Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Road Race Wor/~ Superbike C am n ip h pio sh A pigtailed Go be rt stands on the podium with his Vance & Hines crew chief, Jim Leonard, alter winning the first race. in g s tages as the three Hondas finished fifth,.sixth and seventh . "I just got edged ou t over the firs t kink a t the top of th e hill: ' Ed w ard s sai d of the start of the race. "I think it was C hili a n d Eric Bos trom in front of me. After tha t, a couple m ore wen t a rou nd th e o u tsi de, too. Af ter tha t, [ co ncen tra ted on passing ( Joriyu ki) H ag a, the n got in to a rhythm be h in d Carl (Foga rty). M y race time was five seconds fas te r th an th e o pening race, b u t 1finished a pla ce lower." Kawa saki' s Grego rio Lavilla e n ded up e ig h t h, wi th G odd ard n inth and H ag a 10th - th e Ja panese rid er s truggling with th e front en d of hi s Yama h a R7. CI/I couldn't push so much because it's easy to slide. 1 have to mod ify a little bit m y style and take care of my position." Fogarty ended up fourth a n d w a s pl ea sed to have Laguna behind him. " I didn 't want to lose t o o man y c h a m pi o ns hi p points here at Laguna Seca , a track 1 don't like very much," Fo garty s a id. " I changed- the b ike for Corser · still the one T race two. It seem ed eas ier to ride, but 1 kept the sa me tires. Even with the sec o n d bike , 1 still had a few problems in changing direction . Now I'm a lr ea d y thinking a b o u t the n e xt race s back in Europe." Fi fth went to Edwards , o ne s po t a head of his teammate Slight - who just got the better o f Eri c Bostrom in th e cIos- hose who were ready to just hand pole position to Vance & Hines' Anthony Gobert prior to Satu rday afternoon's '" '" '" 10 Superpole sess ion received a quick history lesson from Troy Corser. The man w ho has simply owned the one-lap Superpole forma t since its inception last year showed tha t he's lost none of the savvy it takes to put it all on the line for a onelap flyer. Corser, w ho ended regu lar qualifying as the third quickest of the superbike men, we nt out and turned a 1;26.194 on his Superpole lap. Then he just sat and watched Ben Bostrom and his teammate Gobe rt try to bet ter his la p. They couldn't, and the Aus tralian earned po le-position, his third of the year and the 19th of his World Superbike career - a mark that puts him jus t one be hind the all-time pole position lead er, Carl Fogarty . Corser's 1:26.194 was just a fraction slower than the 1:25.969 he'd turned in d uring regular qualifying on Friday morning and 'it was also slower than the new lap record time of 1;25.185 that Gobert had done on Friday afternoon. But those times mean nothing whe n it comes to Superpo le, and it was on a warm and sunny Saturday afternoon that Corser showed that he really has no peers when i t comes to Superpolc. He a lso showed that when it comes to racing at Laguna Sera . Corser is a pre-race favorite every time ou t. "It' s one of my favorite circuits. just a good, fun circuit to ride on." Corser said . '" try not to look at the walls and there are a couple of spo ts that I don 't like, but the bike works well here and the Michelins seem to hook up really well. Like' said; I enjoy riding here, and when you 're having fun out there on the bike, it's a lot easier ." Corser admitted that he was wat ching Gobert, wh o by virtue of his fastest times from Fridav was the last man to take to the track during Sup erpole. .• "No, I was having a cigarette." Corser joked . "I wa tch all the riders. Sometimes you can pick up a little bit. It's the only chance you get to see all the riders - the fast guys - out on the circu it and see wh at lin es they're using. You keep that for tomorrow and if you come up to one of them and want to make a pass, you've got a bit of an idea of what line they 're going to run on a fast lap. That sort of helps for tha t. It's a nerv e thin g. If you keep calm and no t push too hard and do a consistent lap, YOU' ll do a better lap time than if you go out there and try to attack the track. It's worked SO far." While Corser's lap was both smooth and fast, Gobert made several mistakes during his run at pole position, and those mistakes transla ted into a lap time tha t was off what the Australian had done on Friday . Still, his 1;26.199 was just off Corser's time a nd it pu t him right whe re he needed to be f" r Su nday's race on the front row . "I was prett y hap py, really, wi th what happe ned ." Gobert said . "I wan ted to be quic kest, obv ious ly, but 1 just wan ted to mainly get on the front row. I didn't want to risk cras hing and be on the fourth row. On this kind of a race track, if you' re on the fourt h row, you might as well forget about it - not even race. I wan ted to jus t be on the front row, so I'm happy with that. I expected to go a lot quicker than w hat we did. I made a few mistakes on that lap; I think I was trying a bit too hard, so I'm a little bit disappointed wi th myself. Normally, if you're on pole, Laguna Seca Raceway Monte rey , California Results: July 11, 1999 (Round 8 of 13) SUPERB IK E Q UALIFYING,!. T roy Co r ser 0 :26.194); 2. An thony Cobert (1:26.199); 3. Ben Bostrom 0 :26. 