Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE W R CHAMPIONSHIP O LD ROAD RACE SERIES including Su zuki rid er [ohan Sti gefeit. Cos tes pulled into the pits , saying, "My arms wer e so re." Harada stre tched his points lead with th e wi n a n d h e n ow ha s 149 to Capirossi' s 128. Rossi has 101, Ukawa 86, and Aoki 75. 125cc GRAND PRIX An extraordinary race produced an unexp ected result , after a stra nge game of badly flawed tactics in th e lead ing group. Youi chi Vi's Kurz Yama ha took the holesh ot, but Marco Melandri had been on pole by a hu ge margin, and he was in front the seco nd tim e a round and had pu lled ou t a lmost tw o seco nds by th e fourth lap. By n ow, To mo mi Man ak o h ad worked hi s way pa st Mas aki Toku- 16 Sach se nring sachenrlng, Germany Res ults : Jul y 19, 1998 (Round 9 0115) USee Q UALIFY ING , 1. Ma rco Mola nd'; (1~.7'l3); 2. Kaz u to Sak a ta (1 :3 1. 7 09); 3 .. M i rk o Gia nse nti (1 :32 .034); 4. You ic hi Vi 0 :32 .068); 5 . Gi no Bcrso i (l :3 2.257); 6. To momi Ma nako (1 :32.279 ); 7. M a sak i Tokudome 0 :32.388); 8. Emil io Alzamora 0:32.423); 9. Roberto Loca telli 0 :32.497); 10. Steve Icnkncr (1:32.614); 11. H iro y uki Ki k uc hi 0 :32 .639 ); 12. [aro sla v Hu les (Above) Former World Champion Tets uya Harada (31 ) leads the way with reigning 125cc World Champion Valentino Ross i (46) and lorme r 125cc World Champion Loris Capiros s l (65) in tow. Harada took the win. (Right) Vouichi Ui (41), leads Marco Melandri (13), Roberto Locatelli (1 5), Mas aki Tokudome (5) and Kazuto Sakata (4). 01 the s ix riders pictured, only race winner M anako and thirdplaced Locate llifinished the race without cras hing. This was his typ ically colorful way of ad mitting that the tire blistered . Scott Smart was the only ot her non finis her, re tiri ng w it h tire an d o ther problems . Ale x Barros set the best la p on the third time around . Doohan ex tend ed his title lead over Biaggi to 12 points, 160-148. Criville has 142, the ab sent Checa 106, a nd Simon Cra far 75. 250cc GRAND PRIX This was not an exciting race for the lead . Harad a took the holeshot and gently pulled away u ntil he had a comfo rtable 10-p lu s-second ga p shortly a fte r half-d istance. "I w as not ·h appy with m y b ike in p ra cti ce , but t h is mo rn in g m y te a m found a perfec t su spension set ting, and I had no mor e problems," Ha rada sa id. "It was a very tiring race, bu t I was able to ease up a b i t in t he last 10 lap s, because I also wa nted to avo id using up the tires, or any eng ine trouble." He a lso took the fast est lap. The action was behin d him , with his teamma tes u nd er seriou s pressu re in seco nd a nd third . Tw o of th e wo rks Hon d a a ttacke rs disap pea red early on, Tohur Ukawa trying to pass Stefano Perugini for fou rth only to hit him and send them both flying in a spec tacu lar tangle of bod ies and bikes on on ly the fourth lap. Shortly afterward, fro nt-row s tarter Porto alsO crashed out , w hile pot ential cha llenge r Ha ru ch ik a Ao ki's works Ho nda slowed and he cruised disconsolately 'into the pits. This left just one challenger - but he was fo r real. j eremy McWill iam s, so often this yea r the scourge of the wo rks Hond as on his A-kitted production bike, now turned his atten tions to the wo rks Ap rilias. The 34-year-old Ulsterman was givi ng Ca pirossi and Rossi a very hard time indeed. The n suddenly tha t seemed all over, too, as he lost three secon ds . "The fuel-breather pipe on top of my tank came off while I was bra king, and there was petrol sloshing abo ut all ove r the fro n t of the fa irin g," Mc Willia ms sa id. " I th o u gh t I wa s fin ish ed , but when I noticed