Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

more, as well; as he said he once agai n p a ssed aro u n d fi ve rid ers headin g towa rd turn tw o. Thou gh he was briefly t hi rd , Riba g o t by to put Pridm ore fourth a t th e e n d o f la p o ne, whil e Casa li led Cha mbon. Havd en , meanwhile wa s in seventh a nd appea red to be on the move, but his "race was ov er befor e the en d of the sec. ond lap of the sched uled 18. "I d ragged th e cases co mi ng d ow n the hill a nd it jus t lifted the whee ls rig ht -out from und er me," Ha yd en said of his jcras h in Rai n ey C o rn e r. "T h e team didn't want me to ride so we cou ld sa ve , the bike for Mid-Ohi o. I feel reallv bad because I just totaled it." ' j Leader Casali quickly d istan ced h imself from his pursu ers and by the fifth rIap he had 1.8 seconds in hand, but second-placed Cha mbon began chip p ing _away at the gap as the lap s clicked off, l w h ile Pridmore was b u s y first wit h Migl iorati, then Riba in a figh t for third . " "I got to third really early in the seco nd leg and go t in a battle with some guy on a Ducati - don't really know who . i t was ," Prid more said . "I raced with h im a litt le bi t - number 18, I th ink (Migliorati). Just to race with those guys was really phenomenal." The fight for sixth was on e betw een tea m ma tes , Yamaha rid ers G ua reschi .a nd Mere gaIli aggressively trad ing the s po t back a nd fo rth for severa l of th e e a rl y la p s. G ua resc h i pre va il ed in a .straigh t fig h t, but Meregalli los t a ny .chance to retort when he crashed in turn ' five and Gua reschi turned his sights forward toward the fadi ng Migliorati. "I u sed th e draf t to pa ss Mer egall i over the hill here (tu rn one)," Guareschi aid. "Tw o or three laps (later ) and no rpne was there. Then 1 saw a ga p of eight ,second s on my pit board and knew he .was gone. After that I put in a few hard laps and began to see Migliorati. " Migliorat i was s truggling wi th rear grip by this point and his lap times wer e s lowi ng , som ethin g th at was clearl y appa rent to the cha sing Cuar eschi, who .hoped to catch the lead pack. "I saw the groups u p ahead and that Migliorati was slow, " Guareshi said. "I wanted to pass Migliorati to catch the _ grou p ahead , but on the last three lap s I had no tire left. I chose the wron g compound. It wa s too soft. " Migliorati simply said, "The rear tire a t th e end of th e ra ce was totally d estroyed . 1had no acceleration." The battle for the lead by this tim e had reached a fever pitch as the top four had closed up with Pridmore in second, right on the tail of leader Ca sali, with Riba and Chambon in a major tussle just behind . The pace proved to be too much for Riba, however, as the Spa niard lost the front end in turn five w hile running third. "I am not very happy about the race and I d on 't really like to talk abou t it," the dejected Riba sa id . " It is very hard to pass on this track . Bad luck for me lately: Last two laps in Kyalami I crash, and now ·here I crash in third p lace." The a bs ence of Rib a se t Chambon free to pursue second -p laced Pridmore, wh o in turn had been chall en ging Casali for the lead, pred ominantly in turn 11 on the brakes. , The cr itic al moment in Pridmore's race came on the 16th lap , when Casoli lost the rear 'end in turn nine, allow ing the Suzuki rid er to close the gap significan tly and open the door for a pa ss in turn 11. Pridmore got a wheel in the ita lia n a t the co rn er e n tra nce, but Ca sali was aggressive and turned in to block Pridmo re's inside line. The net result was that not only did Pridmore not have (Above) Casoli (1) led most of both "legs," but came under severe late-race pressure from Pridmore (93) and Chambon (4). (Right) Chambon led the field acros s the str ipe, but Casoli took the win on aggre gate time. Pridmore finis hed third in his World-level debut. the lead, his drive up the front straig ht was ruined and Ch am bo n took over second and set his sights on Casali, kno wing that not only wo uld he have to pa ss him but that he need ed a ga p of a few secon ds to take th e w in on agg reg a te time. "1 was go ing for first pl ace, so th e on ly wa y to win was to overtake h im and m a ke th e b iggest gap possib le ," Chambon said . Th e Fre nch Su zuki rid er mad e th e p a ss on Ca soli w he n th e Italian was balked on the last lap by a backm arker, bu t Cha m bon cou ld n' t pull ou t eno ug h of a gap to ge t the overall wi n. " It was a very tou gh race and I had s o me p rob lems after a few la p s, b u t looking to th e e nd o f th e race, I was leading with 1.5 seco nds on Cha mbo n a nd was n't very worri ed for the last lap," Ca sali sa id . "Th en a s low rid er slowed me and Ch arnb on was pa st." Cas a li had th e win, th ough, as th e e la te d Ch am b o n - d o in g o n e-foot ed sta nd -u p w hee lies on the coo l-off lap wasn' t able to ge t eno ugh of a time gap to beat