Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE W RLDSUPERBIKE C O HAMPIONSH SER S IP IE Round 7: Brands Hatch fina lly end ed u p third on the ros tru m o n ag grega te tim e, beh ind winner Fogarty and seco nd man Kocinski. For Rutter , th is was a result he had never hoped for and which left him s peechless even half an hour after the race. "I s till cannot beli ev e it;' he said. "The Michelins we re grea t, and I was try ing my ha rd es t. Bu t I had ne ve r expected th at that w ou ld b e eno ug h to keep those guys behind me." Koci n sk i w a s ha ppy to take th e championshi p lead ba ck a t the circu it su pposed to benefit his archrival Fogarty most. "This is my first time on this machine on th e wet in Bran ds Hatch," Kocin sk i sai d . "I took it very easy in the beginning , looki ng (to see) where there wa s e n o u g h tr a cti on . I w a s n ot worr ie d abou t the guy in front , but I wa nted to keep Ca rl behind ." For Fogarty, the victory was a fin e revenge aga inst fate after his di smal first race. "I rea lly wan ted to wi n bo th parts of this heat," Fogarty explai ned of his risky rid ing sty le in the wet, "especially after the fir st heat, w he r e I felt I h ad let mys elf and all the other people down. In th e first ha lf o f th e race, I didn't fee l very comfo rtable, with the rain spitti ng down. In the second half, I wa nted to go . one furt her. In the beginning of the seaso n, I've s ho w n that I ca n go co ns is tently fast in the ra in, but I hadn't yet pushed hard enou gh to w in. I was d ogging Joh n, try in g to ge l him to mak e a m is ta ke. O n th e othe r hand , I d idn't wa n t to thi nk a bo u t th e five-seco n d cus hion I had bui lt u p in the first , dry half of the race, beca use if yo u s tar t to relax in these cond itions, you can easily lose an eno rmous amount of ground in a few laps' time." After th e tw o race times had been add ed, Yanaga wa took fourth position in front of Russell, Hod gson, Crafar and Slight. The first II laps had see n Russell d rop to 14th place, bu t he wa s cha rgi ng Ra in ~j nterup ted ra ce two was led in the early stages by Scoll Russell (22). John Kocinsk i (3), Carl Fogarty (4), Simon Crafar (6) and the rest give chase. Chili gets another Role R t..--SUffncin g the Brands Hatch track was probabl y not done in an effort to try to keep Carl Fogarty's title cha nce!' alive, but th e co ns tructio n works di d boos-t th e sel f-co nfidence of a former World Champion who had seen his championship lead shrink to four points at John Kocins ki's hom e tra ck in Laguna Sc three weeks earlier. ca The new surface proved to offer plent y of grip a nd most of the bu mps had bee n ironed out ~ another pot enti al obstacl e for Foga rty , wh o has been complaining about his bike's handlin g all year long. g:q fa ~ Still , it was Pier-Fran ces co Chi li (rig h t) w ho took po le position on the first da y and wou ld end up with it on the last. The Italian profite from the modified engine characd teristics of h is twin and blasted to an impressive 1.27.11 2 on Frid ay on a track wh er e Kocins ki held the lap record with a time of 1.28.02. The battle was fa r from over, though, as no fewer than 10 other riders docked within the sam e second on the first qualifying da y. Ch ili s tayed on top th e ne xt morn ing, underbidding his own time with 1.26.686. As usual, things rea lly started to heat u p in the afternoon, during the last quarter of the final qualifying sess ion. ' Fogarty ~ secon d in the firs t sessi on - had shown everyone the w~y for most of the session, bettering his days best 1.26.850 during three la ps in a row , until he ended up in 1.26.392 with 18 minut es to go. Meanw hile, cards were being reshuffled behind the British rider' s back, with Chili promoting him self to second position, Kocins ki coming from nowhere (or, more accu rately, fro m a round 12th) to third a t one mo ment. an d then Niall Mackenzie storming to fourth a nd even to second with eig ht minutes to go. On ly then d id all hell break loose. Six min utes before the- end, Chili too k over comma nd , docking first a 1.26.320, and one lap later the u ltima te pole-position time of 1.25.960, pu sh ing Cdr! F08arty down to secon d position, wit h Neil Hodgson and Mackenzie comp leting row one. Simo n Cre fur and Akira Yanagaw a qu alified fifth and sixth. wit h Kocinski d ropping back to seven th. Chili, the firs t man to get two pole positions this seaso n, was very hap py with his resu lt. thro ug h th e field and was up to six th wh en the race was stopped . This eleva ted his grid position fO the restart a nd T he ha d made full use of it by takin g the holeshot. " It wa s n' t too bad out th er e, but I wa s just feeling my way to begin with, a nd ma yb e I d ropped d own too much ea rly on," the Georg ia n sai d . "T hen a couple of guys passed me and I thou ght , 'No wa y: an d go t my a ct together." Without the benefit of seei ng wh o was actually in front of him , Russell had no way of kn owing how close he was to cla iming a seco nd rostrum pos itio n of the d ay. "We' ll get them soon:' he predi cted . C ra far had s ta rt ed the wet