w hat had happened , I pushed the pipe back on agai n." Co uld he ca tch th e Aprilias ag ai n? Cou ld he, heck. It to ok him jus t four lap s to get righ t beh ind th em , an d by lap 17 he was past Rossi as the youngster ran a little wide. O ne lap late r he forced past Capirossi luckless Itali an's firs t rostrum; Emilio Alzamora was close behind in fifth . Vi had cra sh ed out e a rly on with Mirko Giansanti; Sa kata go t seven th, a nd fellow -crash er Tokud ome ninth. Th ere w er e 20 fi nis hers; Manako claimed fastest lap. Saka ta still leads im pressively overall , w ith 165 points. Man ako mov es to seco nd on 122, with Melandri on 113, Cecchin ello (ou t of the race after a p ractice crash ) on 76 and Tokudome on 75 . 1 ~ I as well at the sa me place, and eve n sta rted to pull away to open up a gap of almost a second with tw o laps left. Capirossi was still bat tling bad han dli ng . "I w as never comfortab le a ll w eekend," Capirossi said. Rossi, jus t behind him, had his Donin g ton Park cr ash a t th e fro nt of hi s mind . "I could have passed Lor is oft en in the last three laps, but I was nerv ou s, and I wanted to wa it u ntil I could do it wit h no risk," Rossi said. . He go t by only on the las t lap , a nd though he closed to within just twotent hs over the line, McWilliams's first second place - indeed, his first rostrum was saved. Some way behind Capirossi, another British rid er was d istingu ishing himself. Pad getts Honda-m oun ted Jay Vincent has go ne well all season, bu t neve r bet ter tha n here, where he resisted the pressu re of th e red oubtable Takeshi Tsu jim u ra for much of the race and then pulled clear in the closing stages. The Japanese rider came under pressu re a t the finis h from fellow Yam aha rider Jose Luis Cardoso and Honda priva teer Lu ca Bos cos cu ro . Nori ya su Numa ta's Suzuki was clo se behind in ninth. Numa ta in turn only jus t managed to fini sh a head of wil d ca rd Alex Hofm a n n , wh o prod u ced a n ext re me ly impressive perform ance. Rob erto Ro lf o was fo u r sec o n ds adrift; th en ca me a bi g ga p to Lu is d 'Antin's Yam aha. Another close grou p of th ree took th e la st p oint s: David e Bulcga , Jam ie Rob inson a nd wild card Mike Baldi nger. Ther e we re only 15 finishers, w-ith a number of other cras hers, "d om e a nd Rob erto Loca telli, and th en came Vi. Th e ja pa nese rid er closed im pressively on th e teen age lead er and wen t ahead on lap nine, th e pai r s till more tha n tw o seconds clear of the pursu it. It was now Kazuto Sa ka ta in th ird , Tokud ome having ru n off the track after a bold overtak in g mo ve, falling off as he regained the asp ha lt at low speed, then remou nting way down the field . Melandri and Manak o swap ped the lead ba ck a n d fo rth for th e ne xt few laps, and then came a s tra nge spell as they bo th slowed up to try and force the other to go ahead . This was eno ug h to let the charging Sakata not only catch up by lap 20 but to take the lead soon afterward . At this poin t, the tr io w as runn ing almost five seco nds off the pace as they fumbled for position. With five la ps left and in da nger of the rest of the field ca tc h ing u p , Melandri grew tired of th e ga me a nd took off again. The othe rs chased after him , b ut the break in rhy th m - combined with his ha mmered tires - w er e enough to do for Sakata. He fell off on lap 27, a lso remounting to charge off down the t rack, s hed d ing ch u nks of turf. . Melandri now seemed to ha ve th e race sewn up - bu t then came his serious error on the last lap, pus hing on hard to the flag w hen he had no need. Thus Ma nakos secon d wi n of the season was a gift, w h ich h e a cce p ted with grea t pleasure. . Secon d went to 23-year-o ld French ro okie Arn au d Vincen t, af ter he'd broken free fro m the pursui t pack im press ively . Loca tell i h ead ed Hi r oyuki Kikuchi's Honda ove r th e line for th e (1:32.655); 13. Frederic Petit 0 :32.797) ; 14. C ia n lu igi Scalvini 0 :32.805) ; 15 . M.. sa o Azuma 0:32.913 ); l b. A ngel N ieto J 0:32.