Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE WOFiLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (Left) Race two was held in the dry and Carl Fogarty (2) was simply unstoppable as he led most of the race. (Above) Noriyuki Haga (41) leads James Whitham. Haga was off his usual form and struggled to 10th in race one (a spot ahead of Whitham), but rebounded to fourth in a dry race two. tight corners here," Fogarty said. "But that didn't work out here in the wet. 1 never got enough confidence on the bike in these conditions to push it hard enough." Haga had to settle for 10th after a race-long battle with Jamie Whitham, blaming poor setup as well. Suzuki's Peter Goddard finished 14th, taking two points. RACE TWO After his poor pedorman.ce in the Hrst race, Fogarty was determined to take his revenge in the second, in order to keep his title chances alive. He got away first, with Haga as his shadow. Behind them, things got quite messy when Yanagawa dived too enthusiastically into the first corner, tipping over Lavilla, who in turn brought down Edwards, James Whitham and Neil Hodgson. For Lavilla and Edwards, the race was over. "I was hit by Lavilla, but 1 think Yanagawa was to blame for the incident," Edwards said. "I hurt my elbow in the same place as in Monza last year, but fortunately, it's nothing serious. I'm annoyed because I knew in the dry we had a really good setup. It sums up the weekend for me, really. I've been so dose throughout qualifying and the rain-affected Superpole pushed me onto the second row of the grid, so I knew it was going to be tough into that first corner." As Whitham and Hodgson resumed battle, Haga was still holding on to second place behind Fogarty, but it was dear that he was not going to stay there. I _ _ _ _ SU12e p-o''e st~m,·ed aga,·n E _ _ r '!_ Behind them, Corser, Slight( Yanagawa and Russell had found each other's company, with Chili and Piergiorgio Bontempi a bit further back and Goddard in a lonely ninth place. The rest of the race saw Foga rty building np his lead until he had some six seconds between him and his next pursuer, with Haga losing ever more ground, and Slight escaping from the dutches of a pursuing Corser. The Japanese Yamaha rider dropped to third after 11 laps and two laps later to fourth, the position he would hold to the end. Fogarty had every reason to celebrate on the rostrum. "I had to do something to keep my title chances alive," he said. "This morning's race was an absolute disaster. In ~:~:i~t~:~:. ~~~~h~~;~i1~ti~e~~n~o~~~ho't"r~ the wet, I did not think I could go any faster. Dry was a different story. During practice, I had set 1:32' lap times, so J knew that I.could keep a good pace in those conditions. When we got under way, there were still some damp patches, but they weren't really a problem. Typically, the first few laps were quite hectic, but when all settled down, I managed to keep my head down and ride my own race. I didn't look back once, but my pit signals learned me that my lead was stretching from one to two and so forth to six seconds. At that point, 1 concentrated on keeping that difference stable." Slight got home second. "I had a poor start, but maybe that wasn't so bad, as I wasn't involved in the crash with Yanagawa. I knew I could go at a pace quick enough to win, but by tht" tim.e I got into second place, Carl wa~ already well dear at the front and I was having trouble changing gear with my quick-shifter." Troy Corser took over the championship lead by finishing third. "We had been struggling to get a good setup for the dry all weekend, and we finally got the bike sorted in the front of me and where. [t is very tight around here, with no obvious overtaking places. ff I can lead away ven though regular qualifying no longer determines the flnal grid positions, the two timed. from the start like [ want to, then [ will be happy. At sessions at Albaccte proved to be thrilling nonetheless. As on the ultrafast Monza circuit, least the starting system looks nonnal here," he joked, the two Honda factory riders, Aaron Slight and Colin Edwards n, stayed on top of the list referring to his poor starts'in Monza, which he attribmost of the time - until local boy Gregorio LaviUa (right) put some Dunlop qualifiers under his uted to the start lights. Scott Russell got second starting position. private De Cecco Ducati and took unofficial pole position 10 minutes before the checkered. flag. "The front row is more like it," he said. "You need. Lavilla was not the only surprise before S1,lperpole got under way. In the closing tages of the second qualifying session, Honda had learned. that they would not only have to watch out for the to be up there on this track because you really don't odd man out on a private Ducati, but also for the Yamahas - with Scott Russell finally returning to want to get held up at all around here, not even for top fonn after three lackluster performances earlier this year and Noriyuki Haga seeming to have half a lap. The bike is working really well - especially recovered from his Monza injuries. The Kawa.akis, too, were showing good speed.. The factory after we gathered. some more experience during priDucatis, however - despite their promise to perform a lot better on the twisty track in the south of vate practice at Misano before coming here. Albacete Spain than on the ultrafast circuit in Monza two weeks earlier - didn't really mix it up with the has always been a turning point for my season. But in fastest boys. The closest was Carl Fogarty, who qualified. fifth. Pier-Francesco Chili (10th in quali- the past, it has always been for the worse. Let's hope that this time it's the other way around." fying) and Troy Corser (11th) once again struggled with ill-handling Ducatis. On Saturday afternoon, tension mounted in the paddock - not only for the imminent SuperHodgson and Lavilia joined the two on the front pole session, but also because of the rain clouds gathering over the circuit, threatening to repeat row of the grid. After having done so well during qualifying, the the miniature natural catastrophe they had brought one day before, making one of the tunnels to Honda pair of Edwards and Slight weren't so happy get out of the paddock impassable due to the water level rising to almost three feet at one point. The first 10 Superpole participants got out on a perfect track, with sixth man Troy Corser pre- with fifth and sixth, respectively. dictably taking provisional pole, until Chili went out. The Italian's lap time was only under allack "That was crazy oul there," Edwards said. "We from Haga, with next man Russell getting very close to his teammate's fast time. need to get this Superpole sorted out, and quickly. I Things started to go wrong when Fogarty was up. The Briton's attempt at a fast time was inter- could do nothing but just ride around in the wet. rupted by the red. flag and the sign "special rules," which was shown in the pit lane. This meant Apart from that, I'm still trying to find the best-compound Michelin rear tire for the race. I will be that the first eight who had gone out on their Superpole-Iap did not qualify for the first grid posi- testing more tires in the Sunday morning warmup." Slight's sixth place means the two-time Albacete race winner will have to battle his way tions anymore, but had the eighth posi.tion on the starting grid as their goal. The following eight (the eight fastest men in qualifying) would then battle for the remaining two front rows oti the through from the second row, but the New Zealander remained optimistic about his chances. "I'm happy I can put in the lap times I need. to win here," Slight said. "I've been more or less grid. For Fogarty, this was some sort of a b1elsing in disguise. After animated discussions in the pit lane between most of the top riders On the one hand and fastest throughout the two days of practice and qualifying. It was only the Superpole fiasco that Flammini and the organizers on the other hand, the Briton was let out on the track again, only to has dropped me back to row two." The Kiwi was also unsure of his tire choice for the race. lose the front en.d of his bucati.some corners before the end. With no SuperpoJe lap time behind Corser had to settle for 10th after having set the third-fastest time before the rain set in. his name, Foggy dropped from fifth qualifying position to eighth on the grid - but it could have. "We've spent too much time changing bikes over the weekend, but I've finally managed to get been worse had the Superpole practice not been interrupted. The next four riders - Akira Yanagawa, Edwards, Slight and Lavilla - got out on a wet track and preferred not to risk much on the my Ducati set up for the race. I found the right front tire in the warmup session for the Superpole and we have changed the ride height, forks, springs and put bigger brakes on, so I am confident slick course. In the end, Haga got pole position (for having ron the fastest SuperpoJe lap time on the dry for tomorrow." from the eight fastest qualifiers), in front of teammate Russell, Neil Hodgson and Lavilla. Peter Goddard was even further down the grid in 14th position. "Of course I'm happy to be on pole position," the Japanese rider Said. "But I am sure things .• "It was difficult to concentrate," the Suzuki rider said. "We were keeping one eye on the would have looked a lot differently if everybody had a go at the Superpole in the dry. [ am confi- weather while trying to put jn a good lap, and that is very difficult."

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