the Du cati rid er in the aggregate time. Pridmore fini sh ed third a n d wa s abs olutely elated to make the podium in what was his first-ever wo rld-level race. "Obviously, anyo ne who was watching could see tha t we were lacking in a couple of (performance) areas, but thi s bike had never been ridden, ever, before th is week e n d ," Pridmore- said . "We were just lackin g a little bit of devel op ment time. If we had a little bit of development time and could do some things that the other teams had d one to theirs, it would hav e been even closer still. I felt like 1 could run with them. "I felt like I cou ld pull away from them if 1 eve r could have gotten by them. I thi nk if I could have led those guys into turn tw o, I might hav e been able to get away. " I' m reallv e xci te d abou t w he re I fin ished," Pridmore continue d . "Hopefully it will open up a few d oor s for me next yeaL" .~ Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California Results: J uly 12, 1998 (Round 7 of 10) S UPERS PO RT FINAL: 1. Pa olo Casoli ( Due); 2. Stephan Cha mbo n (Suz) ; 3. Jason Pridmore ISuz) : -I. Vitt o ria no C ua resc hi (Ya rn): 5. Cris tian o M igliora ti (Due): 6. Ma u ro Lucchiari (Dud ; 7. Wilco Zee lenberg (Yam); 8. Robert VIm (Yam ); 9. Warner Dac men (K,lW ); 10. Giovan ni Bussei (Suz): 11. Stefan Nebel (Ka w): 12. Iavier Rodri guez (Yarn); 13. Albert Aerts (Yam); 14. Erik Schna ck enbe rg (S u z ); 15 . jo hn jacobi (Ya m) ; 16. Sebastien Charpen tier (Ho n): 17. Alfonso Ft.'fTC11 (Su z). Time: 38 m in ., 21.547 sec . Distances 25 Iaps, 60 miles Average speed: non e, du e to red flag Ma rg in of victory: .364 sec. < aggre gate) Fast est lap : Pe rl' Riba , 1:30.742 / 88.796 mph, lap 8 S UPERS I' O RT WORLD SER IES CH AM P IO NS H IP POINT STANDINGS (After 7 of 10 ro u nd s) : 1. Fabri zio Piroven o 00 1/ 3 wins); 2. Stephan Cha mho n (92/ 1); 3. Vitt oriano G uaresc h i (88); 4. Paolo Casali (81/2); 5. (TIE) Massimo Me reg a lh / Pere Ribcl (67); 7. Cristia no Migliora ti (58); 8. Wilco Zeelc nbe rg (53); 9. Giova nni Bussei (29); 10. Robert Vim (26); II. Sebastien C ha rpentier (25 / 1); 12. Ma uro Lucc hia ri (23.); 13. (TIE) Ma rco Risita no / Yves Br tgu et (20); ' 15. (T IE) j or ge Te uch erf / Gi use p p i Fiorillo ( 9) ; 17. Iaso n Prid mo re (16); 18. Rober to Te negg i (13); lQ. Fran cesco Mona co (12); 20. Brett M el.co d (1 1) . Upcom ing Rounds: Round 8 - Brands Hatch. England. August2 Round 9 - A-1 Ring. Austria . August30 Rules were meant to be... ...more lenient, at least when comparing World Series Supersport motorcycle specifications and AMA Supersport specs. The F1M is considerably more open in what it sees as allowable modifications for machines entered in its supersport series. About the only item that can be considered more restricted is that the AM mandates the use of unleaded fuel. These are some of the major differences in the rules with regard to what the AM allows and the AMA does not: .... - A fully ported cylinder head - Camshafts with more lift, but stock duration • 1mm -over pistons . - A modified airbox or complete removal of the air filter • Titanium fasteners on the chassis - Carbon-fiber bodywork - Use of close-ratiogearbox It is also interesting to note one source claimed that the output of the Belgarda Yamaha bikes- remember we're talking about a 600cc bike here - is claimed to be 126 horsepower at the crankshaft. Some estimates have AMA bikes pinned at 105-110 horsepower. As for tires, the FIM lets a lot more fly in that arena as well. Both Michelin and Dunlop have tires available to their World Supersport riders that are not available in the AMA series. In Dunlop'S C.1SC, at least one of these is a very soft qualifying tire said to last about as long as any qualifying tire, or about three laps. As Dunlop-sponsored riders, both Jason Pridmore and Nicky Hayden were give one each of these, though neither was able to puI it to good use - Pridmore because he was balked on his fast lap and Hayden because by the time he realized how good the tire was, he had already used it up. Michelin World Supersport riders are treated to a Pilot radial that is the replacement for the TX 15 and TX25, a tire that was "not available to Joe Public," a Michelin representative said. Pirelli, meanwhile, said that its World Supersport riders choose from the same selection as do the AMA racers - about five compounds - but that if a World race is declared "wet" by the FlM, a non-road-legal rain tire that matches a submitted tread pattern can be used. The qualifying lire Paolo Casoli used to qualify fourth was an AMA-k'gal "rain"-compound OOT. Casoli said that his qualifying lire is only good for .2 to .3 of a second, but that he thinks that the Dunlops allow a gain of 1 to 1.5 seconds. Since 1989, when the Supersport World Series was still only the European championship, Pirelli has been the champion ship-winning tire. 13

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