Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Above) Fogarty dives up the ins ide of Chili as the Italian los es the front end entering the final chicane in race two. (Above) Corser held on to his championship lead with his pair of thirdplace finishes . Aaron Slight (111) finished fourth an d sec ond to close to within a half point of Corser. The fac tory Hond a rid ers came ho me fourth and fifth, res pective ly. "I got off the li ne we ll," fourt hplaced Slig ht said . "But then (was blocked as I tried to get to the fro nt, and it cost me badly. I chose tires which were too hard a'nd the suspension settings were also to o hard, but that is down to our lack of d ry time and gambling on settings for this race. I got my head down at one poi nt an d put in a fast lap , but I wasn't comfortable. After that, I settled down to a pace I was happy with, rode around and saved it for th e second race." . Edwa rds' fift h place came after the Texan had fo ug ht his way up fr o m eighth . The 24-year-ol d was. also s tiII trying to learn the q u ick lines of the Assen circu it a fter not co m peting here for three years beca use of inju ry. "Li ke Aaron, we ga m bled on se ttings a nd 1 wen t with a machi ne th at was se t u p ve ry mu ch lik e Aa ro n's," Ed w ards sai d . "Bu t I spe n t half the race learning how to turn th e mach ine. After that, I was hap p y e no ugh w ith my p e r formance in a race w hich was really a glorified practice sessio n for me." Sixth went to God da rd . "We wen t for a tire tha t would come into its ow n as the race wore o n," said God da rd, w ho quickly est ab lish ed h imse lf in seven th an d th en swooped on rival Yanagawa to claim sixth with three la ps to go. "Overnigh t, I changed th e gearbox to give me more d rive o ut of the corners, a nd it was a strategy that wo rked perfectly." Russell lost eighth place in his duel against his tea m ma te Haga. "I didn't feel so good out there," Russell said. " I recko n I was at about 50 percent. The tires were working okay for me but there's still a few things I need to change for the next race. I think I was a little bit too cautious a nd probably not stuffing it u p a few of th e m w hen I should ha ve been. It took me too long to get Hodgson a nd, to begi n with, I felt like I was rid ing like a girl." RACE TWO So me 40,000 specta tors (51,000 over th e w hole weeke n d) were trea ted to even mor e exci teme n t a cou p le of hours lat er. Goddard o nce again was a way w it h the holeshot and he held th e lead for a bo u t half a lap th is time. Foga rt y Chili gets the last word A aron Slight was once aga in impressive during free practice and qualifying. and one rather began to expect a replay of the previous round's qualifying and Superpole action. But when the race director decided on Saturday afternoon to run Superpole according to the "w et wea ther" formula because of the unpredictable weather condi- tions over the northern part of Holland, things took a tum toward the in tense . With the track still dry put the rain clouds gathering in the skies, James Whitham, Colin Edwards II , Neil Hodgson and Igor Jerman did the thing that seemed to be the most logical at that time: As soon as the lights turned green, they went out and recorded som e fast times - until it started raining. The foursome stayed on top of the list (in that order). for most of the session but after a few other factory riders had gotten ba ck into the top four after a se rious burst of rain let up , he ll reall y broke lose with only minutes to go. With exac tly o ne minute and se ven seconds rema inin g, Whi tham lost his provisional pole position. Hodgson took over, only to be relegated to second position by Carl Fogarty a few seconds later. And even before anyone knew what had happened, Chili, then Hodgson, then Corser and then Peter God dard all had their moment on pole positi on . But as the checkered flag went out, there were still a few more riders out on the track, taking one more lap. One of them was Chili, who finally got the last word, going around even faster than Hodgson had on the drying track, and the Italian took his second pole position of the season. "Ten minutes before the end, I got out o n a USL>d tire to check the cond itions on the j rac k," Chili said. "1 came back in, put on a fresh tire, and did two fast laps on the tire. The last one of these got me pole position . I want to win tomorrow in orde r to keep my (ti tle) chances alive. And ma yb e that wi ll w or k ou t, because Assert is one of m y favor ite cir- cuits. But then again, I thought the same about Brands Hatch..." Godda rd recorded his season-best qualilying result with the secondfastes t time. "I guess I had the right tire on at the right moment," the Australian said. "TIle track was drying all the time - another lap and it would have been three seco nds quicker . I was last but one on the circi u t an d the last man - Chili - went quicker. It was pre tty scary out there, but I'm really happy to be on the front row for Suzuki. Assen is one of the few circuits (Right) Chili hits the ground . (Below) Chili desperate ly.tries to dig his Ducati out of the gravel trap. (Below right) Fans help Chili pus h his bike ac ros s the line in 14th, but he was later disqualified for their help. was the man to ta ke the lead away from the Suzuki rider, d o ing so