Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

urth wi th 194. Edwards, third after the st round , drops to fifth w ith 187 . RACE ONE Co rser's h o p es of recordi ng h is first ctory of th e season were d ash ed o n th e ar m u p lap fo r the first ra ce , when me 38,000 spectators saw th e number Du cati sp u tte r to a halt before th e for er World C ha m pion h ad rea ch ed th e art /fi nish s tra ig h t. Th e prem a ture stop as d ue to a broke n fu el lin e . As Corser w alked ba ck to th e p its, th e a rti ng lig h ts turned g ree n, a n d Peter (Above) The batt le for th ird in the fir st race featured Peter Goddard (6). Jamie Whitham (8), Ak ira Yanag awa (4). Gregorio Lavilla (35), Aaron Slight (hidden), Nori yuki Haga (41) and Colin Edwards II (45). (Left) Chili camped out on Fogarty's back wh eel unt il the final laps of the first leg. In the second leg , Chili pulled away earlier to take his second win of the day. od da rd s h o t away with the lead, fo lwed by Fo garty , Yana ga w a and th e st of the pa ck. The Australi an Suzuki er stayed on top for a lap an d a half fo re being o ve rtaken by Fogarty, w ho sho rt tim e lat er had C h ili on hi s tail. Th e tw o Ducati rid ers s ta rte d to get ay fro m the p ack, wi th th e surprising zu kis of Goddard a nd Whitham a nd e e q ua ll y as ton is hing La vill a ju s t hi nd . Also in th e ea rl y battle for third ere Yanagawa, Sligh t a n d Edwards . rth er back, H a ga w as tryi ng to claw s wa y ba ck u p th ro ugh th e field after a lo r s ta rt, a nd w as in iti ally jo in e d b y s tea m m ate Scott Ru ssell a nd Ka w asa 's Neil Hodgso n . For the next few laps the order at th e front sta ye d th e sa me, but it w a s a co ntrast in s tyle . Fogarty remained at th e front, throwing his bike aro u nd th e circuit spectacularly, w hil e in hi s shadow h e was fo llow e d b y a s m o o t h- ri d in g Chil i. Fiv e secon ds b ehind th em th er e w a s a g ro u p o f s ix that H a g a jo ined aro u nd the hal fw ay mark. N o tabl e m em bers of thi s pack w er e a co uple of u nusual suspects , in th e fo rm of Goddard and W hi tha m . . TIle battle fo r the lead tu rn ed up a bit in th e se co nd ha lf of the race, w it h Fogart y getting int o m ore a nd m o re tro uble tr yi n g to keep Chili beh in d h im, w h ile Lavilla and Ha ga continued to go fast er Chili starts off ri ht A part from Peter God da rd and Pier-Francesc o Chili, not one of the top World Superbike riders had ever been to the Kyalami circuit, and even the two who had had only -ver ridde n on the "old" track that didn 't include the new chiane, Most of the first free pr actice session on Friday mo rning was spe nt spi nning and slid ing around a lot because of the di rt 11 the surface. But as practice wo re on, a clean racing line was swe pt free and the only two cha llenges the riders were faced with we re the man y bu mps and the fact tha t the twisty Kyalami track turned out to be difficult to learn . Troy Corser, who L~ making himself a nam e as a Superpo le specialist, topped the charts for most of the weekend and ended regular qualifying on Saturda y afternoo n • :ith the fastest time.But w when it came time for one hot lap, it was Chili who took his first uperpole of the year. . "This is not an easy track to 'go fast on straight away," the Italian said. "But I am happy enough with the way things have gone up to now. During my Superpole lap, I had some problems with the rear shock, but I'm sure that the team will find a solution for that tomorrow. Apart from that, things should work out fine for me, even though I have never been a big fan of very slow com ers and chicanes like the ones we have found here." Despite not taking the pole - something he's done four times this season - Corser still showed his speed and put himself second on the grid. "I have a good setup for the race," he said. "And that is very important on this track, because you can't afford to have an ill-handling bike on this bumpy track. During my Superpole lap, I had problems with the low sun in some corners, but the race won't be run this late tomorrow, so I don ' t expect problems from that side." Carl Fogarty was the third Ducati rider on the front row, 'in the fourth just behind Kawasaki's Akira Yanagawa . an d fas ter in a n a ttem p t to head the battle fo r third. With tw o laps 'to go, th e bal ance o f p o w er finally s h ifte d , with Chili takin g over co m ma n d from Fo ga rty. Behind th em, Lavilla m o ved to th e front of th e chasing grou p , a nd H odgson - w ho had b e en s truggli ng w it h brake problems fro m th e halfway s tage - had to retire w ith a blown en gine. C h ili s tayed in fron t fo r th e last lap, and La villa m anaged to keep th e rest of th e pa ck behind . Whitham, m eanwhile, was fin all y able get in fr ont of hi s teamm at e G oddard and claimed fourth, with Haga losin g his last-lap battle again st hi s co m p a tri o t Yanagawa in a pho to fini sh for sixth. " I' rn g la d that I ha ve b e en a ble to show that I ca n w in in th e d ry a s well and tha t I am o ne of the best rid er s in the world," joke d a ve r y ha ppy C hili a fte r th e rac e. "I saw Ca rl started to slide from m idrace o nw ard, and I decided to stay in second position rig h t u n til the end . But I "Actually I lost a lot of time yesterday, when the engines did not have any power for one reason or another," Fogarty said. "We first thought that that was due to the high altitude the circuit is located at, but during the first qualifying session, the other riders turned out to be quicker. Only on Friday evening, the mechanics noticed from the telemetry data that the engi ne was not nmning as it should have. I wouldn' t have