Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE ,. Round 8: Laguna Seca Raceway WORLD SUPERBIKE C AMPIONSH H IP ., -r:,,' (Above) PierFrancesco Chili (7) tries in vain to fend off the new kid on the block, Ben Bostrom (101), in the ir battle for third in the second race . Suzuki's Jamie Whitham (8) gives chase. (Right) Bostrom holds off Whitham and former World Champion Carl Fogarty in the first leg. - .: r.3 8 a ~ 8 bla st ed fro m h is -fo u r th-row sta rling s pot a nd led th e way in to turn tw o . He'd jumped the start, but it still caused a bu zz in the cro wd as he led the way into turn th ree fo r the fir s t tim e, fol lowed by Mladi n an d Haga. Haga got aro und Mlad in - with a little contac t includ ed - and set out after his teammat e . Prior to th e end of th e second lap , Haga we nt by Russell on the insid e of tu rn six to take the lead. Hacking also mad e a mov e, and w he n they crossed the stripe to end the seco nd lap, there were th ree Yamah as up fron t: Russell, Ha ga and the blue YZF750 ridden by Hacki ng . Tha t lap also saw FIM officials give word to Russell that he'd have to come in for a s top-a nd-go penalty. He never mad e it th a t fa r. In stead , th e former World Su perbike C ham pion crashe d just th ree turns late r, jumped to his feet and started pu mping his hand s in the air and clappi ng - in a displa y of emotion tha t was fa r more anima ted than anyt h ing he di d after wi nning his fifth Daytona 200 in Mar ch. "I cou ld see the front row much better from my new starting pos itio n," Russe ll sa id . "I was in th e mid d le an d I knew if I could ge t with the lead guys, I could stav wit h them . I tried to anticipate the lights, but I kn ew 1 had a stopand -g o he n H aga passed me, a nd I d idn't wan t to ta ke a chance and he ld back. The tire then let go in the middle of the corner. I was having fu n racin g with him; let' s hop e we can do more of that the next time ou t." Cors er, mean w hile, had botched the start and ended the first lap seven th. By this point he was alrea dy a .bit w orried as he wa tche d Haga rid in g o ff in th e d istance. "I mad e it tou gh for myself with my start," Corse r sai d later. "I didn' t ge t the best of starts. 1 jus t mucked it up. I was hoping to do wha t I di d in the firs t race, but th at di d n' t ha ppen. 1 had to p u sh fairly har d and us ed up the tire a bit at the start of the race." But Corser was on the move and was fourth by the end of the third lap, third af ter fo u r laps a n d second after five laps . By the tim e he took ove r the runner-u p spo t, Haga was 1.4 seco nds clear. Corser would begin plugging away a t that gap until the eigh th lap . After clocking a 1:27.447 on the seventh go-around, his fastes t of the race, Corse r was locked in on Ha ga, the pair separated by only tenths o f a seco nd for the res t of the race. By this time, Fogarty was off his bike between turns two and th ree , trying to fix a fau lty fue l li ne. The Brit got th e bike restart ed , but only rode it as far as pit lane, w here he called it a day. Up fr ont, the Ha ga / Cors er battle would go the dis ta nce . Corser got a ro und the Japanese sta r for the first time on the 10th lap, but Haga was back aro u nd th e Aus tra lia n ju st three la ps later. Corser had rea lized tha t Ha ga was there for good , and he op ted to camp ou t on his rear whee l until the 20th of 28 laps . The pair we nt back and fort h, with Co rse r lead in g on the penultim ate lap. The n Corser messed up tu rn six, allowing Haga to d rive u p on him on the run up to the Corkscrew . O n the way past , he clipped Corser's left hand lebar, snapping the sto ps on the lever and plac ing it into a useless positio n. It also caused the Ducat i to wobble bad ly, and Corse r was n't happy abo ut it. " It was slid ing aro und a lot so I sat be h in d Noriyuk i a nd watched him," Corser said later. "I go t past, then he got pas t again. 