Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES ~-v::J ound: Sentullnternational Circuit !--'--~~~----~------'------~ ~--~ Simon Crafar (6) leads Ihe way In the second race at Sentul. Crat ar was hop ing to end his World Superbike career with a victory . but he crashed with John Kocl nsk on the last lap. three-p oi nt cushion bet w een him and Slight in the point standings . "I could ca tch th e Honda in pl aces, bu t coming ou t of co rners, my Du ca ti co u ldn' t match th eir acceleratio n," Foga rty said . Yanagawa and Haga com ple ted the top fi ve, w it h Russell finis hi ng s ixt h. After not having go tten away well from the line, the Yamaha rider had found it hard to improve o n his position as the track temperatur e, which had increa sed su bs ta nt ia lly fro m the p r evi ous da y, did n' t suit his tire. "1 cou ld n't ge t off the line well," Russell said . "If you rid e the clutch too long, you've got a bad star t, an d if you drop it too soon, you go backwards. The trac k is coming apart and it's real grea sy. [ was tryi ng to make u p time on the brakes and had to go st raight on at the chica ne. I was sliding around e very w he re - I tried to catch up, but you can' t do it in these conditions." Ducati-mo unted John Reynolds came next, with Hale in eighth. "The eng ine was stro ng thr ou gh out, but th e b ike was ru n nin g wi d e o n th e co rne rs," H ale said . "It was a fru strating ba ttle, but under the circu ms tances, I'll settle for a top-10 placing." r-, 0\ 0\ ,..... ~ l-o RAC E TWO Right from the sta rt, it was clear that Crafa r wa nted to end his World Superbike career on a high note before moving to SOOcc Grand Prix racing next seas o n. The Kiw i Kawasaki r id e r took com mand from Kocinski on the second lap and did every thing possibl e to stay there. Early on, two three-man groups furme d , with C ra fa r, Ko ci nsk i and Foga rty battling over the rostru m positions , wh ile some five seconds be hind, another trio - consisting of Slight, Hag a and Russe ll - foug ht over fourth. Up front , Crafa r a n d Koc ins ki switched positions for the first 10 laps, with C rafar taki ng over o n lap I I. Kocinski go t next to the g reen bik e on some occasions, but never looked truly able to get in fro nt again. Fogarty, meanwhile, jus t hung behi nd in third, wa tching the show. III Haga was the man on a mission in o his ru n for fourt h, rid ing very nggressively and no t m indi ng his teamma te Russell or Slig ht in his cha rge for the spo t. Actually, the three go t so invo lved in their bat tle that Yanagawa, wh o had spent most of the race wi tho ut any com- 2 u 14 pa ny , g o t in to th e ir s li ps tre a m w it h some eight laps to go . Three la p s from th e end , Fogarty seem ed to settle for his fate as the final rostru m finish er as he slowed his pace a bit and left the ba ttle for victo ry to Cra far (who was still leadingland Kocinski. Behind Foga rty the bat tle on ly grew mo re inten se, w ith Yanaga wa moving into the lead of that chasing grou p, in front of Haga and Slight. On the las t lap, Koci nski tried th e sa me trick he had pulled with his teamma te in race o ne, only this tim e, it d id n' t quite work out - both rid ers ended the last race of the season in the gravel trap, wit h Kocinski faring better than Crafa r. After Kocinski had lost the front and hit the Kawasa ki , he we nt d own d irectly, with Cra far storming into the gravel pit and keeping the bike upright for a while - b u t o nly until he hit a hol e in the groun d and went down as well, hitting his head hard and br eaking his collarbon e. "1 ha d w atch ed C rafa r s lid i ng around all over the place and thought I could ge t in front ," Kocinski said . "I was su re I co u ld ge t the lead th ere, bu t it wasn't to be. I went in like 1 had done in the first race, bu t collided wi th Crafar, That was the race ove r for me, and I am very d isap poi n ted fo r Simon a nd for myself." It was the fi rs t time thi s yea r th a t Kocinsk i did not finish a World Superbike race. As a resul t of the double cras h ahead of him , Fog a r ty w a s ab le to take the final race win of the season, in front of Yanagawa and Haga. "This race was ve ry ha rd fo r me," Fogarty sa id . "I was riding over the limit aga in, but I got away wit h it this time. Wit h four or five laps to go, I settled for third . And then the two leaders cras hed into each other. To be perfectly honest, 1 wo u ld ha ve p referred Si mo n to w in; actually l owe this victory to Honda. My fin al po sition in the cha mpions hip was of no interest to me. I race to win . Second o r th ird in the cham p io ns hip d oes n' t make a ny d ifference to me." Yanaga wa was ha p py wit h second after his fight wit h Haga . "T h e la s t 10 la p s, m y ti res w e r e almost finished," he said, "and battling with Haga also turned out to be a very . partly in order to avoid possible tast-mtnute changes in the Formula One car and 500cc Grand Prix calendars. On the other hand, some organizers have not yet finalized the financial deals with possible sponsors (Sentul. : for instance). MWe are working very closely with Dorri e.", stated Paolo Flemmini. "Up to now.. only one date clashes With a Grand Prix. MoreMike Hale" mad~ a h"uge impression when he tested the Suzuki 500Cc over. we also have to take the Formula One and Football Cup dates into Gra nd Prix rac er for the fir st ti me at Phill ip Island. du ring t he' week consideration - which explains the big gap in July ." between the Japanese and Indonesian W orld Superbtke rounds. It really went very well . ~ Hale said at Sentul of his two-s troke debut. •After all the No major changes are expected in the technical and s porti ng regu lahorr or sto ries I had heard fro m Sco tt (Russell) and Anthony (Gobe rt) , I tio n9 for the World S upe rbi k e Cha mpionship, which.are to be dissort of expected the bike to R ick me off at one time or -another. It didn't cussed during the FIM autumn congress . Paolo F1ammini admitted, howevhappen. Instead. I