(4 8); 17. Yoshiaki Katoh 0 :32.952); r. 18. Fed er ico Cerr oru 0 :33.317); 19. Lucio Cec chine llo (1:33.3:;0); 20. Arnaud Vincent (1,,)3.503 ); 21. Jua n E. Matu rana 0 :33.65]); 22. Kla u s Nobles 0 :33.M20l ; 23. A nd rea lo rnmi (1:34.032); 24. [eronimo Vidal (1:34.082); 25. Ivan Cui 0 :34.(92 ); 26. Reinhard Stolz 0 :34.156); 27. Christian Manna 0 :34 .190); 28. Maik Stief 0 :35.245); 29. Oli ver Perschke (1:35.263); 30. Dirk Hddolf 0 :36.105). 125cc G RA ND PRIX: 1. Tom om i Man akc (Ho n): 2. Arna ud Vincc n(Apr); 3. Ro be rt o Loca telli (Hon): 4. Hiroyuki Kikuchi (Hon): 5. Em ilio AI7amorn (Apr); 6. ... Yoshiaki Katoh (Yam); 7. Kazuto Sakata (Apr ); 8. Sieve [enkne r (Apr); 9. Ma saki To ku dom e (Ap r); 10. Angel Nieto Jr. (Arr); 11. Iva n Co i (A pr); 12. Jua n E. Ma tu rana (Yam ); 13. Marco Melandri IHon): 14. And rea lo m mi (H en ): 15. Ch ristian Mann" (Yam); 16. Klaus No hles (Hen): 17. Federico Ce rro n! (Ap r); IS . Re inhard Stol z (Hen), 19. O liver Perschk e (Ya m); 20 . D ir k H ei do lf IHon ). Time: 44 min., 37.947 sec. Di sl.m tt: 29 la ~. 63.074 milc."!o Ave rage speed : 84.816 mph M.argin o f \i ctory: 16513 sec. Fastest la p: Tomomi Manalo. 1:30.838. lap 28 12Se e WO RLD CH AMPION SHIP POI NT STANDIN GS (After 9 of lS round ~ ): 1. Kazuto Sa kata 0b5/4 wins): 2. Tomomi Manako (122 / 2); 3. Ma rro .\tft.>l.m d ri 0 13 /1); 4. Lu ci o Cecc h inel lo (76 / 1) ; 5 . Ma sak i Tokud ome (7S); 6. Mirko C ian sanl i (66 ); 7. \1cl-..lO Azuma (65); 8. Frederic Petit (61); 9. C ia nluigi Scalviru (55) ; 10. Youichi Ui (54); 11. Roberto Locat elli (49) ; 12. (45 /1 ); 13 . (TI E) A rnaud N o bo r u Ued e Vincen r/Hiroyuki Kiku ch i (42); IS, Sie ve [en knc r (37); r. 16. Ange l Nie to J (34); 17. Ginn Borso i (31); 18. (TIE) Yoshiaki Katoh / Jven Go i (25); 20. Iarosla v Hul es (17). 250« Q UAU FYIN G: 1. Tetsuva Harad a 0:28.684); 2. Loris C a prtoss i 0 :28. 698 ); 3. Se bastia n Por to (1 :29 .056); 4. Va le ntino Ros si 0 :29.076); 5. S tefa no Perugini 0 :29.081); 6. To hru Uka wa O:29 .OtJQ); 7. Je remy McW illi.lm s (L29.0Cl6); 8. Jason Vince nt 0 :29.1017); 9. Haruch ika A~)k i (1 :29 .208); 10. T.lkt.> sh i Ts u jim u ra 0 :29 .237); J1. Al e x H ofmann 0 :29 .75 2); 12. Iu rge n Fuchs 0 :29.791); 13. No riyasu N u ma ta 0 :29.809); 14. J (}~e Lu is Cardoso 0 :29 .843) ; 15 . Jami e Robin s on (1 :29 .86 9 ); 16 . lohan S tigd d t 0 :29 .905); 17. Luca Boscoscu ro (1:30.009); l R. l ui s. d ' Antin 0 :30.009); 19 Roberto Rolfe 0 :30.068); 20. Iva n Cl...-ment i O :30.137l; 21. Y.lSU Hatakeya ma 0 :30.936 ); 22. David e Bulc ge 0 :30.987 ); 23 . Ma rkus O bc r 0 :31.263); 24, Fe de r ico Cartner 0 :31.530); 25. William Coste 0 :31.569 ); 26. -s Mike Bald in ger 0 :3 1.845); 27, Math ia s Neukirchcn 0 :32.387); 28. Ad ria n Sch mid' 0 :34.326). . 250cc G RAND rRIX: 1. Te ts uya Harada (Apr); '2. J...'rc my Mcwilliams (Ho n); 3. Valentino Rossi (Apr); 4. Lori!' Ca pirossi (Apr); 5. [a-en Vincent (Ho n): 6. Takeshi Tsuji mura (Yam ); 7, J O~l' Lui... Cardoso (Yam ); 8. Luca . Boscoscuro (Ho n); 9. No riyaeu Numata (Suz ); 10. Alex Hofman n ( H o n): 11. Rober to Rol fe (H o n) ; 12. Lui!> d' Antin (Yam); 13. Davi de Bu lega (H o n); 14. Jamie Robinson (Va'm); 15. Mike Baldinger. Time: 4..fmin., 43.421 sec.

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