Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES For Fogarty, th i r d w as b ett er th an h e had exp ect ed . "I cou l d also hav e been on the rostrum aft er th e first h eat, but I had to come b ack from a poor start," he sai d . " Fou rth w as a good result anyway , because I h av e n ev er been ab l e to hold the line on this circui t. A nd tha t is very important for m e, as my ra ci ng style is based on a h igh cornering speed. We changed quite a lo t for the seco nd race, to h ave th e b ike steering be tter, an d that helped a bit." Edward s got h ome fou r t h and wa s h appy to ta k e t h e spot considering h i s b attle wi th Yanagawa. "Riding around in that h eat w as ha rd e n ough w o rk with out Y anagawa all over me," said th e T exan . " I g ave i t o ne last e ffo r t o n t he final lap and g ot fou rth. I w ould ha v e liked to ha ve been o n the r ostrum , bu t I co u l d n't stick with Aaron's p ace at t he star t like I d id in the opening r ace." Ru ssell e q u a l ed hi s sea son ' s b es t r esu lt an d took sixt h p l ace, l apping as fa st as the front-run ners, b u t after being balked at the start an d th en held u p b y Briefl 00 0\ 0\ ..... 24 ••• Godd ar d, h e w as o n ce ag ain l eft ou t of th e l ead pack. "It w as tough ou t there," Ru ssell sai d . " I was hustling that b ik e i n this r ace and it seemed to work, but it tak es a toll o n you. T oward the en d of the r ace I w as f eeling tired an d sick. It w a s so h ot I co u ld n't breathe. The h eat was also play ing h a v o c wi t h th e tires and the fron t w as pushing at the end, b u t i t never fel t like i t was going to let go. I could put m y b ik e in r eal d eep at th e e nd of th e st raig h taway, an d in this heat you can' t re ally co m p la in i f you r ti res l et you do th at. " G oddard h ad r eti r ed just before the ha l fway stage. "The engine cut o ut," he said . " It happened at th e en d of the straight but I r eset the i g niti o n and i t sta r te d again . Aft e r a cou p le m o r e c u t-ou ts o n t he same l ap, it f inally quit alto geth er a nd that was t ha t. " 0 Mlsano Adrlatlco Ml sano, Ita ly Results: June 21, 1998 (Ro und 6 of 13) QUAumsc, I . Troy Corser 0:33.729); 2. Aa ro n Slight 0:34.499); 3. Aki ta Yanaga wa 0:34.780); 5. Colin Edw ards II 0 :35.(0 4); 6. Nor iyu ki Heg e 0 :35.268); 7. [am es Whith am (1:35.335); 8. Peter Godda rd 0 :35.399); 9. G rego rio l.a viIIa O:35.b8-l} 10. Piergio rg io Bontempi ; 0:35,781); I I. Scott Ru~se11 0 :35,833); 12. Neil Hodgson (1 ;36.032); 13 . Andrea s Me kl au 0 :36 .750); H . Ales sandro Cramigni 0 :37.065); 15. Lu cio Pedercini 0 :37.151> 16. Pier. Fra nces:co Chi li (no time); Ii. Igor ; Jerman 0 :37.507); 18. Udo Mark 0:37.747); 19. Paolo Blora 0:38.143); 20. And rew Stroud 0:38,460); 21. Jea nMarc Del e-tan g (1 : 3 ~. 6 9 8 ); 22. Giorgio Ca n ta lu po 0:38.749); 23. Massimo Aromcro 0:38.963); 24. Mar ro 0 0111' Agh o 0 :39.68-1); 25. Fred eri c Protat (l :39.8Q3); 26 . Jiri Mrkyvka 0 :40.4(5 ); 27. Paolo Malvini (1:- 1.103); 28. 1 G ia nni Va lt u Hni (1:42.059) ; 29. Stavros Sta vro u la kis 0 :42.276) ; 30. Bru n o Sca to le 0 :42 .307) ; 31. En zo C hia p.-1I 0 ,42.618 32. Vladimir Karba n (l :4 0 ); 3.1)¥». RACE ON E: 1. Aaron Slight (Hon); 2. Troy Corser (Due); 3. Co lin Edwa rds II (He n): 4. Carl Fog arty (Due); 5. Ak ira Yanagawa (Kaw) : 6. lam es Whitham (Suz) ; i . Neil Hod gson (Kaw) : 8. Scott Russe ll (Yam); 9. Andr eas Me klau (Du C>; to. Udc Ma rk (Su z) : 11. Ales sa nd ro G ramigni (Dud ; 12. lucio Pedercini (Du d ; 13. Paolo Blor a (Dud; 14. Andrew Stro ud IKaw ): 15. Igor Iermen (Ka w}, 16. Je a n -Ma rc Deleta ng (Ya m) ; 17. Marco Dell' AgHo (Ya m); 18. Frederic Protat (Ha n); 19. Brun o Scatole (Yam); 20. Enzo C hiapello ( Ka w): 21. Sta vros Seavrou takis (Due); 22. Vladim ir Karban (Suz). T ime: 39 rrun., 54.406 sec . Di st..J.nce: 25 laps, 6293 miles Average sp ee d: 94.616 mph M..J.rgin of victo ry: 0.720 sec. FoJIstcosll.llp: AAro n Slight , 1:34.665/95 .7Ji> mph RACE TWO: 1. Aaron Slight (Ho n); 2. Tro y Co rse r (Dud; 3. earl Fogarty (Due); 4. Colin Edward s II (Hen): 5. Aki ra Yanaga wa ( J(aw);1J. Scott Ru sSt.'1I (Yam); 7. G regorio Lavilla (Dud; 8. Neil Hod gson IKa w): 9. A ndreas Mekla u (Du e): 10. Igor Jerman IKaw): 11. Piergiorgio Bontempi (Ka w); 12. Alessandro G ramigni (Dud; 13. Udo \tark (Suz); 14. Lucio Pedercini (Dud; 15. Andrew Stroud (Kaw ); 16. Paolo Blora (Due) ; 17. Fre d eric Pr otat (Dud; 18. Jiri Mr ky v ka (Ho n): 19. Stavros Stavroula kis (Du d . T imr: 39 min .