Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

fa ctu r ers sa w Fabi en F oret a d is tant who we nt up an d d own th e ord er, a s h is si xth o n h i s fa c tor y K awasa ki , and hi s CBR suffer ed sma ll c ha nges in p erfor- t ea m mat e Rib a h ad h i s m o t or go mance - fro m tire s an d brakes in his s l ow e r a nd slowe r u ntil hi s e n gi n e ca se . L o ca l ri der B arry V en ema n got m a d e h im pu ll in f o r a r et irement in h is d e s i r e t o fi n is h i n th e top 10 , th e p it b ox . Cause wa s u nspok en , b ut exploitin g th e problems eleve n th -p lace th e en g ine d id n o t b low. man A les sio C o rr ad i had u n d er b rak ing B eh in d th e t o p six , J org T euche rt o n h is T eam It al ia Spadaro Yam ah a. was fi n a ll y to fi n d h imsel f at the h ead "I h ad a t errible run a t the start of o f a n u tte rly am a z ing 10 - r id e r fi g h t the se a son , but re c e ntl y w e ' v e turne d w ith so m an y f a c ti ons in v o l v ed , th e y it around an d fo und m o re h armony in st opped o ne another from p rogres sin g the t eam : Mugg eridg e sa id . " A ll cred - an ypla c e fast. A s T eu c hert was 21 st on it goes t o T en Kate . The y 've d one all th e g rid , this is a p articularly amazing the work behind th e sc en es , g iven us re sul t from the 2000 World Champion . track tim e , a n d myself and Chris g et The final o r d e r was a pretty bizarre to go out there t o d o th e fun bit. " What about t eam ord ers .. . sight , in f a ct , with lots o f the local " T h er e w ere n o team o rders ," V er- an d imported wildcards havinq excellent run s in among th e regulars . muelen said . " I wa s hoping Karl wou ld Gianluca Nannelli took h is private le t m e win , but h e was a little bit to o Yamaha t o e i g h t h p lace, ahead of q u ic k today . I'm rea lly happy fo r t he Werner D a emen , o ne of m an y ri de rs team ; they've w o rk ed h a rd an d to get (Above) After rid ing in the World Superblke Championship slnc:e 1 9 9 0 , Hodgson finally quieted the c ritics and won It all. His ri d ing n u m be r is se v en, b u t Asse n ga ve Pier-Francesco Chili a m agnifi cent eighth career pol e and his fi rst since D on ington in Ma y of 1999. His wife, Rom ina, will fin all y get the Breil watc h offered to the win ner of each pole position, after many a close call earlier in the season. The anticipated wet weather. full changeable Assen m od e, made its mark on the second day of qualifyCHILI • 2 !()() 8 14 !.phl 1 -0 ing, and despite a largely dry track 0 . 11'11" ••• "' " - ~plU' 0 surface unde r the tires of the riders HODCSON 2 :0.1 2'~ ft" b" · ..... _ ~_ -=-.,~ L just as th e untimed fi nal Saturday .. , ""' ~ I _ ~i .& • afternoon session wound down . a J .. "'t -• • "Wet" Superpole was dec lared. Und er these rul es eac h rider in Superpole has a maximum of J2 pit exits in a 50 minute period in which to set his best lap time. A flurry of early acti vity gav e the fi rst fastest lap to the man who had scored th e fastest lap in regu lati on qualifying - Gregorio Lavilla , on the Alstare Suzuki. (Lavill a's teammat e Vittori o lannuzzo did not make the fi nal day of qualifying action , having suf fered a severe concussion the pre vious day , affecting his speech and coherence) . Chris Walker wa s another missing rider from the