Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

under slight pressure from Corser when Slight crashed, giving the runner-up spot to his teamma teo One rider for whom consistency didn't pay was Carl Fogarty, whose championship hopes suffered a crushing blow after the Brit failed to finish in the top 10 in either race. Fogarty said he simply lacked the-confidence to lean the bike over in the horrible conditions and he finished the weekend with a pair of 13th places. His dismal results dropped him from second place in the championship to sixth place. Yamaha's Scott Russell had another disappointing weekend, finishing 11 th in race one and retiring after two laps in the second outing, complaining of brake trouble. After five rounds, Corser leads the tied duo of Chili and Slight, 160-144. Yamaha's Noriyuki Haga, fifth and seventh today, is fourth with 143, just ahead of Edwards, who has 138. RACE ONE After an extra practice session an hour before the race because of the severe rain, the first leg got under way in terrible, soaking-wet conditions. Due to the amount of water on the track, pretty much the whole front row was mired in wheels pin when the lights turned green, giving second-row starter Akira Yanagawa a chance to take the lead. His tenure was brief, though, as Eclwards took over command on the back side of the circult to lead the early going. Gregorio Lavilla, meanwhile, was already picking himself up from the gravel pit in one of the first corners, his race over due to a fall. Edwards succeeded in getting a small lead over a group consisting of Yanagawa, Corser, Slight, Haga and Chili. Slight was the first of the group to break out,as he disposed of both Yanagawa and Corser to set out after his teammate at the head of the pack. Haga also left the group, but in the wrong direction, after having gone straight in a corner and losing valuable time. Haga . rejoined the pack in fifth position, with sixth-placed Russell already well behind. After a string of fairly uneventful laps, things finally began to get interesting with some eight laps to go. Slight had managed by this time to pick up the pace significantly and began to make up a lot of ground on leader Edwards. Behind the New Zealander, Chili-took over third ahead of Yanagawa. Haga was meanwhile fighting back and forth for Wth with Corser. Deeper in the pack, Russell was having trouble in his fight with Suzuki's Peter Goddard, Piergiorgio Bontempi, James Whitham and Alessandro Gramigni. The Georgian eventually dropped back to 11 tho Up front, Slight finally went past his teammate and didn't give the Texan a chance to retaliate. "Starting from row two I knew I'd have to fight my way through and that it would be a hard race," race winner Slight said. "Corser and Yanagawa held me up while Colin pulled away, but luckily the gap was not too much by the time I was into second place. The machine was never out of line, apart from the last couple of laps when the track was drying. The bike was drifting a lot. but at least it stayed consistent. My last-minute gamble of switching to the spare bike after the sighting lap worked out just right. For me, this was a good race - especially as Troy and Carl didn't get many points. This result is good for the championship." (Above) Akira Yanagawa (4) got the jump at the start of race one. Colin Edwards (45) soon took over. (Right) Yanagawa was briefly ahead of Troy Corser (11) and Aaron Slight (111). but utimately finished fourth. Corser finished seventh and third to extend his championship lead. Despite leading for as long as he did only to get passed in the final laps, Edwards wasn't too disappointed with his finish, even though a third victory had been nearly within reach. "There was nothing I could do," he said, referring to the ground he lost in the last half of the race - which was due to having chosen a harder-compound rear Michelin tire than Slight had. "I went as fast as the bike could go. With 10 laps to go, 1 knew that my five-second lead could be just enough. I could afford to lose half a second per lap. But the next lap the pit board already showed 3.2 seconds, so 1 knew I was in trouble. That wasn't part of the plan. I tried to block Aaron, but he eventually got by. Second place to my teammate is the only second place I don't mind, but I'm still the first loser." Chili finished third and blamed his rear tire and suspension for his inability to challenge for the lead. '1 tried to push it in the middle of the race, when the weather started to clear up a little bit, but there was no grip from my rear tire, which meant that I couldn't control the bike as I wanted," Chili said. "I saw that Aaron could, and that is when I settled for third. Things might have been different if we had found a good solution for the suspension problems that have been bugging us the whole year long." Yanagawa came home fourth, holding up the Kawasaki banner as his teammate ell Hodgson had gone down in the beginning of the race. Yanagawa w¥ a safe distance in front of Haga at the flag, the Japanese Yamaha rider just in front of Goddard and Corser. Corser lost most of his ground during the race because of a gear-shift problem. "My gear selector had just broken off," Corser said, "and as the race wore on, I started to get a cramp in my leg. I alrriost decided to pull in because I was hitting neutral and missing gears all the time. Finally, 1 decided to keep going, and that was a good thing, because you never know (if) the points from this race will be decisive at the end of the season." Haga once again was impressive in his rookie season, but later admitted that he had mostly concentrated on keeping the bike upright after having lost grip on his rear tire in the second half of the race. Goddard came home sixth, his second-best result of the season for the Suzuki rider. Russell, meanwhile, had to settle for 11th, with Fogarty even further back in 13th. "I'm starting bad in every race at the moment," Russell said. "I don't understand it. My race was over by the end of the first lap, as far as running with the leaders is concerned. I wished it had either rained or been dry but not like it was. The track began to dry at the halfway mark after it had stopped raining. I felt too tense today and the bike wasn't going like 1 wanted it to. The first gear was too short for the wet, so 1 was spinning the rear in the slow comers. I couldn't drive out of them well, so I had no chance." RACE TWO With rain pouring down again after the finish of the first race, the track was once again flooded in places, delaying the start of race two for half an hour. When the dark skies did not appear to be clearing, full rain tires were again the order of the day. Edwards jumped to the front of the pack to lead off the start, but Chili was right with him and snaked his way by after just two laps. About the same time that Chili took over, Russell's race was just ending. The Georgian had pulled in after -the sighting lap to have his mechanics change a front-brake disc, bu t feeling' tha t there wasn't an improvement, he pulled off the track after two laps. "On the warmup the brake still felt the same," Russell said. "I got a good start but 1 had to put myself on the outside in case 1 had a brake problem again in turn one. 1 didn't want to take everybody out. I don't really know what the problem was, but the front brake wasn't right. I didn't want to take any chances in these conditions. It is a real pity, beca use I felt like 1 was making progress in the dry at the start of the weekend, but it's hard to get excited about anything right now." Chili was still leading the way ahead of a fight over second place between the two Honda riders, Slight and Edwards, with Corser following close behind. And that was about the extent of the story for the top four - at least until six laps from ~ the end. 0\ Behind Corser, the distance to the ...... rest of the pack only got bigger, with 1:'-... . Yanagawa settling into fifth place early ...... on and Haga looking set to take sixth. ~ Fogarty, meanwhile, was once again ;:j struggling, running an uncharacteristic ....... 14th and unable to make up much ground. 9

• Cover