Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

conditions for some more hours, but not for the entire duration of the race." The official Honda team retired, After 12 hours, the standings were: 1. Gomez, Polen; Goddard, 374 laps; 2. Bontempi, Morrison, d'Orgeix, 371; 3, Deletang, Ruggia, Lindholm, 368; 4. Dobe, Haquin, Cortinovis, 364; 5. Guyot, Lussiana, Simeon, 361. The Suzuki's lead was made a bit more comfortable after Bontempi had to come in once again in order to replace an exhaust. The rest of the night things ran uncharacteristically smooth for an endurance race. As the temperature dropped to an icy 3 degrees centigrade, riders and mechanics just had one wish: that things would be kept in one piece, The second Suzuki was the only one running into trouble again, when Ferracci crashed and had to push the bike bac\< to the pits, Another 18 laps were lost, and the team had to start another march back from 18th posi tion. Things heated up again (literally) when a small fire started under the fairing of the leading Suzuki during a pit stop at around 7 a.m" but the fire marshals in pit lane got everything under control before any vital parts on the bike or the crew were damaged, Apart from that, things went very smootWy for the leading team, especially as Yamaha lost some more groUnd after Deletang hi t a lapped rider around 8 a,m, losing seven more laps in the process, Behind the three factory teams, the battle for the best privateer team was decided in the pit when the Kawasaki of Dobe lost time after things went wrong while the team was replacing the brake pads. This allowed the other Kawasaki of Guyot, Lussiana and Simeon to take third place and best privateer finish. Still, Guyot and company knew that they were at the mercy of the second Yamaha, which was coming back like a cannonball. "We have some support from the official Kawasaki team," stated Belgian veteran Michel Simeon, "But I have the flu, and we lost some time in the beginning of the race when a clip-on broke off. This Kawasaki is very hard to ride because of the chassis lacking rigidity. If the Yamaha gets close enough to us before the end of the race, we will have to be happy with fifth." But even before the battle for fourth started in earnest, the number-one Kawasaki got into big trouble. At 9:15 a.m. on Sunday, d'Orgeix made a very slow lap before the bike started to smoke when he passed in front of the pit lane. "1 had the impression that the engine was fast losing power," d'Orgeix explained. "And then all of a sudden, there was a big vibration, a big bang and then nothing more." The mechanics did not have to look long to find a reason: a broken connecting rod had worked its way through the walls of the case. With that, Suzuki knew that victory was theirs - Polen was now leading with a lO-lap cushion over the Yamaha of Deletang, The situation would not change for the two leading machines, but with half an hour to go, the private Kawasaki of Guyot had to pit for a (planned) final fuel stop, Their 50-second lead over the factory Yamaha dwindled to 20 seconds, and some 10 minutes later, the Yamaha took over the third position. But at Suzuki, the champagne bottles could be taken out of the fridge as Dominique Meliand (who works only some 120 miles from the track) rode the lead Suzuki home and finally took his first victory at Le Mans, with the second Suzuki dropping back from seventh to eighth in the last couple of hours due to brake problems after a race frought with three crashes. eN Le Mans Le Mans, France Results: April 12-13, 1997 (Round 1 of 4) 1. Gomez/Polen/Goddard (Suz); 2. Deletang/ Ruggia/Undholm (Yam); 3. Mahe/Fupwara/Battistini (Yam); 4. Guyot/lussiana/Simeon (Kaw); 5. Dobel Haquin/Cortinovis (Knw); 6. Pail1ot/Ulmann/Vivoli (Suz); 7. Monneret/Maubon/ Amalnc (Yamaha); 8. Ferstler/Bonhuil/Ferracci (Suz); 9. Schneider/GabriellI Bronec (Yam); LO. lherbette/VeiUe/Denis (Kaw); 11. Rieder/Kuenzi/Monot (Kaw); 12. Petit/Dubois/ Tranois (Hon); 13. Beauvais/Pean/Mussard (Suz); 14. Destoop/ Henninot/Te.ixeira (Hon); 15. Cuzin/ Marchand/Couturier (Hon); 16. Caille/Salvador/ Morillon (Kaw); 17. Leglatin/Mairone/Davaze (Due); 18. Courte/Conte/Jeannin (Kaw); 19. Carrara/Pochon/ Desmaris (Suz); 20. Granie/}uanola/Treffort (Suz); 21. Charie-ArHgucs/Robert/Loustalet (Kaw); 22. Louatron/Detot/Sueur (Kaw); 23. Maecio/Guinand/ Venturini (Kaw); 24.. Eisen/Halter/Masson (Kawasaki); 25. Girardot/Laurent/Marzloff (Hon); 26. Aerts/ Pister/Orban (Suz); 27. Goodley/Jefferies/Stroud (Kaw); 28. Jolivet/Lethin/Besson (Suz); 29. Tanesie/ Daniel/Kuenemann (Suz); 30. Lentaigne/Fourcadet/ Verite (Hon); 