Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

at wh a t was going on for most of the race:' th e Yamaha rider sai d . "There was no point trying to lea d for every lap, because it' s easy to overtake with a d ra ft - it's all about the las t cou ple of laps." Russ ell's final position was d ecided on the pen ultimate lap coming into the fas t Parab olic a - th e last corner of the circuit. 'The wh ole grou p came up to a backmarker and passed him, but he blocked me," Russell said . "I lost the draft, and from the n on I had no chance of winning." Hale finis hed 10th , after a race- long struggle wi th Bonte m pi (on last yea r's Muzzy Kawasaki ) and Meklau. "We've struggled for a good setu p t he whole w eeke n d," th e Te xa n explained. "On top of that , the tire gamble didn't work out; it dropped off pretty soon in the race. I'd selected a differen t tire to the one james (Wh it h a m) o p ted for, and it proved to be a mistake." RACE TWO About an hour after the finish of the first heat, it started to rain cats and dogs. After the Supersport riders had gone out in appalling conditi ons , it was up to the superbike riders to have 15 minutes of wet warmup before they sta rted their race some 15 minutes later. Again , Ru ssell took ma ximum adva ntage of his po le position, ge tting to the first chicane ahead of the field. His lead was sho r t-lived , however , as Fogarty go t by. For the first cou p le of laps, Foggy seemed to pull away as the rain slow ed a n d event ua lly s top ped. Things got really exciting on lap three, wh en Whitham dosed the gap to Fogar ty, and both men - who a re the bes t of friends off the track - sta rted to put on a show on the front straig ht, wavin g fists a t each other. The fun was interrupted a couple of laps late r when Kocinski and C hili hooked u p and the leading duo was transformed in a leading qu artet. At the halfwa y stage, th e fabu lo u s fou r w ere fighting over every inch of the tarmac, often sto rmi ng into the chicanes sid e by side . Behind them, the field had stretched quite a lot on the wet tarmac, with Yanagawa a lonesom e fifth; followed at what looked lik e a sa fe di stan ce by Sli ght, with anoth er five seconds to Bont empi. Russell was an equally distant seventh. Crafar was even further behind, and a p pea re d certain to ge t an eventual eighth-place finish. On lap 10, Chili went a head o f the pack for the first time, and he immed iately open ed up a co mfo rta ble le ad, leaving Kocinski, Whit ham and Fogarty to battle it ou t for seco nd pla ce. Two laps before the end, Chili had a six-secnd lead over the trio, with Fogarty deserately trying to hold on to Whi tham a nd Kocinski. Behind them, things go t ven hotter when Slight mad e a move to ass Yanagaw a just before one of the hicanes, "We were both overtaking a backarker," Slight explained. "He loo ked ve r his right shoulder, but we were on is left and he moved over into our a th. By the time I was braking, I was ff line and on a really we t pa rt of the ack - I just cou ld n' t sto p. I felt reall y orry a bout A ki ra, b u t he was okay hen I apologized." Slight w as abl e to fin ish fifth after ocking Yanagawa down. Up front, nothing cou ld sto p Chili rom winning his third Mon za race in hr ee years , with Kocinski takin g second nd Whitham third. (Above)The wet look: Aussell (22) led the second race as welt. At least at the start. (Below) Pier-Francesco Chili leads Carl Fogarty, Kocinski and James Whitha m in the wet second race . "My son as ke d me this morning to win a race, so he m us t be very happy now ," the Italian explai ned after having th rown hi s helm et into th e crowd . "I too k it qu it e easy o n th e first la ps, because everybody seems to be wa nting to win the race in the first chicane. After that , I felt quit e confi den t that I could win the race. Still, not ever ything went accord ing to plan. My helmet visor kept misting up, a nd I had to lift the th ing several tim e s in o rde r to see so me thin g." Kocinski was qu ite happy with his second-place finish, knowing he'd finished the weekend as the mo st suc cess- ful rider . "It was the fir st time for me in th e wet at Mon za , so I'm happy with sec- ond, especially after taking the win in the opening race: ' he said. "It was difficult in the conditions, but I held in there, go t th e points - a nd it' s o ff to my favorite track next." Whitham e arne d ano ther rostrum Russell's first ole of '97 aturday was a day fraught with difficulties for the Yamaha World Superbike team at their home track at Monza. The only team to have spent som e days of pri vate practice on the circuit in Milan 's city park some 10 days before the event, they had their bikes dialed in