Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GRAN PREMIO MARLBORO DE ARGENTINA (Right , f rom left to r ig ht) Alex Ba rr o s , Mlck Doohan and Tadayuki Okada celebrate their top-three fin ishes In t h e Argentin ian SOOc c Grand Prix. (Belo w ) Masau Azuma (20) leads Marco Mel an dri (13), Tomomi Manako (10) and L u ci o Cecchinello (3) in t he 12Sc c Grand Pri x. Simo n Crafar conclud ed a di re weekend with a d istan t 13th, only just fend ing off Jurgen van den Goorbergh's Vtw in DeeCee Honda . T hree seco nds away, Ralf Wald man n concluded hi s Mo dena s ca reer by clai m in g th e last p o int. The n came th e V-tw ins - Ma tt Wait ahead of Juan Bor ja, Australia n Craig Co n ne ll (s ta nd ing in ag a in for Ga rry McCoy), Fabio Carpa ni, and third She ll Ad vance rider Juan Pablo Gianini, from Argentina . Luca Cada lora 's return end ed w it h ye t ano ther abandonmen t, after he ran w id e in the first co rner a nd the MuZ dropped right to th e back of the field . He had moved thro ug h to 15th by halfdistance when he lost heart an d retired . Scott Smart did not start, after seria l gearbo x failure became terminal in racemorn ing wannup. Dooh a n ' s fi nal w in s t re tch e d hi s poin ts lead to the devastation point - 260 t o Biagg i's 208. Cr iville has 198, Checa just hung on to fourth on 139, with Barros on 138. Abe was top non-H onda on 128, then Crafar on 119. . . '. . W elkom in So uth Africa . sched uled as part , of a close -of-season" . the Argentine. race . crea ting the po ssibility that the outcome -of ' ty; at the mom ent it's riotthe easiest bike to ride . ".He was fasi all the 'championship will,not be know n. Sakata had already celebratthe time,' but had one very near-moment outof the saddle in praclo ng -distance marat ho n spa nning three co nti ne nts : A ust ral ia, .. . tice . He p ulled out of the race. ' . . · Sout h Africa and tw o 'rounds (B'razil and Arg entina) in Latin A meried winning his seco nd t itle in Aus tralia before being stri pped of th e po in ts . Cu riou sly , the.fuel was so far o ff from norma l. that ca, The last round is on October 3 1. The Imola GP is off the calJ o hn K~einski·,was:. i n a ch eerful fr ame ' o f mind in 'B ueno s ' en dar, b ut t he San M ari no GP hasrej oine d. at a track to be . th ere was cons iderable doub t that it wo uld improve p erfo rmance announced. . . . of an enqlneconflquredfor 199 8 unleaded gas., Kazata' s fuel, and Aires , laughing off suggestio ns that he might not find a ride next o ther samples from the Aprilia factory suppliers IP. had bee n test: year aft er poor, result s .in the- Sl to Pon s M oviSt ar team .' " HRC Miek Doohan w ill race a four"s troke for the first time in, five ed several times durlng the year, with no problems. It is po ssible ' haven 't decided yet" Kocinski said. " I may be in a different setup, that t he supp liers made a mi stake, and t he fu el was wro ng ly ' but I expect to be here .in the 500cc paddock ," He then added years a week after, the Buenos Ai res G P. He will face notonly GP teamrnatesTadayuki Okada and Alex Criville, W orld ,Superbike rid- ' labe led "1don't know anyt hing. W e' just use the fuel supplied, by ',' with a puzzling laugh, ..Unless I go AMA dirt track racing instead ." . . . .. .. . .. . ers Aaro n Slight and C olin Edwards , but also the' kamikaze cream . Ap rilia." said Sakata. ' .. S ito , P';ns 'has' saved his threatened tea;" by signing ' up J uan of Japan' s do mestic S uperb ike riders atthe season-ending Sugo . Borja. cu'r rentl i languishing in th e Shell Ad vance V- tw in Honda meeting, a round of the 'AII-Japan C hampionship.' Doohan and his , team. The Spanish rider , hith ert o considered promising bef ore his GP fellow s usually race thei~ GP bike's at the Sugo m eeting. ' but' 'switch to theuncornpetitlve two -cyli nder machine, brings some $2 there is no time t o get the, bikes back from South America, " . million in sponsorship from Valencia,' wh ich ,viii host it~ first G P Ke'';ny 'Roberts Jr; ;"ill' have his first 'test