• 49.893 sec. D isl .ll c r: 25 taps, 62.93 milo n A VCOtoJl~ speed: 94.794 mph Mu gin of victory: 1.058 sec. Fas test u p: Aaron Slight, 1:3-1.719 /95.672 mph WO RLD SU P ER B IK E C HA M P IONS H IP POI N T STANDINGS (Aflcot 6 of 13 ro un d s): 1. Troy Corser (200); 2. Aaron Slight (194/3 win s); 3. Colin Edward s n (167/2); 4. Carl Fogarty (163 /2); 5. Pier-Fran ce sco Chili 0 44/2); 6. Noriyuki Haga (143/3); 7. Akira Yanagawa (lOt); B. james Whitham (73); 9. Peter God dard (7l); 10. Nei l Hodgson (67); 11. Scott Ru!OSt.--Il (62); 12. Gregorio lav in a (st); 13. Ptergtorg !o Bontempi (48); 14 . Alessandro G ra m igni (31); 15. Andreas Meklau (26). (Top left) Though he has yet to win a race. Ducat i's Troy Corser leads the championship. Corser finished second In both races. (Top) Suzuki-mounted James Wh itham leads Carl Fogarty and Aklra Yanagawa. The trio battled In rac e one w ith Fogarty coming out on top. (A bove) Pier·Francesco Chili had a crashmarredweekend and left w ithout scor ing any po ints. Top representatrves of Honda, Yamaha. Suzuki. Apnlla and Ducat, Whether or not the ~ncel~ Indonesian 'round' will be replaced on met unoff icially during the M isano race weeke nd to talk about the the calendar is still uncertain. Hockenheim and Brands Hatch are future of World Superbike ....cing . They apparently agree apparently on the short list of possible options .to fill the spot as now that staring in 2000, 30 to 50 kit bikes wiHbe made available the second-to-last round of the series, but the Manfeild circuit for.p urchase. which should narrow ' the ,gap considerably betw een ' in New Zealand seems to' have a bette r chance of being selected . the fact ory bikes 'a nd the • privateer" bikes . The manufactu rers In addition to the us ual cri teria of safety. orga nization and existing are expected to give their propo sitions to the FIM a few weeks infrastnu cture, its proximity to Japan - where the final round will be befo re the RM autumn congress . where everythinq will be disheld at Suqothe following wee kend - makes Manfeild somewhat cussed in det ail and finalized . . more likely choice than either of the European circu its . • .Jimi Smith . cle rk of the course for the Kyalami race. ftew to M isario to try to 'get some ideas about how a World Superbike round . is run in 1998. M The Kyalami clrcu"it has a five-year contract with SBK Intemational. - he said: "And the Auto mobile Association of South Afri ca. which (has owned) the track since 1993. has some very ambitious plans for the lu tu're of the track: They have spent some 30 million rand to buy the circuit. and invested more or less DUting te sting . D ucati tried a new rear shock. working air-circu its for co mpression damp ing and oil for rebound -,The main advan tage' the same amo unt in ge tti ng it up .to the internatio nal standards : W e have bought some 700 meters of Airfence to get the security of the so -called Double System shock is the lighter weight and to an even higher level. And within the short term. we also want to theoretically - more linear ope ration . All three factory riders used it get Formula One' car racing,back to Kyalami.· At the same li me. . in private testing and Pier·Francesco Chili even used it Friday the existing WeJkom circuit (some 250 miles south of Kyalamil is morning. setting his fastest time of the session before crashing ' being prepared to host intema ticinal events starting next year. The . one lap later. All the factory riders agreed that 'the system is 'still organizers at the Welkom circuit hope to include Grand Prix on not safe enoug h. An oil leak on Carl Fogarty 's bike during test ing' their calendar for 1999. ' . made the system collap se . a potentially dangerous situation. As soon as those problem s are solved. the system is, expected to A few days before the Misano round; Ducati decided to put the . reappear aga in. John Koc insk i us ed a si milar system on his new version of its factory bike on the plane to the Kyalami and Superbike in the past. Laguna Seca circuits . but the new bike will see lts first race In the United States. As reported two weeks ago. the new engine - feaThe Castrol Honda te am made a tim id c o mebac k in t he turing modihed cylinder heads and airbox - required a slight frame World Series Supersport at M isano alter the disastrous modihcation, and thus had to be homologated . • All th~ necessary Monza we ekend , with the fatal accident of M ichael Paquay and forms shoul d be wi th the FIM before the 30th of June.' said the heavy crash of