1 got past an d I was just sort of waiting until the last couple of laps to see what was goi ng to happen, and jus t race ou t the last two lap s. I'm not real happy with Noriyuki . Going up to the Co rkscrew, he ran into me, an d I d idn' t think it was called for at all. He hadn't used tha t line all race, but tha t's all right - paybacks are a bitch, so we' ll wa it till then. He hit me fairly ha rd . He hit the han dl ebars and the clu tch an d it went. I lost the fron t righ t as we cres ted the top of the hill. That' s why 1 was so pissed. It was a stu pid place to even mo ve across on som eone. We cou ld ha ve go ne side by sid e all the way up th e hill a nd he still would have had the line going into th e next co rn er . It' s ju s t uncalled -for. Ther e w er e already eno u gh accidents toda y and 1 just wa nted to get ou t of the race safe . When so meo ne d oes that, it jus t pisses me off." Haga said it wa s unintention al, a rac' ing accident. "A fter the first race I wa s very frustrated," Haga said . "I wanted to go for it in th e se cond race. I had a very good sta r t. After th in gs se ttled d own , the signb oa rd s howed Co rs e t -sa n ri g ht behind me. For the next several laps we ra n toge th er a nd it w as a ve ry good race. On th e las t lap , the blocking that Co rse r-sa n th in ks was in ten tional was not intention a l. 1 was takin g some of th e se line s w he n 1 wa s behind h im. Th es e th in gs h a ppen in racing sit u ations ." Either way, it prevent ed Corser from a ttac ki ng on the final la p and the top two positions we re settled . ot so, howeve r, for the fina l spot on the ros trum. That was being fou ght over all the way to the finis h line , with Bostro m gelling the nod over Chili and Yanagawa . . 'T roy (Corser) and (No riyu ki) H aga rode real goo d and they got away from us a b it," Bos trom sa id . "T he n 1 had (Pier-Francesco ) Chili a nd I believe (Jamie) W hitham. We just had a real good race going and I was hoping to get that las t podium spot. I just got lucky. Chili rode rea lly well an d I mad e a good pass on th e Co rksc rew, and we ended up third ." " I reall y en joyed tha t, " W hit ham sa id . " I h ad th e m ea sure of (Ben ). Bostrom an d (Pier-Francesco) Chili, but m y tire wen t off in the last five laps, ma kin g it impossible to mo unt a challenge. I was very pleased with my race pace, and I felt both me and the bike got stronger as the race progr essed . I can't wait for the next oneat Brands Ha tch." Hod gson s tro lled in alo ne in s ixth, fo ll o w ed b y H a ck in g , Godd a rd , Gramigni and Edward s. "I didn' t ride we ll in the first part of the race, which was a pity becau se I had mad e ano ther good start from the second row of the grid," Hod gson said. "It took me a while to ge t into some kind of rhyt hm an d I wasn't aggressive enough in the ea rly la ps . However, it all ca me together a t abou t half-d istance - everything felt much easie r and then 1 started riding much be tte r, too. My lap tim es came do wn and I ma nag ed to make up a few more places befo re the checkered fla g . At lea s t 1 have be e n a ble to im p ro ve m y position in the cha mpionshi p, and I can now look forwa rd to my hom e race at Brands Hatch in three weeks ' time." l~ Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California Results : July 12, 1998 S UPE RBIK E QUALIFY IN G : 1. Tr oy Co rse r 0 :26.325); 2. Mat MJadin (1:26.448); 3. Akira Yanagaw a (1:26553); 4. Pier-Fran cesc o C hili 0 :26.867); 5. Aa ron Sligh. (L26 .878): 6. Dou g Cha ndler 0 :26.977); 7. jamic Whitham 0 :27.123 ); 8. Nei l Hodgson 0 :27.163) ; 9. No riyu ki Haga 0 :27.202); 10. Ca rl Fogarty 0 :27.404); 11. Ben Bostrom 0 :275 59); 12. Aa ro n Yates 0 :27.578); 13. Scott Russell (1;28.229); 1-1. Greg orio Laville O:28.59:i); " 15. Col in Edwards II (1 :26.4 8] ); 16. Ja m ie Ha ck in g 0 :27.424); 17. Rich Oliv er O:28.08Q) 18. Pete r God da rd ; ssandro Cramigni 0 :28.590); 20. Lucio 0:28.1 02); 19. Ale I'edercini 0 :28.&;3); 21. Pierglorgio Bontempi 0 :28.956); 22. Andrew Strou d 0 :29.1"6); 23. Igor [er ma n 0 :29.751); 24 . Frederic Protar (1 :20 .529); 25. Ja m es Ran dol ph 0 :30.621); 26. Ricky Orlando 0 :32.99g). RA C E ONE: 1. T r oy Co rs e r (Due): 2. Akira Ya n ag a wa ( K.1W); 3. Dou g C ha nd le r ( K awj: -1- . Ben Bostrom IHon): 5. Ca rl Fogart y (Due); 6. Ja mie ",'h itham c (Suz); 7. Pier-Fran ce-se C hi li (Due) : 8. Aa ro n Slight (Hen): 9 . Nei l Hod gso n (Kaw); 10. Ja mie H acki n g (Yam); 11. Co lin Ed wa rd s II (Hen) : 12. Aar on Yates (Suz) : 13. Greg orio Lavill e (Du e): 14. Peter Go d da rd (Suz): 15. Scott Russell (Ya m); 16. Alessandro C ramign i (Due); ]7. Rich Oliver (Yam); 18. Piergi orgio Bonrempi

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