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/128155
\!1l@fJf](jJ &!D~[f{Jg fX](§)[1J][Ji)({) @ UUD[f@@o{1@rlJm@@ {t]CfJ@@ just had to make it onto the podium I couldn't let my thousands of Italian fans down." Bayliss took Haga's appearance as an opportunity to make his break, and thanks to the following three riders fighting it out behind, and the man himself setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 13, he soon made a three-second gap which he could maintain at will. After a superb last lap in the fight for second, Edwards flashed over the line to win the battle to hold the second front the second front, with Haga edging out Hodgson - and with all three within 0.07 of a second. Hodgson was once more pissed at his luck. "In the first race, I went 100 percent from the start, but the plan for the second race was to be smooth and conserve my tire," Hodgson said. "Troy came past after one lap, which was perfect - I just stayed behind him. With about 13 laps to go, I had a problem - I think a broken exhaust just as it exits the engine and I lost so much drive out the turns that I had to change the way I rode, by carrying more corner speed and keeping in the tow down the straights. '" was seriously closing 50 yards on the brakes and the second and third riders should be embarrassed with the result. My bike was like riding a 600 out of the turns." A superb pair of front-running races from all four riders, and if Haga had not broken down in race one, who knows what the fight would have been like in the last stages? Behind the battle for the podium in race two, an equally superb fight for fifth place went the way of Alstare Suzuki's Gregorio Lavilla, who got the better of Lucio Pedercini and Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom, enjoying his toil the sweeps of a circuit that was new to him on Friday. "' had a tire problem, as , tipped into the slower turns it just stepped out," Eric Bostrom said. "I'm real happy, though. I gave it everything I had from the start and the pace was not so hot. I just need to be more aggressive, more consistent and a little faster - a bit of everything." Lavilla was seventh in the opener, A flrst·lap pileup thwarted many riders' progress In the World Supersport race. another decent result and proof that fast tracks make the playing field more level for the fours, if only the rider's injuries and misfortune would allow it. "The race was very hard work, my tire is not so good, but when I lap on my own it is better, " said Lavilla. "I ended up battling with Eric Bostrom and Pedercini and spent these laps working out how I can be first in the group. And I succeeded." Chris Walker was an unlucky man in race one, being punted off by Marco Borciani while the Englishman was lying seventh - and with only a couple of laps to go. The Italian explained the accident later, saying that Walker had hit his brake lever while passing the Ducati rider in the previous corner, and when Borciani went for the brakes, he found nothing but fresh air, and thus could not avoid the braking Walker. NCR Ducati's Broc Parkes had the extreme pleasure of beating factory Ducati rider Ben Bostrom in race two, himself just ahead of a salvaged Walker in 10th. Ben Bostrom retired mid-race in the opener (with clutch problems or transmission problems, depending on who was answering the question). Bostrom's day was almost completely wrecked by an intermittent electrical fault that made his bike misfire and surge alternately. A bad day of worship at the Cathedral for the more experienced Bostrom. Infostrada eight, L&M zero, because the World Champion has now won eight of a possible 10 races this season and Bostrom has won none. Octagon Motorsports sure enough. This is an astonishing achievement, considering his win total in his World Championship-winning last year has already been exceeded. Bayliss dominates the championship post-Monza, of course, with 224 points, 38 ahead of Edwards. Hodgson has now made a clean The triangle of talent that has dominated the World Supersport Championship so far was flipped on another side at Monza, the side that says Honda. In a French accent. Ten Kate Honda's Fabien Foret, the winner of the Valencia World Supersport race at the start of the season, doubled up his success, winning by a mere 0.124 of a second from the simply rampant Aussie teenager Chris Vermeulen and his Van Zon Honda. As for the circles? Well the black rubber ones that ended on top this weekend said Pirelli on the side. Both the official and satellite Ten Kate riders were running the German/Italian