Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROAD RACE SERIES race came on the third lap, when Rossi looking a great deal like a young Schwantz, all elbows and aggression muscled past the lot of them on the back straight to take the lead - swerving through the pack to dive onto the brakes ultra-late. By lap five, Capirossi had caught him again, and two laps later he passed the young Italian a t the end of the back straight. At about this point, Harada rejoined the leading party for his extraordinary but short-lived role as apparent spoiler. Later he merely said that he'd been hoping to get a point or two, and they were running slowly so he thought he would get ahead. He passed Rossi and slowed him a little, bu t before he could also attack Capirossi, he got a "slow" signal from his pit, and soon· afterward the black flag. Capirossi said afterward that his race had been as untroubled as it looked. "My bike and my tires were perfect, and I surprised myself that I didn't make a single mistake," he said. Rossi was not so sanguine. "I don't know why Harada passed me, but it gave Loris a sma \I lead. I caught up again, but it used up my tires." He also admitted a gearing mistake. "I chose long gearing for a good lap time, but I forgot that a 250 is different from a 125. After 10 laps the tires start sliding, and that gearing doesn't work so well anymore." • He did have a stab at closing the gap at the finish, but to no avail. Thus his first-ever 250cc-c1ass finish was second rather than first, by 3.4 seconds. Perugini held third for a while, but before half-distance Ukawa was pushing away ahead, and Jacque went with him. The pair stuck together like glue, Ukawa doing all the work, with Jacque just nipping past on the final lap to claim an unexpected Honda rostrum by just over half a second. Meanwhile, Haruchika Aoki's FCC Honda had come up to join Perugini, along with slow starter Marcellino Lucchi. The Aprilia rider finally got the best of their three-way battle, claiming fifth almost 10 seconds ahead of Aoki, with Perugini three seconds back. Takeshi Tsujimura was next on the Semprucci Yamaha, with the other two Yamahas of Luis d' An tin and Osamu Miyazaki ninth and 10th, close together at the head of a subsidiary pack. There were only 18 finishers. Among those who failed to make the flag was Jurgen Fuchs. The Docshop Aprilia rider had qualified fifth, but his race bike blew up on the sighting lap. He grabbed his spare to start the warmup lap from pit lane, but retired after the bike overheated. (Left) Some 120,000 partisan fans cheered Criville's every move. (Above) The 250cc GP gets under way with Tetsuya Harada (31) leading the way. The race was eventually won by Loris Capirossi (65). Capirossi took the points lead on 45 to Jacque's 43. Harada dropped to third on 38. Ukawa has 33 and Aoki 28. 125cc GRAND PRIX Sakata claimed a start-to-finish victory from a second-row start, moving inexorably ahead of the usual brawl from the first corner so that by the finish he had time to wave to the fans and still win by more than two seconds. The real battle was for second, with many vicissitudes as the group was whittled down from eight in the early stages to just four at the end. The position went to Manako after Noboru Ueda had made most of the running only to drop back in the closing laps, finishing fifth. Giansanti held third after a late challenge from Masao Azuma. At the start, Youichi Ui had led the group, but he was racing against the odds, having taken painkilling injections after breaking his foot in Malaysia. In a brave effort, he qualified on the front row, and hung on in the race to finish seventh. Pole starter Roberto Locatelli crashed out of the group on the fourth lap after disputing the same piece of track with fellow Honda rider Lucio Cecchinello. The latter also crashed out six laps later. Then Gianluigi Scalvini also left the party at a tangent, running into the gravel, and rejoining to finish eighth, Sakata also claimed the title lead, on 60 points to Manako's 56. Three riders are equal third on 36 points - Ueda, Giansanti and Azuma. CN Circuit of Jerez Jerez, Spain Results; May 3, 1998 125 QUALIFYING, 1. Roberto Locotelli (H9281); 2. Mirko Giansanti (1:49.364); 3. Youichi Ui 0:49.372); 4. Noboru Ueda (1:49.503); 5. GianJuigi ScaJvini (1:49.702); 6. Kazuto Sakata (1:49.769); 7. Lucio CecchineJlo (1:49.919); 8. Masao Azuma (1:49.939); 9. Tomomi Manalco 0 50.016); 10. Gino Borsoi 0,50.167); ll. Masaki Tokudome 0:50.217); 12. Jaroslav Hules 0:50.271); 13. Marco Melandri (1,so.304); 14. Paolo T"""; (1,50.483); 15. Emilio Alzamora (1:50.576); 16. Yoshiaki Katoh (1,so.586); 17. Frederic Petit (1:50.687); 18. lose Ramon Ramir-ez O:5O.n8); 19. Steve jenkner (1:50.768); 20. Andre. Bollerini 0:51.206); 21. Ivan Goi O,SI.253); 22Arnaud Vincent 0:51.369); 23. juan Enrique Maturana • 0:51.4~t); 24. Angel Nieto jr. (1:51.448); 25. Jeronimo Vidal 0:51.616); 26. Alfonso Gonzalez 0:52.388); 27. Ch:ristian Manna 0:52.793); 28. Alvaro Molina 0:53.036); 29. Vicente Esparragoso 0:54.694). 