Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Road Race Borja dropping off the back of the group in the closing sta ges, another to complain of pain after a practice crash . Jurgen van den Goorbergh had started we ll on the MuZ, finis hing the first lap in seve nth, but a gamble on back-tire choice did n't pay off, and he d ropped back quickly before settling in an eventual 10th, obl iged a t th e finis h to fend off Tetsuya Harada's Apri lia. H e in turn had bro ken free from anoth er bi g midrace battle, narrowly wo n b y an ou t-o f-so r ts Regi s Lac oni from Red Bull teammate Garry McCoy, the only.rider to choose a 16.5-inch rear Michelin. "I started well, but lost a bit of grip after three laps," said the Aus tralian. ':1 lost ou t to Regis on the last lap, but I'm happy with the progres s I'v e made since getting on the bike only in June." BSL Mod enas' Mark Willis and TSR Ho nda 's Haruchika Aoki had been pa rt of the gro up, but lost touch when Aoki nosed ahead in the closing stages. Willis reversed the positions at the finis h. Criville wa s, of cou rse, safe as champion, ending up with 267 poin ts. But Rober ts regai ned seco nd from non-scorer Okada, 220-211. Biaggi was fourt h on 194. 250cc GRAND PRIX (Above) Oliv ier Jacque won his first 250Cc Grand Prix of the season afte r holding back the early advances of Valentino Rossi (46). Ross i faded to fin is h third. (Below) Jacque celebrates after winning for the first time on the Chesterfield Yamaha. §! o ~ G> ..c E G> > o Z 14 gle before th e s ho rt ba ck straight. As Biagg i sho t off on to the grass, Roberts kep t on computing, and claim ed a win that had never looked certain - a t least not to obse rve rs. By th e n, Biaggi ha d e nough of a cu shion to co me back in second a n d hang on - Abe complained later. "After th e sta rt I was stu ck behind . (Carlos) Checa for a few laps, and the lead ers go t away," Abe sai d . "When I go t to third the gap was abou t four second s, and th ou gh I tr ied m y b est it stayed the same for the rest of the race." In fact, he had been third on the first two laps, bu t Checa took over for four more laps, while at the same time Crivill e closed up behind . Meanwhil e, Okada had fini sh ed th e first lap in nin th , behind Jo h n Kocinski, who he quickly dispatched, on ly to find himself blocked by Nobua tsu Aoki, w ho was do ing du ty on behalf of h is teammat e Roberts to p reve nt the Hon da rid er from gaining points and securing se co n d overall. Okada only got free a fter Aoki ran wide and onto th e slippe ry part of the track, promptly losin g the front and falling on the sixth lap. After that Ok ada closed s tea d il y up to slot in behi nd teamm ate Criville u n til he too tumbled withou t in jury af ter tou chin g the sa me slippe ry wh ite lines that had sent man y big names falling in p ractice, including Roberts, Crivi lle and Checa (twice). Criville passed Checa af ter half-distance, but the Yamaha rider stuck wi th him to reverse the positions with four laps remaining, and they held station to cross the line just one tenth apart. "I was a little down on pow er, but th e balan ce of th e bike w as good th is w ee k end," sai d Che ca, refl e cting a strong finis h to th e ye ar for Yama ha; w hi le Cr iv ille sai d : "Afte r fa lli ng in practice and my injuries in Aus tralia, it was ph ysically a very hard race for me." A long way ba ck, Se te Gi be rna u finally mana ged to get to the front of a four-st ron g battle, with Kocinski right b ehind , then Alex Barros, with Juan "When I was recoverin g from my ankle inj uries af ter Jerez a t th e start of th e year, I had no tho ug ht that I might w in a ra ce th is year. But I am a figh te r." T hus s po ke O liv ier Ja cque, wh o le d fro m sta rt to fi nis h of w ha t w as u ltimatelya rather processiona l 2.50 race. For t he fi rs t nin e laps he'd been under severe pressure from Rossi, but the Italian had risked a soft rea r tire, and "it didn't suit my style." From the 10th lap onward he was losing ground hand ove r fist. At th is s tage he wa s al most seven seco nds clear of the Hondas of Ukawa and Stefano Perugini, the Japa nese rider takin g an age to get past the fast-starting Italian , and then carrying him clear of . Shinya Na kano and Sebas tien Port o. Now Ukawa kicked aga in, and with Rossi slow ing lap by lap he caug ht him wi th five laps to go, scything past easily for a second p laced th at mi rror ed his championship position. Peru gin i also had tire troub le, and he was losing ground as Nakano and Porto ca ugh t up again, with Loris Capirossi moving throu g h to la tch on behi nd . With seven la ps to g o th e fo ur we re together a nd ba ttling , but Ca pi ross i di rectly sat up an d ran off the track, his engi ne seized. Po rto was inspired a t h o m e, a n d w hen he finally ma na ged to get his proto type produ ct ion Ya mah a past Nakano's factory bike on lap 22 he ran a w a y ea sily, to cl aim a caree r-best fourth place after a very impressive ride . Naka no was five seconds back at th e fini sh , hi s on ly conso lation being an easy winn er of Ro o k ie o f th e Year award . Peru gin i just man aged to hold off Rolfe 's private Aprilia at the finish, with Anthony West eigh th after losing touch at the finish. Manako had bee n wi th him at the midpoin t, but faded for a lone ly nint h; w hile Germa n rook ie Alex Hofm ann m ana g ed to ke ep hi s private Honda ahead of coun tryman Ralf Wald mann, wh o never did get to grips with the track. Agai n, th e cha m p io ns hi p w as alrea dy won by Rossi wit h 309 points. Ukawa ends up seco nd with 261 points a n d C ap iro ss i was th ird w ith 209 . Nakano's bad day left him fourth with 207 points, then came Perugini 's 151 and Waldmann's 131.

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