Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left ) Aaron Slight (111) was th ird in both races. Here he holds' off his teammate Edwards (5). (Below) Corser (11) tr ied to ho ld back Chili (7) and Slight (111). He was able to both times out, with the Austra lian tak ing home two secondplace fi nishe s. Normally any rider winning a double would be th e headline s to ry , but for Carl Fogarty, w in ning at Assen is not news. Of g re a t s ig n if ica nc e a s Foga r ty leaves o ne fast and hist or ic circu it for anothe r a t Ho ckenheim ne xt w eek is that his wi ns, both ah ead of his closest cha m pions hip challenger Tro y Corser, ha ve ta ken him from merely being 61 point s in the lead to 71 - with a gra nd tot al of only 100 possib le fro m the last fou r races . "Assert has alwa ys been good to me, since I first came here in 1989," Fogart y said. " It rewar ds goo d corn er speed and I make u p a ll m y time go ing in to the turns. I wa nted to wi n 1a races this yea r, and I' ve d on e it now. Th ese two wins make u p for the d isappoin tmen t of not wi nning at Bra nd s Hatch. I can' t believe how ma ny peop le traveled fro m Britain !-lve r h e re to see me, so it's g re a t fo r th em . Th en aga in w e 're (the Brit ish) e ra p 'a t e ve ry o the r s p o rt s o I g uess that' s why they come!" Des pite no thing sho rt of d ominating th e cha m p io ns h ip race now , Fogar ty will still give no grou nd on qu estions of his cha m pionship itself. "When I've go t tw o hands on the trophy I'll call it my ow n, bu t not before," Fogart y said . "As lon g as I do n' t worry what oth er peop le tell me abou t the title being mine, I'll be okay ." The worry a t Assen was all heaped on his o ppo ne n ts, str uggling with not only Fogarty's m ystical che mis try with Du tch tarmac but also wi th the mysterious ly wa rm weather. . Identical pod iums of Foga rty, Co rser a nd Aaron Slig h t, a nd the clea r gaps between first , seco nd an d third depict a d ay of d ull races and procession al finishes, bu t nothing could be less accura te. Each race fea tured tit an ic battles of streng th and, in terms of men, machine and tires, endurance, as all out war was d eclar ed beh ind Fogarty. Co rse r, u na bl e to de n t Fog a r ty's Assen armo r even after se tting a Superpole time hal f a second faster than anyone an d ga pping the whole field by .7 of a second on the first lap of race two, was the on ly top rider to thr eaten his teammate all d ay. "A fter Ca rl got clea r in race one, I tried to get to the fron t as fast as possible and go t my head d own , but I think Carl's 16.5 tire compa red to my 17 was ' w orking a bit better," Corse r sai d . "I cou ld go fast for one lap, bu t I couldn' t do it consiste ntly. It sucks to have to settle for second , but I reckon the title will still go to the last round like always ." Third place in both races was Slight, back a t Assen and loving it, if not the act ua l race resu lts. "I' rn di sappo int ed not to have won toda y, bu t I'm satisfied with a couple of ros tr u m fin ishes to ta ke to the n e xt round," Slight said. Wit h very few ob vio us overtaking places, d esp ite a pro fusion of cam bered co rners , ha irpin s a nd even s tra ig h ts, Assen favor s the bra ve an d committed rid er, as Sligh t and Co rser fou nd out in o n e co rne r, wh e n Slig h t's fro nt ti re ru bbed Co rse r's leg . "Aaron ca me up insid e while I was tipping in bu t he was still moving ou t, so I had to lift to avoid him or we would definitely have cras hed," Co rse r said. It w a s a p o or da y fo r C o lin Ed w ards II, by h is ow n hig h sta ndards a t lea st. Looki n g for tw o w ins to ge t some kind of rea listic cha m pions h ip cha lle nge und erw ay agai n, he ended the da y wi th a fifth an d six th, s trug - g li ng with se tu p after good sta r ts to both races. "I wan ted to keep third place, but in the end I did my best and cou ld n' t d o any more," the Texan sa id. " It was jus t li ke Phillip Isl and all ov er, w her e the Du catis went to the fro nt and Aa ron and I we re battling for third place. They had the edge on the day." Pier-Fran cesco Ch ili had a hard day ' a fter the elatio n of Aus tria only se ven days ea rlier. "We ha d big p ro b lem s in race one wit h the tire," Chili said. "Af ter half d istan ce it was finished . At the end 'it was sim ply im possible. We tried a differe nt, longer gea rbox in race two, which may have been a bit too lon g, and a d ifferen t tire, but I had a lo t of cha tter en tering the corners a nd I knew fro m the second or third lap I had no chance. I am very disappoint ed beca use I go t go od starts in both races." As d id Kawa saki's Akira Yana gawa, victim of a concussion at the A-I Ring, bu t cha rging into the lead in convincing fashio n in race one, only be overhau led by the red and whit e boy s, en route to a sixth and fourth. " I go t a very good s ta r t, bu thad prob lems to co ncen tra te ," Yanagawa sa id . "Even early in the session I had a terrible head ache, and it was very hard to figh t the hea t and the pai n. My concen tra tion was at a hig her level in the seco nd race and I had a very good fight wi th Slig ht and Edwards. In the end I go t a prob lem wi th my eyes and I can' t see s traig ht - a kind of double vision I guess . But right now I am very happy, and very exha us ted ." His teammat e Gregorio Lav illa beat wil d -ca rd ri der Ch ris Wal ker in race one, bu t on ly jus t. He was far more convincing in the seco nd ou ting, taking seven th. "I foun d myself in a real fight in race one," Lav illa said. "I though t I coul d ru n a few lOths fas ter than them , bu t there was no way to get past them and make a gap. I was followin g Akira quite easily in th e seco nd ra ce , unt il (No rivu ki) Haga braked too early and blocked me. The front group we re too far in front for me to hunt d own onc e I h ad passed him." An d y Mekla u co n tin ue d his g oo d form from the A-I Ring, with an eighth in race one ahead of Lavilla, and a ninth in r a ce t w o - a hea d o f a o n ce m o r e 15

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