Superpole session , having suffered a crash in th e moming on Satu rday. Bizarrely , he felt oka y after his cras h bu t went do wnhi ll during the aftern oon untimed session and decided to pull out of Superpole. He was allow ed to start from eighth place after Superpole. James Haydon's fall from his Petronas in the morning's timed session also meant that his was out of action in the fina l untimed session, even though he did not qualify for Superpole per se. He touched a white line at high speed - J40 m ph he reckoned - and he fell , bending back his right hand and tw eaking tendons and ligaments quite badly . Few believed he woul d make race da y . The fully dry tr ack cond ition s midway through the 50 -minute Superpole session were enough to allow a multitude of rid ers to ma ke their individual fastest lap times, and th e fastest ma n of them all was Chili, who finally secured the pole position status he had so desired all season. Only a second slower than Loris Capirossi on the MotoGP Ducati was not co nsidered too bad a feat from a 39 -year-old man on a two -year-old customer 998 RS. His late fast lap of 2:00 .874 went unchallenged by Neil Hodgson, despite the Englishman 's having th ree laps left to complete and enough time to get one last atte mpt in. He did not, however, have any more qua lifying tires at his disposal, and it seemed unlik ely that he wou ld reach the ma ssive ly impressive speed of Chili on race rubber. "I have worked hard all year and im proved the bike step by step, and now we are in this good pos ition ," Chili said . " For me the rul es next year are a problem. Eac h year I want to go faster, and this is how I can stay m otivated to race. Each year I want to beat m yself, and I must believe that I can go quicker. Al ready I am not on the best bike, and I do no t want to have to a bigg er gap to close. The rules can change, but at the moment I will not be here next yea r." Despite hitting the inside of the curb at the chicane on his earlier fastest lap of the day, Hodgson stayed abo ard and set a still-impressive 2:01.226, well under the previous track best. "That was reall y good fun - it's great battling with Frankie [Chili]," Hodgson said . "I 'd go out, give my best , then I'd come in , and he 'd gone faster again. When I came in , I was shaking with adrenaline beca use I'd nearly cras hed , but in the end I ran out of qualifiers! I've had a fantastic weekend so far and have fou nd the enjoyment again after two tense rounds in America and Brita in. Everythin g is going so well. I don 't want to tem pt fate, but I'm looking forw ard to tom orrow . I know I've got one hand on the trophy, but I'm going to give 100 percen t as always ." In third and fourth p laces, resp ectively , Lavilla and Ruben Xaus swept all except Chili and Hodgso n before them and were both just in the 2:02 bracket, only a few hundredth s away from a 2:0 I. Lavill a, teliingl y , was one second faster than the Suzuk i Grand Prix effort earlier in the year at A ssen. Th e 3 .736 -m ile A ssen tr ack was a challenge for most of the top riders in this battle again st the sto pwatch , wild cards and regul ars alike. John Reyn olds , a wild card from the British Superb ik e Cham pi on ship series, was fifth fastest on his Rizla Suzuki, with Regis Laconi in sixth pla ce on his NCR Ducatl, blaming slower rid ers for