Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Road Race (Left) Edward s won his fifth race of the yea r in the firs t leg . (Righ t) The s econd race s aw Gregorio , Lavilla (6) g rab the lead. The Spaniard wou ld later crash while holding down a certa in podium finis h. Edwards , w ho w er e t o successfully ' a tta ck th e ir respective prey of Corser a n d Fogar ty with so me s peed by the end of la p fo ur. On la p five Carlos M aci as Perdomo was lapped b y Slight as th e pa ck chasing h im sta rt ed ea ti ng into h is a dva nta g e . O n la p six , b oth Edwards a nd C hi li m o v e d b y Foga r ty , w ho h a d s tar te d t o expe rie nce t i r e tro u b le . Havi ng just ta ken Foga rty a t th e fi nal co rner of la p six, Chili eased his wa y by Edwa rds in tu rn o ne o f la p seven and closed o n S lig ht li k e h e w a s a m a gnet. Sweepi ng p a s t in turn two on lap eigh t, Chili was a w a y a nd clea r in most peo p le' s eyes, while Igor Je rm a n would crash at th e sa m e corner o n the s a m e la p . On lap n in e, God da r d rejoined th e fra y t emporarily with C h ili drawing a way at th e rat e o f 1.4 seco nds p er lap, Edwards w as next to put a bike past Sli ght, b u t th e tough lit tle New Zealand e r was having none of it, barg in g past ag ain; and gappin g him a little a lmost in st ant l y . Ch ili , w e arer of l uc ky 7, c r as hed o n th e 13th lap , i ns t a n tly d emoting h im to a s ho rt- te rm s tretc her case as he crashed o n the descent to the Power Horse curve . Maybe it w a s the sig h t of this , o r ma yb e th e m y ste r y problem tha t C orser la te r r eported to h a v e clea re d it s elf, b ut th e Aussi e whi pped his Ducati to a g reater p a ce a n d s ta rted h untin g dow n Foga rty, fin all y p a s s in g him o n th e 15th lap . ' O n e la p la ter, Edwa rds had gained a fin al u p p er hand ove r Slight. The fo u r l e a d in g r id e r s w er e a whopping 28 s e c o n ds a hea d of , G uaresch i b y la p 17 , a s t h e le a d in g bunch set th e m s e lv e s up for a mammoth fou r-w a y s crap for th e win . Corse r's n ewfound s pee d wa s e n o ug h to take hi m to the lead o n la p 21 as the Briefly-',--~~ ... rains (wh ic h h ad abated, leaving a dry line ) des cend ed w it h r enewed vigo r , drownin g the tra ck a nd e ve n t u a lly scu ttli ng both Corser and Sli ght. T here w as plenty o f drama before t hat s t age o f pro ce edin g s , with Al e s sandro G r ami gni g e tti ng i n th e way o f Ed w ard s a n d th en Sligh t, a nd causing some s h a rp intakes of breath. With o nly 2.2 seconds covering th e to p four o n th e 20 th lap o f 25, Corser m ade his m o ve, a l th o ug h hi s pa s s o f b oth Cast ro l H o nd a s o n th e brake s at th e e n trance to turn o ne had a n impro vi sed a ir a bou t it. Though o n th e o u tsid e o f Slight, C ors er n onchalantly whipped ba ck to a ti ght li ne a nd to ok Edwar ds a t the apex, p ow erin g h is Ducati up the h ill to become the lea d er of the race. But only for a s ingle la p , as Edwa rds h ad g o t him o n th e s traight a nd Slight n ailed him on t he bra k e s a t C usse r Curve . T h e podiu m p ositions looked se t, but with the ra in fa lli ng in ever-increas- , ing quan titi e s, the G o d s w ere a ng ry wit h Co rse r a nd Slig ht for some rea so n . First Slight fell off a t the Giisser Curve, lo si n g it on th e brakes as h e tr i ed to Akira Yanaq awa's fine th ird place ' in Superpole ca me afte r a nasty~looking cra sh in the unt uned afte rnoo n session on Saturday, Otherthan,being k~ocked a little groggy by his impact with , the ground, and sc raping. his finge rs. the always' , The main s ubjects of co nversation for, the non-German-speaking . impressive Japanese rider still turned 'in asterlinq ... 'world at Austria wei,e the inte rlinked problems of the weather and wet Superpo le performance , t rack grip, The weather va ried betw een the ray of s uns hine peeking th rough the clo uds 'a nd full-on mon soon ccndittons . The World Superbike padd ock was ,so me what ,sometimes both on ,different parts of the 'circuit all at once, Carl ' ' subdued 'at the A-I Ring after the news that one,of Fogarty. as usual, was in the vanguard of those with definite opin- the ce ntral figures in the modem Flammini Ongani: , ions about the ,track itself, "Whe n we rolled up here we 'thought , zation, D u ncan Farley: S BK's commercial manthis might be a good circuit toride in the wet." he said , ,"But 'after age r, was ' killed during a 'motorcycle race at Cad- , _going round it's like .a n ice rink," When questioned about his repu- well Park in England the wee ke nd after the Brands tationas a poor wet-weathe r ride r, Fogarty was contrite and bull' Hat ch round , Exact deta ils a re sti ll unde r the ish in equal measure: "" I don't know where the"limit is inthe rain. en en en ~ cO Cii .c E Q) i5.. Q) en 22 scrutmy of the Brtttshauthont tes. but it is know n. ' s ta y with Edwards . N ot half a lap la ter; Corser was a lso down, fal ling whil e braking a t th e same turn o ne where he ha d so audaciously p as sed both H ond as ea rlier . Wiih Fog arty wa y back by this tim e, Ed w a rd s could have slowed to a walk , a n d still won, but he misread h is pit bo ard and thought th e re was s till danger . H is las t co u p le o f laps , running a rea r slic k in ful l-on ra in , w e re a m azing to b ehold , a n d there w a sn't a s in g le co rne r ex it th at the Te xan was n o t slidin g the t ail o u t of, somet im e s to the point o f n o re tu rn and back . He kept it t o g ether .s ound ly fo r an other w in to add to his Donington, A lbacete a n d Brand s H atc h s uccesses, w ith Fogar ty a w hole 20 s econds bac k, reli eved a nd delighted to be second . G ua resch i, havi n g a very im p ressi ve rid e to h is fi rst-ever W orld Supebike p od iu m was cool throug hou t th e race, b ri nging a smile to his team man a g er Davide Briovio's face that even H aga's d ouble crashes co uld no t wipe off, RAC E 2 Lavilla is no t the firs t person we ha ve ncial lmphcations of the uniKellner..It is un'de rst ood that the fina fication of Yamaha Deut schland 's administ rative and part s dlvl,s ions into one s ingle building is being blamed ,for the shocking news , but the s ums, involved in funding both the German Pro-S upe rbike and Supe rsport team s are put at '2 ' million ma rks -a drop in that particular ocean.Jt is also. unde rstood that the news was so mething of a surprise to Yamaha Motor Europe 's Motorsports division, ' ll.ndy Meklau, a former winner at the old Zeltweg circuit on a private Ducati, w as racinqon

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