Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Road Race (Left) McCoy lead s Criv llle (3) and Anthony Gobert (35). McCoy ended up eighth with • Gobert 10th . (Above, Irom left to right) Biag gl, Abe and Roberts celebrate afte r the ir sc intillat ing battle. '" !IIi :Iii ~ iii -III ~ ~ r. V • S! ri 1l E CIl > o Z 10 wit h O kad a shooting throu gh from the second row to take second ahea d of Bar r os . By the end of th e la p Abe was fou rth, then Gibe rn a u, Biaggi, McCoy a nd van d e n Goorberg h, who succumbed im mediately to an attack from Checa. The luckless Spaniard di dn' t last much longe r than tha t, however. Losing out down the straigh t to McCoy, he tried too hard to make it up into the fast left at the end of it, and slid off with practiced ease. Roberts was drawing away up front in determined style, but Okada was going with him and even closi ng up as th e pursuers lost ground, held up by Barros, w ho complained later of a lack of fro n t-e n d g ri p. By th e ti me Abe claimed third, on lap four, he was mo re than two seconds behi nd the lead er. Biaggi followed him past the Brazilian one lap la ter, w it h Gibernau rig h t behind Barros, and the qua rte t circulated togeth er for a while. But Roberts was in trou ble. "On about the eight h lap I decided to up the pace, but as I shifted to fourth on the straight I felt something go in the engi ne," he said la ter. "From then I had trouble at quarter thrott le, with the mo tor jumping, and I lost six or seven hundred rpm from the top end. I think a stone must have chipped a reed valve." He carried on circulating at the same lap time, bu t it wasn't enough, and within a couple of laps, Abe was leading Biaggi ever closer to the leading pair, with Okada also pushing hard. Before half-distance they were all together, and Abe direc tly a ttacked Okada, passing him on the long straight -w i th h is Yamaha 's clearly su perior speed , then pulli ng in front to hit the brakes. This took O kad a completely by surprise. "He braked very har d and very early, and 1 saw smoke as my front wheel hit his rear," Okada said. By the greatest good for tune, neither o f them crashe d, b u t Okada was sen t down the escape roa d, to make a Ll-tu rn and rejoin in 10th. Abe had the bit between h is teeth now . One lap lat er he passed Roberts, and anothe r four laps later Biaggi also passed the troubl ed Suzuki rid er. But Rober ts was able to stay with them , an d even ge t back a head of Biaggi bri efly when he ran wide on the 20th lap. Biaggi took the lead for the first time on the 23rd lap, but Abe foug ht straight back, and the bikes touched for the firs t of several times - Biaggi's leathers had several black tire ma rks at the end, an d Roberts said afterward, "I thought I might still have a chance because those too guys we re doin g a lot of rubbing, as they say in NASCAR ." Abe was still in fro nt as they started th e last lap, but now things got really desperate. Biaggi d ived u nderneath him to lead briefly, but in the confusion a Roberts gets his fourth T he first day of qualifying was a wash-out, wi th the track sodden and times widely spaced as most riders elected to wait it ou t to see whether the next day wo uld be dry. Home hero Alex Barros ended up fastest, from MoviSta r Honda tea mma te Juan Borja , with Kenn y Roberts Jr . th ird , to the delight of the local press. The second day was dry, and things became serious. As in Austra lia, it was Roberts making all the running, morning and aftern oon, turning up the wick at the finish to protect his fourth pole position of the year . "After the d isappointment of st artin g the race in Australia thinking 1 had a cha nce of ge tt ing back into th e cham pi on ship battl e , then leav in g So u th A fr ica a w eek later knowing we had to th ink abou t next yea r inst ead , 1 may fee l even mor e mot iva ted abo u t win ni ng th e las t tw o ra ces," he sa id. Still us ing O h lins sus pension front a nd rear, he ad ded. "We' re getting the suspension sorted now , and the bike is good. Anyway, mixed co nd itions in practice suit us, beca use the other guys hav e less time to get their bikes dial ed in so they can use their extra power," he said. Rep sol Honda' s Sete Gibern au waited until the ve ry end be for e sho w ing h is hand, slo tti ng in to second, three-t enths behind. "I was testing tires and race setu p," he said. "Then at the end I went for that single fast lap. I'm still no t fully fami liar with the V-four, and 1 have a lot to learn. But I'm