spoiling his fro nt row chanc es. James Toseland, th e lon e HM Plant man in the Superpole session aft er Walker's medical woes, went seventh , ahead of Walk er, who only dropped one row due to missing Superpo le for m edi cal reason s. Th e yo ung Bri tish talent from Brit ish Superbik e Series, Leon Haslam, was n inth, the top 10 roun ded out by Ivan Cl ementi, in the to p six after regul ation qu alifying, while Troy Corser ended up I I th on his recentl y m odifi ed thr ee-cylinder machine. (Below) Jurven van den Goorbergh (crashing) ran with the f r o nt group, In c lu din g Chris Venneulen (7) in the Supersport race, until he crashed out of h is home race on la p seven. =--._-__ --'._ . . _ 20 . Ka rl Truchsess (Yam) : 2 1. Pau l Moo ljma n (Suz). a o ne- t wo h ere a t A ssen is what w e Time: 32 m in.. 57 .759 sec. Dis tan ce: 59 .78 miles. 16 lap s Average speed: 108.82 mp h Marg in of victory: .466 sec. Fa ste st lap: Neil Hodgson. lap 16. 2:02 .649 SBK WORLD C'SHIP POINTS STANDINGS (Af te r 10 of 12 rou nds): 1. Neil Hodgson (4 3 1112 win s" }; 2. Ruben Xaus (29 1/ 4 wins) ; 3 . J ames T oseland (240/1 win ); 4. Regis Lecon i (22 1); 5. Gregorio Laville (2 0t ); 6. Chri s Walker ( 191); 7. Pierfre ncesco Chili ( 18 6/1 win ); 8. Steve Marti n ( 109) ; 9 . Marco Bor cleni (98 ); 10. Luci o Ped erc ir u (9 7 ); 11. Troy Co rser (81 ); 12. Ma uro Sench ini (BO); 13. Iva n Clem enti (6 2 ); 14 . Juan Borja (59); 15. Giova nni Busser (52) . " Cltnched World Champion ship SUPERSPORT QUALI FYING : I . C h ris Vermeu len ( 2 :0 5 . 7 3 6) ; 2 . Ka rl Mugge ri dge (2 :05.92 1); 3. Sebast ian Cha rpent ier (2:06 .630) ; 4 . J urgen Van Den Goorbergh ( 2:06.669 ); 5. Katsuak i F uj i wa r a ( 2 :0 6 .9 3 2 ); 6 . S tep han e Chamb on (2: 0 7. 13 1); 7. Barry Veneman (2 :07 .3 13) ; 8 . la in Ma c Pherso n (2 :07 .46 5) ; 9 . A lessio Co rradi (2:07 .508 ): 10 . Si m one Sann a ( 2 :0 7. 6 3 9) : II. Gienluce Na nnelli (2:0 7.7 12) ; 12. Christian Kell ner (2 :07 .923): 13. Robert (JIm (2:0 7.99 4 ): 14 . Pere Ribe (2 :0 8 . 19 2) : 15 . Warner Deemen (2 :08 .229) : 16. Fab ian Foret ( 2:08.3 15 ); 17. Ja n Hanson (2:08. 34 0) ; 18. Th ierry Van Den Bo sch (2:08.494) ; 19. Matth ieu Laqr tve (2:08. 60 1): 20 . Dean Tho mas (2:0 8. 8 28): 21. J orge Teuchert (2:08 .96 5): 22 . Michael Lave rty (2:09 .0 4 4) : 23 . Harr y Van Bee k (2 : 10 .862): 24 . Stefan o Cruc ian i ( 2 : I 0 .916) ; 25 . D i d i er Vankeyumeulen ( 2: 10.921 ) ; 26 . Tor telf Hart elma n (2 : 11. 00 4 ): 27. Shan non J ohnson (2:1 1.173): 28 . M ic h e l Van Kleef ( 2 : 11 .669) ; 29 . Re n e Wi nkel (2 :11.828): 30 . Arn o Visscher (2:12 .155). SUP ERS PQRT: I. Karl M ugg erid ge (Hon) ; 2. Chris Vermeu len (Hon ); 3. Katsuak i Fuj iwara (5 02); 4. Stephane Chambon (Suz); 5. Sebasti an Charpe nti er (Ho n) ; 6 . Fabien For et ( K aw ) ; 7. J or g e Te u chert ( Yam) ; 8 . Gla nlu c e N enn elf i { Yam} : 9 . Wern er D e em e n ( H a n ) ; 10 . Ba rr y Ven em a n ( Ho n ) ; 11 . Alessi o Co rradi (Yam) : 12. Michael Laverty (Hon); 13. D ean Th o ma s ( Ho n) ; 14 . Ja n Han so n ( Ho n) ; 15. Ro bert Ulm (Han) ; 16 . Christi an Kelln er (Yam ); 17. Thierry Van Den Bo sch (Yam); 18. Matthieu Laqn ve (Yam ); 19. Didi er Vankeyumeulen (Kaw) ; 20. Stefano Cruci ani (Kaw ) ; 2 1. Sh ann on J ohnson (Ho n ); 22. Torl eif Hartelman (Yam) ; 23. Harry Van Beek (Yam) ; 24 . Amo Visscher (K aw); 25. Rene Wink el (He n). Time: 34 min ., 5.948 sec . Di stan ce: 59 .78 m ile s, 16 lap s Averag e speed: 105.20 mp h Mar gin of vict ory : .26 3 sec. Fa st est lap : Katsuaki Fujiwara . lap 2. 