second half of the heat mu ch against his liking. "I d idn' t want to go out and pla y: ' Crafa r sa id . "The tires w e hav e h av en't w orked too well in these cond itions. I kn ow tha t' s no t a goo d a lt itu de, but there a re some d an gerous places o ut there, and I don't want to risk m y taking lots of poin ts in this and the followi ng ra ces du e to a cras h . But 1 fee l 1 a m read y to start winning races." Sligh t finish ed ei gh th, once again battlin g with his ma chin e all the way . "It was hard work with the bike moving around a lot in th e we t: ' Slig h t sa id . "All I cou ld do wa s hang on and hop e for a stro ng finis h. In the end, it was all about stacking up World Cha mpionshi p points and defend ing my th ird p lace in the standings." Suz uki's James Whitham and Yamaha-mounted Chris Walk er rounded out the top 10. f" Brands Hatch Brands Hatch, England Res ults: August 3, 1997 (Round 7 0112) Q UALIFYING: 1. Pier -France-co Chili 0 .25.%0); 2. Ca rl Fug,lt ly 26,{)04); 3. Nt>i1 H....lg"on (1.26.177); 4 Nia ll Macken zie (1.26.413); 5. Simo n Crafar 0 .26504 6. 3); Akira Yanogawa (1.26543 ); 7. John Kocinski (1.26.5971; 8. I' ierg io rg io Bontempi (1.26 .8U3); 9 . Aa ron Slight 0 .26 .872); 10. James Whitham (1.26.90 3); 11. Sco tt Ru..... ell O .V.07l); 12. Sean Emmdt (l .27.l b9); 13. C hris s Wa lker ( 1.27.57 8); 14. Mike Hal e (1.27.705); 15. Steve Hi sl op 0.27.969) ; 16. M icha el Ru tter 0 .28 .03 1); 17. James Hayd on 0 .28.250): 18. Ray Stringer (1.28.530 ; 19. Igor J.. -rman 028.656): 20. Peee Riba Ca ba na (128.i10): 21. Bree Sem pso n (1.30527); 22. Ph il GiI\$ (1.30.811); 23. Stew M.ltk.'i 0 .31.641); 24. Gio rgio Cantalu po (1.31.705); 25. Anion Grus chk .. O .31.S8Q 26. Nigel NOll ingh .un ); (1.32 .758); 27. Richard o".{olgU 0 .32.%5); 2ft. G rae meRitch ie (1.3.3 .009); 29.1iri Mrlyvl.l 0 .33.00:1). o "W he n I saw Carl 's time of 1.26.3 on the docks, I had already p ut a way my ambitions to take pole," Chili said. "But then I go t a string of 1.26.4s in a row - d espite the traffic ou t there ~ wh ich rev ived my hopes . I got back in to the pi t, had the mechani cs rut anot her racing tire (wi th some laps u nder it" belt already> under the bike, and I wen t out ag ain. Things w ent well then. even though not perfect, bu t I was happy to take po le." • Fogarty did not worry too mu ch abou t just having lost .. ole position in the dosing mi nutes. c "We now see m to tMVC a good basic setup," Fogarty said . "Not usi ng it so fter tire also seemed to help. As I lean the bike more over in the corners in order to mainta in a high cornering speed , soft tir es see m to make the bike less stable in tho se conditions. I did my best tim es on harder racing tires, and that is my stra tegy for the next race weekends as well. As for tomorrow , I feel conf ide nt that 1 can win... < least if it sta ys dry ." It Hod gson qua lified third and Mackenzie fou rth. The ve tera n Scot's performance wa s somethin g of J surprise. "This is a one-off ride for me, 00 there is no t too m uch pressure," Mackenzie explain ed. "We had som e extra '97 pa rts for my '96 factory Yamaha a nd some good tires fro m Dun lop. And of course. I know the tra ck insid e ou t." Crafar parked his Kawa sak i on the second row of the grid . "1 am disappointed not to be on th e firs t row," the Kiwi said , "but tha t d oes not have to be such a bi g problem , as I'v e pr oved in th e first half of th e season . Having it good sta rt will , how ev er, be p rett y im po rtant on this twi st y track. The track surface is WilY better than last yea r, and Ka w asa kl has al so made a lot of progTl'Ss on the bike. Thi s is the firs t time 1 equa ted m y lap times on a qu ali fying tire with a race tire." Kocin ski quali fied seventh. " It's going well for me," said the la p-r ecord holder. "1wa s s till trying dlffcrcnt -cornpound tires du ring qualifying. but I'm certain I will be going for the win tomorrow . During tomorrow's warmup, I'll ma ke- up my mind as to the tire I'll be using. My qua lifying time is not far off third time, so 1do n't wor ry too mu ch." Piergtorgio Bontempi qu alified eighth, followed closely by Aar on Slig ht, after havin g set his best la p time in the closing minutes in the slipstream of his tea mma te. "At that time, I was pretty happy about my race setup," Slight said. "We just didn't get the set up right at Lagu na, but that's all cha nged now. Ther e is a lot of grip out there, wh ich means that you ca n use quite hard tires . I have been stringing a lot of fast Lap times on race rubber, so I know tha t I can keep up a good pace tomorrow during the races." [ames whitham brought the first Suz uki to 10th, \~vit h Scott Russell managin g only 11th . "I went the wrong way right a t the w rong time," said the Yam ah a ride r, wh o had be third on Frien days provisional sta rting grid , but had bee n struggling wi th the fron t end on Satu rday afternoon . "l wan t to do reall y wen here a nd maybe I wa s just trying too ha rd . I should have really gone for it ea rly on, but I ma de a few cha nges a nd I wasn't quite righ t."

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