Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1999 08 11

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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(Above) Freddie Spencer's return to racing didn't last until race time. The three-time World Champion . highslded In pract ice and injured a hand. (Right) Alex Barros teamed with Tadayukl Okada to give Honda the victory In the race that made up round four of the World Endurance Championsh ip. Hag a d u cked around Yanagawa in the S curves to claim third, and pu lled up alongside Okada in the long right swee pers be tween th e Hairpin and Spoon Cu rv e. Haga tailed Okad a through Spoon, and then d rafted and out-braked Okada at the end of the back 'straight to gain second . The gap to Ito was closed an instant, and at the end of the first lap the official Suzu ka Circuit timi ng computer repo rted the Ito-Haga interva l at 0.000 of a se cond . Oka da , Yana gawa , Kato, Edward s, Yoshikawa, Tak e ish i, a n d Kocinski followed, respectively. Haga accelerated past Ito and into the lead in turn one, and Okada decelerated past Ito and in to second on the brakes en tering the Hairpin. Okad a turned the tab les on Ha ga d own the back stra igh t and clai me d th e lead . The pin t-si zed Kato also pulled out into the passing lane of the back straight and took fourt h place away from Yanagawa. Haga did n't try a move on Okada on lap three un til the entry of Spoo n Curve, tho ug h th e attempt came from too far back and was un su ccessful. It left Haga 'p erfectly positioned for ano ther draft pass down the back stra ight , which happened as expec ted. Then the un expected occu rred: As Haga an d Oka da en tered the tig ht Casio Triangle, Kato blasted pa st bo th rid ers on the ins ide and was through the chicane before Haga and Okada had flicked their bikes the other way . The fans in the grands tands we re delighted. Okada was around Haga by the time the frenzy reached the Hai rpin, and on the four th time down the down-and -upand-down back straight , Okada drafted Kato, and Ito drafted Haga. O kada went unchallenged th rough most of the fifth lap, until Kato squeezed inside at the end of the back straight, saving his braki ng for the 130R comer un til the last millisecond . Less graceful action happened between Yoshikawa and Ryo, who came to gether and wen t off th e track. Yoshikawa dropped from eigh th to 32nd, and Ryo from ninth to 63rd and to the pits. Within two laps, Ryo had gone fro m fas t lap holde r a t 2:10.633 to firs t factory rider to parad e himself down the pit lane. Over the following three lap s, Kato, Okada and Ito stayed put, while Kocinski passe d Edwards , Yanagawa and Ha ga . Yanagawa was able to hang with Kocinski w h ile H a ga co u ld no t, a nd th e Kawasaki rider provided the live television audience with a bird's-eye view of the next significant upsetting of the runnin g o rder. As Kocin sk i lean ed h is Honda into the first tigh t right-hand tum of th e ch ica ne, th e si de of th e b ik e appea red to make con tact wit h the curbing, and the rear wheel was lifted off the track . The bike and rider slid and spun, bu t they were qu ickly back in the race, losin g just four positions . "I was just working my way up, and then I fell down in the chicane," Kocinski said. "That basically wrecked the whole day. It's hard to say wha t happened , bu t, anyway, it wen t down. That' s un fortunate, bu t that' s racing." Th e top spo ts remained sta ble over the followin g three laps. Then, on lap 13, the first of the race's two most significant crashes occurre d: It o lo w -s id ed his Ho nda at the apex of tum two , with bike and rider com ing to res t in th e gravel trap - and just like that, Ito and teamm ate Ukawa's ho pes of a th ird successive 8 Hours win were das hed. Coincidentally, Ito crashed the sa me way in the same comer while in the same position in the Suzuka 200-kiJometer race back in May. From that point until the pit stops that started on la p 24, the ord e r w ent unchanged: Kato, Okada (-9 seco nds), Yanagawa (-13 seconds), Haga (-16 seconds) , Takeishi (-3 seconds), Edwards (-7 seconds) , Koci nski (-20 second s), a nd Fujiwara (-4 seconds). "In the firs t session, the track was hot," Haga said. "I used a Michelin front tire th at wa s too ha rd . The front wa s cha ttering and dangerous . This compound was no good. " Ok ada echoed th e sa me concern abou t hi s Michelin front tir e and hi s diffiently in keeping up with Kato, who was using Du nlop tires. " My (expectation), fro m Sa turday already, was tha t Kato wo uld be quick- . er," Oka da said. "For me, the problem was the front side, and 1 cannot fix it. I just try to keep (a consis tent) lap time this is important. " Edwards' problem was similar, bu t