Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Road Race Final round: Sugo, Japan WORLD SUPER81KE CHAMPIONSHIP By Gordon Ritchie Photos by Gold & Goose soco.JAPAN, OCT. 10 t may have no t started the way anyone expected it to, but it sure as hell finished that way at Sug o, wit h five ou t th e s ix p od iu m fin is her s b ein g locals, even if Akira Yanagawa p roved to be a so mewhat prodigal rising son, havi ng to com e h ome to recla im h is riches . Neve rthele ss, the Japa nese rider was delighted with his performa nce and h is first win in two years. "I was goin g to change the tires for the second race, but I'm glad I didn' t," Yana gawa said. "I was w or ried about them so I took it easy until I started to drop back, then I push ed as hard as I could , and it wa s enough. It wa s very impor tant to Kawasak i and me to win th is r ace . T h ere is an old Japanes e p roverb w hic h says , 'Leave yo u r best performa nce until last: and that' s what w e've don e here." Th e excep tio n to th e World Superbike r egu lar' s m edi ocrit y, w h ic h is almost always the case at Sugo, proved to be Carl Fogart y, who took seco nd in th e first rac e a nd battled ha rd to the fina l turn in race two to finish fifth . In the process, he broke his own record for th e mos t p oint s score d in a sea so n, a ' record tha t dated back to 1995. It w as s ta tistica l proo f of hi s 1999 l en en en ~ o '"; Q .a oS! u o , 6 d omination - but the four-tim e World Cha mp ion was as non plussed as ever, especially after race tw o. "I realized earl y on I wasn' t going to win that one, so I settl ed the pa ce jus t a bit," Foga rty said . "I go t stuck behind som e mad Jap anese rid ers a t first, but I reckoned tha t it wou ld be safer to do 1:30 laps and stay ah ead of the rest of them. All I was thinking in the last few laps was , 'Jus t d on 't fall off and miss that train to Tokyo: " The champions hip battle whic h really ma tter ed (if on ly to the protagon ists involved and their teams) was the battl e betwe en .Tr o y C orser a n d Coli n Edwa rd s II for seco n d in th e poi n ts chase. It went to Edwards (after two races wh ere both rid ers experienced tire problems and felt the full force of the local riders' d etermination to do well on the w orld s tage), bu t not until a p rotest aga inst him by Corser was thrown out. Wit h Edwards need ing to overcome a five-poi nt deficit after the first race, he passed Corser on the start / finish only to fin d a yell ow flag a t th e first corner . With no video playback to consult, the even tua l cham pionship poi nts came ou t t ied, w ith seco nd pl a ce ' goi ng to Edwards du e to his grea ter number of wins. "Tro y pitched a bitch about me havil)g overtaken on a yellow flag, but the first time we saw it o ver the start/ finish line w e we re s ide by s ide anywa y, " Edwards said . "I'm pleased to get second place in the championship, because it's been a long, hard season, and with me a nd Tro y tied on p oin ts, th e team deserves this for all the extra effort they put in to take those five race wins." Corser was so up set by the new s tha t he refused to speak abou t it. The o the r deeply significan t even t was the firs t race win for two seasons for Kaw asaki and Yanagawa. His second race sta lk-and -pounce tactics confirme d to hi s cou ntry men th at he can still win wh ere the Western ers can't. The best of the full-time locals had to be ano ther Akira - Ryo this time - who's first and second made him the most su ccessfu l man on the day, beating Yana gawa's win and third . "I like this track very much and I like it even more after this morning's race," Ryo said . "I wanted to make my move earlier, but Akira Yanagawa was ridi ng too well and it took me a lon g time to get pas t. My tires (Du nlops) lost a lot of grip towards the end . My tires got used up trying to pass Akira, and I cou ld not get clear of him in the second race: ' Ha ving wo n b ot h previous Su g o rounds of the 1999 All-Japan Champion ships, Ryo a nd his Su zuki were in sparkling form once more at Yama ha' s home circu it, th e w orth of th e GSX-R p ro ve d by h is teammate Keiichi Kitagawa, who took third place in race two. Ak ira Yanagawa (4) whee lies into the lead at the Sugo circ uit during race one of the f inal round of the 1999 FIM World Superbike Championship Series. The Kawasaki rider went on to finish th ird, but later earned his fi rst win of the year in race two of the event. The event was do minated by Japanese riders. Ano the r Japanese World Superbike regula r looked to upset th e fir st race order when No ri yuki H a g a s h o wed sma ttering s of genius on his Yamah a R7 to lead the second race for 10 laps un til Ryo flew by him. His eve n tua l fou rth place ended his seas on on, if not a high note, then at least an elevated one, making up for the fact that he lost out on his chance of a Honda ride for 2000. "We mad e some setting chan ges after race one and my tires-lasted longer, but they s till w ent off," Hag a said. "I wa s also losin g gri p when braking. This is definitely a Dunlop track. " He d id not make it as the top Yamaha ma n of the da y, that honor going to Wataru Yoshikawa, who took fifth and sixth on his official R7. Kaw asaki's great domestic championsh ip hope, Shinya Takeishi, had a g oo d s ta r t to both r a ces b efor e hi s e ng in e b lew in ra ce o n e, and h e dropped way down to 11th after bein g at the front of race two, due to tire wear. His misfortune was not shared by his

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