early. Come Saturday morning, however, Colin Edwards II was torpedoed off h is bike by World Superbike newcomer jean-Philippe Rug- S gia , who was unable to recover from a rear-wheel slide after having braked too late in a desperate move to get back past Edwards while diving into the infamous Curva Parabolica before the start/finish line. Edwards' wri st was broken from the impact of the two bikes colliding. "That wasn't a very smart thing to do," Edwa rds said la ter. "I fractured both the bones in my wrist. If he had hit "The first day didn't go well," the New Zealander said. "I couldn't find the right setting, and even this morning we still were not quite there. This afternoon, I felt much more comfortable, but even then, a good tow was unmissable if you wanted to make a good time ." Castrol Honda's john Kocinski took third in the closing stages, after having had provisional pole position after the first qualifying session on Friday (crashing one lap after having set that time ). "It's been an eventful qualifying time for me here, but I'm on the front row and that's what counts here:' sa id Kocinski. " If there' s going to be a group breaking away from the rest of the riders in tomorrow's races, I want to be in it. Having said that , I'm kinda glad that the crash happened yesterday; it shows that I'm still trying very hard . It was unfortunate that the temperature this afternoon dropped some 10 degrees, which meant that we had to do with a bit Jess traction." Kocinski's teammate Aaron Slight completed row one. "I wa nted pol e posit ion badly, but to make up half a se cond on Scot t Russell, I needed the perfect me anywhere else, J would 've been all lap, and it didn't happen for me:' right. He hit me right on the elbow, and I knew before I hit the track that I'd hurt my wrist. [don't know what he was thinking. he said , "To be on the fron t row of the grid is good enough but, I'd passed him and pulled quite a gap on him ... as I took the nor- if the weather stays dry tomorrow, anyone cou ld win . Qualifymal line, he hit me on the inside. He was never going to make it ing is not that important at Monza ." The New Zealander also struggled with an old injury, which through at that speed." Edwards will be out for some 15 days, but should be okay for caused him pain - especially in the first chicane, where he had to transfer the weight from side to side . his home race at Laguna Seca. "My back has been niggling since February, and I don't seem After the Castrol Honda rid ers had led things on the first day of qualifying. the real fight for pole position ended up being to get it lost, Apparently, there 's a pinch between the third and fought out between Scott Russell and Simon Crafar. The Kiwi fourth vertebrae. Only since this morning are we trying to get it Kawasaki rider got on top of the list some 4{) minutes before the over with, through medical treatment." Andreas Meklau was a surprise fifth , wi th Pier-Francesco checkered flag. but stayed there for only about 10 minutes. Then Russell struck back and claimed his first-ever pole position for Chili, Carl Fogarty and Piergiorgio Bontempi next to him. Fogarty was , once again, complaining about the same problem that Yama ha. '1 wanted to get a pole for the guys - it's their home race: ' the had been nagging him since the beginning of the season. 'The bike wants to go wide all the time," the Englishman Georgian said. "But I didn' t think that I would really pull if off. Yesterday, we had a few probl ems with the front fork of the bike explained. '1 try to han g .on wide in the corners, but then I'm I'd been using during the private practice here. But today, we . losing traction. And , for some reason o r anoth er, [ seem to be hav e the bike going perfectly. The only real problem today on losing speed on the straights." Mike Hale qualified 12th after another two difficult days of the track was the slower riders . I've ne ver seen more dangerously slower riders than here. Maybe they should have one meeting practice. "Yesterday, we had some motor problems that set us back for the racers and one for the riders ." The distance between pole-man Russell and the last man on quite a lot," Hale said . "Tod ay, we 've been making slow the grid (31st) was 10 seconds - with nine riders not even mak- progress, but I'm struggling in the chicanes, getting the bike to change direction. We changed about everything to try to cure ing the required qualifying time. At the end of the day, Crafar had to be happy with second that problem, but we're still not there yet." Stability un der braking also seemed to be a problem for the position on the front row. Suzuki men in the opening sessions. 13

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