Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE W RLDCHAMPIONSHIP O ROAD RACE SERIES - nd 14: Marlboro Catalunyan GP is h either , w it h the Spa n ia rd ge tting punted o ut into the gravel in the firs t corner. In win ning, Doohan nea rly do ubled hi> cha mpionship lea d over Nobua tsu Aoki. Wit h two rou nds to go, he leads Ao ki 320-166. O kada isthird wi th 159 and Criville takes ove r fourth wit h 131. Marlboro Honda' s Ralf Wal d mann made a her oic co meback after ru nnin g off the track early in the 250cc G ra nd Prix. The Germa n took no t only the wi n but also the lead in the World Cha mpions hip . . Star ting from the pole p osition, the vetera n had the race und er co ntrol o n the fourth lap when he missed hi> brake marker and ran off into the gravel. Rejoining the race in eigh th, he was several seconds beh ind th e lead pa ck when he began gna w ing his way back two positions a 1 a time. Sixth on the sixth lap, then fourth on rlboro By Henny Ray Ab rams Photo s by Gol d & Goose 6 ELO, SPAIN, SErf 14 ichael Doohan made hist o ry again toda y by becoming the first rid er to eve r wi n 12 500cc G ra nds Pri x in o nesea so n with a thrilling victory over a pair of u p s ta r t Spania rds before a crowd o f 54,000 on an overcast d ay a t the Marlboro Cataluny an Grand Prix. The 32 -yea r -old Australian, w ho w rapped up his fourt h World Champio nshi p in the previous race, fough t a har d battle wit h Tea m MoviStar Honda Pons' Car los Checa and Doo han's own reco vering Repsol Honda tea mmate Alex Criville to take his 12th win in 13 tri e s by .43 2 of a secon d . Suc h w as Checa 's press ure ov er th e fina l th r ee laps that it compelled Dooh an to set a . new lap record on the penultimate tour of the 2.94-mile Circuito de Montmelo to help secu re the victory. But eve n then it wasn 't do ne. A long, lurid slide not far from the finish was proof tha t Dooha n was still hard at it and knew the victory would not come easily. "It was a close race." Douhan sai d . "A lex (C r i vi lle ) was pu shi n g rea ll y har d . I tho ug ht Alex, with his injury, wo uld drop off towa rd the end . But he tou gh ed it out and he was there at the end. Ca rlos (Checa) was riding reall y strong and making a move wheneve r he cou ld . He was losing a lot of time coming onto the st rai ght and I was getting past him qu it e ea sy ge tting d ow n th e front chu te." By winning the 46th 500cc GP of hi> career, Dooha n took outrigh t ow ne rship of the sing le-season w in record tha t he shared until this weekend wi th IS-time World Ch ampion Giacom o Agos tini. It was a record tha t had stood for 25 year s, wi th Agostini setting the ma rk in 1972. "I decide d before the start of the race to race with the others , not to try to follow o n," sa id Ch eca , w ho s u rv ived a horrific practice crash. "In the las t races, (Above) The Catalunyan SOOcc Grand Prix get s under way wit h a wheelying Carlos Checa (8) trying to get the jump in his home GP, (Right) Michael Doohan (1) battled wi th Ch eea an d A lex . crlvtne (2) for nearly t he ent ire race . In th e end it ca me do wn t o Daohan Y5 . Cheea. Guess wh o won? I mad e some mistakes and I didn't want to make som e mistak es here." Third went to Criville, his left hand no t qu ite 100 percent , but good enough to get on th e bo x for hi s ho me Gra nd Prix. He wa s 1.3 seconds behind Checa. "I'm so happy to be on the podium;" Criville said . "My aim was to try to be o n the p odium. Tw o m o nth. ago, 1 didn' t kn ow abo u t m y future. Now I kn ow it . My hand is getti ng better . It was very hard . In th e beg inning it was good, but in the end 1 could n' t press th e clu tch and I lost a lot of time." Then ca me the firs t Yamah a , in th e hand s of Red Bull Yama ha WCM 's Luca Ca da