488) ; 4. A ki ra Yanagnwa 0 :26.4 16) ; 5. Peter Godda rd 0:26.963); 6. Eric Bostrom O:2b.939); 7. Co lin Edwa rds II 0:27.(02); 8. Pier-Francesco Chili 0:27.0%); 9. Ca rl Foga rty (L27 .137); 10. Noriyuki Haga (1,27.525); 11. Aaro n Slight 0 :27.617); 12. Ja mie Hacking 0 :27.684); 13 . Katsuak i Fujiwara (l :27.955); H . Igo r Jerman 0 :27.960 ); 15. Vi ttoria no Guaresc hi 0:28.295); 16. Greg orio Lavi lla 0 :28 .464 ); 17 . Lucio Ped er cin i you take it a little bit easier, so at least now I'll be more determined for the races tomorrow. It's just psychological. When you get pole, you tend to relax a little bit more than when you're not the quickest, because you're always putting in. I'm pretty fired up - I want to go out and race. I just hope we can run with these guys and so far this weekend we've proved that we can in practice and qualifying. so hopefully we can do that in the race and hopefully end up on the podium." Gobert also dismissed the notion that he and his AMA counterparts (and there were only five of them riding this weekend) had an advantage over their World Superbike counterparts because they race at Laguna twice a year. "Most of the teams come here and test before the deal, so we aren't really at an advantage ton much ." Gobe rt said , "only the fact tha t we 've done a 28-1 race earlier in the year. We're .11' down a little bit with Superpole in knowing how that ru ns, but I have done it before in Japan so I do know how it works. It's just the kind of thing where you do ha ve a lot of butterflies in your stomach. You don't want to cras h, but you still wa nt to go fast. There are " lot of things to weigh up before you fire it into tum one. For me, unfortunately, I fired it in a little bit too ha rd into a few turns. Troy (Corser) is a good ride r and he's got the Superpole sussed. He's always been fast on the Ducati and he's going to be tough tomorrow. , just hope that if anyone beats him, I hope it's me." If Ben Bostrom 's impressive World Superbike debu t last year didn't gain him an y att ention, Saturday's Superpole effor t and the fact that he was consistently ncar the top of the time sheets certainly did . In what was his second career Superpole effort , Bostrom end ed up third fastest with a 1:26.488. He's started his lap with a huge slid e out of tum 11 that hindered his drive toward the start/ finish line and the timin g beacon to begin his flying lap . • '" guess that was n' t such a good setup there." Bostrom said . '" was getting read y a nd (Gary ) Medley (his chief mechanic) said, 'When you come d ow" the hill, be on your lap .' 5Q I sta rted to wick her up a bit and I came off 11 and gave it full stick, and I guess the tire wa sn't read y to go yet. l tried to go out ther e and bust pretty big and I'm pret ty happy to be where we're at, in th ird . I ca me in and look ed a t my time up there and you think with as hard as you try out there that this thing is going to be a flyer, then you see it and you' re a little disappointed. But it was good enoug h and I'm pretty happy with it. The track 's a little bit squirmish today, but it's the sam e for every bod y, so tha t's no big deal ." He also spoke of being " tad on the nervous sid e heading into Supepole, "We have it a bit ea sier bec ause we just go out for a onehour session, like the regular qualifying sessions we've had here this weekend, so you can go ou t and work up to your speed," Bostrom said. "We were one of the top three guys, so we had to wai t a long time for Superpole and you get a bit nervous and yOll get the butterfli es gon g . By the time yo u go out, you're sha king. trying to shake 'em off by the time you come around to tha t green flag. I got half ()f 'e m shook off and the other half are still there, and I was trying to attack the track rea lly ha rd. These guys just rode better tha n I did , but we're on the front row and we have a good shot at tomorrow ." The front row would be filled by the first non-Ducati, the Kawasaki of Akira Yanagawa - the ma n who was so badly hurt here a yea r ago during the first World Superbike leg . His accident had occu rred in the Corkscrew and he approached that section w ith caution on the firs t day of practice . Wit h his 1:26.493, he showed that he certainly wasn't haunted by the incident come Saturday afternoon. . 0 :28...105); l B. Robert Vim (1;28.413); 19. Frederic Pro tat 0 :28.570 ; 20. Alto'S,.... ndre C ra mig ni (1:28.638); 21. Mauro a Lucc hia ri 0:29.035); 22. Lance Isaac 0:29.975); 23. Mik t-' s Smith (l :29.~4 1; 24. V. Karba n 11:32.766). RACE 1: 1. Antho nv Cobert (Due); 2. Ben Bostro m (Due); 3. Akira Yanega wa (Kawj: 4. Co lin Ed wa rd s II (Hen): 5. Carl Fogarty (Dud: 6. Troy Corser (Dud; i . Pier-Francesco C hili (5u7.) S. [e rnie Hackin g (Ya m); 9. ; Aaro n Slight (Hon): 10. Eric Bostrom (Ho n ); 11. Katsua ki Fuji wara (5 uz); 12. Gregorio Lav illa (Kaw) : 13. Igor l S Jerman (Kaw): 14. Lance IS. itC (Dud; 15. Alessand ro Gr amigni (Yam); 16. Ma u ro Lu cchiari (Y.1 m ); 17. Mike Smith (Ho nl. Tim e: 41 mi n., 01.'775sec. D istance: 28 taps , 601.96 miles Avera ge speed: 91.-t-t mph Margin of victory: 3.151 sec. Fastest lap. Anthony Cobert. 1:27_ / 92.022 mph, I.lp5 l6b RACE 2: 1. Ben Bostrom (Dud; 2. Troy Corser

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