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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127841
.ROAD RACE
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROAD RACE SERIES
t Italian Grand Prix
\lS/3
Cnville (78/1); 3. Nobuatsu Aoki (54); 4. tuea Cadalora
Olivier Petrucciani (Apr); 17. William Costes (Hon); 18.
of 15 rounds): 1. Valentino Rossi
Idalia Gavira (Apr); 19. Walter Tortoroglio.
Veda (74/1); 3. Kazuto Sakata (59); 4. Jorge Martinez
(43); 5. Tadayuki Okada (38); 6. Takuma Aoki (37); 7.
Time: '40 minutes, 47.548 seconds.
Distance: 68,44 miles.
(57); 5. Masaki Tokudome (36); 6. Tomomi Manako (36);
7. Masao Azuma (3S); 8. Garry McCoy (29); 9. (TIE)
Nonfurne Abe (35); 8. Alex Barros (29); 9. Sete Gibemau
Average speed: 100.671 mph.
Margin of victory: 0.050 second.
•
Fastest lap, Rail Waldmann, 1,55.416/101.660 mph, lap 4.
SOOcc GRANO PRIX: 1. Michael Doohan (Hon); 2.
Luea Cadalora (Yam); 3. Nobuatsu Aoki (Han); 4. Alex
Criville (Hon); 5. Daryl Beattie (Suz); 6. Alex Barros
(Hon); 7. Norifumi Abe (Yam); 8. Jean-Michel Bayle
(Mod); 9. Sete Gibernau (Yam); 10. Regis Laconi (Hon);
11. Doriano Romboni (Apr); 12. Troy Corser (Yam); 13.
Anthony Cobert (Suz); 14. Kirk McCarthy (Yam); 15.
Lucio Pedcrcini (Yam); 16. Laurent Naveau (YiUtl); 17.
Frederic Prolat (Yam).
Time: 44 minutes, 06.442 seconds.
Distance: 74.96 miles.
Average speed: 101.972 mph.
Margin of victory: 10.056 seconds.
Fastest lap' M;chael Doohan, 154.144/102.793 mph, lap 12125cc WORLD C'SHll' POINT STANDINGS (Afler 4
wins); 2. Nobby
YoshiakiKatoh/Frederic Petit (25); 11. Mirko Gfunsanti
(23); 12. Hideyuki Nakajo (17); 13. (TIE) Lucio
Cecchinello/Roberto Locatelli (15); 15. Ivan Goi (13); 16.
Gianluigi Scalvini (11); 17. Peter Cettl nO); 18. Kazuhiro
Takao (8); 19. Jaroslav Holes (7); 20. You;eru Ui (6).
2SOcc WORLD C'SHll' POINT STANDINGS (After 4
or 15 rounds); 1. Max Biaggi (75/2 wins); 2. Ralf
Waldmnnn (62/1); 3. Tetsuya Harada (56); 4. Olivier
Jacque (36); 5. Ha'fuchika Aoki (32); 6. Tohru Ukawa
(30); 7. Noriyasu Numata (27); 8. Takeshi Tsujimura
(21); 10. (TIE) Carlos Checa/Reg'is Laconj (20); 12.
Alberto Puig (17); 13. (TIE) Daryl Beattie/Coriana
Romboni (15); 15.1ean-Mkhel Bayle (13); 16. (TIE)
Norihiko Fujiwara/Troy Corser (7); 18. Jurgen van cler
Coorbergh (4); 19. (TIE) Peter Goddard/Kirk
McCarthy/ Anthony Gobert (3).
Upcoming rounds:
Round 5 " Zeltweg, Austria, June 1
Round 6" Le Castellet, France, June a
(26); 9. Daijiro Kato (25/1); 10. (TIE) Loris
Capirossi/Jeremy McWilliams (21); 12. MarceJlino
LucclU (20); 13. Stelano Perugmi (19); 14.
(TIE)
Yukio
Kagayama/}am'ie Robinson/Sebastian Porto/Luis
0' Antin/Osamu Miyazaki (10); 19. (TIE) Emilio
Alzamora/Oliver Peb'ucciani (9).
SOOcc WORLD C'SlUP POINT STANDINGS (After 4
of 15 rounds): ,. Mid Doohan (95/3 wins); 2. Alex
Valentino Rossi won the 125cc Grand Prix
and leads the World Championship point
standings.
At Mugello, Kurtis Robert; ran into detonation prob.lems, which, . ~ truck for a·:local garbage collection ·agency in his hometown
Cesena. Because of his .increased test schedule. Lucchi has been
orice fixed, allo""ed his lap. times to drop by 3.5 second.s a lap.
forced.to ta~e a six-m(:mth leave of ~bsence from·hls day. job•.
