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ROAD RACE W RLDSUPERBIK O E SHIP C AMPION H Round 11: Albacete, Spain (Above) carl Fogarty na rrowly escapes hitting the t ire wall as he ta kes to the gravel in. the seco nd race. (Left) Pier-Francesco Chili's new haircut . (Below) The second race featured a battle between Simon Crafar (6) and KocinskJ (3). Kocins kJ, who ex1e nded h is lea d in the champ ionsh ip to 52 points, won both races. ,.... "- III ..n Dunlops seemed to be up to the task on th e g rippy tra ck in th e sou th of Spain . Tucked in behind Kocinski and Whitham on the opening lap, he soon sho t by the fac to ry Suz u ki rider before fo llowi ng Kocinski - and then he took the lead. Yanaga w a a nd Slight were battling ove r third place, with Whitham losing more ground as the race we nt on. Russe ll a nd Bontempi, meanwhile, w ere fighting over fifth. And Fogarty...? The Brit was fighting back from last pla ce. The form er World Cha mpion had run into big trouble in the fourth com er o f th e r a ce when lo ca l hero Lavilla cra shed, taking Fogarty wi th him into the g ravel pit. Fogarty stayed upright, bu t had to let e ve rybod y pass as he plowed throug h the g rave l a nd back onto the track. Hal fw ay th ro u gh the ra ce, C ra fa r was still leading but only by the smallest of margi ns over Kocinski, wi th Yanagawa and Slight a sa fe d is tance behind . Russe ll, Bontempi and Ch ili were even further away. By this time, Fogarty was 11th. Everyt hi ng cha nged o ne lap la ter. Kocinsk i mad e his expected move and took ov er th e lead - a lbeit wit h a little help from some backma rkers - and Fogarty cras hed, again . "I'd started the seco nd race without any motivati on ," Fogarty sa id . " After my first crash, I knew that my title run was over. Just like in the first race, the front tire slid away - a problem that all Ducati riders have encountered here. I s till ca n' t unders tand wha t ha s happened. After I'd go ne down, Neil Hodgson missed my head by inc hes... I've had a lo t of lu ck this year rid ing this bike as hard as I did, and I've used up all my luck tod ay. I' m now loo king forwa rd to Malaysia in 1998 - and no t to Sugo in two weeks." Koci nski soon stretched his ad vantage, leavi ng Crafar to worry about Yanagawa and Slight, who were coming on strong in the final laps. On the last la p, Slight got past Yanagawa to take third. Kocinski, who says he isn't thinking about the title yet, has se t a goal of win ning 10 races this year. Nevertheless, he was very happy with this particular victory. "Albacete is known for bein g hard on tires and , when the temperature increased before the second race, I knew it w as going to be tough for the rear tire," Kocinski said. 'That's why I tried to run con sistent lap times - especially after I lost the rear almost at once in a first-gear comer . Simon (Cra far) got past me then . I hoped for us to get a breaka wa y fr om the rest o f th e field . It worked out well, and as soon as I saw a cha nce to take the lea d fro m Simon, I didn' t hesitate." At the finish, Crafar admitted that he had had the same strategy worked out. " I' d h o p ed to ge t away in the beg inning, as I wa s a bi t wo rried about the rear ti re holdi ng good un til th e end of th e race," Crafar sa id . "Bu t batt1i1ig it o u t wit h Jo hn (Kocins ki) o u t there was also good. I q ui te en joyed the race." Slight was third: "The Span ish rider La villa took me, Fogarty and Hod gsun out, and that really wrecked my chances of a victory I wa s su re I could take," he said . "I wa s fou r th goi ng into the last lap, bu t I just closed my eyes and outbraked Yan agawa fur third pla ce at the en d of th e s ta r t-a n d- fi n is h s tra ig h t. Luckily, it all wo rked out. " Russell fin ished fifth , more th an 10 seconds behind Yanagawa. "We cha nged the gearing a little bit for the second race," Russell said . 'This helped a little and I thought I was goi ng to be able to run with the leading pack in the early stages. I rod e hand and I'm happy to finish . I wa sn 't in a position to . a tt ack, so I ro d e s moothly a nd m ad e sure I kept my points." "I could n' t help thinking of my front en d problem on Friday when I crashed and ended in the dirt," said Hale, after finishing ninth. He'd managed to ge t by his tea mmate Whitham at the end of the race. ,~ o Circutt de Albacete u Results: September 21,1997 (Round 11 0113) ~ o 8 Albacete. Spain QUAUFYINC: t . jo hn Kocinski (1:31.JSO); 2. Ca rl Fop; rt y 0 :31.478); 3. Simo n Crafa r (1:3 1 526); ~. Aaron a Slight (1:31.764); 5. M Jra Yanagawa (1;31.808); 6. !'it'il lj od gson 1131. 9S U; 7. Pi~·rgio..gin Bnnll'11lpi 0:32.(52);