rubber on their CBRs. As ever, in Supersport, it was not an easy campaign, even for Foret and his earthbound ICBM of a bike. A tense, eight-rider battle fore the lead in the first few laps was the precursor to a battle of pure mechanical attrition, with many riders either crashing or retiring. to leave only 18 finishers from 28 starters. Even Foret was affected, with his brake pads down to the metal on the last couple of laps, allOWing his pursuers to catch back up to him as he frantically adjusted his handlebar-mounted brake compensator. "At the end of the race, my brakes were very hot because of the pace and the hard braking," said Foret afterward. "The Pirelli tires were fantastic and J knew that would decide the race between us. I tried to keep the line on the last comer so I would win, and it worked well... Only Vermeulen was up to the task of mugging Foret on the last lap, and although he led into the final Parabolica comer, Foret's brave dive inside and committed entry took the spoils by next to nothing - in relative terms. '" thought I was going to win that one, but Fabien got me," accepted Vermeulen. "Everything was working well with my bike and tires. Now I just need to go out and do it all again - at Silverstone." Alstare Suzuki's Katsuaki Fujiwara got the better of Kawasaki's Andrew Pitt at the line to take the fmal podium place, with the World Champion unhappy to have such bad fortune after working his way to the lead from an 11th-place start. Complaining of being outgunned on the straights, he was as masterful as ever and was arguably deprived of a chance to overhaul Foret when the Ten Kate man stumbled mid-comer and made Pitt shut off on the apex of the first chicane, ruining any chance of a smooth and fast exit. Fujiwara was entitled to be pleased with his podium finish, running fast with the leaders but avoiding too many risks, for a change. Alstare Suzuki's Stephane Chambon, the holeshot man, took an eventual fifth, and although well behind the leaders on the track, he was only 2.461 seconds down on actual time - thanks to the fast nature of the Monza circuit. The other Frenchman had one eye on the championship table, and with Pitt only one place ahead of him, lost little overall - despite Foret's 25-point haul. Yamaha Belgarda's Paolo Casoli fought the effects of a head cold and an over-lean engine to take sixth, but he was nonetheless the top Italian finisher, after Alessio Corradi fell on lap nine while dicing with the leading bunch. The two Italians could not be more different in stature, riding style and sartorial tastes, but both are effective on their day. But that day was not this one. Piergiorgio Bontempi finished as the first Ducati rider, as always, a lone seventh and eaming some support from the fans at each of the main chicanes. The race winner's teammate, lain MacPherson, was eighth, ahead of the poor qualifying Jorg Teuchert, who blamed attacks from other riders and wheelspin for most of his woes. Wemer Daemen had a brave and gutsy ride to 10th after suffering a shoulder dislocation in practice, making two Van Zan Hondas and two Ten Kate Hondas in the top 10. Matthieu Lagrive took an excellent 11th for the Saveko Yamaha team, with Gianluca Nannelli in 12th on his Rox Racing Duke. Diego Giugovaz, Antonio Carlacci and Stephane Charpentier (back in the class again, this time on his own Mota 1 Honda) took the last points. John McGuinness' retum to racing was capped by a 17th-place finish, behind his fellow struggler with early-season misfortune, Austrian Christian Zaiser, from the OPCM Team. Davide De Gea, the last finisher, had the ultimate ignominy, coming in for a stopand-go after jumping the start and then being busted for speeding in the pit lane on the way out. He came in again, kept going and at least finished. More than a lot could do at an unforgiving circuit. James EJJjson was forced out on the opening lap after his machine developed a mechanical problem, and Karl Muggeridge suffered a bumed-out clutch and stopped after only one lap. A similar fate affected James Whitham on lap three, and Kevin Curtain had to abandon his race out in the remotest area of the track. Chambon's lead compressed at Mama, with the Suzuki man in the lead on 88 points, although Foret moved to second on 84. and Pitt fell to third on 83. Fujiwara's cunning at the end moved him to fourth overall with 49, with Kellner now fifth on 47. Vermeulen moved to sixth from 11th, on 45 points after an excellent weekend's work. From boy to man, at the most ballsy circuit on the calendar. .. u c I _ n _ _. • MAY 22, 2002 21