on the back st raigh t. Corser was soon past as well, and the n he too k th e lead on the seco nd lap. Aft er five la ps, a lead in g g ro up o f fo u r had formed , w it h Fogarty n ow d oing m ost of th e wor k and being fol lo w e d b y C ors er , C h il i a nd Sli ght. Beh ind th e m, a no the r g ro u p battled I have bee n to in the past, but I don't know if that has been any help. We had a pretty good setup yesterda y, hut it's not perfect yet: ' The m an with the most pole starts this year, Troy Corser , qualified third after not quite making it o ut for a last flying lap before the end of the session. "Fro nt row in thes e cond itions is good," Corser sa id . "We w ill possi- bly change the bike a little bit to get it steering better. But this qualifying time was all about getting out on the track at the last possib le moment. I hoped for one more lap, but the flag beat me to it: ' Hodgson was the last man on the front row, and he explained that his tactics had been, like others', to push as hard as possible on the dry part of the circuit and then take no risks on the rest of the track. Fogarty. who was undoubtedl y one of the most spectacular men out on his favorite circuit. had to settle for fifth. "I had a good setup for the bike very early on, which made life a lot easier: ' Fogarty said . "The rain spoiled everything today, but I'm sure I could have taken pole position if the fuel pump hadn't lost pressure on the final lap. But I'm h.1PPY to be back at Assen and I hope to score big tom orrow." James Whitham, Colin Edwards II and Aaron Slight were the other riders on the second row , a fte r ha vin g held fro nt- row gr id positio ns until that dramati c last mi nute. "It was difficult to gauge what time to be on the track and wi th what tires:' Edwa rds ex plained . "I tried my best wi th intermediates, but by the end of the session I cou ld have been out ther e o n slicks. Th e drama probably isn't over yet. We've got two races tomorrow and I'll just take it as it comes, wet or d rv ." Slight blame d himself for not maintai ning a front-row sta rt. " I left it on e lap too late to come in and cha nge fro m an intermediate to a slick," Slight ad mit ted. "It was only when the intermediate s tar ted sliding around that I realized I needed the change of tire. I'm looking forward to the races. Starting from row two is not a problem and I'll be giving it everything. Right now I feel very comfortable with the Castrol Ho nda at eve ry circui t we go to; Assert is no d ifferen t." Scott Russell qualified ninth, with his teammate Noriyuki Haga well off in 15th, having suffered from two crashes during the weekend. For Russell, this result was some sort of a surp rise, especially as he had not tak en part in that morning's second qua lifying practice because he suf- fered too much from the effects of a crash in Friday's first qualifying session. As the track was wet on Saturday morning. he decided not to take part and save himself for Supe rpole. Dur ing the Su pe rpole warmup , the YZFrider found the'track tricky. " l'rn finding it hard to push with my right arm and I know I am go faster:' Russell said. " I' m just thinking about not throwing it down the road." over fift h p lace, with W hitham, Yanagawa, Edward s, Godda rd a nd Haga all in vol ved . The Ya ma ha ri d er was the first to lose grou nd from this fight, bu t his ra ce w as s till going better th an his teammat e's, as Russell had already go ne d own on the sec ond lap . " We u sed a di fferen t fron t tir e fo r th is race, but it was a proven tire, so it was just me pushing too ha rd ," Russell sa id . "Pe rha ps th e bike is too lig h t at the fro n t - it doesn't let you know where you a re sometimes. I had to really push, so w he n it let go, I had no warning ." Up fron t, Foga r ty wa s se tting th e pace, with only Chili able to keep u p . Slig ht a nd Corser, meanwhile, appeared to have settled for third a nd fourt h , respectively. With about four laps to go from the end, the gap to the lead er from th ird-placed Slight had grown to so me three seconds. Ed wards, meanwhile, looked more a nd more in co n tro l o f th e battle over fifth - despite repeated a ttacks fro m Whith am. Th e race for th e lead came d own to the last lap, a nd what a race it was. Chili had chi p ped away a t Fogarty's lead a nd fina lly succeeded in ta kin g over the lead - no t at th e end of th e back straight, as everyone had ex pected, but a few co rners later. The Italian's lead was sho rtlived, however . Chili was st ill in fro n t in the last co rn e r before the infa mo us chicane leading to the start/ finish line, but b ra kin g for tha t d ecisiv e corner, Foga rty got th e be st line o n th e inside p uttin g Ch ili in a tou gh p o sit io n . T he Ita lian tried to go back to the insi de, but fou nd Foga rty was alrea dy there, lost th e fro nt end a nd crashed into the gravel trap. He franticall y g rabbe d his bike bu t nearl y the whole field rode past as he struggled to push th e bike back on to the track to try to push it ov er the finis h line. In th e fin al yards, he go t help. from several s p ec ta to rs, w ho ha d a lrea dy clim bed th e fences to celeb rate Fogarty's W In. Ch ili got his bik e ac ross th e lin e in 14th, but he was la ter d isquali fied fo r 37

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