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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127955
'R A A E
O DR C
W RLDSU
O
PERBIKE
CHAMPIONSHIPSER
IES
(L eft) Carl Fogarty (2)
lead s J ames Wh it ham (8),
Edwards (45) and Slight
(111) in th e second race.
Fo garty fi(l is hed second
w it h Wh itham third.
(A bo v e) Scott Russell
(44) got hi s first po d ium
finish of the year in race
one.
race but Hayd on came throu gh and I
was in the g rou p which he ran wide so I
lost a few places. I just settled in behind
Colin and held on for the finish."
The Yamaha p a i r also .fi n i sh ed o n e
after th e other, with H a g a i n seventh
and Ru ssell in eigh th . Haga lost ground
ea r l y in t he r ace w hen he overshot a co rn er, th ou gh n ot a t th e ex pense of posit ion . Ru ssell, mea n w hile, h a d m o st o f
h i s d i ffi culty o ff th e st art an d fo u n d it
was to o m u ch to r eco v er from :
" I knew th e start w as going to b e ha lf
th e b a ttl e, " R u ssell sa id . "In th e fi rs t
r a c e I wen t a round t he o utside an d
m anaged to g et clear an d in touch with
t h e lead guys. In th e second one I got
pushed out and nearly lost it in turn
two. One o f the other guys tried a real
dumb move an d n ear l y had me off with
h i s handlebar. I had a little trouble w-i th
Briefl
th e tire in this ra ce . I think it was slipping a bit on the r i m o r so meth i ng but i t
w as working well for most o f it. I was
turning some good lap times but giving
t hem tha t kin d o f a l ead from the start
(R u ssell' started on row f our) i s always
going to be h ard."
Peter God d ar d h a d to settl e for 13 t h m ainly due to a p oor sta r t.
I '~
Bran d s Hatc h
Ke nt, En g lan d
Results : August 2, 1998 (Ro u n d 9 o f 12)
QU A LI FYING : 1. Troy Co rs e r (1 :34 .999); 2.
Pierfr ances co C h ili (1:35 .610); 3. Co lin Edwa rd s II
0 :35.717); -I. Aa ro n Slig ht (1:35.769); 5. Sea n Emme tt
0 :35. 814); 6. Jo hn Re vn ol d s 0 :36.185 ); 7. N ia ll
Ma ck enz ie O :36 .h68 ); 8 : Ja m~ Ha yd o n (1 ~6.686); 9.
Ca rl Foga rty 0 :36.696); 10. Nei l Hod gson 0:36.722); 11.
james Whit ha m 0 :36.962); 12. Steve Hislop 0:37.193);
13. Peter Go d da rd 0:37.657); 14. No riy u k i Ha g a
0:37.682); 15. Sco tt Russell 0 :38.293); 16. Hitoyasu
lz ut su 0 :27.169); 17. G regor io Laville 0 :27.396) ; 18.
Troy Baylis !"0:27.639); 19. Terry Rym er 0 :27.948); 20.
\iatt Llewellyn 0 :28.132); 21. Igo r Icrman 0 :28.495); 22:'
•••
On the first day of the European World Sup erbike round. Ducati
became a 1 OO ~percen t American·owned compan y. after the
Casti glioni brothers sold the ir remaining 4g -percent shares to the
Dallas/ Fort W orth-based Texas Pacific Group. which had acquired
a majority share in the co mpany so me time ago . It is believed that
the Castiglionis needed cash to inves t in the MV A gusta project
and to develop that bike into a World Superbike co ntender. Later
this year . D ucati is also expec ted to go public on the New York
Stock Exchange. a plan that has been in place from the beginning
with the TPG buyout. Acc ording to insiders. this new financial situation wi ll change nothing with regard to Ducati' s racing program.
However. neither Davide Tardozzi or V irgl nio Ferrari have been
offered a job or sig ned a co ntract wi th Ducati co ncerning the ir
running the fac tory teams for next year. Both men hope to have a
factory Ducati team again next year. Ferrari has been running the
in-house fact ory tea m for several seasons now, wh ereas Tardozzi
was brought in to manage the new D ucat i Performance tea m at
the beginning of the year . D ucati Performance is a yo ung co mpany that was fo unded by Daniele Casolari. the former owner of
Gio .Ce .Mo to . A s Wit h his former company. the Italian busi ness man builds performance parts for Ducatis. He has already stated
earlier that he will continue wi th a team next year. With the cho ice
of the factory riders an exclus ive Ducati affair. he will. however.
