Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Above) The debut of the World Supersport Championship saw hectic action in turn one. Ruben Xaus (23), race winner lain MacPherson (12) and Stephane Chambon (3) lead the way.(Left) Colin Edwards II did well considering he was racing with an injured right shoulder. He finished fourth and fifth in the two races. Tires started to become an issue at a very early stage because of the mid-80s temperatures and the unusual nature of' Kyalami's tarmac, which looks polished but offers reasonable grip. With Corser toiling on his 16-inch rear, Slight closed on the number-ll Ducati at a great rate of knots, but he couldn't make any of his moves stick. Sadly for those expecting the usual paint-work molestation and elbow banging, the most enthralling spectacle from first to ninth places from then on in was watching Fogarty control the gap ahead of Corser as he conserved his tires to finish five seconds ahead for victory number 49. There was a greater degree of tension at the back of the field, with Ducati riders Lucio Pedercini and Carlos Macias crashing on lap 16. The other works teams - Kawasaki Eckl and A1'stare Corona - were a li ttle off the pace. Chili's mistake in Superpole effectively cost him any chance of a podium finish, and the best he could do was 'match his race finish with his race number: even. The Kawasaki boys, Yanagawa and Lavilla, partially overcame tire, suspension and a degree of power disadvantage to take ixth and eighth, respectively. Local hero Lance I aacs was giving it all he had on his NCR Vodacom Ducati for the minor points placings, swapping places with Gaureschi and Meklau before giving way to them both. Former AMA Superbike winner Alessandro Grarnigni had a relatively drama-free in.troduction to his btandnew-out-of-the-crate Yamaha, following up his Superpole qualification with a single point for 15th.. RACE TWO The much-delayed start to race two, a result of Brett MacLeod's fatal accident, saw a different machine enter turn one in the lead. Slight's triple-one number plate led the first few ....- ners, withthe pack forones of Corser corthe double and .~ the single one of World Champion Fog4: arty closest to him. By the end of lap one, Fogarty had 24 exploded his own myth that Kyalami was a hard track on which to overtake by blitzing past both his main rivals effectively ending the race as a contest. . The Lancastrian was untouchable, operating on a different plane of speed and confidence than everyone else on the day. Romboni made a better go of staying at the front for longer this time around, but startee) going backward a third of the way through the 25 laps. Haga was the oppgsite, charging headlong for the first three laps to move from sixth to second. Fogarty proved to be out of reach, as did the checkered flag, when Haga crashed on lap 14, almost' taking out Slight in the process. Sligh t remained unfazed enough to keep his inhe.tited second place unnl the nag, despi te a fai,led last-gasp move by Corser, which saw the Australian almost run off the track. Behind the leading group and the Texas lonesome star Edwards, the Aprilia of Goddard made an impressive showing until the dreaded overheatedtire syndrome struck, dropping the black Aprilia back through the group of Fujiwara, Yanagawa and Lavilla to fini h a creditable seventh - two seconds down on Lavilla. The Spaniard had another tough race but stuck at his task to end the day sixth in the table behind his teammate Yanagawa, who had another solitary race once he had disposed of Goddard. Guareschi succumbed to privateer riders Vlm and Pedercini, but he gained an extra point when Meklau crashed at the chicane. .Corser naturall E ven after the first practice, the new order for the season ahead was set. And it is set to the old order of la t y~ar. Ducati and Honda were consistently in the top five places, with Yamaha's Noriyuki Haga and Suzuki's Pier-Francesco Chili joining in on occasion. '1 think the title will be decided between tllese four riders (Carl Fogarty, Troy Corser, Aaron Slight and Colin Edwards)," Ducati Performance team manager Davide Tardozzi commented. "Maybe at some race Chili will win - he is a big threat - and Haga-san will also be strong." The 1999 Ducati shows few - but significant - changes over the 199 machine. arrower 42mm Ohlins forks have been chosen in a back-tathe-future move after exhaustive back-to-back tests with last year's much thicker units. Other main alterations are to the rear suspension and the full-time adoption of Brembo's radial brake calipers. The two completely new bikes in the World Superbike series had, by and large, successful early outings in practice. Haga was the best of the new bike riders, taking his factory R7 to sixth place in regular qualifying and improving that to a front-row position with a typically aggressive lap in Superpole. The main blot on the R7's early copybook