Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128103
W orld S u p e r b ike C h a m p io n s h ip R o u n d Four: Sugo, ..Ja p a n was really worried about [Troy I Corser all through the second race, but I managed to keep him behind me. " Pier-Frances co Ch ili rode h is so c ks off for a pa ir of eighth p laces. Having qualified 13th in Superpole , this may not have been ba d but, in one race at least, he felt hard done by . "Until the tires went off, th e lap time wa s good, but after th at th e b ik e begins to not make the corner," Chili sa id . " I hate Ry o fo r overt aki n g m e ev en though I s igna ll ed h im to sta y b ehi nd in race two. " Not once but thr e e times Chili t u rn e d around t o t ell Ryo to st a y beh ind and give him th e ext ra points, but - right at the fla g - Ryo swept past. Ak ira Yanagawa was in th e battles , suffering a blood clot o n his el bo w that deprived him of all feel ing in his hand towa rd the end of the second 'rac e. His first-race crash was respon sible, and it was yet anot her strange day for t he Japanese rid er , who see ms to attract bad lu ck . G er g o ri o La vi lla, his t e am m at e , was quite a bit better, once at least scor ing a great sixth after a last-lap dus t- up with Neil Hodgso n, then Bostrom (15 5 ) and Corser (3) fight It out with former fact ory Honda Grand Prill rider Shinlchl It oh (5 0). Corser was able to fi nish sec ond In rac e one , but w as only abl e to get up to sinh In ra ce two. of advantage going up the hill. But I ' m leaving with a 22 -po int l e a d , which is the most important th ing." With a strong en g in e and a slip pe ry Aprilia to play with at the speedb o wl of Monza , esp ec i ally after A lessandro Antone ll o successfull y tested one th ere recentl y , Corser will b e c o u nt in g the days until the next race, two w eekends away . So w ill B a y li ss an d E d w ards, but for d ifferen t reasons . The fam ilia rity C o r ser , when he didn 't have his t ire spin on th e rim as it did in race two , had th e m e asur e o f a ll b ut T am ad a - his Apr ilia r u nni n g sw eet and t ru e and un c omm o n ly f a st to gi ve him second in ra c e on e. A sixth i n race two was p a r t l y due t o the v ib r ation comi ng f rom h is re ar ti r e, b ut p ossibly may ha v e b een as much to d o w it h th e d ire st rai g hts Edwards wa s in a nd the agon i es suffered b y T ro y B a yl i ss as m uch as an yth ing els e. No sen se pu shi ng w he n y ou are of t h e co m pe tition , th e fa milia r ity o f t ir e choices they k now we ll, will both b e a b ig help to them after t he ge ner al w eirdness an d p ai n of J apan . The sight of a Tamada's Dunlop sh o d Hond a d i s a pp ea rin g i n to th e middle d istanc e m ay no t h av e fill ed a l most u n o p p o s ed in th e gr e a t Ed ward s' heart w ith joy, b ut it did at scheme of things . Corser 's 3 D- p o i n t hau l was en ou gh t o t hro w h im a he ad of Ba y li ss i n t he cha m p io ns hip , 122 100, with Edw ards ' sev en S ug o p oin t s taking him to 80 ove ra ll. le ast fill h i m wi th some d e g r e e of confidence t hat t here w ill h op efull y b e a soluti on to th e RCSI's re c ent engine problems in time for t he f1 at - Stran g ely less than enth us ed by his st roke ' o f luck this wee kend , es pecia lly after t h e fact th at he span ked almost eve ryo ne so u n dly in race one , C or ser wa s non etheless aware t h at he had stol en a march on all hi s m ain r iv als. " I had a t ir e sp in o n th e rim at the start of r a c e tw o and t hat h eld m e up ," C or s er sai d . " E v e r y tim e I lean ed into the fi rst three c orners , I coul d feel th e vi b rat io n s partic u larly badly so I had to t ake it a bi t eas ier th an I wanted to - than I knew I could g o . A lso I was getting gapped by Tamada's b ike at the ex it of the chi c ane in race o ne, w h ic h lost m e a lot 10 MAV 9 . 2 00 1ยท cue I e o ut bl ast s of th e classic Itali an circuit o f M on za. W i t h th e m a c h i n e s stayi ng in Japan for further tests in any case, th er e were no p r o ble m s wi t h th e engine o n any of the Hondas , o r at least no ne o f them were bad enough to be noticed by the outs ide world . A nd that means the Cabi n Hondas as w el l as th e Cast rol m a ch in e s of E dw ard s and Ok ad a (w ho ha d t h e te meri ty t o b e at his c ha mpio nshi p chall enging teammate in race two) , This being Sugo, eve n th e Dunlopequipped regul ars st rug gled, with th e track , the fast locals and sometimes t heir own ba d luc k . Poor settings, for examp le, stopped B en Bostrom from p ro gr essin g m uch in race one. n e _ s " T h e wee ke n d started of pretty badly for m e, but all th ings co nsidered, it's turned o u t we ll ," Bostrom sai d . "T he changes we did to th e rear shock and fo rk s did the t rick in race two. I u n doi ng all hi s good w ork b y crashing in race two w h en he o utbraked himself and r an thro ugh the grave l into the ti re w all . Hodg son ma y have b een the st ar of the da y , fo r se ldom h a s any rider A classic in its own small way, as much for what didn't happen as what did happen. There we were, looking at the usual line up of fast locals, top works men and a vast array of Dunlop tires, but there was no Troy Bayliss or Ruben Xaus. . With the final qualifying session halted when Robert Ulm's crashing Ducati blocked the racing line and deposited some fluid as well, Bayliss was in the unfortun ate position of having j ust exited pit lane on a qualifying tir e. He had, moments before, been kicked down from his lonq-tirne 16th and last Superpole qualifying positio n by a dismally out of form Akira Yanaqawa. With the reformed riders, all determined to get one last run out on a qualifi er (and with two min utes only in which to do it), there was a veritable cavalry charge at the exit of the pit lane. First out were the Castrol Hondas of Colin Edwards and Tadayuki Ok ada, follow ed by a desperate Bayliss. Despite sliding the rear and possibly because of a couple of yip s and baby highsides from the rear, Bayl iss was struggling to match the pace of the Honda boys in front and therefore failed to qualify for Superpole. The comp etition was won. like everything else up to that point, by the awesome Masado Tamada and his RC51 . "Today I pushed to the lim it in Superpole," Tamada said. "A lthough I like the Superpole, it isn't easy to set a good lap tim e in only one lap. But I am happy because I brok e the Superpole lap record. Tomorrow I will try to run away from the start, but I don't mind fighting with other riders. Maybe I can enjoy the race more that way. The rivals will be the second- and third-placed riders today. I was doing very well in the off-season, so I am not surprised to be so the fastest man through the Superpole and practice sessions. My aim is to win the All -Japan title this year and move up to World Champi onship racing as soon as possible. The bike I think is the best around here, which helps me a lot." Last away and faster at every single split time without exception, Tamada was a dayg 10 red rocket, blitzing Izutsu' s previous best. Ben Bostrom was aggressive on his Dunlop -tired Du cati, bla sting h i s way t o the front row from way back in 14th. Of the 16 riders in Superpole , no less than 14 had Dunlop tires fitted, and all but Yosh ikawa wou ld ru n 16 .5- inc h wheels.