2:06.922 SUPERSPORT C'S HIP POINTS STANDINGS (A ft er 9 of 11 round s): 1. Chris Vermeulen ( 16 1/ 4 win s); 2. Kl:Itsuaki Fuj iwara ( 1 19/1 win ); 3. Stephane Cham bon ( 113/l win ); 4. Ju rgen vd Goorbergh ( 104 ); 5. Ka rl Mu ggeridge (84 Il ); 6. Christia n Kellner (7 8/1 win ); 7. Alessandro Corradi (68) ; 6. Fabien Foret (64f l win ): 9. Jorge Teuchert (58): 10. Pere Ribo (49 ). w anted . I d idn 't lik e t o se e Ju rg en [van d en G o orberqh] c ras h , but it wa s a reli ef th at h e w a sn 't right b ehind m e. I lo oked b ack a lap later, and K atsua ki w a s th er e, so it w a s tim e t o make a move . M y m ain o bject i v e w a s t o fini sh in fro nt of Jurgen a n d K atsuaki , an d I ' v e d on e th at and e x te n de d th e c ha m p ion sh ip le ad. " eN Worl d Superb ike Champi onship Assen, Holland Results : Septemb er 1, Z003 [ Round IOJ SBK QUALIFYING : I . Pierf ra nceseo Ch i li (2: 00 .874) : 2. Neil Hod gson (2 :01.226): 3 . Greq ono La ville (2:0 2.04 2) : 4 . Ruben Xa us (2 ,02.150) : 5 . J o h n Re y n o l d s (2:02 .269) ; 6 . Re g i s L a c o n i (2:0 2.53 1); 7. James Toseland (2:02.587) ; B. Chris Wal ker (2:0 2.736 ): 9 . Leon Haslam (2 ,03.27 7 ): 10. Iv a n C le m enti (2 :0 3 .2 8 1); 1 1. Tr o y Corser (2:03 .524) ; 12. Steve Martin (2:04. 20 9 ): 13. Luci o Pederci ni (2 :04 .668); 14. Juan Borja (2:04 .880); 15. Mauro San ch in i ( 2 :0 5 .50 7 ) ; 16 . Ml:Ir co Bo rcia ni (2 :0 5.5 9 1); 17. Ale ssandro Gramigni (2:05.634); 16. Stephe n Ne bel (2 :07 .406) ; 19 . Serefi no Fuertes ( 2:0 7 .79 1): 20. Horst Seiger (2,0 8 .6 5 9) : 21. J i ri Mrk yvka (2:09 . 194 ): 22 . Karl Truchsess (2 :09 .712): 23. L u e a Pedersoli (2:09 .925) ; 2 4 . Gia n maria Liveranl ( 2: 10.44 0 ); 25 . Robert Menzen ( 2:1O.465 ); 26 . Paul Moo ljrnan (2:11.511). SB K RAC E ON E: I. Ruben Xaus (Due); 2. Neil Hodg so n ( Due) ; 3 . Pier fra nc eseo Ch il i ( Du e); 4 . Ja m es Tosela nd (Due) ; 5 . Chris Walk er (Due) ; 6. Troy Co rse r (Pet ); 7 . Leo n Haslam (Due ); 8 . Ivan Cleme nti (Ka w); 9 . Ste ve Martin (Due ); 10. Mauro Sanehini (Kaw ); II. Alessandro Grami g ni (Yam) ; 12. Luci o Pedercml (Du e); 13. Ho rst Saiger (Yam ) ; 14. Glenmerte Uv eran i (Yam) ; 15. J iri Mrkyvk a (Duc) ; 16. Robert Menzen (Suz); 17. Pau l Moo ljman (Suz). Ti me : 33 m in .• 7.249 sec . Di st ance: 59 .78 m iles. 16 lap s Av erage speed: 108.30 mph Margin of victory : .609 sec. Fast est lap : Gregorio Lavill a, lap 2. 2:03 .081 SB K RA CE T WO ; I . Ne il Ho d g so n ( Du e ) ; 2. Ruben Xeus (Du c) ; 3. Greg orio Lavllla (Suz) ; 4 . Regis Leconi (Due ); 5 . Pierf ran cesco Ch ili (Due) ; 6 . Leon Hasla m (Due) ; 7. Iv an Cle m en t i (Kaw) ; 8 . Chri s W a lk er (D ue ) ; 9 . Troy Corse r ( Pe t ) ; 10 . J ohn Reyn olds (Suz); 11. Steve Mart in (Due ); 12. Mau ro Saneh ini (Kl:Iw) ; 13. Marco Bo relani (Du e) ; 14. Lucio Pedercin i (Duc ); 15. Al essandr o Gramign i (Yam ); 16. Juan B orja (D ue) ; 17 . Stephan Nebel (Suz) ; 18 . Robert Menzen (SOl); 19. Gianmari a L iverani (Yam) ; cue e n e _ OS S EPT EM B ER 17,2003 21

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