was the electrical breakdown of Vittoriano Guareschi's Yamaha just as he was going Ollt to cut a quick lap on qualifiers. Peter Goddard was also well on the pace of the lesser works teams, putting the V-twin Aprilia RSV on the tilird row with a ninth place in Superpole, after a top-10 finish in practice: "The engine is so much better than it was, but the main setup problem we have now is with the front suspension," Goddard said. The Aprilia has a peculiar characteristic where the forks rebound a lot when the brake is released, upsetting the front just as Goddard wants to flick the bike into the corner. "I reckon there's another second and a half to come with the lap time once we get that sorted," he said. "The rest of the bike is really good, even at such an early stage of development." Among many people impressed by the V-twin ApriJia was Corser, who has gone on record before as saying that making a 6O-degree Vtwin was the way to go forward. . "It's pretty much a brand-new bike, but I think it will surprise a few people after the middle of the season," Corser said. One of the traditional limiting factors on Ducatis is the inclined 90- Tragedy overshadowed the first round of the World Superbike Championship at Kyalami after the death of local 600cc Supersport rider Brett MacLeod. A first-lap leader MId the secondfastest qualifier for the race, MacLeod dropped back down the field at the end of lap one and eventually crashed between the chicane and final corners. Massimo Meregalli and Davide Bulega got tangled in the incideTlt - Meregalli was reported to have unavoidably struck MacLeod - and the race was eVeTltually red-flagged and delayed for almost an hour. Meregalli suffered a broken arm and wrist, with Bulega fracturing his lower leg. MacLeod, who had tested Kenny Roberts' Modenas in preseason Jerez sessions, was declared dead at the medical center at 4 p.m. This incident cast a sad pall over lain MacPherson's outstanding performance on the Team Eckl Kawasaki ZX-6R. His win now gives him a World Championship victory to add to his .Thunderbike and British Superbike wins ~ and all on a 1998 specification Kawasaki. What will they do with a '99 model? degree layout of the engine, preventing any attempt to shorten the wheelbase without running into problems with tire clearance. The old bikes in the series have undergone their share of improvements to me.et their new challengers. Further secrets of the Honda's new Showa front fork system have been discovered at Kyalami. The remote reservoirs fitted to the works RC45's chassis rails are apparently not only volume-increasing reservoirs but contain spring-loaded pistons which move back as internal fork pressure increases. This additional increase in the effective fork volume, reducing the buildup of pressure, leaves the spring and damper, units to do their job with less interference from the medium of compressed air. The main benefit to tlle rider is that, as the forks compress under braking, their ability to deal with bumps is maintained a little more. This adds to tile a!ready beneficial effect of an increased effective fork volume, allowing much more fine tuning of the effect air can have on the front forks. Edwards has been much happier with the feel he can extract from the front end since the system first appeared, claiming that it allows hirn to ride the front with more confidence. It is understood that he is less pleased with the new perimeter-style Br~mbo braking system. Corser was once more King of the SuperpoJe grid on his Ducati Performance 996, squeezing out teammate Fogarty with a brilliantly controlled ride on the final lap of the day. He now shares the record for pole positions in the series with Fogarty and former champion Doug Polen on 17. He divulged his secret for Superpole success at the Saturday press conference. "You make a lot of risks for yourself in Superpole," he said. "One small mistake and you might crash and end up on the fourth row. r don't go 100 percent during Superpole; r actually try harder during regular qualifying than I do in Superpole- but the time comes easier." Superpole itself saw the unusual sight of virtually every rider improving on his best regular qualifying times, most notably Dorlano Romboni, who tiuew his Du.cati around Kyalami 1.1 seconds faster in Superpole than he managed. in his crash-affected practice sessions. Of the 16 Superpole participants, only six never improved on their best regular qualifying time. "It's a little cooler than it was duriog regular practice," said Goddard, explaining this strange phenomenon. Austrian privateer Andy Meklau.slashed 0.6 seconds off his 1:46.126 Superpole time after a very aggressive flying lap. Fifteenth after regular practice, one place ahead of Italian Allesandro Gramigni, he improved to snatch the last spot on the third row of the final grid position.

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