Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

race. But with a full load of fuel, h is bike was no t ha nd ling to his liking, a nd the others closed up again. O n lap five.Barros decided to up the stakes. H e p u sh ed inside Biaggi und er bra king for th e first slow turn, th en - to a c hee r from t he grandstands C he mo ved firmly pas t Doohan as well. A t th is po int, Ro berts was firmly on the back of the lea d ing group, w hile A be ha d picked his way up past fast-starting G ibernau's tw in and was looki ng a t joi ning the fro nt- runne rs . T ha t di d n' t la s t t he la p , however, a nd he slid off in to th e g ravel w it hou t completing the six th la p . T hey we re still as close as anythi ng u p fro nt, bu t the pattern was about to cha nge. Barros led for th ree laps, then Doo han - getting se ttled as the fuel loa d lightened - reversed the positions once again, and t h is time for good . Biaggi tried to d o the sa me, but la te-b ra ker Barros defia n tly passed him straigh t back . C rafa r , close behi n d , d e cid e d this w as the time to m ake h is o wn m o ve . "Ba rros was d o ing hi s usual, and I didn' t want Mick to get away, though I don't know if I co u ld ha ve passed him ," Crafar sa id . . He passed Biaggi on lap 10 a nd se t about closing th e small bu t growing gap o n Doo han, Agai n, it did n' t last m ore than a lap, a nd o n th e 12th tour he lost the fron t a t the fas t corner onto the back st raig h t an d s lid g racefu lly off into th e gra ve l. . Th e next d evelopment was also negative - for Rob erts. Pla gued by cha tter in the co rners , he w as losing grou nd o n th e lea ders. M ean w hil e, Criv ille had s tar ted s lowly, fi nis hi ng th e first lap in e ig h th , and had been battlin g to m o ve th rough a secon da ry g ro u p inclu d ing Gi be rna u and Laconi. "A t this track, it ta kes a fu ll lap ju st to pass o ne r id er," Criv ille co m p lain ed lat er. (left) Spaniard Alex Criville (4) was th ird. Here, he leads Sete Gibernau. (Below) Dooh an (cen te r) celebrates with Biaggi (left) and Crivill e, The pa ths of the American a nd th e Spaniard crossed just after half-distance; a nd the n the Honda r id e r gradual ly closed o n Bar ro s. He passed hi m q ui te easily o nce he did catch u p, with seven laps remaining; bu t Barros - -w ho co mplained later tha t h is rear tire ha d s tarted s li di ng bad ly by no w - stuc k w it h him . Up fro n t, a ll the -way to t h e flag , Doo han rode o nly as fas t as he needed to main tain a three-second gap on Biaggi, now gloriously alo ne in second. Then came another gap to C riville and Barros, w ho fini shed almost side by s ide. So me way back, Gibernau was la tched o n to the back of Ro bert s, u na ble to fo llow C riville th roug h , a nd Lacon i was close be hi nd. G ibernau got a head o n la p 23, then im mediately started slipp ing away backwa r d, lo s in g a ll r e ar g rip . In th e confu sion, La con i m o ved pas t to fi n is h a career-best fif th, wit h Rob erts m ore tha n 10 seconds ad rift a t th e fini sh. Then came Ralf Wald mann's M oden a s , th e Germa n still tro uble d by h is in ju ry, with Va n d en Goorberg h jus t in ches b ehind for al most fu ll ra ce d ista nce . . Ky oji N anba was a dis ta n t ni n th, with a tro u b led Nobua ts u Aoki a little way b a ck in 10th. His rea r b ra ke h a d Biaggi levels the field gone away ea rly in th e ra ce, a nd though he'd picked up the pace a bitin m ornin g warm u p, w it h yet m ore s uspe nsio n adj ustments, it was to little avail. G regorio Lavilla had been w ith t h is p a i r , l o sing to u ch a t th e fini sh; then ca me Berna rd Garcia in his last s u bs titute ride o n th e Elf V-twin. Eskil Suter was 13t h o n the MuZ , just a tenth ahead lost my footing: ' he said. Doo han picked the bike up and ran into the gravel - only to find out it was so dee p he could n' t get out. He wal ked away with the bike still upright, planted axledee p in the run off trap . of M att W a it' s V-t w in, with C ris to ba l's V-twin claiming th e last po in t. H is Shell Ad va nce teammate G arry McC o y had been ni bbling a t the top 10 ea rlie r, th e Aus tralia n u sing a lSD-sized rear tire o n his V-twin. "It was g rea t u n til th e last few laps," M cCo y said . "Then it go t pregnant and I had to s to p ." Strangely, the uSec class, usu ally so close, produced wi dely. stretched -out tim es. The op posite was tru e for the 250s. For once, they were packed up close, with 10 riders within the first seco nd, Th er e Was ittl e cha nge in the pe rsonnel on the fro nt row, The second was a s tra ightforwa rd low-side crash, losin g th e front while testin g a hard frun t tire, with Dooha n lucky enough to wal k away. . however - the thre e works Aprilia s, joined this time by semiwo rks Apri lia rid er Sebas tien Porto. The third came d irectly afterward, when he'd switched to smaller-sized "qua lifying" tires (see "Briefly ..." ), and ju st Tctsu ya Harad a was on pol e, his thi rd Ul.is, year, with Lori s Ca piro ssi a lo ng sid e. Both had sim ilar com p laints, co nce rni ng involved a trip across the ru noff once again, this tim e comi ng out the other side. the difficulty of getting the chassis settings righ t for comfort and cons istency. The disc-valve eng ine, with its snappish throttle "I didn 't have my concentra tion up after crashing:' he said. As for the race to come, he was outspoken about the difficulties of a track Simply not up to SOOcc-class racing . "It's a good national track, but