Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Len) Akira Vanagawa had the best weekend of hi s World Superbike career, taking second in race one . then retu rn ing for t he win in the second outing. (Below) Carl Foga rty (4) battled with Kocinski heavily in race two . ultimately colliding w ith the Honda rider and taking himself out of t he race - and the championship lead he held after h is race-one win. fro n t for as long as I di d , because the rear started to move arou nd 'qu ite a lot in the last hal f of the race." Despite having been so close to his first victo ry, Yanag awa was no t too d isappointed about the result, but ad mitted that a small mistake on the last lap ha d cost him his chance of wi nning. Slig ht , meanwhile, crossed the line in third , ha p py to be on th e rostrum again. "Maybe people wi ll stop asking now what is w rong with Aaron Slight," the Kiwi said. "1 just had two bad meetings the last couple of weeks, but now I'm back. The main problem I had was the brakes. They faded halfway through and, although I could catch the riders in front, it was not safe to make a pass. I'll also look at trying a different-compound rear Michelin for the second race - that decision may depend on the wea ther conditions for race two and if it gets hotter." Chili was fourth after a race-long battle with the two Castro! Honda riders . Koc inski finally had to settle for fift h behind the Italian. "It was a ba ttle for m e ou t there," Koci ns ki sa id . "Fi rst to stay in con tention with the leaders and then to try and make a pass. Th e rear was s lid ing about a lot and traction ou t of the corners was hold ing me back, but I' m confiden t tha t is so met hing we can change for the second race with a cha ng e of rear Michelin ." Cra fa r fi ni s hed s ix th afte r he had bee n lying fifth for mos t of the race. Just behind him in seventh was Russell. The G eorg ian had gotten a way we ll, but fou nd himself boxed in at the sha rp firs t turn and fou nd it di fficult to recover. "I was pu shing as hard as I could the whole race b ut, afte r a s ta rt like mine, the re was nothing I cou ld do," Russell sa id . "Whe n ( kn ew I could n' t get wi th the lead pack, I concentra ted on kee ping my pace." H od gson w a s e ig ht h, leadi ng Ka w a saki rid er Pierg iorg io Bontempi and Team Suz uki 's Jam es Whit ham. Whitham ' s teammate Mike Hale finished 11th after a pret ty lonesome race. H e en d ed the ra ce w ith a shred ded rear lire, following a frustrating 25 laps d urin g w hich he fo u nd himself unable to make signifi ca nt prog ress. "I ha d bee n much ha p pier wi th the bi ke after the wa rmup, but we made one o r two m in o r mod ifi ca tions a nd it seemed to make thi n g s wo rse, " th e Texa n said. "I made a pretty good sta rt and tried hard right from the begin ning , but I was jus t getling nowhere." Chili makes it three in a row At Brands Hatch, Pier -Fran cesco Chi li was the firs t man this year to ta ke a second pole po sition in World Superbi ke racing . At the brand new A 1 Ring - the new version of the infamou s Os terrc ich rtog, wh ere World Superbi ke races were run until 1994 - he was the first man to score thre-econsecu tive pole positions. As usual, the fina l grid positions we re decid ed upon only in the dosing stage, of the second qualifying session. "The eng ine of my best b ike was not ru nn ing properly," Chili explai ned . "So after two L1pS, I went into the pits an d had the mechanics set up the sp.. re bike exactly as the one I had hoped to do my be l st time on. With only 15 minut es to go, I wen t out on the track again. The bike was no t perfect: the tires did not work too well. So I pitted again and wit h only a few more minutes to spare, I had a final go at Akira Yanagawa's pr ovision al pole." It wo rked ou t perfectly for the Italian. With the flag man prepari ng to show the checkered flag.. he went onehundredth of a secon d faster than Yanagawa. who had been lead ing the boa rds after the first qualifying practice on Friday. The Kaw asaki rider, who had been struggling WIth his d u tch at the beginning of the SL'COnd and final session. had to sett le for second on the gri d, with seven-hundredths of a second to spare over John Kocinski. The Hond a rider had had a d ifficult weekend up until then, running into the gravel pit on his own on Friday; then he did the s ame again d u r ing th e firs t m in ut es of the secon d ses s ion, thoug h thi s tim e "helped" by a slower rider. "This had to happen," Kocinski said . "The rate a t speed is so different between the front -runners and some other people. Unfortu nately, it happen,.. to me this time. Nobody got injured, and even the bike was -d all right. I could ride back to the pit lane . At the end of the session . we just had enough time to get one last new tire on the rear, and I got the lap I'd been chas ing . I missed out on pole, but I'm on the front row and happy to be there after a session like that." Carl Foga rty comp leted th e first row and was not too unha p py abou t that re sult. "We still haven' t got the gearing right ," the Briton said. "Especially the second-gear comers prove to be a problem to get it all right - and there are a lot of them here. Especially the do uble left giv me a serious res heada che. We didn 't run into the same sort of tro uble d uring priv ate practi ce here in Jun e, but the-n the rev limi ter went to ]2,500 ~ no w it cuts in at 12,200 revs. Thi s might have helped reliability, but on thi s track, it is not the best thing to have." Aaro n Slig ht cloc ked the fifth-fastest time. "'I had to go ou t there and chase the time. a nd I'm ha p py with my session." Slight said . "I knew the pace would be hot and , so .long 1'15 I'm close to the bes t time, which I am, I can be optimistic abo ut my chance s of winnin g her e. I was ninth yesterday. bu t I tried a new approach and stud ie and tackled each corne r ind ividually before pu tting a fast lap d togeth er. I was on that lap when the rain came, but'we studied the dataloggi ng last night and found I would've been third -fastest if I had completed the lap." Simon Cra far qua lified sixth. 'The track seems to be getting better - as far as grip is concerned ea we go along," Crafar said . "Ap paren tly a lot of dust and pollen come down on the track, an d it takes some time before the bikes sweep the track clear. I would have liked to he on the front row. bu t 1sho uldn' t be too unhappy with this resu lt. This is my third time I've rid den here, and we had a pretty good setup before arriving here. We only juggled with some suspension parts yesterday and today." Tradlttonally fast qualifier Pier giorgio Bon tempi came next. followed by Scott Russell. "1 have go t a reall y good setup [or the race - I' m happy." Russell sa id .....1ca me here with different ideas abo ut wha t I wanted to do with the bike and th ey're working. The track i.. still 3 bit slippery in places, especia lly with the front tire, and I have got it set real hard at the front, but that is the way I like it. The second row is okay. I've got to make su re I'm right up there from the start, because the tow is important here and you d on't want to leave yourself with too mu ch to do ! I pulled the holeshot here last year on the SODs so maybe I can do it again tomorrow. Jt is not the ideal tra ck for us , but I'm going to keep charging like I alwa ys do . After rom three, the track gets mu ch better and it suits meand the Yamaha more ."

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