Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Round 3: Donington Park (Above) Simon Crafar (6) leads Colin Edwards II and Scott Russell. Crafar beat the Yamaha riders to the line In both races. (left) Carl Fogarty, Pler-Frimcesco Chili and AaronSllght celebrate after the second race. It was only Chili's second finish of the series, past Slight to take the runner-up spot. Second place for Chili was only the Italian's second firUsh of the season. "Things got quite hectic on the. last lap," Chili said. "But this time, the roles were reversed. 1 managed to get in fran t of Aaron and 1 was able to stay there as well. This was a good revenge after my disappointing.first race." Slight found victory had been within his reach, but that he had just missed . that little bit of luck. · rle tl VI· B "Brakes and tires turned out to be the biggest problem in this race," Slight said. "The last lap was the cream on the cake, when 1 lost time with the lapped rider. The brake.s started to fade, and Frankie (Chili) got me on the last corner. But 1 suppose 1 should be happy about today this is the first time I've won at Doning- ton." r • I. • • . Crafar had an identical race to the first one, with his hard tire coming good at the end of the race, while the • Yirginlo Ferrari admitted thai :Anthony Gobert had offered his services to Ducati about a week and a half before the Don;ng. -ton round. At the same·tlme, however, the Ital;an. team "",nager ·expressed his doubts abo."t lhe deal becom;ng a reality. "Even· though I appredate Anthony a ·Iot - et the end of last year we had been talking·.about a possible ~oJlaborat;on - I t~ink at th;s time it .is impossible fpr Ducati to provide him with factory equipment,." Ferrari said. "They have t6 think about the availability of factory .engines and spare ,parts: And with the 18 people ;n the. rac;ng department of Ducati noW working on the development and· thf;l . .maintenance of the· engines for the Gattolone team and: our team, there ;s just no more ·capacity to taKe on another factorY r;der." .. To put tn;s in· the r;ght context: The Ferrari-r!Jn ·team not oriiy takes four complete b;kf;lS (for Fo.garty and Hodgson) to every· race·, b~t aiso .12 .spare eng.;nes· ard several loads of spare parts: . other riders started to struggle for grip. . Kocinski finished fifth, dropping from first to third in the point standings, and was simply glad to be moving on with some points under his belt. "The first race result certainly was not what I expected, but at least I grabbed a few more points in the second_race," Kocinski said. "Donington has never been a successful drcui t for me so it is nice to have six finishes from six races so far this year and to be in the hunt for the title." Edwards and Russell once again kept each other company during the whole race and finished sixth and seventh. "Everything is okay with the bike," Edwards said. "But, like everyone, we could do witl\ a little more power. 1 just can't get the bike around here .any quick. er. You can really push the whole race but the extra tenths you may make you'll lose with one tiny mistake. It's just not worth risking." Russell put his result partly down to a lack of experience with the Yamaha. "I am lackil\g a bit of confidel\ce because the bike is still quite new for me and that told coming out of Redgate (corner). [ ended up following Colin . around, which was not much run. The lappers here ·.were idiots because they would look back at you when the blue flags were out and thel\ put their heads down al\d try and race you." Hale was on course to better his 15th place in race one when he was forced to retire from the battle when the rear tire of his Suzuki suddenly deflated after nine of the scheduled 25 laps. Briton James Haydon, who had finished 14th, was later disqualified because of his bike being underweight. This promoted Andreas Meklau and Pere Riba Cabana to the last points-earning places. CN RY"!4'r was o.ne ·of the British hotshots 11. Neil Mackenzie (1:34.799); 12. James Whitham (1:34.904); 13. John Reynolds (1:35.160); 14. Christcr Lindholm (1:35.284); 15. Gregorio LavUla (1:35.510); 16. Steve Hislop 0:35.800); 17. Sean Emmett (1:35.8U); 18. James Haydon 0:36.604); 19. Mike Hale 0:36.698); 20. Pere Riba Cabana 0:37.038); 21. Ch:x:istian Lavieille (1:37.336); 22. Andreas Mekla'J 0:37.516); 23. Igor Jerman (1:38.688); 24. Anton Gruschka (1:39.291); 25. B. Sampson 0:39.840); 26. G;orgio Cantalupo (1:40.474); 27. Eugene McManus 0:40.670); 28. J. Mrkyvka 0:41.726); 29. P. Malvlni 0:42.500). RACE ONE: 1. Aaron Slight (Hon); 2. Carl Fogarty (Duc); 3. Simon erMar (}(aw); 4. Neil Hodgson (Due); 5. Colin Edwards II (Yam); 6. Scott Russell (Yam); 7. NinU Mackenzie (Yam); 8. James Whitham (Suz); 9. John Reynolds (Due); 10. John Kocinski (Hon); 11. Piergiorgio Bontempi (Kaw); 12. Christer Lindholm (Yam); 13. Gregorio Lavilla (Ouc); 14. Sean Emmett (Due); 15. Mike Hale (Suz); 16. James Haydon (Due); 17. Andreas MekJnu (Due); 18. Pere Rib.1 Cabana (Hon); 19. Christi..1n Lavicille (Han); 20. 'sor Jerman (Kaw); 21. Anton Gruschka (Vam); 22. J. Mrkyvka (Han); 23. Paolo Malvini (Due). Time: 39 min., 52.127 sec. Distance: 251aps, 62.353 miles Average speed: 93.843 mph Margin of victory: l.683 sec. . Futest lap: Pier-Francesco Chili, 1:34.723/94.796 mph RACE TWO: 1. Carl Fogarty (Due); 2. PierFrancesco Chili (Due); 3. Aaron Slight (Hon); 4. Simon Crarnr (}(aw); 5. John Kocinski (Hon); 6. Colin Edwards n (Yam); 7. Scott Russell (Yam); 8. Niall Mackenzie (Yam); 9. Neil Hodgson (Due); 10. }.1mes Whitham (Suz); . 11. John Reynolds (Dud; 12. Sean Emmett (Due); 13. Gregorio Lavilla (Dud; 14. Andreas Meklau -

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