Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127962
ROAD RACE W ORLD ENDURAN E C HAMPIONSH IP C By Johan Vandekerckhove Photos by Mark Wernham LE CASTELLET, FRANCE, SEIT. 12-13 it h the Wd rl d Superbike Championship ga rn ering so much a tten tio n as th e figh t for the title goes down to the wire with just a sing le round left , it would ha ve been easy to miss the tension building in th e fig h t for t he World En d u ra nce Champion ship. The final race of the seaso n - the 801 d'Or, held at Paul Ricar d didn't d isa ppoint, wi th all the ups and d owns, a nd more mileage covered in th is si ngle rou nd th an in' the whole Su perbike season combined. French journalis t/racer Bertrand Sebileau had been leading the points ta b le for the w ho le yea r, but had to re tire d uring the third hou r of the race in the south of France. And so it was 110t until the closing minu tes of the 62nd ru nn ing of th e Bol dOr race tha t the title fight was really over, when Christian Lavieille succeeded in takin g a very sick Honda RC45 to th e fin ish - even pus hing the bike at times - that he and tea mma te Doug Po len finally clinched the title. For Polen, this was his second co nsecutive end u ra nce crown, Wo rld Cham pions hi ps th e Texas ha s added since the two he secured in the hey day of his World Superbike career. Qualify ing was a double challenge for most of the top riders. First, they had their eyes set on Po len's fastest 1997 qualifying time of 1:57.936; second , getting under the two-minute-lap limi t on the French circuit was an abso lute condition to stay in the picture. W 6 • Round 4: 801 d'Or As expected, the fact ory bik es took the top fiv e positions, with Ber tr and Sebil eau / lgo r Jer man / Tain McPherson on the Kawa saki showi ng the way wi th a best lap time of 1:58.349, follow ed by Peter Goddard /Ter ry Rym er /Brian Morrison o n th e Suzu ki, La vi e ill e / Pol en /William Castes (Honda), [e ha n d 'Orgeix / La v ill a /l zutsu rid in g a Ka w a s a ki a n d Bru no Bonhu il / Eri c Ma he / A rna u d Va n den bossc he on a Suz u ki. Priva teer s Gu yo t /Cortinovis / Scarnato took th ei r Kawasaki to sixth starting spot, p receding even Jean-Marc Del e tang /J ean-Mi chel Bay le /Jea nPhillipe Ruggia riding for Yamaha and Jean Jea nda t / Ma uro Lu cch ia ri /Pere Riba on a Honda . Satu rday a t 3 p.m. the lights turned to green and 76 bikes s ta rted what all ho ped wo uld be a 24-hou r ba ttle against the com pe tition a nd th e t rea ch erou s co nd itions, with th e fa mous Mistral wind blowing rain clouds over the circuit at times. Slove nia n superbike rider Jerman confirme d his earlier demonstrations of speed fro m thi s year and took th e lead, soon follow ed by the second Kawasaki and the rest of the pack. The fas test Ka wasa ki of G uyo t battled up fro nt for onl y a few laps, befo re running into trouble with the rear whee l. Afte r just o ne hour of ra ci ng , the pace car was sen t ou t for the first time af ter a cras h involving two French p rivate teams . Maurice Coq suffered a concussio n, while T hierry Potie r , w ho crashed first, was take n by helico pter to the hospital, w here a spine inju ry was diagnosed . Al most half an hour later, Sebastien Scarna to - who took the priva te Kawasa ki to a stunning qualifying time - cras hed, but was ab le to push the bike back to the pit lane. The ir hopes for a good result were over. Abou t one hour later, his teammate Cortinovis d id it all over again after being surprised by the stro ng Mistral wind . As the riders came in for a second pit stop at the end of the seco nd hour, the number-on e Suzuki of God dard took command of th e ra ce , wi th o nly th e Ka w a saki of cha m pio ns hip poi n ts lead er, Seb ilea u running on th e sa me lap . The green cha llenge was not going to last lon g: During the third hour, the number-IO Kawasaki sto rm ed into pit lane, where the mechanics then op ened up the engine, on ly to find a valve had broken on one of th e inner cy li nders . The ra ce and titl e fight were over for Sebileau and hi s teamma tes . For Kawasaki, its only hop e was the other facto ry ZXR, ridden by d 'Orgeix, Lavilla and Izu tsu. They could still secu re the manufacturers title - if they kept strong for the next 21 hours! One hour later, ano ther factory bike went o ut. At 6:30 p .m ., Gra nd Prix rider Bayle was caugh t off guard by the win d a nd crashed his Yamaha at the very fas t Sig nes corner after the Mistral straight. At that point on the track, the fastest bikes reach a .speed of some 110 mph. eedless to say , the factory YZF was completely destroyed, with Bayle fortu nate 10 have been only shaken up. Bayle later blamed a plastic bag -that b le w onto the tr a ck and ca ught under the front wheel. "I didn't rea lize wha t was (Above) Racers run to th eir bike s in the Le Mans-style . start of the Bo l d'Or endurance race at the Paul Ricard Circuit in the south of France. (Left) Doug Polen won his seco nd straight Wo rld End urance title after fi nish ing th ird in the Bol d'Or.