Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE W ORLDC AM IONSH H P IP ROAD RACE S R E IES ~' J.> . .. " ;V~~' an " ", '\ ' ~;,,,':<:'i-. ,;'• ." "~!i;;~ "'~ " :.. Oliv ier Jac'que (19) leads t he 250cc Grand Prix. He would eventua lly finish secon d after Lori s Capir oss i was exc luded fr om the resu lts. 250cc Gra nd Pr ix Hondas are regul ar ly quick off the line, and in this case it was Jacque taking the holeshot, head ing Torhu Ukawa an d tearaway priva teer Honda rider Roberto Rolfo, wit h Har ad a fourth. The othe r tw o Ap r ili as we re slo w away, with Ca p irossi fin is hi ng th e firs t lap back in eighth and Rossi in 12th. Th ey were soon mo ving throug h , . whi le Harad a w as sec ond on lap two and first the next time aro und - he was rap idl y startin g to pull away fr om Jacqu e and the rest. Ca pirossi go t to second on the seven th la p, by w hi ch tim e H arada w as almost tw o se cond s clear - which w as not enou gh for th e way Capirossi w as ridin g: rig ht on the limi t. Two laps later, Capirossi h ad closed righ t up and gotten past quite easil y. Now began a deadly serious ga me . Capirossi was flying, but Ha rada could m a tch him, a n d he stay ed ri gh t up behi nd . On lap 11, he sailed past und er br ak in g for tu rn o ne , on ly to h a ve Capirossi force his way ahead once more wi th a forceful move on the next comer. Four lap s later , th e y did it ag a in , though this time Capirossi follow ed for a lap before pulling the sa me mov e. They were alone up fron t at this stage, and their oppos ing tactics were plain to seaHarad a wan ted to slow the pace, and Capirossi wanted to speed it up, and as the finish approac hed , he rea lly put his head d ow n and tried to ru n away. Yet again , Harada went wit h him. All this time, Rossi was on the march, and he got into third on lap 11 - having alr ead y set a new record on lap six. He said later that he cou ld n' t catch the two lead ers, bu t it looked more as thou gh he wa s hangi ng back to a v o id gettin g mixed up in their title figh t. He cou ld n't keep it up, though , and w ith the fron t tw o mak ing the odd little error in their fig h t, he close d a gap of 1.3 seconds to less than ha lf a second on lap 22. Ca pirossi' s wild ridi ng was helping Harada, and at the end of the 22nd lap Capirossi missed a gear in the fina l corn ers, w h ic h drop ped h im to seco nd . The n Hara da d id the same, d ropp ing to _ th ir d a nd ha o din g th e lea d ba ck to Capirossi. T11ey started the last lap in that order. Then Capirossi ran wide' on a tigh t left, givin g Rossi his chance to dive through, with Hara d a foll owi ng s ho rtly afte rwar d . It seemed the ma tter was set tled until Capirossi's extraordi na ry attack on th e last corn er sen t Ha rada tumbl in g into the gravel. "He cou ld have killed me," Harada said later, with 'grea t jus tifica tio n. "If that' s the w ay he wants to race, the n I must con gra tulate him ve ry mu ch for his titl e." It was the most sarcas tic thi ng any00 one had ever heard Harada say . C\ C\ Capirossi tried to defend himself. ~ "Every time he pa ssed me , he we nt ~ rea lly slow," Capiros si said . "Then , in l-; the last comer, he was very slow again : Q) Yes, I was trying ve ry hard because I ,.D wan ted the champ ions hip. Bu t I di dn' t try to hit him. He closed the door on me. Q) > I'm no t happy wit h what ha ppened , bu t o tha t's racing." The cras h promo ted Jacqu e to ano ther lu cky rost rum finish, eve n thou gh he was miles behind . He was d oubly lucky, 8 Z 10 .we' eve Sou thBay T riumph sets worldrecords at EI Mirage and Bonneville. Are we stoked or what? , Matt Capri's South Bay Triumph team recently blasted not one, not Iwo, but three world la nd speed marks - 164.89 mph in . Stock Production and 172.8 mph in Modified Production on the dirt at EI Mi rage. And a monster 173.735 mph Modified Production record at the Bonneville Salt .Flats, topping Kawasaki's ten year old record. And the season's not over yet, so who knows how fast these guys will ultimately go? Then Orange County Triumph Racing nailed down nrst, third and fourth in the AMA Pro Thunder Series with an injured Paul Harrell's second place fin ish at Las Vegas. Mickey Cohen's team began the season with

• Cover