James Tose land. • Our contract with Flarnrni.Davide Terdozzt of the Ducati team. "Then, the approval procedure ni states that we cannot miss more than one race." tea'o,' mariwit hin RM can take one or two weeks. Which means that we will ager Neil Tuxworth said . " But due to the very partic ular circu mprobably not be allowed to use the new parts and chassis in South stances , we w er e gra nted one mo re race to miss.. To replace Africa.' Still, according to the offi cial team manager, Ducat i has M icha el . we looked for an experienced ride r who knows the built 'nine Identical factory bikes for this year. six for the two offici al . World Superbike circuit s, Honda speci fically asked us notto trY World Superlbike teams, tWo for the Vance & Hines team in the 10 deal with riders who had already a contract Wit h an existing States and one for testing purposes",' The engines' performa nce team. A s part ,of the project is hnanced by Honda Europe (and .differs 2-bhp maximum. The biggest difference s concern the mapCast roll . a Europ ean rider was the preferred choice. but nobody ping, with the riders tuning It for less or more engine braking. (Pierwas available. Then some body came up with the idea to talk to Francesco) Chili prefe rs the most enqine-brakinq power and (Carl) Kir k M cC arthy , t he fo rm er Suzuki w or ks rider in t he W orl d Fogarty the least. with 'Corser somewhere in betw een. The biggest ' Sup erbike Championship. The deal was done in just a couple of . problem is now the gearing. Notso for Misano. where we spenda day s: But th en Kirk was involved in an accident at his farm. lot of testing time' during winter and in between races. Basically. when a cow pushed a gate, which cos t Kirk part of a fii1ger .'o! we could arrlve 'here on Saturday morning . put in three laps in the his lelt hand. For this race, he is replaced by Au stralian yOung- ' morning and then show up for Superpole. Even t hough we 'are · . ste r Karl Mu ggeridge, who has been riding in the British champ isome 15·bhp down on power (at the rear wheell compared' i o the ons hip." M uggeridge. 24 . took his Honda to 35th position . wit h Honda. the Ducati is still very hard to 'beat. Development worl< is . James ·'roseland, still not fully recovered 'from his crash. failing to qualify .. ' . ' "C?V" on.getting the. eng ine even more .use"r ·friendfy." . a . The top teams in'the final entry list for the Suzuka 8 Hours should read some thing like this , Yamaha: Noriyuki HagaiSimon Crafar: Scott Russell/Norihiko FU jiwara: Watanu Yoshikawa/ Kensuke Haga. Kawasaki, A kira Yanagawa/N eil Hod gson : Shinya TakeishilTamaki Serizawa: Hitoyasu Idutsu/Piergior gio Bontem pi. Honda: John Kocinski/Colin Edwards II; Tadayuki Okada/Aaron Slight. Suzuki: Keiic hi Kitagawa/ Akira Ryo : Nobuatsu Aoki/Kat suaki Fujiwara. In addition to the customary superbike-mounted teams . a few open-class bikes have also been allowed to enter. Mall Wa it WIll team with J un Maeda on a Honda C BR900R R. while Makot o Tokinaga and Yasuhiko Gonku will ride a Yamaha VZF-RL And for the first time I n road racing 'history . a Chinese team will enter an ' internatio nal ev ent. He Zi Xian / Huan g Shi Zhao are set to ride a Honda' RC45 sponsored by the Chinese ' government and are said to be practicing eight hours a day. In addition to the 8 Hours, the Chinese team may also enier the 24· hour race arSpa-Francorc hamps in France two wee ks befor e the Suzuka round of the W orld Endurance Series. In' the meantime. works on the circuit of Dalian are going wel l,' and China might host its first W orld Champ ionship -race next year . most likely a Grand Prix. ' . . Fabrizio Pirovano won the Worl d Series Supersport race alt er most of the top riderS had crashed. The diminutive Italian inherite d the lead alter Vitt orio Guareschi crashed with just .a few laps lelt. Before that. Yves Briguet had 'crashed his Ducati trying to get in front of leader Guareschi. P aolo Casoli ret ired with technical pro b.Jerns and Bimota-rnounted Roberto Panichi. who was in fifth, also ended his ride inthe gravel pit. Castrol Honda's temporary supersport rider Karl Muggeridge ' surpii sed 'a lot of peo ple,,riding fro m the last row of the starting grid to 11tho ' It was hard work but I am'pleased ,t has all wOrked out well for the team: they de'serve a result." Muggeridge said. ' 1 knew I had a battle on my hands to try and get into the points . I waS happY when I made it into 15t h place. so 11th was a bonus. • ' . .

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