31. Enault/Cornil/Villot (Kaw); 32, All green ight from the start of qualifying. Kawasaki stated clearly that it once again had the best bike fOr the French 24-hours race in the guise of the ZX-7R. The green troops had already won the classic in '92, '93, '94 and '96, but this time they thJ:ew the new superbike in the battle at Le Mans after a successful European debut at the Bol d'Or at the end of last year. Thirty-one-year-old Jehan d'Orgeix broke the official lap record on Thursday aftemoon. taking his Kawasaki to an impressive 1:44.Q19 in the first ')ualifying session It eventually earned the trio of Piergiorgio Bontempi, Brian Morrison and d'Orgeix pole position for the race. The only fac· tory Honda team also logged its best time on Thursday. but the Honda boys made fireworks on Friday, announcing that two-tim" winner Adri...... Morillas would not start in the race after some difficult practice sessions. Due to electronics problems, the team had decided not to use the quick-shift system on the bik" for race -day. An extra -and insurmountable -difficulty for R Morillas. -OU" to several wrist injuries during my career, 1 have never again been able to use my right wrist properly." Morillas said. "With th" quickshift system put to non-active, my osteopaths had predicted that my wrist would block on Sunday morning around 5 o'clock. I can not take that risk:' Morillas, who had announced that this would be his 6nal season,. decided to definitely stop racing after these unlucky practice sessions at Le Mans. Christian Lavieille, Miguel Duhamel and reserve-rider J"an-Michel Mattioli would finally start their race from second position, Third on the grid went to one of th" Suzukis. Former World Ownpion Doug Polen proved to be a little bit faster than his teammates Juan-Eric Gomez and Peter Goddard. On the second Suzuki team there was also a last-minute rider change due to Stephane Coutelle injuring his shoulder in a crash. Gilles Ferstler and Florian Ferracci could count on former Le Mans winner Bruno Bonhuil to keep them cornpany during the long race, starting from eighth on the grid. Both factory Yamahas "'"re parked in the fourth and fifth spots, Grand Prix rider JeanPhilippe RUggia did not succeed -unlike the top three -in getting under 1:45, and neither did teammates Jt'a11-Marc Deletang and Christer Undholm. "No cause to worry," explained Jean-Louis.Battistini, who shared the second Yamaha with Eric Mahe and Norihiko Fujiwara. "We have concentrated on getting an ideal race sdUp. We have left the qualifying engine and tires in the crate," Nogueira/Capela/Rodrigues (Suz); 33. Lefevre/ Prevot/ColJecch.ia (Suz); 34. Colombain/Valenti/Prevel (Suz); 35. Dernoncourt/Maisto!Jaggi (Due); 36. Guillard/Basle/Comillet (Kaw)j 37. Potier/Tauzi£de/ Dantony (Kaw); 38. Duflos/Dedieuleveult/Raudrant (Kaw); 39. Fabra/Cuny/Louis (Kaw). Time: 23 hr., 59 min., 5.81 see. Distance: 758 laps, 2084.5 mil(!S Average speed: 86.899 mph Brieflv. •••• -.. (Top) Third place In the race's final moments went to the second Yamaha entry, ridden by Eric Mahe, Norihiko Fujiwara and Jean·Louls Battistini. (Above) Michael Simeon led a privateer Kawasaki team to fourth place after 24 hours. At Hond'8\ ~se was made of a somewhat adapted'superbike engine with the 'new double injection system. the bigger ,!irbo~ and air ducts and the modified conrods and combustion chambers, In all, these changes offered some·seven extra horsepower', Ten years afte'r his last (and firs!l World Endurance race, .Jean·Phllippe Ruggia made liis comeback il> the marathon ike 'rac' , . " " " 'A short overview of the teclinical innoY';" ;'ng. 'We will need h.i"; fO'r'the'Au'stralian tio'ns on this year's'endcrarice bikes: The'. Championship,' Goddard saie:!.' 'And,on top of Kawasa'kl' ZX'7R was not .,quiPPe" 'with .the . that; ;he is,ortly 20 'y'ears old;)e' still. 'n,e,eds C!oo) .stiff facto"; frame, as thiS does not offer' some extra racing experience before we IEli as much comfort to the riderS On Europea.n oir·, hilT) have' a gp at the World Supers,: For ,God·. quits ,as it.does 6n ,the smoother circuit sur-' datd, the 1997 .season still'offer's some, racing' "faces on Japanese tracks such 'as Suzuka, opportunities.·He will run the 24 hours' race' at , where the bille was 6rst entered, Apart from' Spa and the 801 d'Or forDominique Meliand.'s·' that. the green team had also tested a (ot SERt, and he is. also .the reserve rider for the .16,~·ini:h Dunlop-s_ to get the bi,ke steering Suzuki W"r1d Superbike team and .the Lucky , even be,tter. . . Strike Suzuki SOOcc Gp'team, .... l-I 0.. <: 39

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