Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127852
he has a fast bike, and 1 mu st agree with him. When [ finally go t past him, I also tried to catch Chili, but he was too far awav." Ma ck e n zi e w a s a lso ve ry happ y about this un expect ed result. "I was happy to oblige th e British fans after Ca rl had retired ," Mackenzie said. "I had a grea t start , but after I lost the fron t a few times, I cooled down a bit. Maybe 1 could've passed Scott, but there were onl y a few pla ces wh ere I wa s fas te r th an him , but those places w ere not very sa fe. On th e la st lap, 1 hoped to pass him in the first corne r; I only mad e it o ne Corner fu rthe r, but Scott got back and I finally had to settle for third." Third was a big surp rise for Mackenz ie, a ll the mo re so as he had retired after the warmup lap because his footpeg had broken off. When the race was interrupted after two laps and restart ed , he got a chance to have another go at sco ring so me po ints. , Kocinski finished fourth, at the back of the chasi ng gro up bat tling for second pos ition. "I know I could've got second place, but my chance came in the final few laps and by then the rear tire was worn and sliding," Kocinski said. "I could close on both Mackenzie and Russell into the co rners, but powering out of corners was where I lost out. 1 got the signal tha t Carl wa s out of the rac e, so finis hing was my aim." Castrol Honda teammate Slight crossed the finish line in seventh position after closing o n the two riders ahead of him - Akira Yanagawa and Hodgson - in the closing stages . "I was convinced 1could pass both of them before I started stru ggling to get around backm arkers ," Slight said . "My start let me d own, but I' m sure I can do better in the second race." Mike Hale came hom e 10th. "The tire d idn 't seem to want to hook up in the earl y part of the race, so I had to rad icall y a lter my style," Hale sai d . "Once I had figu red out the best way to cope with it, I was able to put in a st ring of consistent fast times ." RAce TWO Things migh t not ha ve gone exactly as scheduled in the firs t race, bu t that was n othin g co m pa re d to wha t ha p pened later in the afternoon. Whe n the riders line d up fo r the second race , a light dri zzle sta rted to fall. It was nothing spectacular or menacing, and every· bod y hoped tha t the da rk clouds would soon be blown away. And so, unde r th rea te n in g s kies, H od gso n once agai n go t away th e fastest, with most of the favorites right beh ind him . Russell lost some grou nd in the infamous Druids comer w hen he ran wide, but it wasn't a big loss of time the race was 25 laps. Chili took command of the race a few laps later, followed this time by Crafar and Fogarty, with Hodgson fading back. A few laps later, Fogarty worked his way past Crafar an d started to attack the lead er, fellow Ducati rider Chili. On the seventh lap, the Briton stea mrollered his way into the lead , diving perh aps a tiny bit too enthusiastically into the inside of C hili en tering Dr ui ds a nd losing th e fro nt for a fractio n of a second - jus t eno ug h to clip the fron t wh eel o f the num ber-seven Ducati, se nding Chili into the gravel pit wh ere he just barely su rvived a crash. As the Italian rolled to a halt in the dust, Fogarty wa ved his hand as a token of apology, but that d id little to alleviate the fact that Chili was out of the ru nning. With th e typically Italian sense for passion, Chili burst into tears, waving at the heavens and asking what he had done to deserve this, and later wal ked back to the pit, receiving the public's ovations on his way down. On the ninth lap, Fogarty had a small lead over Crafar and Hod gson , with the Kawasaki being overtake n by Hodgson a lap later. Some way behind, Kocinski was leading the chasing group, a group consi sting of Whi tham , Ru ssell, Slight and Yanagawa. But at that time, the threat of real rain wa s fulfilled, mak ing conditions mor e and more dangerous. After 10 laps, the red flags wen t out and the rid ers were called in. A qua rter of an hour late r, a 15-minu te wet wannup was organized, with the best time going to a su rprisi ng Michael Rutter. When the remaining 22 riders showed up at the grid ano the r qua rter o f an hou r later, the rain w as pouring down, and the four-stroke specialists had a go at their sixth wet race of the season. This time, Russel l was first away when the lights turned green. But Fogarty again took the point, d oing so just before the pa ck had passed th e p it straigh t for th e first tim e. Quite a bi t more surprising, however, was the pe rfo rma nce of 23-year-old Rut ter, who soon showed he was not happy with se co nd place behi nd Foga r ty, and stormed to th e front on the th ird la p. Rutter was still leading on the following lap, with Fogarty close behind. Russell tra iled a "safe" distan ce behind, with a small gap to Kocinski and Yanagawa. It was then that Kocinski started his charge, gai ni ng abou t on e second per lap on Fogarty. Russell wasn't too much of a probl em for the Honda rider, bu t things go t really thri lling when Kocinski go t Fog a rt y in to hi s s ig h ts. Rutter, meanwhile, had pulled ou t quite a com forta ble lead . Th e second half of this rainy ra ce (Above) Winner Pier-Francesco Chili Is flanked by runner-up SCott Russell (right) and Nia ll Mackenzie after race one . tu rned out to be one of the most spectacular thri llers the Wor ld Su perbike title pretende rs had eve r pu t on. As expected, Fogarty was passed by "Rain Master" Kocinsk i, b u t th e for me r World Superb ike Champ ion was not goi ng to give up - quite the contrary. Despite the fact that on the starting grid he had opted fo r a se t of hard er tires, hoping that the rain would stop during the race, Fogarty had to contin ue the battle against the wet-weather specialist with a slight disadvantage. Slid ing more tha n riding in several places, Fogarty battled ba ck, forcing his wa y next to and, on so me occasions, even in front of the Honda of Kocinski, taking the fastest race lap time in the process. Onl y on the last lap did Fogarty cool down a bit - well a ware tha t his fivesecond lead o ver Kocinski in the first "ha lf" of th e red -flag -in terup ted rac e provided him with a big enough cush ion to a llow him to cross the finish line a few seconds behind Koci nski. Rutter, w ho took v ictor y in a dominant way, (Far lelt. lelt. and above) Cari Fogarty's raee-one hopes ended when he lost traction an d crashed , taking out Kawasaki's Simon Crafar in the process.