Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Road Race th e Itali an lead s Ukawa by 35 po int s, 243-208. EIfAxo Hond a Gresini's Loris Capirossi, sixth tod ay behind Ralf Waldmann, is third with 182 points. Th e 125cc World Champio nship tightened up when championship leader Emilio Al zamo ra of the Via Digital Team was taken ou t of the race by Givi Honda LCR's Noboru Ueda on the 18th o f 23 laps. Al zamora rem ou n ted and took 15th, good for one point, and leads Benetton Playlife's Masao Azuma by 13 po ints, 10 less th an he had when he arrived in Australia. Azuma's tea mmate Marco Meland ri led two laps, th e seco nd and the last , and he won by .035 of a secon d, swerving down the fron t stra ight to fru strate th e charge of Givi Honda LCR' s Lucio Cecch in ello, th e Italian wh o'd led a swa rm ing pack for 17 of the 23 lap s. Thi rd place wen t to Festina Der bi's Youichi Ui, who gave the Spanish com pany th e ir fi rs t p oi nt s in ov er eig h t years an d first podium since Jorge Mar tinez won the French Grand Prix in July of 1989. Ui was .134 of a second behind Cecchin ello. Meland ri thrust himself right back in the title hunt wi th the " in, his fourt h of the yea r, and no w lies 26 points behind Alzamora, despite four DNFs this yea r. "W he n I see Ue da a n d Al z amora cras h tod ay, I say I mu st win, becau se I ca n win th e World Champi onship," Meland ri said. 2S0c c GRAND PRIX Jeremy McWillia ms bu sted out from his po le position to lead the firs t lap and little mor e. His race came to a very prematore end whe n he lost the front end on the second lap, which is when the race bega n in earnest. Four riders broke out early, and they would domina te to the end . First among them was Rossi, who took the lead from Jacque on the fifth of 25 laps, with Ukawa a close third ahead of Jacque's teamma te Shinya Nakano. Capirossi fou nd a hom e for himself in fifth, off the pace, but out of dan ger, and Aprilia Germany's Waldmann settled in behind him on the eighth lap. The ord er beh ind Rossi was fluid, bu t hi s g r ip o n the le a d wa s cons ta nt , thou gh ten uous. Crossing th e lin e he ra rely had more than a 10th of a second lead . On the Tl th he had nearlv half a second, but Jacqu e reeled him back in and was withi n .102 of a second a t the end of the lap, with Nakano and Uka wa see ming ly resign ed to the back of the foursome. Jacque took the lead on the 16th lap, w it h Rossi second in fro nt of Ukawa and Naka no . Wit h th e Fre nchman out fro nt, the pace was slig h tly slower and the pack tightened up, and Ukawa and Nakano suddenly we re back in it. So s uddenly that Ukawa took the lead on the next lap wi th Jacqu e second and Rossi third. Lap times dropped into th e 1:35 range for the lea d ers, and it looked lik e Rossi might be saving his tires. ' With eight laps to go, first to fourth wa s covered by .233 of a second . Ros si b lew by the top two lea d ers going down the front straight to sta rt the 19th lap , his lap-t ime in the 1:34s. Roberts quick, Criville hurt T en en en ~ M ., ..c ~ ~ o U o 8 he Australian Grand Prix was decided to a lar ge ex tent on the last lap of Frida y afternoon's qu alifyin g session when Rep so l Honda's Alex Criville, the rid er with the 46-poin t lead , highs id ed in Doohan Corn er, th e newl y ch riste ned first tum. Th e damage was a break in a small bo ne in the left wrist and the end of his cha nces to be com petitive, let alone win the race. "I've been u n happy wi th the way the b ike was working since this morning: ' the Spa nia rd sai d aft er th e crash, his fourth of the yea r an d third of the last two rac es. "We cha nged so me thin gs for th e a ftern oon sess ion , but we st ill haven't found the r igh t so lut io n as fa r as se tup goes. W e' ve been working to improve the bike until the last mo ment an d th is was w hen I lost control over th e bike and I crashed. My left hand hu rts from the crash but I shou ld be oka y, and I hope to be ab le to ride on Sunday despite the pai n a nd the fracture. " After qu alifying 12th, 1.4 seconds off po le at the end of the third row , Crivi lle sa id: "My a im in this race is to score as many points as possible. I simply cannot let this cha nce at getting the title slip by . I must give 100 percent, w hatever the situation , no matt er how bad the pain is. I didn' t sleep ve ry well last nigh t, beca use of