Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SUPERBIKE SERIES move into third behind Kocinski and DuHamel on the third lap. At the end of that go-around, Fogarty also passed Chandler to lake over fifth. It was on the fourth lap that DuHamel had his moment in the spotlight as he passed Kocinski in the Corkscrew. Chili's horrible Laguna Seca luck held true on the sixth lap as the mot or of his Ducati blew coming up the hill that is turn one, the Italian almost hit from behind by the charging Fogarty. Fortuna telv , Chili was able to move off the racing line to avoid dropping any fluids, Bound 6: Laguna Seca Raceway three and we got pretty close. Then I di dn't sec him again. I looked back in 10 and II and he wasn't there so maybe he had a little bit of a moment on the last lap." By now Russell had passed Chandler and Slight was al so closing in . But Chandler would have the last laugh, catching and passing the factory Yamaha rider late in the race for fifth. Russell would end up sixth, going straight to the start/finish tower to scream at the officiating staff. Slight would get dose, but would settle for seventh. (Above) Kocinski gives the thumbs-up to his Honda cr ew 8S he passes the paddock area on his victory lap~ around Laguna Seca. (Left) Tom Klpp (16) rode well In both legs. Here he holds off Piergiorgio Bontempi (15) in the second race . (Below) DuHamel (5) leads Chili (7) and Scott Russell (22 ) In their battle for third In the second leg. and the battle at the front continued without interruption - and also without Chili. Fogarty continued 10 charge, moving into third with a pass on his teammate Hodgson in tum II on the sixth lap. By this time the fro nt four had opened a gap to a now-charging Crafar, Chandler and a motivated Russell. At the start of the ninth lap , Kocinski flew past DuHamel over the hump on the front straight and two laps later Fogarty followed suit with a pass in tum 11 and Hodgson moved by DuHamel at the start/ finish line. Then, with a lap of 1:27.291 , .Foga rty opened a gap on Kocinski and it would have been easy to be lull ed int o thinking th at this one w as over. Bu t Kocinski kept pace, able to ho ld tighter lines on the exits of most of the comers than his British rival , and a few laps later it was clear that this one would go the distance. Behind them, it was equally as heated . Hodgson and DuHamel exchanged a bit of fiberglass in tum lIon the 16th lap and a lap later the Brit was on the ground, ha ving lost the front end in tum two. If DuHamel was alone, it wasn't for long as Crafar soon joined in. Those two would take it almost to the finish, wi th DuHamel getting the better of the Kiwi on the final lap. "I ''m pretty happy with that," the concussed DuHamel said. "W~ really worked hard on the race setup all weekend . Everything has gone good for us t-.. today . I took the lead there and just ~ started putting good laps toge the r . I ...... a lmos t lo s t i t co ming o ut of th e Co rkscrew, almost high-sided and los t so me tim e, a nd s ta r ted maki ng so me mistakes here a nd there. The tires w er e ge tting a little greasy a nd Simo n (Crafar) was ab le to catch up. He passed me goin g into tum tw o and I got him back. After th at he tried me on the in side of 8 " I tried hard for 28 laps, but I wasn 't helped by the start," Slight said. "I'm still waiting to see a green light. If the lights had worked like they should do then I could have been up there straight away and wouldn 't have had to work so hard to catch Chandler and Russell. I cou ld ha vc been with them from the sta rt ." Back to the fro n t, wit h Kocinski making the pass of the day on Fogarty in turn two to s tar t the 25th lap - the fo rmer 250cc World Champion sliding his RC45 under the Brit's Ducati on the entrance, forcing Fogarty to lift his bike and run wide. Although Fogarty thought he could make a last-lap pass on Kocinski in the final corner on the final lap, he wasn't close enough to do so. The pair crossed the line separated by just .139 of a second. "Once I got through from the third row to the leaders, my times came down," Fogarty said. "I thought maybe I could pull away but John (Kocinski) carne with me. H~ passed me with two laps to go, but I was confident I could pass him in the last comer. But I made a mis take in the last lap and lost a bit of grou nd . I couldn't get close enough to try him in the last comer." This mo ved. Kocins ki to with in nine poin ts o f Fogarty - five less than so me 40 minutes earlier . "I feel very happy for Honda and for the team ," Kocinski sa id . "It's been so long since a Honda has won here. I just feel privileged to be the one to be able to do it. I know last year I won here on a different bike. I know the effort I put in last yea r and I know the effort I put in this year - definitely there's a difference. I'm just so happy for everybody on the team. I'm ready go out in the second race and do the best' I can. You never know. All you can do is get up front and try your hardest. You hope that's enough, and if not, you did your best and there's not much vou can do after that." RACE TWO The second race of th e day was far less d ra matic th an th e first, bu t further p roved Koci ns ki's d ominan ce on th e day . This one was far simpler. The plan: Go from the start and don't look back. Kocinski was able to do just that . Despite getting beaten off the line by Chandler, it was the green-and -whi le Castrol Honda leading the way into turn two. Chandler was tucked in behind "Johnny," despite some pre-race drama in the Kawasaki pit. I "The bike we qualified on kept hav- ~ ing chassis troubles," Chandler j explained later, "so we put the motor in ) the other chassis. It went really good f . this morning, but we had to lean it out to get the jelling right after the first race. I tri ed it (o n th e sighting lap), but it didn't feel any better so I jumped on the other one." The other won didn't pan out either, After three laps of running near the front , Chandler was out. > "Something let go, " Chandler said. " It made noises, the grips got big and that was it. Hey, better here than next week (the next round of the AMA Superbike Series at Mid-Ohio). I don't know why the engines keep going soft on us." With Chandler out, DuHamel took over the spot behind Kocinski, who had his head down and was beginning to pull away. Fogarty, meanwhile, was on the move, tr yin g to m ake up g ro u nd from his poor gri d position. He was fifth after the first lap; third after four laps; and second after six laps wh e n he passed D u H amel i n turn two . After seven co m p le te laps, the Brit tra il ed Kocins ki by 1.9 seco nds. That ga p would hold steady, rising to 2.1 seconds, d rop ping ag ain to 1.9 and

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