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/127970
I A be, o n ly to s ee the Fr e n ch e xmo tocross su persta r s u ffe r a se rio us co nc uss ion befo re th e seas o n beg an . Their sec ond team had tw o new men: ex- su pe rbike rid er Simo n Crafar from New Zealan d , a nd e x-V-tw in cha rger Regis Lacon i from Fra nce. Mod enas sig ned ex-250 nearly man Ralf Waldmann (still ho ld ing the reco rd for the most GP wins witho u t a title) to join Kenny Roberts Jr.; Mu Z took over the Elf (Swiss Auto) p roject, only to lose fast rid er Dorian o Romboni to injury in the seco nd race. The V-twi n ranks also saw a pr eseason crash tragi call y e limi nate middle Aoki brother Takuma - now consigned to a wheelchair after breaking his back to b e repla ced a t the la st minu te b y s uper-s u b Set e Gibernau , on the o nly factory twin w ith Aprilia having wit hdrawn. Of the priva tee rs, the most professional effort was mounted by Du tchm an Jurg en van d en G oorbe rgh , o n Barros' ' 97 sem i-factory bik es. Most of the rest had high er hop es than resou rces and were to struggle all season as the no-lead fuel made the engi ne s har d to tune, a nd unreliable gearbox pa rts mad e them sca red all yea r of the d read ed tota l lockup. 500cc KING OF THE WORLD 'Before getting lost in the trees, let' s look a t the kin g of the ju ng le. Doohan rea lly had to work for this' title, and it brought out the best in the second -mostsuccessful rider (so far) in World Champ ion ship h istor y. Wa y back before the long su mmer br eak (which was a ma rve lous opportu nit y, b y th e w a y, fo r injured riders to recover ), he racked up his 50th GP win and the Hon d a N SR's l 00th. By the season's end his tally wa s 54 wi ns, jus t 14 short of Giaco mo Agostini's all-time record of 68 wins in the 500cc class. And th er e a re 17 races on next yea r's calendar... First there was the bad luck . An erro r of jud gem en t in the first round in Japan, running across the dirt in the early laps, was followed directly by a rare but complete e~gi !1l! blowup: no points, He won in Mal av sia, was second to Cri ville a t Je rez, fi~st a t Mu gell o a nd seco nd (to Criville again) in Fra nce . And then he was knocked off at [ararna. ow laggi ng serio us ly on poin ts, he cli mbed ba ck into con tention, wi nning at Assert, secon d to noncon tender Crafa r in Brita in, first again in Ger ma ny. He had regained the po ints lead - on ly to lose it agai n to (Above) Doohan gets a congratulatory hug from his gir lfriend. Selina. after another successful day at the office. (Right) Max Biaggi (6) leads Jean-Michel Bay le (12). Doohan (1). Criville (4) and Kenny Roberts Jr. (10) in the Japanese Grand Prix. some (a nd proba b ly doomed) V-fou r 500s ac tua lly made th em lap quicker. O ne su rp rised engineer co m mented d ryly, " If we keep making these things less powerful, there's no telling how fast we can make them go." The drama was played out in 14 acts . T h e re s ho uld have been I S, bu t the penultima te race in Brazil was co ntroversially can celed wit h only three weeks to go. The p laye rs were m uch the same as last yea r, wit h two sig nifican t addition s to Hon da's V-four Repsol regulars Doo han, Crivi lle and Tad ay uk i Ok ada : four-ti m e 250 cc cha m p Bia g g i, a n d World Supe rbike Cham pion John Kocinsk i. Alex Barros, Bra zil' s lon g-servi ng bright hope, had also gained tw o cylinders to rejoin the top rank; Ca rlos Ch eca stayed on as Kocinski's team mate. La st ye a r' s top r oo k ie, Nob u at s u Aoki, third ov erall in 1997, switched to Su zuki - wi thout their long tim e sp o nsors Lu cky Strike but with an all-new bike. Yamaha, mean while, gained JeanMichel Bayle from Mod en as to rid e their new bi ke al ongsi d e o ld hand oric k • , Lrl N l-; a; .c E a; > o z 9