the pain, but also becau 5e.t was so annoyed with myse lf for crashing. But there are four races left so the situ ation is not despe ra te." Two ro ws in fro nt o f Criville was Team Suzuki's Ken nv Roberts [r ., w ho led an eclectic front row at so me d istance and d id it wit hout having to im p rove on his Friday fas t lap . "I did n't improve my time beca use it was wind ier, and more g us ty, and I d idn't need to take the cha nce:' the 26-year- old A me rica n said af te r his third pole of th e yea r. "As lon g as I stayed on the fron t ro w, that's okay." Eve n before C riv ille 's crash, Robe rts had bee n relen tless, attac king the track a t every tu rn and cons istently cloc king the fastest tim es. Accord ing to Repsol Hond a's Mick Doo han, there a re tw o places o n the 2.76-m ile-Iong Phillip Island circu it tha t Valentino Rossi (46) tr ies to hold off Oliver Jacque (19) and Shinya Nakano (hi dden) in the ir epic 250cc GP batt le. Uka wa wa s second , Jacqu e third , an d Naka no fourt h. There was n' t much in it w hen the lap end ed, but Rossi was able to hold onto the lead a n d d ropped th e lap times aga in, this time into the high 1:33s. The others kept up, but cou ldn' t attac k, and Nakano was far enoug h off the pack to realize he'd be fou rth, unless there was so me drama ahea d . Uka wa crossed the line .005 of a second in fron t on lap 21, with Rossi tak ing it back in torn one an d holding it w hen the lap en ded. Jacque, meanwhile, d rafted by Ukawa to take over second going into the first tu rn with less than three laps to go. "When I saw tha t the others we re stu ck behind, I deci ded to d o' three or fou r laps behind them to see how they were going," Rossi said . "When I got back out in front , I pushed as hard as I could." A t the end of the 23rd lap it was Jacque in second , with Ukawa d rafting by in to tu rn one , the n losing the spot yo u have to ge t rig ht to m aster the track. Rob erts so ug h t ou t Doo ha n's advice an d put it to good use in qu ali fying. "It's not so me thing that Mick says 'Do th is: and you go out ther e and do it. WeIL I did:' Roberts sa id . "It wa s just areas of feeling that I was receiv ing fro m the in pu t of the bike. And he sai d he had the sa me type of feelin g and w ha t he tried to d o is ap proach it from th is ang le. "It's nice to ta lk to M ick becau se I th ink he's go t a sim ila r rid ing style and we speak the sa me language, so it's very easy for us to speak o n that type of st u ff. He is five-time Wo rld Cham pion:' Rob erts added . Roberts sa id the tea m had gone faster durin g off-season tes ting, but that the bike worked d ifferentl y. "We ha d also foun d so me things that we re w ron g with the bi ke tha t we were tryi ng to find since we hit th e Europea n rounds, jus t the way th e bik e tra nsfers weight: ' Roberts said. " It's li ke myself and the bike get out o f sy nc and halfwa y through the race it starts transferri ng weight differently, and it's hard to ride a bike that does tha t, chang es unexpected ly on you . We d id find something that points to that, We cha nged it for her e. As I say , it's kind of camouflaged no w because the bike has worked so we ll here." His best ca m e on Fridav, a 1:32 .319 , a time he cou ldn 't improve in gu sty cond itions ~on Saturday. Th e mark was a new po le record by nearly a second , but still di dn't match the qua lifying reco rd of 1:32.193 set by Troy Corser in this year's Wor ld Superbike event. Even so, it was enoug h to tak e his thi rd of the yea r, this one ha nd ily, by .761 of a second , g iving him confidence for the race . "I th in k we d id .need th e min d set of trying to wi n this race, win the nex t race, a nd ta ke th em down to obv iously the next two, ho pi ng tha t Alex (Cr ivi lle) had some bad lu ck: ' Robe rts sa id . "It seems like th a t' s happen ed. But again he we n t pr etty good tod ay considering his injuries; we know he' s a to ug h r ide r and th at he's go ing to be raci ng for. a finis h tomorro w . So meti mes when yo u race for" fini sh, o ther th i ngs ha p p en and you let the pain get to you and you maybe make a mista ke yo u wo u ld n't have w itho ut pain . So we're ju st goi ng to ha ve to try to do o u r jo b, w hich is co me here a nd w in the race." The rest of the fro nt ro w consisted of Testuya Ha rad a, on the A prilia V-tw in, Red Bu ll Yamaha WCM 