Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

wrong . Th is year I' ve fou nd it rea lly hard to go at the pace I know I am capable of here." . Aoki was just sev en seco nds behind , bu t he was close to collapsing at the finish. "I canno t use any power throu gh my legs, so I had to do eve ry thing with my a rms and sho ulders," he sai d . "For th e last five laps I could hard ly con trol the bike." Okada had the opposite problem . " I had to steer b y weig hti ng the footrests," he said . 'That was really tirMoviSta r H ond a ' s Jo hn Kocinsk i missed the race, flying ho me unexpected ly after practi ce. He'd qualified near the back, and sa id his inju red little finger m ad e it imp ossibl e to r id e. His ab ru p t d eparture tri gger ed rumor s of ano ther midseason m eltd own for th e World Superbike Champion. O nly an absence of teen agers in th e SOOcc class p reven ted another record, after both the 2S0 and l2Scc races had teen age winners - even though on ly two was enough to make history. Valentino Rossi was the victor in a dull 250cc race , without even an int er esting Aprilia battle. Both the other factory riders, Loris Capirossi and Tetsuya Harad a , su ffe red mech an ica l fa il u res w hile runni ng up front. Jurgen Fuchs cam e through to take second on his pri vate Docshop Apri lia, with former double 12Scc World Cha mpion Haruch ika Aoki taking third on the FCC Honda for his first rostru m finish in tw o years in the 2S0cc class . Che st erfi eld Ho nda's Olivier Jacque crashed out after leading on the first lap, reinju r in g hi s right foot with a d eep gash and several broken bon es. Having been kn ocked off for a second suc cessive race - this time by Italian rider Stefano Perugin i, who ~Iso cr ash ed - th e Frenchman complained bitterly that the la ck o f pe rformance from th e Honda meant he was obliged to ra ce with a da ngerous crowd. "I'm disgusted ," he said. The lucky teen ager in the 125cc clas s was Ben n etto n H on d a ' s I S-year -old Marco Mela nd ri, w ho becam e th e yo u ng es t-ever GP winner with a ve ry mature defeat of race-lon g leader Kazuto Sakata-on the Aprilia. Third went to b rilliant Honda rider Tomomi Manako, w ho rod e through from vi rtually la st place a fte r clutch trouble at th e s ta r t, moving p a st th e fi na l g ro u p to third only on the last lap. Steve Webster and David James won the Sid ecar Grand Prix by 21 seconds, inheriting the lead from longtime riva ls Steve Abbot t / Ja mie Biggs after th ey retired with a se iz ed p ist o n . Markus Boes inger / Ju rg Egli we re th ir d , with Du tch ma n Benny Jans sen fourth and Austra lia ns Shane Souta r a nd Da v id Kellett fifth, the last riders on the same lap as the leaders. Ther e were 11 finish ers out of 18 sta rters . 500cc GRAND PRIX The threatening weather gave a few wa rning sprinkles as the 500s lined up, bu t it never cam e to an ything, and they took off on time and in good order wit h Do oh an lead in g Norick Abe and Barros into the firs t corner. By the end of the lap , Crafar was ahead of the Barros with Biaggi behind , and th is quintet gradua lly drew away from the pursu it, which was led by Ch eca. Doo ha n w as stea d fas t in cont r ol, re maini ng ah ead while th ey swap ped back a n d fo r t h b ehind him . Bia g g i moved in to second on la p five; Crafar took over a lap later, by which time Abe ~ (Top) Luca Cada lo ra's Suzuki career ends with a crash in the Dutch GP. (Above) Loris Capirossi (65) leads hi s Aprilia teammate Valentino Rossi (45) as they pull clear of a group led by Tetsuya Harada (31) in the 250Cc GP. (Right) Rossi celebrates the first 250Cc GP win of his young career. was losing ground , even tu a lly fallin g ba ck in to the clutches of Checa so on after half-distance. His race lasted onl y a few mo re laps. "I lost grip from my front tire," Abe explained later. "A t Madrid, I wa s able to ge t back towards the finis h, but this time something br oke in my en gin e and the" bike stopped." Up front, the battle was getting closer still. Barro s was back an d forth as they swa p ped p osi ti on someti mes several times a lap, and hi s presence wo rr ied Crafa r, who mad e his bid for the lead on the ISth lap. "1 thought I'd better pick the pace up a bit," he exp lained. "Bu t I didn't expect I'd be ab le to s tay in fro n t of Mi ck (Doohan) for long." He w a s ri gh t. Th e Dunl o p- sh od Yamaha w as .quicker throu gh the corners, but the Michelin-sho d Ho nda had mor e speed - and the priceless asse t of Doohan a t the co ntrols. H e shot p ast d ow n th e fro nt straight, waited a little mor e, then upped his own pace in the last tw o laps. Doohan had su rvived one moment when h is knee-slid er s nagged on th e grass in the first corne r, nearly tippin g him out of the saddle. That asid e, it was all going to plan . " It w as a really good race," he said later. "It' s always the sa me her e. You' re fighting hard, and you have to try and make a br eak in the last two laps. " Thi s he did, clai mi ng fas test lap of the race (still short of Kevin Schwan tz' 1991 record) on the last lap. Cra far was left trailing slig htly, bu t Biaggi we nt with him all the way. . "I had so me fantastic long slides on the last lap," Biaggi said . "And I tried to go ins ide Mick a couple of times, but he closed the door on me. I' m ha p py to be b ac k on th e p o d ium , but m ore so because in our Barcelon a tests last week we go t the bike back on trac k." Barros was five secon ds adrift at the fini sh but comfo rtabl y clear of Che ca, who complained lat er of a lack of grip from the rear that effectively ru ined his cha nces. Cri ville, another eig ht seco nds away, manfully took the blame himself. " I d on 't th ink I' ve e ve r ridden s o ba dly at Assen," he sai d . "I had frontsuspension problem s th a t slowed me d own, and that meant my gearing was ing. I'm jus t happy to finish the race and get some points." Regis Laco ni , C rafar 's teammate, never did pick up the pace but claimed nin th after a race-long battle wi th Jurgen va n den Goo rbe rgh, best of the V-tw in Hond as after works rid er Set e Giberna u's bike started to sli de so badly he had to pull in . Garry McCo y's Hond a was mor e th an 20 seco nds ba ck . Then came a lon e Ken ny Rober ts [r ., riding in p ain with his foot fractures; American Assen firs t-time Matt Wait , Briton Scott Sm art , a n d substitut e Te cm a s rid er Bernard Garcia, who ran ou t of fuel near the finish and free-wheeled over the line. Juan Borja a lso crashed out, w hile Jea n -Ph ili p pe Ru g gi a ' s MuZ d ebu t ended in early mechanical failu re. 5

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