250 QUALIFYING, 1. Loris Capirossi (1,44.431); 2. Marcellino Lucchi (1 :44.456); 3. Valentino Rossi 0:44.537); 4. Tetsuya Harada 0:44.854); 5. Jurgen Fuchs 0:45.364); 6. Olivier Jacque (1:45.468); 7. Jose Luis Cardoso (1:45.761); 8. Tohru Ukawa (1:45.787); 9. Stefano Perugini (1 :45.807); 10. Jeremy McWilliams 0:45.975); 11. johan Stigefelt (1 :46.419); 12. Luis d'Antin 0:46.562); 13. Osamu Miyazaki 0:46.670); 14. oriyasu Numata (1:46.957); 15. Luca Boscoscuro {1:47.377); 16. Roberto Rolfo (1:47.4]8); 17. Franco Battaini 0:47.466); ]8. Jason Vincent (1:47.472); 19. Wilbam Costes 0:48.]99); 20. Yasumasa Hatakeyama 0:48.413); 21. Davide -Bulega 0:48.596); 22. Eustaquio Gavira (l :48.792); 23. Federico Gartner 0 :49.366); 24. Ismael Bonilla (t :50.336); 25. Agustin Escobar (l :5] .022). 500 QUALIFYING, 1. C.dos Chec. (1,43.46~; 2.Tadayuki Okada (1,43.627); 3. Alex Criville (1 :43.815); 4. Max 6iaggi (1 :43.970); 5. Mid< Doohnn (1 :43.987); 6. John Kocinski (l :43.992); 7. Kenny Roberts Jr. (1 :44.052); 8. Alex Barros (1:44.160); 9. Ralf Waldmann (1:44.217);.-10. Nobuatsu Aoki (1 :44.281); 11. Norick Abe (1 :44.421); 12Sete Gibemnu 0:44.833); 13. Regis Lacon; (1:44.935); J4. Checa's Sensation in Spain! Mick Doohan off the front row of the grid! For the first time in 30 races, the defending champion failed to make the top four, after yet another hectic fmal qualifying session that saw the top 10 not only.inside the circuit lap record, but also within the same second. Positions in the leading group also shuffled and reshuffled in the closing minutes, and Max Biaggi pushed Doohan out of the leading four at the end. Pole went to Carlos Checa, the first ever for the one-time GP winner. Always likably modest, he praised his team and his bike, adding: "Everything has been good for me. There is no reason why I should not win tomorrow." A sentiment not necessarily shared by his front-row companions. Second went to TadayulO Okada, pole man last year, who complained about his Honda's suspension - a problem echoed by aU his Repsol teammates. "It was only at the end of practice that I started to feel comfortable and could work on tire choice," he said. Alex Criville was alongside, less than four-tenths down on pole and also insisting that victory was possible. A winner here last year, he had solved his Honda suspension problems by changing the front fork springs and reverting to tast year's settings. Biaggi was fourth, preserving his perfect three-out-of-three record, but adding his voice to the chortls of complaints. "1 cannot get to feel corn1ortable, and I am not so confident about this race," he said. The most vivid illustration of Honda's problems came from Doohan, who ended up fifth, half a second away from pole, and proceeded to deliver damning comments on Honda and their lack of commitment. The suspension was his new target, along with his now familiar complaint about the engine and the new fuel. He disbelieved HRC's comments that the suspension was the same as last year, and complained that the suspension engineer had been fiddling with it all through practice. '1 think we've got ourselves a bit muddled," he said. But of course a second-row start is not so bad, and a rider of his caliber could hardly be ruled out. MoviStar Honda's John Kocinski was alongside, having also been in the top four earlier on. He continues with his softly-softlyapproach. "I'm getting more comfortable on the bike, but we're not there yet," he said. The sensation of practice came from the Modenas triples, putting their problems of the first two races weU behind them as they even claimed a provisional front-row start on the first day of practice. Kenny Roberts Jr. was the faster rider, finishing up seventh, well among the V-fours and fastest non-Honda. Even he praised the cha sis development that newcomer Waldmann had brought into the team, adding plausibility to the German's comment: "They are listening to my ideas and r have been able to help them a lot." Alex Barros completed row two on his V-four Honda; Waldmhnn led row three from Haruchika Aoki's Suzuki. He too had been in the top four at one point, and was confident enough. "We changed the back suspension and now I have a better feeling from the bike so I can ride 'round the handling problems,1t he said. Rainey Yamaha's Notick Abe was alongside, then Sete Gibemau on the top V-twin Honda. Then came the returning Regis Laconi, who crashed once again in practice. "This time I lifted my foot up so I didn't hurt my ankle," he said. Kyoji Nanba was next, then Yuko J

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