have to wait the decision from TPG before knowin g whether there
will be a top rider available for his ow n team next to the one run
by Virginio Ferrari in 1999 _
A s expec ted . Ak i ra Yanagawa and P iergiorgio B ontempi
w ere absen t from Bran d s Hatch . bo t h recoveri ng from thei r
injuri e s sustained at Lag una Seca. Bon t empi has tw o bro ken
wrists and is expec ted to be out for some time. while Yanagawa is
apparently on the road to a surprisingly quick recovery . After his
crash. the docto rs fo und that he had fractured a bone in his left
hand and his left collarbon e. and that he had lost tw o' fro nt teeth
(w hich now have be en replaced). Yanagawa didn' t remember
much of the first race at Laguna Seca. He doe s remember seeing
N oriyuki Haga crash. but not that he had passed Doug Chandler
Just before the co llision . At Brands Hatch (and fo r a priva te Dun.
lo p test at A ss en sch e duled a w e ek later) , Yari ag aw a wa s '
replaced by 27 -year-old Kawasaki test ride r Hit oyasu Izutsu. Having concen trated on developing the endurance version of the ZXA
(Rig ht) To th e v ictors go
the spoils: Slight ,
Edwards and Russell
wi t h trophy girls.
Ale ssandro Gra m ign i 0 :28.8-15) 23. Andrew Str o ud
;
0 :29.275); 2-1. Max Vince nt 0 :29.426); 25. Stev e Mar ks
0:30.177); 26. [iri Mr kyv ka 0 :30.933); 27. Bret Sampson
(1:31.386).
RACE ONE: 1. Co lin Edwards 11 (Hen): 2. Aa ro n
Slig ht (He n): 3. Sco tt Russell (Yam); -I. Carl Fogarty
(Du e); 5. james wh itham (Su z): 6. Nia ll Mac ken zi e
(Ya m); 7. Tr oy Co rse r (Due ); 8. Stev e Hislop (Yam) ; 9.
Pier-Fra ncesco Chili (Due ); 10. Peter Godda rd (SU2); 11.
Sca n Emmet! (Du e): 12. No riyuki Haga (Yam); 13. Troy
Bayliss (Due) ; 14. Ma tt Llewell yn (Du el; 15. Alessa nd ro
Gram ign l (Du e); 16. Andrew Stro ud (Ka w): 17. Frederic '
Pro tat (Due); 18. Brett Sam pso n (Ka w ): 19. Max Vincent
(K.1w); 20. Steve Marks (Ka w ): 21. Vladimir Karban
(5 u z).
T ime: 36 min., 16.391 sec.
Distance: 25 laps, 64.1:168 miles
Ave rag e spee d: 107.298 mph
Mug in of vict ory: 0.103 sec .
F,1,steslla p: Aaron Slight, 1:26.245/108.294 m ph
RACE lWO: 1. Troy Corser (Due); 2. Ca rl Fog art y
(Dud; 3. Ja me s Whi tha m ISuz): 4. Colin Edwa rds IJ
(Hon): 5. Aa ro n Slight (Hen): 6. Pier -Frances co C hili
(Due); 7. No riyu ki Ha ga (Yam ); 8. Scott Russell (Yam );
9. Nei l Hod gson (Kaw) : 10. Nia ll Mackenzie (Ya m); 11.
for the Suzuka 8 Hou rs, he did have some prob lems adapti ng to
the W orl d Superbi ke version o f the bike . S ub seq uently . he
crashed on Friday ~nd again on Saturday . hilling a track marshal
in that last inciden t. Bo th times, his crashes led to the pract ice
. sess ions being stopped. O n Satur day. he hiqh-sided at Graham
Hill B end, suffering a badly bruised leg . bringing his participat ion in
the race into question. M eanw hile. ot her Kawasaki riders also
were hi t with some misfortu ne. The British impo rter 's tea m pulled
out of the race due to the injuries sus tained by Chris W alker at
Oult on Park a two weeks ago (broken kneecap). and Igor J erman
crashed heavily in practice for Brands Hatch.
New s about next year s W o r l d Superb ike sche dule leaked at
Brands Hatch. It looks as thoug h the season will consist of 12 to
14 races. wit h the Supersport series likely taking World Champi ons hip sta tus. The season should either start or end at Kyalami.
wi th the Aus tralian round at Phillip Island following