Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

n oticed we were pull in g a wa y from third by qui te a lo t so I knew w hen we come by here he' d notice we had qui te a big gap to third and he'd feel that second was per haps the best option." It was a wi nning strategy. "I d id all I could to stay with Mick , but he was the best tod ay," Aoki said. "When I got into the lead, that' s because. he let me throug h, just to tr y and put p ress u re on me. I must say it worked ou t pr etty good. Truly eno ugh, it was th e fi rst tim e I w as lead in g a 500cc Grand Prix," Th e le a d pair h ad lo st th e o thers beginning on abo ut the 10th lap. Checa was in fro nt of Takuma Aoki and the two ran in tandem the entire race, It was less than five la ps from the end w hen that race was d ecided in Aoki's favor. Checa ha d mad e th e bol d move into Tam burello, but was in too hot and ran straight into the grave l trap , gathering it up witho u t penalty and tak ing a solid fourth. "I w as lucky to continue and fin ish fourth," Chcca adm itted . Cadalora and Okad a wer e the fifthplace combata nts, the pair never more than abou t a second apart for the final 15 laps. Okad a had chosen the same rear Miche lin tire as Dooh an , but it wasn't wo rking effectively a fte r th e ha lfway point, so he had to han g on and wa it for Cadalora to falter - w hich he d id, w ith three laps to go. Then ca me Abe, the Japanese rid er losing tou ch wi th the lead ers at the start because he didn't have confide nce in the front end , then improvin g when the fuel load dec reased . "I think it mad e a difference having a full fuel tank be cause after a tim e th e fron t felt much better and my lap times came down a lot, but it wa s too lat e to catch th em ," Abe said. Jean -Michel Bayle wa s next, ge tting the better of Honda C resini 's Alex Barros, "We were racing here and I'd say that' s the first time this year we've really raced ," tea m owner Kenny Roberts said, "We are now at a base line where we can look serious ly at improv ing the performance of the machin e. The bike is getting better and better and we expect it to keep gett ing bett er." . An thony Gobert w as 10th , th e 22ye a r-o ld Aus tralian dropping quickl y out of third with a variety of problems . "The first was cramps in my left leg, because the gear pedal wa s set a little high," Gobert said. "That mean t I wa s havin g trou ble shifting. Soon af ter, the front brakes st arted to take ea rlier and ea rlier, with the lever further away from th e ba r. As a res u lt , my fo r ea r m pumped up, an d after eig ht laps [ lost all feelin g in my hand. After that, I just had to ride arou nd and try to finish ." Daryl- Beattie, his Lucky Strike Suz uki teammate, was 13th after cha nging to the bike he' d abando ned at the Japa nese GP. He felt that, in Imola, it was bett er One race after a d isa strous disqualification, Max Biaggi was back on form .. celebrating his w in with a wheelle. use them beceuee there wasn't enough time . The narrowness of ' · I'd probably feel a littl e bit diff~'rent. ·But at the moment' I'm not . - po sition, breekinq the previous tie he 'd heldwith fellow A~stralian t he engine pre clude d using conventional carbure to rs fro m an out - " And as far as next year go es: it's hard to , but .if things keep SOOcc World .Champion W ayne, Gardner. It wa a als ohts 41st ' , .. .side supplier, .such .as Kelhm, Rob ert s also .eard the team w as . going the way they are now , I don 't really know whe re I'm going'. M 'career w in. ex p erlme ntinq wit h vario us firin g ord ers and .otber . tnte rnal As fcr superbtkes. Beatt ie said: M feel that! need to start enjoyi ng I . . . . changes to soften the hetsh. off -throttle trensltton thet's been ·it. aga'" first and I feel that' s probably my 'only avenue. Being out So rti ng out the tobacco .laws by , loo king at the bikes was a'n 'affe cting Kenny Roberts Jr. more thanclean-Michel Bayle. ..J eanthere with Scott (Russell) and those guys again and not necessanexerc ise in' co nfusion at lmole . follow ing direct ive from the 'InterM ichel slam's the fron t end down with 'the bra kes ." Robe rt s said, ly winning the race : but being tn.the top four 'o r five for the lead and . nati onal B ead Rac ing Teams A ssoci ation infor ming all. teams of 'adding that he also uses more rear brake. Robert s Jr. "wants to having' a hell of a time - just bringing back what it used to be like', leg isla tion ' whi ch ban ne d adve rt ising of to bac co prod ucts: The be more fluid . He 'couldn't come to grips w ith the machine , " ·The That' s probably biggest thing at the momen t. I like Grands Prix, co mmuniqu e ' read: Please take n ote thatwe have be en informed problem. Bobe rt a said, . ~could be a lack of flywheel .or too much and I wou ld like to stay in-the paddoc k, because I really-enjoy it '. by tbeorgaorseretsici of the Italian Gra ndPnx that legislation .is flywhe el. Turning mass or no mass to turn.. The Honda had that , here, and two-st roke s, at the 'end 'of the day , is what I like the . ' now 'in p lace wh ich, in their interpretat ion, pro hibits the advertising problem w hen' it w ent big bang. It'syet 'to be de termined how most. I don't like four-strokes a lot. I guess they were drummed of to bacco duri ng' that event.' 'This applies to advertisi ng In 'all we 'll wor k on that. There are several solution s: firing order, c rankinto metoo much (racing for HRC) in Japan : I feel I need to get aspects including livery on bike s, trucks, and ' uniforms. " It we nt shaft weigh t" bike we ight: mar*! dutch weight . M ' back on racing term s and start enjoying it again,MLock for .a co rnon t o say that Italian tax authoritie s respon sible for enford ng the plete in~erv'iew Wit,h Beattie in next .week 's CYCle News.. . law would be at lmo la. Even Dome . the aport'aprornotmq body, ' didn' t have a handle on it , A Dorna offi cial said that there was no Roberts also dispe lled 'some rumo rs abo ut equip ment and person- ' nel that had been floa ting around Irriola. The fir st" wa s thathe'd After qualifYing second-fas tes t in the 2S0cc field, Marlboro Team' nationallaw. but there ' might be a law specific to lrncla . M ore likely , hired Youichi Oguma , the vener ated former head of the Honda ' , Kanemot o Honda' s Max Bia g g i addressed his disqualif ication it was something the Imola GP race promoters had effected. the offi cial said . 'adding that there.wou ld be meeti ngs after the race to ' Racing Corporation who, retired a few years back . " He's not on from the previou s w eek's Dutch TT at Aasen . " l have nothmq to my payroll at this poin t. I've talked to Mr . Oguma from-time to '· say ," the very po pular Italian said before elaborating , M other. than ' , clear up the co nfusio n, The Lucky Strike S uzuki s and. Fo rtuna time because he 's 'an old rival and friend of mine ." Roberts said already that is a part of my past , I don 't wa nt to think about 'it anyHonda' Pons' b ikes' all had their tobac co brandin g cover edup. but that. if Ogum a were to joi n the team: it could be to h elp Robert s ' more. I think they give to us a very! ve ry bad penalty , I think too the M arlboro and Che sterfield tea ms ran in full to bacco colors . develop new , street-leqetroo rorcycles forM oden e s . Roberts ' has According to Meriboro's Leede G raff enrted. there is no law pro'. much , AJ ready wh,en you start froni t he pit,'you are last , and then hibitin g toba cco branding , only a pr oposa l proj ect. "ln Franc e they , a three -ye ar co ntract with the Malaysian company which, though it to get alsoa t o -seco nd sto p-and -go I thi nk is too much . This Is a have legislation 'and we respect t hat. Mhe said, ~ In G ermany they wasn't in 'the, mot orc ycle market tw o years ago, now has 20 , per - , very bad regu lati on and I think they must c hange .something, I cent of the Malay sian market w ith its lone model, the 'K riss 11 Occ respec t this, but for all the riders this is not correct. "Basically, w e ' have a laW and we respect lt.Everycne aqrees in England on what . M we do . We don 't wan t to do it here because it' s not a law.· De step-through. Wh ether he hires Ogu ma or not .. Roberts has hired need some clever peo ple to make it regulation. This is .no t righ t: I about a dozen people since thestart of the year and now can do " G raffenned said t hat.. since it wa sn't alew.tthere was no way the . think ~o : but riot for me but (or mot orcycle racing . " ' , .almost anyt hing in-hou se. The team is making its own radiators : , teams equid be fined or penalized, though he underst ood thai the o ther teams felt diff erently , Though th ere wa s no nationa l W ithA le'x Cri~iIIe rec uperating in a Barcelona hospital. H onda had they've made alterna tive float bowl s; they have carbon -fiber spe to fi nd a ' repl a ce m e~n t te amma te for Ca stro! Ho nd a' s John cialists -w ho build the team) eirboxes : and he's still looking for there was a locallaw prohibiting the branding, tho ugh th e