· Edm'ondso~ explain·ed that the Aprilias rur on the ".verge of c;!etc>
nation. It was breakirtg plugs. and plugs. .were coming loose." The·
'After a ~riod of gra9ually decreasing involvement. BrIdg_ . t!,am changed the heads and detonation sensors and fitted an. Thtee-tim'e World Chqmpio.n Max ·BU!ggj end!Od his cha)1ces .of a
pole position .with a slow'-speed crash near the end. of the second
Aprilia-type spark plug. Edmondson thought the team would make
h~ completely dropped· out of .the World Champitmships, their
session. "I ·was working very hard to lry to fi"d the right s·etting
linal.two riders. ,Tomomi Manako and Tex Geissler uf Team Honda .the·Aprilla work ana ord!,r.a ,g9a·RS250 and kit ir,AuguSi for the
for the ra,e, ".·Biagg[ saici. "Near th·" end, I .IiiI'd .16 ·push more to
"u.GT 3060, s.witching io Dunlop ai the Italian GP: Their presebce . following season. A savage .highside ended Roberts' day wHile he
Was fighiing for 1:it~. Thli' bike·tumbled into the gravel,. destroying, . get v!'ry g!"od \;me to try to ·start ·fl:om ~rst row. W.e just· pu.t in a
·had diminished this.year. in the 250cc class when· FCC Technical
· all the ~ork and d?ing between $15,qoO an.d $20,000 dam - .. new tire, and I. wa~ trying veri hard, and I ?lrea9Y ha.d fiont su.sSports' t akeshi Tsujimura switched to Donlop. The .most imm"di- .
pension with S9me pr<:>bl!,m. Then we were ab.out thre.e· elo.se to .
a
'at~ and dramqtic improvement in his time came at Suzuka, .wh.ere . ge. He· vyas unhurt in· the·':r.ash, his (ather saiq,. adding with a
the ~ottom (on su,,?ension settings) a~d in. that co")er I louc~d·
~" qualilied nearly three seconds quicker for the Japan'ese tiP. · smilie, " Until·l. got to hir"(1.the bottom .and I lost·the. fron\. Anyway, that was not a problem
Before the· season started. the team had only c.ommitted to the
because Ihe speed was very slow. and .I did not hurt my shoulder
UGT 30qo Honda .team. At the- preseason II'lTA test at Je·rez, . The. transition from 'Power Horse Promotor to energy-drink rival
Red .Bull·Wo;Jd Championship Motorsports continued at· ,(the orie he:d damag!Od when ~is e-ngioe seized in practice for the·
·Bridgestone's Thomas. Scholt said, "yYe concentrate 6'; t~e team.
Mugello.with an increased i:misence by Red Bull. The team took· Japanese GP:at Suzuka)." ·It was revealed at Mugello that the
that" ,!,att"rs." Their dep~rture was .made ·with little fanfare. No
over the Power Horse tea·m after Alfred Inzinger ran into financial: seizure had happened on a new-spec en·gine which hadn't ·been
Bridgestone representative was in· Mugello and there iNas no offi· problems with his energy-diink concem. Thomas Uberall. spontriea before, and may have been· the result· of:too lillie break-in
cial release.
.
.
time, The factory is still. trying to ,find the ·cause. "Now, I'm keep- .
sorship manager of Red Bull, said that it· was ·an "inexpensive: way
·to ·get iOto Grand Pri,.ra9ing. We have signed an option ·for 'ga ·ing- smiling because, compared to lasi race ·and··twei races ago; I
Former 500cc·Worid Champion Ke~in SCh""antz ·spectated at··
had a bil;} problem with my left shoulder, " Hiaggi said.. "Compared
and 'gg. We want to get sy~·ergy out o~ F-l and motorcyclists. We
Mugello after atten'ding a 25th a.nni\lersarx party for·the Dain~se
(Uberall·and Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz) have met with . to before when I was almo.st 90 percent, now I'm almost 100 perleather compa.ny the previous weekend ·in Imola. Schwantz, who
(Peteri .Clifford a~d '(Bo~) ~acLeah at Salzburg right after Jer!'z
cent and also· the· pain i,s gone, which is the. main reasoh rm smilhadn't· been to q' GP ·since. last.year'.s British ,GP at Donington
GP. 'We all understood each other. and had·a good relationship
ing. I'm quit!O ·cohfident; I'm not sure tomorrow I· can win." What
Park" said he was working fuN time to secure the finances for a
has been the biggest problem'for Biaggi is lack of s!'at time. His·
from the first moment.)'m very·happy that in such a short time the
ride in NASCAR's Busch Light series. "We've got cars an.d we.'ve
- team could already do such a good job of presenting the team and
was th.e last Honda built. (T1ostly because it ""as ordered so late
got teams and we've gol the-opportunity and a license and.we've"
Ihe bikes. There will be a better presentation at the Austrian GP,
since his Marlbor.o deal·wasn't secure ~ntjJ late· in the winter;.
