Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

, ROAD RACE WORLD SUP ERBIKECHAMPIONSHIPSER S IE Round 7: Brands Hatch TA R T By Joha n Vande kerckhov e Photos by Go ld & Goos e BRAl'IDS HATCH, ENGLAND, AUG. 3 a s tro l Honda ' s Jo h n Koc in s ki booked an important psycho logical victory at the seventh round of the World Superbike Series. Just three weeks after his d ou ble victory in fro nt o f h is home crowd at Laguna Seca, he not only survived the expected Carl Fogarty dominance at the Brit's ow n horne track, but even flourish ed : The Ark ansas nat ive leaves Eng la nd with th e champions hip points lead wi thout winning a race. The European round of the Wo rld C Superbike Championship was ru n in chaot ic circu ms ta nces, with both hea ts being int errupted: one du e to a serious crash and the other one du e to rain. The fir st race wa s won by Pier-Fran cesco Chili in a straightforv..ard mann er, while Fogarty took must po ints in the second hea t afte r aggrega te ti mes of the tw o "ha lves" o f the ra in -interrupted race were facto red together . T he race-two p oints w ere a good thing fo r th e for mer World Su perbike Champiun - after having crashed ou t of race one - and am ounted to a little psycholog ical victory of his ow n, as he was able to stav in fro nt of "Rai n Ma st er " Kocin sk i fo r most of the soaking -wet second half of the race. Race-one winner Ch ili was an un fortunate vic tim of Fogarty' s ra ce-two charge: He was ta pped by Foga rty as the British rider moved past, and the Italian was left to walk hack to th e pits a fte r ano ther unfortunate incid ent. Two Yamaha s filled th e ra ce -one pod ium : Fac to ry r id er Scott Ru ssell scored his top finish 01 the year and wa s followed by Niall Mackenzie. By far th e biggest su rp rise of the wee ke n d was th e performa nce o f Michael Rutter . The 23-yea r-<:Jld crossed the li ne a head of tw o former Wo rld Champions in race two, taki ng the physical victory but ultimately being credited with third behind Fogarty an d Kocinski af ter agg reg ate tim es for th e red -flaginterrupted race were calculated. Kocinski is th e new lead e r i n t he cha m pionship series poi nt standi ngs, with a four-poi nt advantage ove r Foga rty, the rever se of th e situa tion coming in to th e Europea n ro u nd. Third man Aaron Slight - seve nth and eig hth on the d a y - is a lready m ore tha n 50 p oints behind Fogarty. Both main-title ca nd id a te s kn ow what is expected from them for the next co u pl e of ra ces. "T he Au stria n round will be a big challenge for us ," Fogarty said. "We are down on speed com pa red to the Hond as, and that cou ld be a problem . But hopefully the guys in the team will fi n d some m ore power fo r me he fore that race . Assen, o n th e oth er hand , is o ne o f my favorite tracks, so I don ' t wo rry too much abo ut that." Kocinski loo ks forwa rd to the tw o other races scheduled lor the mo nth of Au gust. "The AI -Ring and Assen are amo ng the faster circuits, which should su it my style an d bike even better tha n here:' Kocinski said. RACE ONE Ducati team ster N iel Hodgson took the holesh ot, but was only in front lor half a lap when Fogarty too k over a nd led a t the st ripe, followed by Hodgson, Chili, Kawasaki -mounted Simon Crafar, a nd Russell . Soon a fte r, howev er , the red flag came out, due to young Briton Grae me Ritch ie cras hing at high speed (sec Briefly...). The race was resta rted one hour later. Hodgson again led from the ge t-go and seemed desperate to lead at least a few lap s in front of the r ecord a tte n d an ce of 67,000 spec ta tors . H e kept everyo ne m ostly beh in d for 11 la p s, tho ugh his lead was interru p ted for a sho rt w hile by fast Itali an Chi li, while Kocinski , Foga rty, Crafa r and Rus sell we re in ho t pursuit in the ea rly stages. Four laps into Hod gson's I l-Iap reign , th is chasing qu art et w as sud de n ly redu ced to two rider> w hen Foga r ty high-sid ed - mu ch to the disappoin tment of his British fans - and took Crafar with him to the tarm ac. "I felt -a bit frus tra ted about no t ge tting to th e front easier, a n d a t one mo ment, the rear carne aro und," Foga rty ex p lained. "T h er e was no th ing I could do." Crafa r was in the same situation and hit the Ducati before goi ng down him self. "I desp er ately wa nted to win in the d ry," the Kiwi sa id . "I went for 100 percent, bu t then Foggy high -sid ed a nd I couldn't avoid his bike. It's a pity that it happened, beca use afte r the race we saw tha t my a od Ca r l's la p times w er e at least as good as the times pu t d ow n by the guys who ended up front. " At th e ha lfw ay stage, things sett led d own a bit a fte r Chili stamped hi s au thority on the race and storm ed from th ird pl ace to firs t in the space of two REI N laps. The vetera n racer gra d ua lly drew away from his pursu ers, leaving Kocinski, Russell, Hodgson and Ni all Macken zie battling it ou t for them selves for the rem ain ing rostru m posit ions. Kocin sk i had been lying second for a w hile, but whe n Russell took over that place with 10 laps to go , he did not look prepared to give it up. After Foga rty crashed, most of the Brit ish chee rs wen t to Hodgso n and ~ af ter he lost m ore a nd mor e gro u nd d ue to a rear tir e losin g gri p· then to Macken zie. The Scot was performing brillia ntly, eventually taking third positi on a t the ex pense of Kocin ski. Ru sse ll, on th e o ther ha nd, stayed in second posit ion until th e finis h. At th e end , Chili took ano ther victo ry at Brand s Hatch. "After I had ta ken pole on Satu rday, I knew I co uld make ano ther exce llent result at this circuit," the Italian said. "I am happy to w in, especially as we beat all the you nge r guys. In the beginning of th e race, I had so me p ro ble m pass ing John (Kocinski) , w ho br ak es very late . Still, I succeeded in passi ng him on the bra kes." For Russell, second wa s his best !"'rfarman ce since he signed on for Yarnaha . "This is a ver y demandin g track," the Georgian said . "In the dosing stages, I got a pa io in the neck. John Kocinski has been saying the whole season tha t (Abo ve) Neil Hodgson (9) had lots of start line success, leading the ear ly stages of both races. Here he leads restarted rac e one. Hond a's Jo hn Kocinski (3) left Brands Hatch with the points lead after finish ing fourth and se cond.

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