fine was th ough t t o be minimal. G raham J one s, a Luc ky Strike S uzu ki more skilled peo ple, 'lncludlnq an aerodynernicist . One of the other Kocin ski f or the Su zuka s -Heer. W ith Rep sol Honda's Mi c k rumors -Roberts dispe lled is that he'd bought a Swtssaut o V-fo ur Doohan adamant in his refu sal to ride , Hond a turned to F.G .C . spo kesman , said thei r legal counsel in both Louisville and England had been consult ed anddeclded that the y should cove r up . He motor from Elf.' " I've always considered it a goo d mo to r. lfl was Te ch ni cal S port s 25 0 cc 'GP, rider Tak e ahl T sujrmu r a. H e was goi ng to build a fo ur-cylin der. it would be like the Elf in con figura. , sched uled to partn er Koc inski in Cast rol Honda colors at the Ju ly said he'd been informed by team. manager Garry Taylor that the 27 race. That pairing' was imperiled whe n Tsujimura fract ured his Italian authorities were in the paddock taking down- ve hicle licen se tion . Our plan is to design a three from w hat we 've learned from left ankle w hen he high·sided violently on the second lep of t he experie nce . Obviously , it w ill be more competitive ' than this one . numbers. "T he only sensible thing to do is play safe and cove r That' s our numbe r-one g·oal. If there w esecme reason-we want ed up , MJones said, ''' SAT (British-A merica n Tobacco) obeys the laws , 25 0c c racewhile running·sev enth . On M onday , July 7 , word-c am e a four ,' we 'd lo ok at the Elf situation. If it appears we 're flogging a from Honda that Brazilian Alex Barros will now partner Koc inski . of the country where the te am is cornpetlnq. All BAT wo uld ask in the 8-Hour. " dead horse . I'm ' not averse to running a revised,Elf four or a KR-4 for Is som e co nsis tency in 'application o f the law s o f the co untry,M eng ine . M One p ro ble m may be financial. Ma rlb oro has gwen . . Marlboro 's De Graffenried also said tha t. for the For mula On e Roberts a development budget for 1997. but isn't likely to do.the . St opping on the .ractnq s urf ace for po st-rac e c elebra t ions has . Gra nd Prix earlier in th~ year, Ma rlboro ran their cars in ful] tobac c9 co lors. . . same for 1998..And running the Elf itself , which is unlikely, would ' been banned since the Italian G P at Mug ello earlier this yea r. That be, more so becau se Elf hasnamlnq rights for threeyears . That . didn't ' s.top 'Nast ro · Azzu rro Aprtlla's V a l e ntin'o R o s s i from . ":leans that Bobert s wo uld have to displeyElf. ori the bike, ecleer ' repe atedly flout ing th e la~ after his w in at Imola: Since he'd been Am ong th e Jew s in Italy ' thatthe te ams ope nly vio late d was th e warned .on four prior occasions , Ro ssi 'is expected to be heavily one w hich makes it illegal to tra nspo rt h eavy goods between t o confl ic~ :-Vith ~iS Oi ~ spo nso r.Cas trol. " penalized. .... , . p.m. Saturday' night and 10 p.m. Sunday night~ Though the' team s Having struqqled.wit h little' success all year, Lucky Stri ke Suzuki's .. do n 't 'st ric tly transport heavy goods, the-law wa s designe d to ,Da ryl Beattie has informed the team that he wo n't be back next. In Imola Aprilia enginee r' Jan Witev'een 'said that, be~ause' of p·roD-. , keep tru c ks off the .roed . Since 'they have to get back to their home base s, mo st of the te ams ignore the law and ho pe for a yea r and ls cons.dennq movlnq.tc 'W orld Superbrke s. ,M be up . lems with thefuel pump endthe oil-circu lation sys tem. the. April.. I'lI front. I' m, not enjoyi ng my self , ActuaIlY ,1 feel that I'm just bei ng ; ia 1000cc V-twin f o u r ·st roke.wi ll l}ot be ready to race in the sympat hetic polic eman i~, ~he 'rO e-mad co.u l? ntry,.. more frustra ted than 'anyt hing that not g'iving the team anyt hing; ':, 1998 ·World Superbike C hampionship, The street-bike ver sion is IP Ap rilia's Ooria;"o Romboni wa s 'kno cked .o ut o f. the Imola : results aren't coming, and I' m jus t 'getting frustrated with them.. I ' expected to be, laun~hed .in the ve ry near future, , just feel.that ,l' d be much happier see ing ,·someone ·else .'take . y GP 'on 'the 11th lap' by a broken rotary,d is'c . " It seems that a for.' m , , . eign body that was Slicked in -through the carburetor cause d the . spot .for a,w hile or for go.od and see if they can dO'an ythin g,' l(the Aepse l Honda's Mic hael Do ohan continues to ,rew rite the record damag E:, ~ ~ o m.b on i ~a l d, . . . result.s came .t,!wa~~ the end

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