lost this time if we had had two riders in the team. But as it turned out, I started today with one day back on the other riders. Only during the warmup for the Superpole did we come up with a good setup - which is basically what has happened for the last couple uf meetings. On my Superpole lap, Llost some time due to the gearing, which still isn' t perfect." Yanagawa spo iled the Ducati party by turning in a Superpo le time an amazing seve n- tenths faster than his regular qualifying time. Even more impressive wa s th e fact tha t he was 0.2 of a second dow n on Fogarty at the second split, but mad e everything and more up on the downhill Mine Shaft section to the checkered flag. "I have enjoyed riding the last third of the track all weekend and I kn ew from my spli t times tha t I could .make up ti me here," said the 26-year-old Japanese rider. "That made up for a front-end slide that I suffered at one of the first corners. I was really lucky to save it, even though I was almost blinded by the sun, which was low in the sky at the end of the back straight." The Honda boys, Aaron Slight and Colin Edwards II, had to settle for fifth and sixth after having shown their trad itionally strong performa nces d uring the free practice and regular qua lifying sessions. "I' m disapp ointed not to be on the front row," Slight, who qualified fifth, said. "The Superpole gives you one lap; some weeks you go up a row an the grid and other weeks you go down a row. This week I suppose it was my tum to go back to the second row from the first. I did my best qualifying time on a race tire. so I'm not too w orri ed abou t tomorrow . Of course, the Ducatis will be the biggest problem, but I know that I am as fast as those guys on the second section. Anot her worry might be tire wear during the races, but I guess that will be the same for everybod y." Colin Edwards II finish ed sixth afte r ma intai ning second place throughout the two days of practice. . co u ld n ' t a ffo rd to let th e d is tance g ro w too big, because he had a better a cceleration than m e." Fogarty' s apparent s truggl e fo r g ri p on the tra ck w a s co n firm ed a fter th e race . "It felt goo d to lead the ra ce fro m lap ' two, and when 1saw the pit board telling me that m y lead w as nothing, I ex pected to see a w h ol e bunch of riders behind m e," Fogarty sa id . "I looked back, and I cou ld o nly see Frankie (Chili). We st arted to move away, bu t aft er so m e 15 laps, the tire went comple tel y . For the first time th is season, I used a 17-inch wheel in a race, and that h ad worked well d uring p racti ce . But a p paren tly, after some 15 laps, it just tear s th e lir e apart I' ll cha nge ba ck to a 16.5-inch w heel. I tried to keep Frankie back for the rest of the rac e, bu t I wa s r eally s t rugg li ng , g et ti ng o u t of shape n early every where . He s ho u ld h av e p a s s ed me earli er t h an o n the penultimate la p; then I m ight no t ha ve felt so miserable ..." La vil la , meanwhile , h ad turned in a nothe r as ton is hin g per formance, finishin g third to beat a t lea st seven fa ctory rid er s. "Fro m th e first laps, I no ticed tha t the H ond as and th e Su zukis w ere not as fast as m y Duca ti," th e Sp aniard sa id . "The las t co uple of laps, I st arted to pu s h hard to ge t in fron t. I think I s howed tod a y th at the on ly th ing I need is ex tra accelera t io n power - m a king up g ro u n d o n bra king is a ve ry tou gh job." "I noticed from da y one tha t the track is very bumpy, and that we wouldn' t get the bike perfect," Ed ward s said. "It'll be a matt er of no t ge tting off the id ea l racing line tomorrow, in orde r not to be caugh t ou t by so me unkno wn bumps. Duri ng my Superpole lap, I thought everything was going smoo thly, but I must have lost a lot of time in the first part, which I could n' t ' make up for later." Ducati rider Gregorio Lavilla and Suzuki's Peter Goddard filled the next two spots on the second row. Following a pair of su pe rb per formances In the pre-Sup erpole wannup, hopes we re high that Godda rd and teammate James Whitha m could score their firs t front-row pla cings, bu t mino r er rors mea nt that both riders lapp ed marginally slower in the all-ot -no thing one-lap dash. "I com pletely messed up one corne r and I am su re tha t cos t me a couple of tenths," Goddar d said. "I thought I had changed into neut ral and by the time 1 had stamped it into gear, I had missed the apex of the turn. Apar t from that , I was not too unhappy with my lap and it is good to be starting from the secund row for the second race in a row ." Scott Russell qualified 12th and was last factory rider on the grid afte r havin g put I n some impr essive performa nces on the fir st d ay, w h en the tra ck w as ne w to eve ryone. Ru ssell impro ved on his best time during Super pol e bu t not to the extent that his teammate N ori yuki Ha ga, w ho was sta rt ing ninth , had . "The bik e. is just no t fee ling th e same," Russell sai d . "I thoug ht I was going in the right direction with my setup but it just ain' t happen ing. I swa pped from one bike to the other to speed up the changes, but it didn't work. I'm very disappointed at the moment but I'm going to try two new combinations in tomorr ow 's warmup. Maybe I've also got to try and experiment with a few new lines. The surface is rough in some points and it gets the bike out of sha pe, especially in the early section of the track and it's here that I'm losing most of my time." Russell had be n flying on the first day, after having found e out d ur ing pre-Suz uka tests in Japan the week before tha t he had been riding the bike too stiff. . 19

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