Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Road Race Round 7: Dutch Grand Prix WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROAD RACE SERIES (Above) The 500cc Dutch Grand Prix storms to a start with pole s itter Tadayuki Okada (Si taking the lea d over Kenny Roberts Jr . (10), John Kocinski (19) and the rest of the pac k. (Left) Roberts stayed close to Okada early on, but the Japanese rider was able to pull clear to his first win of the season. the last bike in the gro u p, with all five crossing the line wi thin two- tenths of a second . A similar pitched ba ttle in the 125cc GP brou ght a finely jud ged fourth win of the year to Masao Azu ma's Hond a, nar rowly shad ing Nobo ru Ueda 's similar machin e and the Aprilia of Roberto Locatelli. on the ou tpaced Suzuki bu t was safely clear of the next gro up, headed by MoviSta r Ho nda 's Alex Barros. The n Roberts ra n in to tire p roblems and started to slow . The pack caug h t him on the last lap, w it h Barros actually get ting past, only to crash withi n yards of the finish. Roberts narrowly fended off Sete Gibemau, who finis hed on the rostrum for a second time in three races on Mick Doohan's vacant Honda. Behi nd him ca me Suzuki's No buatsu Aoki, in only his second rid e back after inju ry, holding off Ma x,Biaggi on the best of the Yama has by a rnatter of inches. Tetsuya Ha rada 's threat on the Ap rilia af ter three stro ng races amo unted to littl e on the fast hau ls of Assen , whe re the V-fou rs can show anything a clean pair of heels. He finis hed Tlt h, behind a fuming Barros, wh o remounted to claim 10 th. Austra lia n rid er Garry M cC oy took one poi nt for a rather brea thless 15th out of 17 finishers on the Red Bull Yama ha. Taking over the factory V-four in p lace of Simo n Crafar, this was the former V-twin rider and 125cc 's tar's first time on a race bike since the Australian GP eight months ago . The best 250cc race of the yea r saw the cream of the crop scra pping all the way to the flag, with the first five bikes crossi ng the line in just thr ee-quart ers of a second . Victory we nt to bad boy Loris Ca p irossi, so mbe r in his return after a o ne -race s us pe ns io n a n d s tea d fas t agains t ra cel ong a tta cks o n th e Axo Honda . Ap rilia.'s Vale n ti no Ross i wa s seco nd, wit h priv ate er Je re my McWillia ms brillia ntly win ning the lastcomer braking bat tle from points leader Tohru Ukawa's Shell Adva nce Honda. Shinya Na ka no's factory Yama ha w as Okada led off th e lin e, a nd for the rest of the race. He was cha llenged only once, when the pursuing Roberts moved alo ngside briefly u nd er bra king, bu t for the rest of the afternoon he simply made Assen his o w n . It was n o t a n eas y und erta kin g , and he ca me close to cras hi ng a couple of times, he ad mitted later. Bu t it was wha t he had to d o no t only to maintain con trol but also to vindicate his mist ak e from a week before w he n he le ft th e d oor w ide open fo r Criville on the last lap. " T wa n t to th a nk ev e ry b ody wh o wo rked so hard for thi s victory," he said , later. Robert s had push ed for a w hile but, as he explained afterward, the Suzuki's lack of overall power, coupled with an err atic throttle response, meant he had to enter a nd run throu gh the corners very fast , and once the tires w ere past their best, he could n' t do that anymore. "Plus, Ok ad a wa s riding excep tionally well," Roberts said . "I d ecided just to ru n at a steady pace and try and keep second ." Criville had go t awa y badly, and had moved up to sixth by the end of the first lap. Kocinski started to lose touch with the lea ders ea rly on , while Norick Abe a nd Barros d isputed the lead of the pack in pursuit. Th e p oints lea d er pa ss ed bo th of th em on th e th ir d lap , th ough it took two attem pts to ge t Barros, and then he put his head down, setting fastest lap so fa r as h e cl o s e d on Koc ins ki. He'd halved the gap to jus t over half a second an d was closing w hen he lost the fro nt end a nd s lid into th e barriers on th e fourth lap. The race went on as marsh als moved his bike and hu nted for the rider, 500cc GRA ND PRIX ~,....." By Michael Scott Photos by Gold & Goose I. lf' ASSEN, HOLLAND, JUNE 26 ssen is, by trad it io n , a p iv o ta l point in th e racing season. This yea r' s vis it to th e lo ngest an d fastes t track of the year wa s no exception. As 110,000 fans, basking in unusually dry and mild weather on the banks lining the sweeping zigzags and fast comers, th rilled to a day of superb Gran d Prix racing and ultraclose finish es - w it h th e tables turnin g for ma ny rid ers. Most significan tly for Alex Criv ille . The Spaniard arri ved in Ho lland with four race wins under his belt and a 55point title lead . Altho ug h he didn't qual. ify on pole posi tion, he was on the front row, an d might eve n have allowed himself a bit of a breathe r at th is difficult trac k, where he hu rt his han d so badly tw o years ago . H is race circ u ms ta nces fou nd him E II! III :! ~ ". Q en g: ~ ,..: >. :; -. 6 slow off 'the line, then go ing hard to try to sto p leaders Tadayuki Okada an d Kenny Rob ert s Jr. from ge tti ng too far away. He had jbird-placed Joh n Kocinski in his sights whe n he lost the fron t whee l and slid in to the air fence at high speed . He actua lly we n t under the fence and then under a tire barrier, and it took • so me tim e to ge t him ou t. The resul ts were partial hip d islocati ons, renderin g h im dou b tf u l a t bes t for the Br itish Gra nd Prix in one week. Wit h Kocinski fadi ng and Roberts' Suzuki unab le to sustain the pace, this left Okada to take a resou nd ing first win in two y ea rs . He se t fas tes t la p as he wo n by more tha n seven seconds but failed to crack the longest-stan ding lap record in racing, falling short of Suzuki ride r Kevin Schwantz's 1991 lap time by th ree-hundredths of a second. Th e race ha d seeme d processional , with Ca rlos Checa's Marl boro Yamaha also out of the action after an early-laps cras h. Rober ts rod e to a lonely second

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