on th~ S u~u ki in next year. This wili help after a reduction in bac king from M oviS tar ', after he lo stCarlo s C heca to Yamaha . Alex Barro s, c urrently N ovember , as testi ng begins in earnes t only we eks after the last : undergoing something of a revival. w ill aiso join the Pons team, race. with a marat hon at Jerez including seve ral fac to ry teams . while h is curre nt team owne r. Fausto Gresini, will switch his eff ort · over a period of. seve ral days. Honda is testing alone , afte r Aprilia ,: to the 125cc class. ' " , ' (which had rented the track for tw o days) decl ined ,to allow them · to join in: S uzuki w ill then test in Japan, atthe Twin Ring M ot eqi, , Former: double 125 cc , W orld C hampi on H aru.c'hi k '; 'A o k l will swi tch from th e 250 to the 500cc class next year, riding a ,v·twi n . Argentina · pres~rved its reputation lo r being ab it ~ Id and wo ol: . Hondafor the same FCC-Techni cal S port s tea m for w hich h'e Iy, with the .occurrance of several wacky incidents. A s expec ted " race s an N SR ' 250: Technical S port s has.a clos e hist ory wi th practice started 30 minutes lat e ,on the first day - not only were Hond a.' .and currently builds the TS R. chassis ' used ' by severa l of marshals tate. but also the cl erk of the course and the medical th e be t te r 250cc -c1as s ,Ho nd a pr iv ateers , incl udin g Je r em y off icer. while the key of the safety car had been misplaced, .as M cW illiams. They recentl y moved from Jap an to the heart of the ' we ll as t hat for the gate giving ambulance access.Later. practice' racing belt in B rit ain, and .have plans to emulate Birnota with a had to be red -flagg ed when one of th e cleaning staff bicycl ed ,:"" ge of special spo rt s 'road bikes. . . . . . home -be side the -circuit . Alex Criville got a " Screa m e r" Honda NSR engine for the last ' C onfusion surrounde d the disqualification of K azuto ' S aka ta , ra ce o f th e year - making him the on ly rider apa rt from Mi ck 'after afuel sample taken at the A ust rahan GP was found to be ' . Luea C adalor a ( above ) made, a t hi rd G P re turn for t he ' f inal w ildly over th e lim it s in ev ery impo rta nt aspect. The FIM ,te st : race, this time onthe only non-Japanese' V·four - the Sw issAuto , . Doohan to have access to the enq ine configuratio n that pre-~ates ' ' found 0.4 grams/ liter of lead. agains t a perm itted maximu m o f MuZ. He h a d p rev io usl y t e s t e d t he bi ke bu t re s iste d t hei r the otherwise universal close-finnq-order ~ Big Bang." " It's harder ' 0.0 13g , a M otor Octane N umber ,of 98.5 against the . limit of 90 , . requests to race it until the closi ng races in Latin Ame nce . one of . to ride , but it feels more like a real race engine," he 'said after the w hich wa s canceled . The passion of the enterprise, he said,' was firstday of prac tice , w hen' he had a heavy high-side cras h. He had and a Research Octane Number of 1t o against 102. His team has appealed , and has a rlght to have a seco nd sealed sample < hich w what had brought him back . ".1 don' t need to show my 'qualities or ,' the ' choice of the' other engine as we ll. but , he elec ted to perse, w hatl can do on a bike." he said. " I Just like to ride a 500 . and " ' ft they reta in) to be independently test ed, w ithin a five-day deadline. . " , vere with the more feisty mot or with 180 -degree cranks ha tim This had to be 'extended , ho w ever , be ca use the sample -was ' afte r. several months away ; the ~me wa s ~ght t~ do it aqam.": He . ing . M ax Biaggi has bee n asking Honda for a "Screamer" ali sease aled in t he c ra te s in tran sit fro m 'Au st ralia: This meant th e . p r~ s ed t he ~owerful, eng me. and setd . There are a few small . so n, wit hou t success . C riv ille has tested it in the past. but . he . results 'of the second tes t wtllnot be known until the wee k aft er ' . thmgs to be fixed, but no real bad points - Just to Improve rideabtli- : crashed that time as we ll. ·

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