lora . Th e Italian vete ran a lways lurked toward the tail end of th e lead pack, but was never able to break into a p od ium position due to w ha t he thou ght was a lack of acceleration, even thou gh he was using new cylinders and electrics. He wa s, ho wever, able to disp a tch Rh ea s Elf F.C. C . Techn ical Spor ts ' N obua ts u Aoki , wh o r an i n secon d early , then thi rd and fourth for mu ch of th e race. Ca da lo ra passed him with seven laps to go wh en Ao ki's so ft rear tire let him down. Reps ol H ond a ' s Tada yuki Okada was next, the Japanese rid er' s first race wi th the no n-" Big Bang" eng ine similar to Doohan's, It wa sn 't a su ccess ful outing and he sa id he' d be ba ck on th e more familiar engine for the next race. A prono un ced la ck of rea r-tir e g r i p meant that it took all he had to just beat his V-twin-mo unted teammate Takuma Aok i. . Equaling his bes t resul t of the season, Marlb oro Team Roberts' Kenny Roberts' Jr. finished eighth on a ma chine considerab ly a lt ered to su it hi s tail-s liding style. . "I had a lot of fun tod ay," Roberts Jr. said . "My team d id a great job during the tes ts, so 1 can start squaring off the turns the way I like. We sti ll need more time with th is cha ss is se tup, th ough. We're d efini tely headed in the rig h t d irect ion, bu t we need a few more races to get it really right." The n came the Elf of Juan Borja, less than half a second back and abou t four in front of the newl y enlarged Apri lia Vtw in of Doriano Rombo ni , th e Itali a n suffering flu-like sym ptoms. Then ca me the d isap pointed . Marlboro Team Rainey's No rifu mi Abe wa s 12th, behind the private Honda V-twin of Re g is Laco n i. Re d Bull Yama ha WCM's Kirk McCar thy was 13th, just in fron t of ano ther private Ho nd a V-twi n, this one ridd en by Jurgen van der Coorbergh. MoviStar Hon da Pons' Alberto Pu ig was . 5th, th e las t poi n ts-payin g po ition, w ith the Span ia rd fini s hing just in fron t of the Elf of Jurgen Fuc hs . Then came Lucky Strike Suzuki's Daryl Beattie iii 17th - his wors t finish ever. Marlboro Team Roberts' Jean-Michel Bayle was a non -finisher, his bike slowing grad ually with the Fre nchma n suspecting cra n k proble ms . And Yamaha Team Rainey' . Sete Gibernau didn't fin- the 11th, and up to second the next lap, he hou nd ed lead er Ma x Biaggi, who took over the top spot on the 12th of 23 lap s, rig ht u p to the fin a l lap . Waldmann got back into the lead by usin g the draft a t th e e n d o f the long front straight. Biaggi wasn't read y to conced e and made a run a few turns later, but hit a false neutral between first and second. Th at cost him th e draft, the w in, and a place in the cham pionship. " I had a bi g s lide behind Max, and Max wa nt that I pass him," Waldmann sa id . " Bu t I wo n' t d o this favo r. I go behind him and then in the last lap 1 can pass him ou t of the slips tream, bu t then he go .again in front of me and I go again in fro nt of him and then 1 drive, only I have a bett er line . So he has no chance to pass me and it was , for me, maybe my best race." "Basically I was fighting for winning but in o ne curve, 'when I cha nge from first gea r to second, 1 ge t a neu tral and I los t the cha nce to win," Biaggi said after fi ni shing .550 of a sec o nd behind. If .there was any consolation, it was that a third Hond a - that of Benet ton Honda's Tohru Ukawa - was able to sneak by the struggling Tets u ya Ha r ada a nd h is A prilia wi th tw o la ps to' go and take th ird , stealing val ua ble ch ampionship poin ts. "It was an exceptionally bad da y for me becau se I also ha d tire probl ems and lost the lead in th e ch a mpionship," Ha rada said . With two rac es to go, Wald mann

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