Distanc e: 30 laps , 65.249 miles
Average speed: 87.544 mph
Margin of victory: 9.033 sec.
Fastest lap : Tetsu ya Harada . 1:2$.625, lap 31
250« G RA N D !'RIX CHAMPI O N SHIP POINT
STA N D I NGS (Afte r 9 of 15 round s) : 1. Tet s u ya
Ha r-ad a (1 4q / 4 w ins); 2. Lo r is Ca pi ro ss i (128 /2); 3.
Val entino Rus s i 001 1l); 4. Tohru Uka w a (86); 5 .
Haruch ika A oki (75); 6. jeremy McWilliams (64); 7. mE)
Stefano l'e r u gin f / Tak...ehi Tsujimura (61) ; 9. (TI E)
Olivier jacque/Luis d' Antin (56); 11. J~ Lui s Ca rdo so
.(51); 12. Iurgen Fuchs (45); 13. ja son Vincen t (-:15); 14.
Marcellino Lucchi (36/ 1); 15. Roberto Rolfo (30/1); 16
No nyasu Numata (29); 17. Luca Boscoscuro (26); 18.
Oaijiro Katoh (25); 19. Shinya Nakano (20); 20. Sebast ian
Porto (17).
500« QU ALIFYI NG, I. M.,. Biaggi (1027.894); 2.
Kenny Roberts Jr. (L28.1M); 3. M ick Doohan 0 :28.279);
s
4. Regi Laconi 0 :28.606); 5. Simon Crafar 0:28.624); 6.
Alex Barro s (1:28.628) ; 7. Alex C rivillc 0 :28.710 ); 8.
No rick Abe (1 :28.778); 9. Sete Glber na u (1:28.841); 10.
Jurgen va n de n C oo rb e r g h (l :29 .q99 ); 11. Ra lf
Waldmann 0 :29.143); 12. No bua ts u Aoki 0 :29.510); 13.
Kyoji Na nba 0 :29.518); 14. Eski l Suter 0:29.601); 15.
Garry McCoy 0 ,29.873); 16. Scott Sma rt 0 ,30,158); 17.
Gregor io Laville 0 :30.426); 18. M att Wait 0 :30.674); 19.
Be rn a rd Ga rda (1 :30 .')06) ; 20 . Fe rn an do Cr ts to ba l
(l :31.415); 21. Fabio Carpani 0:31.955).
SOOcc GRANO PRIX: 1. M ick Doohan {Hen): 2.
Ma x Di,'ggi (He n): 3. Alex Crivill: (He n): 4. Alex Barros
IHo n): 5. Regis Lacon i (Ya m ); 6. Kenn y Rober ts Jr.
(Mod ); 7. Ralf Waldmann (Mud) ; 8, [u rge n va n d e n
Goc...rbergh (Hon) : 9. Kyoji Na nba (Yam); 10. Nc bua tsu
Aoki (Su z); 11. Gr ego rio Laville (H en): 12. Berna rd
Garcia (l-ion): 13. Esk il. Suter (MuZ ); 14. Mall W,lit
{Hon): 15. Fernand o Cristobal (Hon ): 16. Fabio c.~ rpvisio nal front row on ·the first day of practice ..with Kenny Robert s
J r . second and Ralf W ald mann fou rth . Ma x Bi agg; ju st pipped
Rob erts fo r bes t time after fo llow;ng the M odenas around. - He
had to draft my tri ple ·aro urid to do that." jo ked. Roberts . Anot her
h;gh -pro file sup porter w as 12 5c c W o rld Ch amp;on V alentino'
Rossi. now rid;ng a facto rY Apri lia 250. , "1t's really enjo yable· - a
a
The quest io n of qualifyi n g t ires ga;ned ano ther ' facet whe n
Mi ck Dooh an let drop that he 'd tried the smaller rear tire s used
for the V·twin Honda in an attempt to matc h the practice performance available to Du nlop runner s, who have spe cial soft-com pound tires available. The narrower " twln " tire also only lasts for a
handful of laps but allows mor e accu rate steering. co mpared with
the qeom etry-spoihnq ultra -wide ncrrneltire . " It 's so rnethinq Ma x
(~iagg;) ask ed for. and M chehn dec ided they sho uld be available
to everybody." said D oohan. " I'v e tried them at tes ts , but never
before at a race .· Sadly, h;s attempt here wa s spo iled first when
he ran off the tra ck - he 'd fallen off s hortly before: - and I was n't
co nce ntrating properly. " he exp lained - and seco ndly when he ran
. out of time.
"
'
, C a rlos Checa..who suffered serious internal injuri es ~hEm he
c rashe d in practice fo r the British GP a fortnight ago. lias bee n discharged fro m the hos p;ta l afte r mak ing a rem arkab le rec ove ry .
C heca' s spleen was removed after the Friday crash . the n he suffered ' a form of s tro ke ti n S undai night . whic h left h;m partially
blind and paralyzed in o ne arm. ,How ever; emergency treatme nt to
d;ss;pate a blood clot saved the' day. and he has now recovered his
sight and his movement . - He ;s very weak phys iCally . and has lo st
a lot of weight - but he is expected to make a co mplete recovery . "
sa;d a spo kes man fo r his Pons-M ovistar team . Dr. C laud;o Co sta.
w ~o two weeks ago made dire predictions ' of permanent damage .
now sa;d that he m;ght be back in t;me for the Czech GP ;n five
weeks time · but it ·was thought more I;kely that It wm take a race
or two longer. The l ea m ;s te sting in Spa in in mid-August and
hope s he wm be able to attend, if not to r;de at full tilt.
