Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Road Race Round 11: City of Imola Grand Prix WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROAD RACE SERIES Pole battle to Criville A en en en '" Q; .c E .s c. Cl> en 8 lex Criville was the wi nner of yet another battle roya l for po le, wi th the first nine riders within a second , and the front row covered by jus t over thre e-tenths. The Honda rid er had actu ally s topped ea rly and watched from the p its as Kenny Roberts j r. put in a stro ng bid to ous t him . " It was p rett y tense," he said. "I pulled in because too man y people we re tryi ng to follow me." Before that, it look ed as thou gh he had just been doin g just enough to stay on top, upping his pace every time it becam e necessar y. No t so, he sa id . "I am on the limi t, nothing in reserve. It looks like it will be a very close race. But the bike feels good and J like the track ." Roberts missed his target by just over a Hlth, and was less confident. "I won't be disappointed if it rains, because tha t levels things out," he said. "We found some good things in our test afte r Bmo. The chassis is good and the engine is go ing well. But we . still have suspensio n problems. If it's dry, I'll have to make sure 1 get a goo d sta rt an d lead , so 1can trv and control the race from the front." ext carne Alex Barros , after a very serious bid for pole, reflecting his increa sin g confidence. "I have found a good rhythm and 1 like this track," the Brazilian said. "I am not in wit h any cha nce for the cham p ionship, but I thin k J can win this race." So too d id Carlos Checa. who bo unced bac k from yet another tu mble (his 24th this year) on the first day to produce cons istently strong times. He was full of confidence, after finding new suspension settings at Brno that "allow me to ride the bike steering with the rear whee l, the way I like to ride." Tad ayuki Okada led row two, anot her to recover from first-day injury. He didn' t fall off, bu t a massive slide saw him slam down onto the fairing ches t-first . "Nothi ng was brok en, bu t it is very painful," he sa id . No rick Abe came next, his '98-spec Yam ah a ahead of Max Biaggi's full wo rks bike by less than a tenth. Biaggi was so mewha t d isconsolate as consistent good results continu e to elu de him in his first Yamaha season. "The bike doesn't have a good balance her e, thou gh we have improved it a bit," he said. He is using a new chassis, as at Brno, and the la test gas-filled Ohlins forks, while Checa is on a sta nd ar d chassis. Regis Laconi concluded the seco nd row a fter showing well in the we t; jo hn Kocinski led row three from Nobua tsu Aoki 's Suzuki , Sete Gibemau an d Garrv McCov . Gibernau was rid ing hurt after his Brno test crash , with his left little fingerin a special cast. . McCoy was alo ngsi de on the second Red Bull Yamaha . He'd earlier bee n in con tention for the front row, in a typica lly exciting performance on the edge of adhesion , wit h at leas t one trip acro ss the gravel. "I'm disappointed," he said . 'T his is my fifth race on the V-four, and 1 hop ed to be doing better." His team, how ever, was pleased with his speed an d his attitud e, after their d ifficult start to the year with the severely detuned Simon Crafar. Tets uya Harada 's Aprilia V-twin was a disappointing 13th, leadi ng the fourth ro w. . Nobody, it seemed, was more surprised than Oliv ier Jacqu e to be on pole for the 250cc GP, in his third race back after a long absence because of injury. "I am still working on ge tting used to the Yamaha and ge tting the best out of it. I expec ted to be on the front row, bu t not fas test," he said . But Imola was a favorite track, he admitted , and his bike was working very well. It migh t have been di fferent but for Loris Capirossi's life-threatening enco unter with a wasp in the closing laps (see Briefly...) - the vengefu l Honda rider was on a major mission for pole at the time, and ended up less than two -tenths d own. Valentino Rossi was less tha n two-hund red ths away from him, but had only found the spe ed in the last session. "We couldn't find the grip and 1 could n' t open the throttle out of the corn ers ," Rossi said. "Then we made some su spension changes, and they worked. I could have gone faster, bu t there was too m uch tra ffic." (Above) Earlier in the GP, Barros (5) had his hands full with Norlck Abe (6) and Max Biaggi (2) . Abe crashed and Biagg i ended up third. . (Below) Th e two men who made it exc iting to the very end: Alex Barros (left) and Alex Criville (right). • cou ld n' t move aro und on the bike as I . u su a ll y d o . Ma ybe I learn ed a ne w sty le." Rober ts got back ahead of his team mat e wit h thr ee laps rema ining - Aoki was hav ing troub le over the bumps wi th his left wri st , broken a t [erez, and still bad enoug h for him to need heavy taping to ride. "Abou t eight laps from the end I lost pow er in my hand . It was a problem to hold on, let a lone to change di rection in th e chican e," he said, afte r finishing seven th. Som e wa y s ba ck , Ga rry M cCoy , Kocin ski a n- Sete Gi bernau had bee n d togeth er in the middle pa rt of the race. Then the Ame rican moved ahea d to take eigh th. " I had m y us ua l pr oblem s with the handling of the bike, bu t it go t better as th e fu e l lo ad li ght en ed ," Ko ci n sk i exp lained. McCo y held off Giberna u for nin th, his seco nd top -I O finish after just five Vfour races . The Spa nish Repsol Hond a rider was jus t trying to get the end , he sa id la ter , in pain fro m th e hand and foot injuries incu rred in a testin g spill at Brito tw o weeks befo re. Abe was] 1Ih a fter his adven tu res. Almo st 20 seconds down came Haruchika Aoki's V-twin Hond a. He'd managed to shake off Tetsuya Harada, the Aprilia rider saying la ter tha t he'd had d ut ch and gea r-shifting p rob lems, compo unded at the finish by ha nd ling woes. jurgen va n d en Goo rbergh' s MuZ was a lon ely ]4th, though his practice Enz

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