Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE WR C O LD HAMPIONSH IP ROAD R ESERIES AC By Henny Ray Ab rams Photos by Gold & Goose OONINGTON PARK, ENGLAND, JULY 5 n the eighth race of his firs t fu ll "l~ ~OOcc Gra nd Prix season, Simon --.::.=- Cra far did so mething he could n' t do in over 100 World Su perbike races ~ he won . Not only di d he win, he wo n by the largest margin this season, he en ded Honda's consecu tive 500cc wi n streak at 22, a n d he vanqui s hed th e fo ur- time d efending World C h ampi on Mi ck Doohan on a cool a n d ov erca st da y before 36,000 at Don ingt on Park in the British East Midlands. "I didn't ex pec t it to go the w ay it d id tod ay," the 29~year-old New Zealand er sa id after bea ting Dooh an by 11.530 seconds. "When I lined up o n th e grid , I w as p re pared to race 100 p er cen ,t th e whole race, and still can't reall y believe it happened how it d id ." " How it happen ed " was that his Red Bull Ya m a ha WCM te am, w hich ha d given him a packa ge th at put him on the p ol e po sition , s tayed co nsis te nt and gave him a wi nn ing m achin e fo r the race . Th e most crucia l elemen t in tha t package was probably the Dunlop tires . Wh ile the Micheli n rid ers spu n, Crafa r motored away, giving th e Brit ish tir e brand their first win since Luca Cad alora won in Brazil a t th e end of 1995. It was also Yama ha 's first win since Loris Ca p irossi took the su rp rise wi n in th e final race of th e 1996 se ason at Eas tern Creek in Australia. Do ohan had m ov ed into se co n d pla ce on th e s e ve nt h o f 30 laps a n d that ' s w he re he s tay ed . Thinkin g th e temperature would rise, Doohan op ted a t th e la s t minute for a h ard e r-compound rear tire . It wa s the wrong choice and he knew it immediatelv, Whenever he tried to ge t on the gas, he'd spin, and th ere wa s n o thin g he could d o bu t wa tch Crafa r motor away while making -=,.7: 14 Round 8: British Grand Prix sure h is cha m pionship rivals s ta yed behi nd . " W e gambled on ra ce day when things loo ked a bit iffy and they carne up tru mps today, and Simon put in the o the r ingredient of rid ing the w hee ls off th e th in g," Dooh an said , "so it' s good that he go t a Grand Prix wi n here and I also th ink it's good for their team. All in all, our result wasn't too bad . We nee d ed some points and we got so me more, and we ' re ahead of the gu ys that count in the championship at the moment." For the first tim e th is yea r, Do ohan head s the cham pio ns hip sta nd ings with 135 po ints - se ven more th an Marl boro Kan em ot o H on d a' s Ma x Biaggi , who .fini shed six th toda y after s tr ugg ring w ith tra ction . Re psol H o nd a ' s A lex Criville is third in th e poin ts after getting the better of a race- long duel with Honda Gres ini's Alex Barros for fourth . Doohan's ot he r consolation was that he now has mo re pod ium finishes than any rid er in 500cc G P h ist ory. His second . place today gives him 89, one more than Giacomo Agostini. Th ird on the d ay wen t to Ya maha Team Rainey' s Nori ck Abe. Th e Japanese rid er led the firs t four laps before dro p ping ba ck in w ha t was m ostly a very procession al race. Suzuki's . Nob u a tsu Ao ki rod e throu g h the pain of vario us p rac tice mishaps of the past few weeks to take a lonely se ven th . Th en ca me Crafar' s teammate, Regis Laconi, we ll in front of Dee Cee Jean s Racing Tea m 's Jurgen v a n d e r Coo rbergh , th e first o f the lapped riders a n d the fir st o f th e Vtw ins . Team Millar H ond a Britain ' s Sco tt Sma r t flew th e Bri tis h flag in to 10th. De pri ved of ano ther to p lO-finish at th e e n d was Tea m Ro b erts Kenn v Roberts Jr. H e pulled in with po w er- valve problems while in eigh th with less than three laps to go . Earlier, FCC Technical Sp o rt' s Ma tt Wait cras h ed ou t wh ile running 13 th . H e bri efl y remounted before ret irin g. "Every lap I bettered my tim e, and I wa s e ven fa ster than th e q u a lifyi ng one," Wait sa id . " I was pushing reall y hard - maybe too much. In a co rner, I lost control and crashed out." Rep sol Hond a' s Sete G ibe rna u wa s a no ther crashe r, th e Spa nia rd sp ill ing while contesting sixth w ith less than 10 laps to go. Aprilia's Loris Ca pirossi was handed th e 250cc Grand Pri x w in when race leader (and tea m ma te) Te tsuv a Harada had an engine go sour while' he was-in the lead on th e final lap . Up until th en the race had been a struggle, the teammates goi ng at each other w ith Harada takin g th e lead back o n th e 24th of '27 laps . Then he sudden ly slowed, Cap irossi was by, and Ha ra da had to nurse the ailing bike to the finish. "Tha t was a very d ifficult race wi th Tets uya," Capirossi said after taking his s eco n d win of the year . "Wh e n he passed me ne ar the end, I still thought it was maybe possible to wi n because I was a little faster at the end of the lap. But I wasn't sure it was possible because Tetsuya wa s running at a very fast pace. Th en he had a problem and it made it easy for me to win." Thoug h he and Harada were never more tha n a second or two apart, due to H arad a ' s engine problems, Capirossi was able to pull out 5.682 seconds at the finish . "On th e las t lap I felt something in the eng ine," Ha rada said. "I'm not sure exactlv w hat, but it felt th e sa me as at Assert, so I closed th e th ro ttle immediately. Th e engi ne was still running, bu t I felt if I carried on pushing hard it mi ght not finish the lap." Taking th e win allowed Ca pi rossi to m ake up five points o n H arad a . A fter e ig h t o f 15 ra ce s, H arad a lead s Capirossi , 124- 115. Benetton H ond a' s Toh ru :Ukawa, four th today with a rear tire w hich gave him no traction in the begin nin g of the race, is thi rd wi th 86. Th e fig ht to wa tch was the one for th ird . Tha t battle featured four riders going hard at it. In the end, Castrol 250 Tea m's Stefano Perugini earned his first podium with a third-place finish. "I'm very happy with the results," he began . " It w a s w o rk to stay with the lead ers." Perugini said he used a soft rear tire, which ga ve him an ed ge at the en d . By th en he'd s t u died th e o t he r t h ree enoug h to know where to pa ss them on the final lap . In qui ck succession, he was followed across the line bv Uka wa, FCC Tec hnical Spo rt' s Haruchika Ao ki, a nd Padgetts HRC Shop's Jaso n Vince nt. UGT3000's Kazuto Saka ta ext ended h is cha m pionshi p points lead with a (Top) The fac tory Yamahas of Norick Abe (5) and Simon Cralar (11) tead Wor ld Cham pion Mick Doohan (1) in the earty stages of the 500cc British Grand Prix. It didn 'ttake long for Cralar to pass Abe and ultimately go on to his first-ever Grand Prix vi ctory. (Left) Ale x Crivill e (4) holds off Alex Barros (9) in the ir battle for fourth place. Criv ille held off the Brazilian to gain so me ground on Max Biaggi in the 500cc World Championship. Criville. however, lo st some po ints to third-placed Doo han, wh o now leads the titl e chase for the first lime all year.

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