's Regis Laco ni, and Bra zilian Alex Barros on the firs t Honda, the MovrStar Honda toward the end of th e lap . When the white flag flew, it was Ross i-Uka wa[acqu e-Na kan o, with .058 of a second covering first to third . Rossi looked back in turn two an d sa w Jacqu e th ere with Uk awa just behind. Nakano made up some ground and when they exited th e final corn er Jacque was on his rear tire, but didn't have the mo to r to draft by . Rossi won by two bikel en gths and Ukawa go t back by Nakano on the run to the flag. . "It was a very close race today and I am upset at a small mis take which cou ld have been th e differe nce between first and third ," Ukawa said. "I ran a bit too wide at the fast corner at the end of the pit straight and Jacque go t thro ug h wi th better brakin g . I co u ld h a v e cau gh t Rossi, I thin k." . Waldmann had pa ssed Capirossi on the 19th lap and held on to beat him to the line by .036 of a seco nd . Then came Fila Watches Honda's Stefano Perugini and FGF Battaini Racing' s Franco Battaini. SOOcc GRAND PRIX A su nny weekend through out tu rned overcas t late on Sunday aftern oon as the 500s were grid di ng, but the wind was calm and there was no cha nce of rain. It wou ld be a drv race . .A lex Barr~s got th e h ol es hot wit h orick Abe second a nd Rob erts third . Roberts would be in fro n t of both of them befo re the end of the lap . Roberts had a scare at the end of the second lap when he ran wide onto the fro nt stra ight, up on to the ridged, paint ed cu rbing, and go t in to a vicious tankslapper. "1 got in and got on the gas to o early," Roberts said . "If I backed off, I would've been passed." . Somehow, he managed to save it, but it cos t h im the lead la ter dow n th e st raight , and he dropped back be hi nd Barros and Abe before picking Abe off, then ge tting Barros in the fina l corne r at the end of the second lap. Po ns entry, all clumped toget her , wi th rid ers two th ro ug h 16 covered by one se co nd. Har ad a sai d the twin wo rked well at Phillip Island becau se he could ca rry mo re com er speed th ro ugh th e fast corne rs an d did n' t lift the front end on accelerati on. But he also said his tim e was so met hing of a m ira ge . He tried to mak e a dra ft pass on Crivillc. bu t cou ld only pull bes ide him . . Fres h off his win a t Valencia. Laco ni wa s a confide nt third . The d iffere nce, there, as her e, wa s" cha nge he mad e in the d irect ion of the se tu p. " I a m o n the fro n t row, w hich is su pe rb fo r me, an d the YZRSOO feels perfect, I can d o exac tly wha t I like with it, and it gives me so much confidence," the Fre nchman said. Barros w as fourth a fte r making ra di cal ch a nges to the MoviSta r Honda in the second half of the session , after over 3 1/2 hours of pra ctice. "Yes terday and this morning I tried to d o m"ny th ings and not hin g wo rked ," the Brazilian sa id . "The .11St 25 minutes we , cha nge everything and it sta rte d to work better ." Marlboro Yamaha's Max Biaggi was fifth in front of heavy crasher Sete Gi be rnau o n th e Reps o l Honda , with Tad ayu ki Okada next on another Repso l bike, th en orick Abe o n the Antena 3 Yamaha 0 ' Antin bike . Biaggi felt he 'd wasted th e session a fter the tea m ma de a mista ke in su~pen....ion settings. H~ might have been on the front row , but there was tra ffic on his hot laps , Afte r a traum ati c highside on Friday, Gibernau felt Saturday "went so much better than yes te rday. I'm obviously happy to have improved my tim e by a second, but also beca use I was able to run co nsistent 1:33 laps. Co ns iste ncy is the key to do ing well in the race. Physically, I feel " lot be tter now an d that is also a great help. I'm nearl y ba ck to l OO ercen t fitne ss." -p Tea mma te O kada said he was test ing tires to sor t through anothe r problem . He'd se ttled on the 16.5-ln ch tire, one w hich Barros tested a nd Roberts reject ed . " It gives better tum-in o n th is trac k:' Gibe rna u sa id of th e tire. "l 'm s till lacking tra ction .out of th e turns, but we' ll try our bes t to improve and run a good race." Abc had been on the provisional fro nt ro w overnigh t, but sa id he never go t up to speed on Satu rd ay. "The bik e is no differen t fro m y e terda y, and although we s need to make a few ad justments to th e fro nt su spensions, there is nothing ma jo r to change:' Abe sa id.

• Cover