel was thus reduced to nil, especially after the French Canadian made a pit stop I'-after about 30 minutes and got back on ~ . the track behind the second pace car, '"""" half a lap behind the first group. Polen had done much better. "Taking the pace car in account is ...... part of the strategy of endurance rac...... l-< ing," the Texan said after a lightningfast pit stop to fill the tank up. "The exit to pit lane is shorter than the actual circuit. When I was standing still in front of my pit box, the pace car was slowly ~ 38 passing by. Seven or eight seconds later, I could gas it up, and I could pick up with the first group. Just a bit like a free visit at the gas station." Twelve minutes before the end of the first hour, the pace cars went back in and the riders could step it up. At around 4 p.m., Polen's Suzuki was leac.ling in front of Piergiorgio Bontempi's Kawasaki, Mahe's Yamaha and' Duhamel's Honda. About an hour later, things went wrong again when Guigou's Honda broke a con- . nechng rod, which laid down another long oil track along the circuit. The pace cars took over command for 20 more minutes, and once again the Suzuki team took the opportunity to have a "free" gas stop. And once again anoth.er top team missed the same opportunity; this time it was Bonternpi who lost out some more time compared to the Suzuki when he just missed a chance tojoin the pace car group he had been in before his pit stop. After two hours of racing, Gomez, Polen and Goddard had half a minute's lead over Bonternpi's Kawasaki and both Yamahas. At that moment, the second Suzuki was gaining back ground after Ferstler's crash and was running eighth. After this thrilling first part of the race, the two main candidates for victory seemed set as the Kawasaki team of Bontempi, Brian Morrison and Jehan d'Orgeix and the Suzuki of Gomez, Polen and Goddard were battling it out, making every effort not to let any other team get close again. Nevertheless, the first Yamaha (DeJetang) was only 35 seconds behind, whereas Duhamel's Honda and Mahe's Yamaha were also within reach - especially Duhamel, who was charging hard after the difficult fi1"st hours. He broke the lap record a few times and finally lapped with an average speed of over 93 mph on the twisty track. At the beginning of the sixth hour the hierarchy was thrown over - literally. At around 8 p.m. Battistini went down. Half groggy, it took him some time to get out of the way of the oncoming bikes, but after a while he was able to push the bike back to the pit. That walk and the ensuing repair of the back part of the Yamaha cost the team about half an hour. About 20 minutes later, Jean-Michel Mattioli crashed his bike. He lost less time than his countryman, and after a short pit stop Christian Lavieille could resume battle. But Mattioli as well as Battistini had a hard race ahead due to their injuries. Another 20 minutes later Bontempi had to make an unplanned pit stop to replace an exhaust. When the Kawasaki went out on the track again, Polen's Suzuki had a one-minute lead overthern. When night fell over Le Mans, the temperature also dropped - a welcome change for the engines, the tires and the brakes, and the new hierarchy kept stable for a while. Polen's team stayed on top, but was not able to enlarge its lead over the Kawasaki. Deletang on the other hand did succeed in doing away part of his arrears. Fourth position was held by the private Kawasaki of Dobe, Christain Haquin and Cortinovis, but they were coming under pressure from the factory Suzuki ridden by Ferstler, Florian Ferracci and Bruno Bonhuil. At roughly 11 p.m., the Honda definitely lost contact with the lead group. Because of a slipping clutch, Lavieille had to make an unscheduled pit stop. The entire clutch was replaced - an operation that took about nine minutes. When the Honda got out on the track again the team faced a deficit of some 13 laps. Moreover, Mattioli would probably not be able to race anymore as the doctors suspected a broken bone in his hand. Some time after midnight, mechanical and other gremlins started to appear again. At around 1 a.m., Bontempi's Kawasaki came into the pit lane after the gear selector had broken off for some reason or another. The replacement took three minutes, forcing the team to lose contact with the leading Suzuki while also costing them second place - which fell into the hands of the Yamaha team of Deletang, Ruggia and Lindholm. The fact that the Suzuki made a planned pit stop a few minutes later and used the opportunity to change an exhaust and the braking pads did not change anything in the general picture. A few minutes later, the pace cars came out for the third time after several riders had once again crashed in oil. In addition to the some privateers, Lindholm and FerstJer were also involved in the massive crash. Lindholm rode the Yamaha back to his crew in the pit, but FerstIer was condemned to a walk. He lost about 15 laps and dropped back to 12th in the· standings, 23 laps down on the other Suzuki at top of the leaderboard. The agony of the official Honda team was finally put to an end at around the halfway mark. "The bike continually jumped out of third gear," explained Lavieille who brought the bike into'the pit. "We would have been able to go on in these

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