it's the wors t track I' ve ever ridd en a SOO on." The last front-row starter was Regis Laconi: it Was the Yama was. He wa s fastest during Saturday' s s treaming-we t mo rning session, and ended up sec ond ove ra ll - by far the best eve r for ha man 's first-ever trip to the top four . . "Until now, after hurting my a nkle at Suzuka, I've had to the Modenas. The only one to better him was Max Biaggi, who was flying usc settings that made the bike easier to ride with out putt ing from the word go. One reason was the natur e of the track. His wei gh t on the footrests," Laconi said . "No w I'm fit, I've been biggest problems have always concerned tire / susp ension chat- able to use the same set tings as Simo n (Crafar) and ride the way ter, at its wors t on long comers, with the bike leaned hard over I like to again." for long per iods oftime. On these ba ck-and-forth flicks, the Simon Crafar led row two, comp laining that he was having problem d idn' t arise. "- troubl e getting comfortabl e. Then came Barros, making dire preBiaggi was quick to remind everyo ne that the rider also has dic tions of a first -corner accident as the field funn eled int o the first corne r, all desperate for a good position. Then it was Alex a role in the lap time. "I always knew I could do well at a new track, where every - Criville and Norick Abe, who' d been righ t up front earl y on, one starts from the same level," the Italian said. "I wish we only and third in the wet. Times were close as usual, with the first nine wi thi n a secwent to new circui ts from now on!" Roberts' best-ever position proved the cornering prowess of ond. Ninth was Sete Ci bernau, w hose wo rks tw in had been secthe Mode nas, whil e he kne w the wea knes ses for him self. He ond fastes t in th e rai n. • Jurgen van den Goorberg h was alongside; then came Waldcould beat most of the V-Iours aro und the lap, but only if he man n, wit h his in jury problems, with Nobua tsu Aoki 's Suz uki was in front of them at the star t of it. response at low rev s, also made the Apr iIias rat her mor e diffi cu lt - to rid e her e, em p ha s iz ing their low -speed a ccel er ation T he first time at a ne w tra ck meant a level playing field . This one, how ever, was ra ther hilly and extremely twisty, with the goal posts rather close together in some places. The first question was whe ther the V-fours would be able to hold off the twins and triples. In fact, the twins never did put up much of a challenge, in the dry . But the tripl es were a different matt er. A lthough Ralf Waldmann, riding with his right wr ist heavily strapped, was not a factor, Kenn y Roberts Jr. certainly "There's now her e to pass here, and if I'm beh ind a V-four I completing row th ree, the lon e factory rider crashing on the first can't run my high com er speed, but they can get awa y on the stra ights," he explained, adding, "I need to get into the first turn day and then taking some wrong tur ns in trying to ad apt a new in a good posit ion, an d uur acce leration off the lin e hasn ' t be n e too bad at recent races." The track d idn't need all six gea rs, however, so many people opte d for an especia lly low first gea r, to get a good laun ch. One was Mick Doohan, who had a most atypical two days of practice, running off the track thr ee times and actually falling off on ce. The first time was the most comical. as he got in too hot, '1 rea r-su spension lin ka ge . ''We are rea lly suffering from hav ing on ly o ne rid er." sai d team manager Garry Taylor. Kyoji Nan ba was next, back 01' the second Rainey Yamaha; Garry McCoy' s V-twin was 15th, behind Eskil Suter on the MuZ V-four. Gregorio Lavilla, replacing the injured Carlos Checa, was 17th after crashing twice in his first V-four outing. American Matt Wait was 18th - he'd been fifth in the wet. There were 21 qualifiers. deficit compared with the Ho nda s without allowing them the benefit of their better top speed . " It will be a yery tiring ra ce," Capirossi said. "Th is tra ck is very hard work for the bike and the rider." Porto wa s third, the Ar gen tine teenager and ex-mo tocrosser's first front row, But he's been com ing up stead ily.and wa s not surp rised, "It's not so much that I like this track, but things have been stead ily gettin g better for me," Porto said. "My bike is the same as the factory Aprili as, except they get new part s earlier than In c," . Valentino Rossi was four th, and might have been high er but for getting balked on his fast lap. He was one of the few peopl e wh o enjoyed the challenge of the ultra tight corners. "It's nice to see some other bikes going fast instead of just the Aprilias for a change:' Rossi said, "thoug h it will make it hard er to win the race. You need to get a very good start. then save .the tires for the finish. If you start badl y, it will be wry difficult to work your wa y throug h." The sec ond row was all Hond as and ve rv close, Stefano Perugini just edging ahead of second-day crasher Tohru Ukawa by less than a tenth; and then the pair of British-killed private Hon das, Jeremy McWilliams narr owly ahead of top rookie [ay Vince nt. Haruchika Aoki's works Hond a led row three, the Japanese rider being another to crash. Then came Takeshi Tsujirnura' s Yama ha in 10th, ahe ad of fas t wild card Alex Hofmann' s RS Honda. . There we re 28 qualifiers, William Costes 25th and on the last row on Olivier Jacque's works NSR. "I just can' t seem to go fast this season:' said the French rid er, wh o had won the Spa 24Hou r Race the weekend before. A a ~ ~ 15

• Cover