done some testing," Schwantz ·said.." If anybody wants 10 send
· when the riding gear and team uniforms are improved." Though '" HonestlY spea~ing, if I have the time, ihree or four months to
me money: .. " Though he's had a n.umber of·opportunilies to drive
the bikes were painted iri proper colors: the team members wore
make the bike like I want: for sure today the· lap times should be
in the NASCAR Craftsman Supertrucks series, each came with a
six- to eighMenths faster than it was. There is some problem and
· polo shirts wit.h Red Bull patches and. the riders had Red Bull
price tag of about $30.oo0-40,000.a weekend, which would escapatches sewn in the space over the former Power Horse logo. As
we can't fix it with setup, It is only a problem when I try to go very
late considerably:if there was an accident. Instead,. Schwantz
for the riders, Wberall said, -We "Yill wait for the end of the ·sea-. fast. When .you go on th!O limit the problem .com!,s out and you.
·invested $~OQ ..OOO ·to buy half t~e Ridling Motorsports :(eam:
son. It's important that they have the results we expect and the
need the frame different to help you, nOl only suspension and
which fields a pair of Chevrolet Monte Carlos - one backed by
charisma. - Because Red Bull is ~eavily marketed in Germany,
tires or whatever. - Biaggi said that fellow Honda works riders Ralf
Lance Snacks, the other by Hype, the energy drink which is also
there was some speculation. that the team would sign a German
Waldmann and Olivier Jacques have the new. modifi!'d NSR250
on the Rothman Williams Formula Qne cars - in the Busch s!,ries.. rider for next year aod Uberall did nothing to dispel it. "Of co·urse.
chassis, but that he's waiting for his;
"Our 'team is 6n.e of four or five factory OM teams (which means
the Ger(T1an mark'lt is very, very important for us. That's why a
the factory supplies five blocks, five sets of heads, and unlimited
Internet fever continues to sweep the GP paddock. During the
guy like (Ralfl Waldmann has to be considered." Red Bun is a
sheet metall." He's been able to test both cars, and turned a lap
middle of the 250cc front-row press conference, Biaggi pointed
considerably larger company than Power Horse, with $300 million
of 32.20 seconds at Charlotte after only 12 .iap~ in a car .whos.e
out that his site could be· reach by typing .. www.maxbiaggi.com..:
In- sales compared to Power ·Horse' s approximate $9 million. The
setup was far from ideal. "Pole pos.ition for the Busch race was
He ·said that It· was constantly updated and there was a restricteddrink is sold all over Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and is a
31 Aat and poll" for the (Winston) Cup race would be a high 29, "
access area that fans could sign up for. "We see 25.000-30,000
51-percent owner of the Sauber/Petronas Formula One team.
Schwantz said. Kevin laPage, who drtves the number-88 Hype
every day to 90 into my jnternet site." Biaggi's web site address is
They also sponsor Steve Hislop and John Reynolds in British
car..turned a 31 :ao. Right oow, it's a matter of wait-and-se"e. Shell Superbike series and Austrian Andreas Meklau in the Geron his upper fairing, near the handgrips, the same location as the
before they can fi!,ld a third car. ·'We:ve got a couple of different
address
of
the
Marlboro
Team
Roberts
site
man Superbike Championship, as well as selected World Superdeals going," Schwantz said. The Texan has been talkin9 with for(www.robertsgroup.com). which might be the slickest in GP racing.
bike races.
mer motocrosser Ricky Johnson about a deal that would allow
The Dorna site, which is run by the GP orgahizers and updates
them to share the driving duties in a car. "A guy Ricky knows
results n.early in real .time .on race weekends, averages over
Among those left high and dry by the dissolution of the Pro·motor
thinks he has enough for me to do the races," Schwantz said,
Yamaha team was KLS. the German tire-warmer company. The_ 590:000 hits per week during ~ace weeks and over 20q,000 per
"We're trying to put a deal together for both of us." Schwantz
week on off weekends. The Japanese are the biggest users with
team had ordered 16 tire warmers with display and temp.erature
also said that his chronically sore wrist, which effectively ended
27.07 percent of the "isitors, and the U.S. is jusfabout.6 percent
converter at a cost of 40,000 German marks (about $23.550).
his motorcycle career, doesn't normally bother him in a car, but
behind. It fails off dramatically after that. ihough 85 countries have
"as soon as I sat on Daryl's (Beatlie) bike. the wrist started to
been represented in the past 30 daYS, ·with webheads logging in
Historically chronic traffic problems at the Mugello circuit have
hurt again,·' he joked. SchWMtz has been keeping an eye on the
brought about a novel solution under the auspices of former Fiat
from such dis.parate places as Vatican City, Tonga. Montserrat.
progress (or lack thereofl of his former team_ During Beattie's laychairman and Italian industrialist Gio Agnelli. The government is
and Guam.
off, Schwantz said, "The Suzuki stayed the same. It didn't
planning to build a .high-speed train, the TAV