Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Championship Road Race Series Round 5: Gran Premio Cinzano D'italia steadily through a tight...midfield {lj)&JUD @(] flw@ {lj)@@flDUD@g {lj)&JDJ@fl@ fi1ffJfiiJD&Jc{j&J Makoto Tamada came to attention as a fearsome Japanese Superbike Wild Card rider. It was he who took Bayliss out twice three years ago and who beat Edwards last year. In MugeJlo he proved beyond a shadow of doubt that he's not one of those Japanese riders who are only fast at home. Tamada had already served notice, finishing sixth at Jerez. But MugeJlo is very different... a challenging circuit with many tricky downhill comer entries. The sort of track that takes a bit of learning. Sadly for his Italian-based Pramac team, he didn't have the chance to do that. They had scheduled tests here, but they were cancelled after Jerez, where Nicky Hayden's engine seized and HRC put a stop to all testing while they investigated. The first time he rode here was on Friday morning. ' Qualifying 10th was impressive, but then he spoiled it all with a rotten start, finishing the first lap 18th. The dream seemed to be over. But he simply wasn't having that. He rode a blinder of a race. "I stayed calm, kept my head down and went for it, without any strategies - just tried to pass wherever possible - under brakes, in the comers, under acceleration. "With a better start I could have ridden the way I like best, with the leaders." Can it be long before the 26-year-old from Ebime in Japan is doing that? places, while Gauloises Yamaha's Alex Barros had crashed out after when Capirossi started to attack Biaggi, the pair colliding at the top of making a bad front tire choice. A little later on the same lap, the two space. By lap 17, he was almost two Suzukis collided, with Roberts declin- seconds clear while the other two ing to explain a crash that seemed to were still battling, Capirossi passing have been due to his error. the hill, giving Rossi a little breathing Biaggi into the first corner only to be On the fifth lap the front order repassed two corners later. This hap- changed, as Capirossi ran wide, letting Biaggi through to lead. The pened a couple of times, until Biaggi Ducati rider managed to hold Rossi back in third (with Nakano on his back wheel), but only for a couple of corners and in spite of fierce resistance. It seemed the better handling of the Hondas was beginning to had a vicious front-wheel slide, and Capirossi was able to get away. Now there were six laps left, and Capirossi got his head down again, shaving away at the gap. But he never did get closer than 1.3 sec- the line almost as the lights went. He gang. He was on Ukawa as the facto- raised his hand, and the start was ry rider closed on Gibernau and past aborted, but not before some riders him one lap later. Then both Japan- had already left the back rows. Lucki- ese riders got past the Le Mans Gp ly there was no collision. It was cut by a lap, and they all took off again. winner, all three right on Nakano's back wheel. The last-lap battle was tooth and nail, the big 990cc four-strokes jostling like so many 125s. Over the line, Tamada led Nakano, Ukawa and Gibernau, the group covered by a second. Checa had been soldiering on, eight seconds back at the finish but still comfortably clear of Edwards, battling his Aprilia's handling (Haga had lost the same battle, crashing out with 16 laps to go). Then came the two Yamahas of Olivier Jacque and Marco Melandri, locked together for most of the race, then Hayden, another 10 seconds away, with rookie Kiyonari closing to within two seconds by the finish. Alex Hofmann's Kawasaki dropped away to 14th at the finish, still more than 30 seconds ahead of McCoy, whose different chassis was giving him serious trouble into the corners a fact confirmed by McWilliams, who had passed him on the Proton before he was obliged to retire. "I was able to brake much later than him - they're in a lot of trouble," McWilliams said. Andrew Pitt was another 14 seconds away in last, battling tire chatter all the way. Rossi's third win in five races reinforces his title lead, 115 points to Biaggi on 83, with Gibernau dropping to third on 72. Barros has just 46, payoff. Not so, however. Capirossi wasn't onds, and that's how they finished. giving up, and he stayed close as exciting time, swapping back and Nakano lost touch at one-third distance, watching as Rossi pushed and Gibernau at bay, while behind them probed at Biaggi. Checa was dropping back while Compared with the other two, the By now the gap to the pursuit was stretching, and it was a three-man Ukawa was closing. But the biggest 250cc race was a bit of a clunker. It started badly, when Nieto stalled on The next group was having an forth behind Nakano. He had held thrill was Tamada, picking his way and Ukawa 42, moving past Bayliss on 40. esocc GRAND PRIX "For once, I got a good start," said Poggiali, and although Toni Elias led into the first corner, the factory Aprilia was ahead by the end of the first lap and stayed there to the finish. He was not without pressure. De Puniet was pushing him very hard, with Nieto close behind until his tires started to fade after five or six laps. The Frenchman sustained his attack until the 13th lap, when it started to go wrong. The front end tucked under in the first climb up the hill, and he was down. De Puniet quickly scrambled back on board and rejoined in fifth, showing how spread out the race had become. He was now involved in a scrap among Battaini, Rolfo and Guintoli that had been going on for most of the race. Rolfo had made the running until he came within an inch of a crash at the first corner, just managing to regain the saddle before running off the track. It took de Puniet just two laps to get to the front of this group, and with' Nieto less than four seconds ahe.ad, he had every hope of catching him in the remaining four laps. Until he crashed again, this time smashing his Aprilia too badly to resume. By the finish, Battaini was third and closing on Nieto, with Rolfo close behind and Guintoli losing touch at the finish. But Poggiali was a massive 22 seconds clear, for a third win of the year. Fifth-placed Elias had dropped quickly out of contention, baffled as to why. "In tests we were breaking the lap record here," he said. race. On lap 13, however, Rossi outbraked Biaggi into the first corner, and perhaps it had become the more familiar one-man race. Especially Just like old times. Edwards (45) and Troy Bayliss (12) get close and personal. Tires, famously, are "round and black: according to Mike Hailwood. They still are. And a great deal more besides. Over the last five years, the biggest change has been in the use of mixed-compound tires. They are now pretty much the default. Some call them dual-compound, but sometimes three different compounds may be used. The reason for them is easily understood - the different demands on a tire at different angles of lean. With a mixed compound, the tire shoulders are made of a harder compound to withstand the greater punishment at high angles of lean in comering. The center strip - three or four centimeters wide - is of a softer compound, to aid traction in the cru- cial phase of corner exit in acceleration out of the comers. The compound mixing is done at the stage of extrusion, which is when the partially molten compound is squeezed out like toothpaste. "You have a two-head or three-head extruder, and the different compounds meld gether before they solidify: said Dunlop racing boss Jeremy Ferguson. In the early stages, there had been some problems with the different compounds separating, but even then it was rare. Once the chemistry had been established, said Ferguson, this had not been a factor. What had cost a lot of time and effort was the research and the testing. "By and large, you never want to make too big a step at anyone time," he said. Getting the right combinations had been a matter of trial and error. In fact, mixed·compound tires have been around for a long time. Kenny Roberts Senior experimented with them in the '70s, at a time when tires were even more a limiting factor to performance than they are now. Five or so years ago, dual-compound tires were big news. Now they are everyday round and black objects. 34 JUNE 18,2003' 0: U 0: I e n e vv s

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