with the rear tire. "I cou ld n' t stay with Kocinski's pace (in the laps pri or to Kocinski' s cras h)," Edwa rds explained . "He had a differen t rea r tire an d he was go ne. I mad e th e wrong tire choice beca us e we went ou t on it this morning (in wa rm u p practice) a nd it felt good for th e first five laps. Then 1came in and handed the bike over to Aaro n, an d he came back and said it wasn 't that good. I shou ld have listened to him, but 1d idn 't." When t he fir st round o f s to ps wasover, Ba rr os had claim ed th e lea d fro m Kate's teammate Makoto Tarnad a du e to qu icker p it wo rk by the factory H ond a tea m . Izut su wa s third , Laconi fourth, Seriza wa fifth, Slight sixth, Tsujimura seventh, and Hacking eighth. Tamad a let Barros get ahea d by five seconds ove r the early laps of the second stint, and then, starting on lap 30, Tarnada started taking one second per lap back from Barros. At th e en d of lap 35, th e int erval was less than a second, and on the following lap Tam ad a bravely passed Barros on the insi d e on Du nlo p curve, with Tamada's bike nearly horizont al and bot h ends slipping and slidi ng. Barros gave Tamada a tum at lead ing for four laps. During this time Serizawa pitted to rep lace a rear shock tha t had failed suddenly, a rep air tha t cos t th e team five minutes. Barros brou ght th e fi ght b a ck to Tamada on lap 40 with a pass going into the chicane, and Tamada respond ed by drafting Barros down the stra ight and retaking the lead in turn one. Barros then went into the Hairpin deeper tha n Tama d a and ca me out ahead, bu t Tamada drafted a ro u n d Barros o n the b a ck straigh t to regai n the lead . It was the last passing move for five laps, though Barros was only a slim second behind. Barros went on the offensive on lap 46 with a diagonal drafting pass on the back s tra ig h t that forced Tarn ad a wide and tow ard the edge of the track. On the next lap a pair of backmarkers held up Tamada at Degn er Curve, allowi ng . Barros to scoot ahead. Tarnada reeled Barros back on the following lap with a blazing ru n through the S curves, and pulled up wit h Barros at th e exit of Degn er - a p lace nobod y passes for the lead, but then Tamada is a first-year superbike ride r. Th at passi ng a ttem pt fa iled , but Ta mada sw u ng arou n d Bar ro s on th e front straight at the beginning of the next lap. Th e Ph ase 1 Endura nce tea m and Takahito Mori on an X-Formula- class Kawasaki ZX-9R were met in tu m one, which prevent ed Tamada from doi ng his u s u a l q ui ck scamper throu gh th e S curves. Barro s sha dowed Tam ada un til th e en try of Spoon Curve, w h ere h e pulled out int o th e d ayli ght a nd back into the lead. The next time around, there were no backma rkers in the S curves, and Tamad a s ho t pa st Bar ro s. It w as n ' t a clea n p a ss, a n d th e rid er s ca me to ge th er mom en tarily, leavin g the exhaus t pipes wo bbling and the spe cta tors cia pp ing. Barros tried Tamada on the back straight, but Tamada closed the door at the 130R cu rve. But the chicane that follows the 130R is nearly impossible to defend (ask Wayn e Rain e y so me ti me a bo u t th e m ov es Kevin Sch w a n tz use d to pull there) and Barros got the pass he wanted . Barros' lead was short-lived , as Tamada si m p ly he lp ed h im self to an easy d rafting pass d ow n the fron t straight. The remain ing parts of the lap we re an encore of previo us la p 3: Barros used the brakes going into Spoon Curve, Tamada used the draft down the back st raight, and Barros use d the brakes again at the Casio Trian gle chicane. Agai n, Barros was overhauled down the fron t straig ht. "I do n't think the guy (Tamada) has .so much experience for endurance racin g, " sa id the Bra zilian. "He trie d to make like a sprint race. But the race is too long . But it was spectacular for the pubĀ· IIe. " Barros brought an end to this toe-totoe fight by reporting to the pits as schedu led by his team, and .on the follow ing lap - lap 53 - Tamada was in the pits, too. The second stint ended with little other d rama: lzutsu ran in third uncontested , and Sligh t easily overtook Laconi fo r fourth . Tsujimura.had some chain problems - resid u al effects of Yosh ikawa 's incident with Ryo , that forced a visit to the pits, a nd the priv a te Kawasa ki of Tsu r uta was cla w ed up in to s ix th . Karneya, on the factory Suzu ki, overtook Hac king for seven th, while the Suz uka rookie hung onto eighth . As was the case with th e first two stops, the satelli te Ho nda team gave up time to the factory teams in the pits, and Kato was looking at Oka da and three seconds of em pty tra ck wh en the tempo resumed. That distance wa s reduced to '" '" '" 31

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