Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE W ORLDC HAMPIONSH IP R R SERIES OAD ACE Round 9: German Grand Prix and starting off s tro ng ly with the leading pa ck, only to fade to sixth with terrible chatter problems , beaten to fifth in the last laps by Regis Laconi on the second Red Bull Yamaha . The Frenchm a n, now full y re cov ered from hi s ankle injury , had also started from his first -ever front row . Ther e w ere many s u rp rises in th e sm aller classes . Although Tets uya Ha rada's race win on the Aprilia 250 w as his fourth th is year, second pla ce for QUB-Team O ptimum H ond a private er Je remy McWilliams wa s his first-ever rostru m; w hi le in th e 125cc class, a number of tumbles saw class rookie Arnaud Vincent's Aprilia follow Tom omi Manak o's Honda home for a first-season firs t rostrum, after w ould -b e w in ne r Ma r co Melandri behaved just like a 15-yea r-old and threw the race away wi th a last-lap pran g. SOOcc GRAND PRIX The first laps were th e best , with a good old brawl between so me of th e world 's toughest racers. Doohan go t the holeshot, "..ith Biaggi, Barros and Crafa r in pursu it, and it seemed as tho ug h the Aus tra lia n wou ld run aw ay wi th the (Left) Mick Doohan (1) leads Alex Barro s (9), Max Biaggi (6) and Sim on Craf ar (11) ear ly in the race. Doohan wen t on to win, the 50th victo ry of his career. (Below) Biaggi b ro ke pas t Barros and pu lled awa y to finis h second. Barro s was f ourth. By Michael Sco tt Photos by Gold & Goose A EI ~ 14 SACHSENRL'\G, GERMANY, JULY 19 acing returned to Saxon y with a fl ou rish on Su nda y , w he n crowds of race-starv ed fans in w hat used to be East Germany flocked to the new Sachse nring circuit. The y wer e rewarded 'w ith a littl e piece of history, as defending cham pion Mick Doohan claimed his 50th car eer GP win and the 1DOth for the Honda NSR500 Vfour. In fact , after Yamaha ch all en g ers Sim on Cra far and Nor ick Abe cras hed ou t in the early stages of the mad scramb le a rou nd th e tightest, sho r tes t and slowes t track of the year, the SOOcc race was less exciting and more processional than we hav e becom e used to this vear. Exciting 250cc and 125cc events ma de up for it, wit h the slow track and a lack of prior knowledge all around levelling the od ds and putting so me un exp ected faces on .the rostrum. Doohans w in ca me in hi s u s u al assured style, taking the Repsol Honda rid er another step clear of his riva ls in the closest world ch am pions hi p battle for several years. But he had a rather fraught weekend, falling off in prac tice, and runnin g in to the gravel trap without falling on tw o other occasions . "With no da ta at a new track, we were still messin g around righ t up to th e race," Doohan said. "We changed the suspension again on the start line." Aft er some to-and-fro, he took th e lead firmly on the eight h of 31 laps and was in charge to the finish. His closes t challenge r - after Donington win ner Crafar crash ed the Red Bull Yamaha on th e 12th lap an d G res in iHonda rid er Alex Barros dropped back out of touch - was Max Biaggi, wh o had started from his second 500cc-class pole position. Biaggi's Marlboro Ho nda was never close r tha n thr ee seconds, however, as Dooh an con trolled the gap . Slo w st arte r Alex Criville (o n the other Rep sol Ho nda ) wo rked his w ay past Bar ros at the finish for third . The tra ck was fun for the spectators almos t 65,000 crowd ed in on race day, bring in g t h e week e nd total to an im pressi ve 140,000 - wh o could ta ke a close-u p view of the action as the bikes snaked back and forth in the hilly confines of the tra d ing-esta te site. It was also fun for most of the riders, especially those in the smaller classes. But it was not popular with all of them, with ov ertak ing being ver y diffi cult and almos t all the V-four rid ers found it terribly co n fining . It gave th e V-twin rid ers more of a cha nce tha n usual, with Jurgen van den Goorber gh the top finis her, equa ling h is season 's bes t in eighth, af te r works Honda twin rider 5et e Gibernau had fad ed from a battle for fifth to retir e with suspension problems . . Most of all, it wa s popular wi th the V-three Mo denas ri ders, with Ke nny Roberts Jr. qu alifying second on the grid

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