Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP laps tow.,';-d'the end but, With no' one to draft, it was an impossible task." Haga came home ninth after having battled all the way with Andreas Mekl,!u, Gregorio Lavilia and Alessandro Grarnigni. The Japanese rider had to be helped onto his bike for the race and was given two pain-killing injections in his right leg as well as receiving medication intravenously. The Yamaha rider's main objective was to score as many points as possible, and he hoped just to leave Milan still in the lead of the championship. His teammate.Russell, meanwhile, didn't enjoy the race and retired on lap 11. "My bike had some chattering to the front and 1 couldn't turn it in as 1 wanted to," Russell said. "1 probably could have finished the race, but 1 saw Haga coming and 1 did the safe thing, as 1 knew 1 migh t come off, and 1 let him through - he needs the points more than me." The Georgian had spent most of the race alone, running around in ninth position, behind the two factory Suzukis. RACE TWO The start of the second race was pretty chaotic, tvith several riders getting off the line too early. Russell was one of those who jumped. Well aware of his "mistake," the American pulled in after the first lap. "1 knew they were going to give me a stop-start," he said. "1 wasn't going to run around last and on my own after a stop-go, so 1 stopped. The bike was not chattering and it felt pretty good, so 1 was real frustrated with myself. The lights were done to catch somebody out, but .at the end of the day it is my fault. 1 jumped them and it was stupid. I'm not feeling that great right now and 1 have got to pick myself up again for the test this week. We will get there, though." Fogarty had also gotten away quickly at the start, but without jumping it. So it was the Brit who again showed the others the way through the first chicane and the rest of ,the first lap. Foggy stayed there for 1'" laps, then it was Corser taking over.. But on the third lap, Edwards took control again. ~ Round 3: Monza, naly (Right) Noriyuki Haga (41) had his first disappointing race of the 1998 season. The Japanese phenom hurt himself in a crash during practice but still managed to ride to ninth- and 1Othplace finishes in the two races. After a few laps, it was an allDucati/Honda battle, with Chili joining his two fellow ducatisti and both Honda riders. Positions changed several times, even though Edwards did most of the leading. Behind the lead group, Yanagawa struggled with the two Suzukis. Of the two, Goddard had probably the biggest scare when his brakes failed at the end of the finish strarght as he dived into the first chicane. The Australia n reacted correctly, overshooting the two gravel pits and getting back on track with both wheels still rubber side down after an astonishing off-road excursion. He even managed to overtake his two rivals in the process, but he quickly lost the two spots while trying to read just the brakes and ge~ his heart rate down. Hondaall the way__ R ight from the start, it was clear that the CastroI Honda team was going to kick some serious bull at Monza. With Colin Edwards 11 coming to grips with the RC45, and Aaron Slight on a roll on what is the fastest World Superbike motorcycle at the moment, the two Honda boys grabbed the two best times during Friday's qualifying session. And then they did likewise on Saturday. Naturally, they were the big favorites for the Superpole session on Saturday afternoon. But the one-lap, do-or-die session once again provided some surprises. First of all, Noriyuki Haga was one of the first to go out, after having clocked only' the 13th-quickest lime during qualifying. The most successful rider of the young season had crashed on Friday morning, then did it again on Saturday - this time with more damage than just bruised ego. The Japanese rider was believed to have been taken out by a cold rear tire on one of the first left-hand comers of the track - a spot his team manager, Davide Brivio, had warned him was known for "beginners' mistakes." "I do not really remember what h.'ppened, but I can guess," the green-haired Yamaha rider said. "When 1 was in the air, 1 can remember thinking: 'Oh, no, r have done it!'" The doctor passed the YZF rider as fit to ride, which meant that Haga had to decide whether to ride or not. "There wasn't really a choice," Brivio said. "If he had not taken the bike out, he would have had to start the race at the end of the grid. We told him that he just had to start the bike and that he could stop wherever he wanted; we would send a Things stayed hectic for the last couple of laps. Slight appeared to be settling for second place going into the last lap, but he saw his Honda go up in a huge smoke cloud while downshifting for the first chicane. "The bike felt slower in the second race for some reason," Slight said later. "Whenever 1 got in front of Colin (Edwards), he was able to just come straight back past me. When the engine broke, 1 had no warning - 1 just wish it could have happened a lap later." The incident gave Edwards a small lead going into the final miles of the race, with the three Ducati riders I:).OW battling over second place. Corser and Fogarty arrived at the infamous Parabolica corner (the last one before the finish) side by side, with Fogarty leaving little space for Corser, who was already somebody to pick him up and bring him back as quickly as possible. But he went all the way. Later he explained he did not want the crowd to think bad things about him for not completing the lap..." Peter Goddard was the other surprise. The Australian Suzuki rider crashed in the final chicane. ':The tire 1 would really have liked to use was not available and thaI's what caused the crash," Goddard said after losing t1ie front end. "The big problem now is that J may have wrecked the bike and it will be tough to gel things built back up in lime. We had a machine setup that could do consistent race-pace laps and we now have to recreate that:' After Goddard's crash, his teammate Jamie Whitham stormed to the provisional pole for a few minutes before being headed by the Kawasakis of Neil Hodgson and Akira Yanagawa and. the Ducalis of Pier-Francesco Chili and Troy Corser - and finally by Slight. . At the end of the day, Slight put his name where it had been for every qualifying session - right at the top of the list. "Today has been a disaster for Honda," the New Zealander said. "This moming, right after Michael

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