clicked with the bike straight away. I felt really comforter, that some majo r decisions might be taken during the wee ks after the able , and it was easy to get down so me fast times . The Texan was reported to have clocked 1:34,2 during his day and a half of testing in ' congre ss. especially concerning homologation, ·- FIM . the 'manufacturers and SBK International all agree on the desirability of lowering the threshold Australia - this time wou ld have put him on the front row of the 500c c for partic ipation in the World Superblke C hamptonshlp. ~ he said. "The Grand Prix. It also co nfirmed his reputation, as a represe ntative of the "old implications of a thorough modrhcanon are now under study. and a possiAmerican racing school " of riders steering ' the bikes with the thro ttle - a bility might be reached only weeks after the· FIM congress . ~ It is expected style which turned out .to be pretty effect ive with the,Honda RC45 and (to that a homologation minimum number {20m will be established for all mana lesser extent) with the '95 Ducati 916. but not at all with the '96 version ufacturers . whereas the possibility of allowing motor cycles in the process of that bike. "I rode the bike pretty much.a s Peter Goddard had set it up of ,homologation (the word ." prototype " is carefully avoided) is still being for the Australian Grand Prix: Hale said. "and I rode my best time on the discussed. F lammin also announced that special effo rts would be made in i last lap . which means that I might have gone faster still if I'd had more tim-e." The Suzuki Superbi ke rider is nego tiating wi th some teams in the . order to offer younger riders (up to 23 years of age) an 'easier access into ' world superbrke racing thanks to special trophies and financial prizes, and Atv'1A Superb ike Championship. but hopes of course to have another go that SBK International considers the idea of introducing a so-called " Super at the Suzuki 500 during a test . He also admitt ed that there might be a Pole - event on Saturday ev~n i n g from 1999 onward. where the top t 2 of chance that he rides in the Grands Prix next year. official qualifying get an extra (obligatory) qualifying " session" (of one lap) to establish their final starting-grid positions, . After being fired from the S uzuki 500 cc' G rand Prix squad . A nth o ny Gobert tros . log ienlty so - been talking to most top teams in W orld On Sunday evening. 'the Castrol Honda tea~ an~ou n~ed that Aaron Superbike and Grand Prix, the latest being Fast by Ferraccl and Vance & S lig ht had re-slqned for the 1998 World Superbike Championship sea' Hines, as welt as the two teams that run factory D ucatis at the Wo rld son. .the 31.year-old rider from Masterton . New Zealand, will be' entering Superbike Championship, Ac cording to some, the Australian has signed his fifth 'year 'with the team after agreeing on terms fore one-year conwith Vance & Hines (or with Ducati through the latter team). It is known also that the FIM' s Paolo Aammini would like Gobert to get back into the "tract. " I'm p leased to be staying, Slight said. "This is team I know well and I've hod success dUring the last four years. I would like to improve on world superbike racing scene. .that next year wi th my first W orld title for the team: On the other hand, Slight also realizes that he will have his work cut' out if John Kocinski also The lndonestan round of the 1997 championship also marked the .end of stays wit h the team next year {which appears more and more likely}, "This, the first d ec a d e of World S u pe r b ik e racing" The series started on have noticed that John asks a lot of bme 'a nd energy from the year. Easter weekend of 1988, with David e Tardozz i w inning the first-ever team - someti mes at my expense. lf t will have to.jump up and down to get round. Participants in this race included Marco Lucchmelh. Fred Merkel, the attention and help I deserve, I will do so .MThose words took on ,an Roger Marshall. with only Fabrizio Plrovcnc and Joey D unlop still active extra dimension after both riders threatened 10 boil over half an hour after . racers. Since then. .237 W orld Supertake Championship races have been the first heat - in which Kocinski muscled by Slight to steal the win • at run. Carl Fogarty has been the most successful racer in these 10 years. Sentul, and \Nere separated only with great trouble' by team manager Neil with .45 victories, On the all-time-win list. he is fo llowed by Doug Polen (27l. Raymond Roche (23) . Gtencerlo Feleppe ( 16). Scott Russell and Tuxworth. Aft er the seco nd race. T-uxworth also said that the team would John Kocinski (14). . be running a two-man team in 1998 and hoped to have news on the other rider in the very near future. The 19 9 8 World S u p e rbik e Championship calendar still isn't .set in stone. although a prov isional'calendar has the series looking like this; The Wo r ld S eri e s Sup e r sport race was wo n by Vi tt o ria n o Guaresch i . The ltalian rider stalled his Yamaha on the front starting line: March 15, Indonesia' (Se n tul) ~ March 22 : Australia (Phillip Island); April 13. but then sto rme d to t he lead. Un ti l then : the race had been led -by Great Britain (Donington Park); Ap ril 26 , Italy (Monza); June 7. Germany (l-iockenheim or Oschersfeben ): June 21. San Marino (Misa no or M ugel- .. Stephane Chambon and Paolo Casoli. The latter broke his engine on the 1 ) ; July 5 or 12. United S tates (Laguna Sece): August 2. England (Brands 0 10th lap, whereas Fabrizio Pirovano pulled in after 'his wate r temperature ' Hatch); August 30 . Austria (A 1 Ring); September 6 . the Net her lands went up too high. M ichel Paquay and Bussei we nt down together . By win: (Ass.en); September 20, Spain lAIbecete); October 4. Japan (Sugo); and ning the race, Guareschi moved to withi n just one point, of Casali, in the Octobe r 11, Malaysia (Shah Alam). ~omt:! changes might still come about ,' . final point standings. . Brieflv... M M M M M w e a

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