feelin g mor e comfortable all the tim e." Gibernau s ta r ted th e sea so n r iding th e fact ory V-tw in Honda, but took ove r Mick Doohan 's vacant V-four midseason. Th is pushed cha lle nger Barros to a clos e third . Th e only rider to have tested at the resurfaced circuit, he was confident that a victory was possible. "In Imola I did not have the same power as (Alex) Criv ille, so I could not pas s him on the last lap ," Barros said. "Now HRC have given me some extr a parts, so it should be diffe rent, an d 1 think I can "in." Carlos Checa was fast throughout, ending up fourth. "There is nothing d ifferent from the bike, but I thi n k 1 am finding the right way again," he said . Tadayuki Okada led row two from Max Biaggi, still less than three quarters of a second off pole, with Jurgen van den Goorbergh slotting the MuZ into seventh in the dying minutes, one place ahead of his teammate Anthon y Gobert. The Australian ga p was left for Roberts, who was ahea d as they approached the long straig ht. He slowed u p on the a pp roach to keep th em behind, but wh en he ope ne d up the throttle his rear tire spu n and slid , so they bot h went past again. As th ey approache d th e fina l tight right-hand turn, Abe was in front - only for Biaggi to make a wild bid arou nd the outside. He did actually ge t ahead, the pa ir collidi ng yet again as Abe foug ht to ho ld his ground. The deciding moment, however, was when Biaggi ra n wi d e onto the painted curb on the exit, and it was his turn to spin up and slide. Abe wo n by inches, with Rob erts a similar distance behind Biaggi. All three were beaming a fte r an abso lute th riller of a final lap. Barros and Gibernau followed them had been well up in both wet and dry, even challenging for pole until the closing rush. "I was cau tious in South Africa aft er crashing in Australia, but I've decided the way to get used to the Michelin tires is to try and pu sh in my usu al style," he said. "It seems to be working." Nobuatsu Aoki led row three, another latecomer after struggling in the rain, and even in the dry. Still using the Showa suspension on his Suzuki, he was battling to find a fork setting that could deal with the bumps under braking. The n came Garry McCoy , happy enough, commenting, "I've done damage from the thi rd row before." Only then came Criville, ahead of Norick Abe, complaining that a predominance of left-han d corners was the worst for him, s till nursin g a left-hand injury from Au stralia . But the times were very close, and both he and Abe were still within a second of pole. Juan Borja led row four from Regis Laconi, John Kocinski, and Modenas bri ght boy David de Gea; Tetsuya Harada's Vtwin Aprilia was 18th, one 'place behind the TSR twin of Jose Lui s Cardoso. Wild card Steve Martin was 22nd, one place behind Willis. There were 24 qualifiers. In spite of on e of the longest straight s in racin g, the Yamahas were rampant in 250cc qualifying, their sweet-handli ng chassis more than making up for any speed deficit on the track 's long, fast comers. Olivi er Jacqu e was the best of them , claiming his second pole of the season. Twice a wi nner her e before, he was in fine spiri ts. "I don 't think I can get away, beca use they can all catch me on the straights. but I am fastest on the last half of the tra ck, and I th ink that could be enough to win ," he said. Valentino Rossi finally slotted in alongside after battling to get the so mew ha t tetchy Aprilia chassis set up over the bumps. " It is a hard race for me," he said. "I need to get only three points to win the title, but it is eas ier to try and win the race." Shin ya akano's Yamaha was alongside, the Japanese rookie enjoying the fast comers. Then came Loris Capirossi , another to arrive up front onl y at the end. "We have been testing many different things, and the bike is still not completely right," he said . Ma rco Melandri claimed his third pole of the year in the 125cc class , with Benetton teammate Masao Azuma a close second - and both de termined to win to p reser ve their title chances (Melandri was th ird overall before the Rio race, Azuma second); with poi nts leader Emilio Alza mora down in 12th on the grid. Manual Poggiali was third, in the teenager' s first time on the front row, with Locatelli claiming fourth by a tenth of a second from Mirko Giansanti. There we re 29 qualifiers with wild card American Jason DiSa lvo 27t h, a nd Cesare Barros, A lex's younger brother, in 28th.

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