.
The team was bereft of riders at the last race. aft~r John Kocin ski also w;t hdrew w ith injury problem s . Juan B orj a too k h;s
place in England but dislocated his sho ulder in a pract;ce crash'. In
Germany. superbike r;der Gregorio Lavilla took over the Movis··
tar Honda. wh ile the team maintained their reputation fo r hilariou s
press co mmuniques. This one involved a biog raphy . of their new '
dde r. whic h gaye h;s age as 3 years o ld ,
The Apr ilia 500cc twin may mak e a one·race co meback at the
Barcelo na G P Clast European ro und) In the hands o f retired multitime c.hampian J orge M ':Irt inez. Ac cording to race engineer J an
W ;lleveen. father of the concept. the chass; s has been ;mpro v ed
and the engine ;s 5 percent more powerf ul. The V-twin wa s ret ired
at the end of last year. to allow the factory race department to co ncentrate on deveioping its new V -fo ur. wh ich M artinez was h;red to
test-ride . The factory is currently co mparin g reed-va lve and discvalve v~sions . · said W itt e·veen. All other racing Ap rilias use disc v:a1ve induction.
.
.,
.
The G erm an GP may be t he la st rac e for the f;r st versio~ o f
the Modena s K R3 , wi th th e new eng ine in t he revi sed chas -:
sts po ssibly on stream fo r th e Cz e ch GP in five weeks . " W e
have thr ee eng ine s 'running at Bud Ak sland ' s worksh op in Cal ifornia . and t hey are go ;ng we ll . " sa id Kenny Roberts , wh o
plan o: to take pa rt rn t he fir st sha ke do wn te si s in N o rth ern
Californ ia next w e e k. as reported fr om the B rttis h G P. " W e
ar e ge tting updates every' h o ur or two . - ' The powe r ou t p ut
w o uld .be more o r le ss the ;iame as t he curre nt mo to r' s , he
said , The big difference wa s the vibrat ion ; Th e new motor ha s
a ba la nce sha f t to kil l the s ha kes t hat d e stru c ti on -t e sted
engin e arid chas sis co mponents .in the firs t ~e rs ion. as w ell as
caus ing f u. hng and cooHng problems . - In the la st couple of
e
races. our current bike hasn 't been going .tha t badly. " Robert s
conti nued . " I th in k what we 've d o ne w;th use d parts has been
:p retty, amaz ing . N ow we hav e a w;n dow to get the new bike
working." A road ·going M od e'nas was On dis play at the Sach .
senri ng·. w i th i n d i ca t o r s bolted on to t h e · b a zo oka " air
;n takes , and a fou r-stroke sirig le ·cylinder 6 5 0cc S uzuk; d;rt·
b;ke eng ;ne in place of the rac;ng tw o -st ro ke tripl e . : W e plan
a roa d b;ke ;n th e futu re : b ut th ;s is not so 'muc h a proto type
as just to show w hat can be done. · sa;d Rob ert s . " It' s a pu re
rac ing ch as si s . w ith lights and .so on put or1. W e bu ilt it as a
gi.ft for the chie f executh.~e of our sponsors'" Proton . who will
ride it arou nd . A s s o o n as' t h e "e c o nomic s low -down in
M alay sia is over: they are 'co nsideri ng bu ;]d;ng a rOad vers iOn
of the racer. .
•
4.
A l ex eriville is out of the Suzuka 8 Hours rac'e fo llowing a spon·
sorsh;p clas h. He wa s to have ~ h ared a wo rks Hond a w;th Tadayu·
ki Okada. in a Castrol·spo nsored effort;. but while Rep sol was prepared to relea se Okada and Set e G ;bern au to Castrol for one race
Cr iv;lIe is reckoned to be too famo us and impo rtant ;n Spain. W;th
John Koc inski also out. ·th ;s leaves.Honda short of top riders for
the pre stigi ous race .
.,
QUB.Team Optimum ba'ss R o bert F l e c k was unable to join
in the celebrat ;ons for his rider M cW ;lI;ams' s f;ne sec o nd place
at the Sac hse nri ng . In the t hrHI of th e race finish . he Climbed
on to the pit wa ll. ·The team mec hanic s , ' overcome w ith exci te ·
ment . pres sed up behind him - and knoc ked him o nt o the
track. He broke his no se and a bon e in·his hand in the fall. - r m
· ~~II of painkmers. a nd I can 't even have a drink: he sa id rue fulN eve r known to s uff e r fr~>ni ' 8 s hortage o f seJf-imp ortan~ e . .
Dor n a surpassed ;tself ;n ;ts efforts to beat expected traf f;c problems on race day . They arran ged an extra·earlY 6:45 a.m.· start
from its hotel atChemnitz, ·the 'n earest i~ rge town. wit h a pol;ce
mot orcycle escort fortbeir 11-car convoy..In thiS way , they swe pt
· to the circu; t in rec ord t;me . Sadly . however: they w ere almest the
o nly ve hicles on the road at .that Ilm e of morn ;ng.·
.
..
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17
