Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

my am biti on to regai n th ird p lace in th e cha m pions hip. " Hod g son ' s approac h t o t he ra c e th is weekend, wi n o r b ust , sa w h im set a 1:4 9 .3 17 t o atta ck Xaus , w ho loo k ed to be try ing an escape afte r a small mistake by Hodgson . He took the lead in co nvi nc ing fa shion , a nd Xaus wa ited , rig ht in his dra ft. Hodgson wa s p as sed by Xau s at Vill en eu ve ch ic an e, but by th e ve ry nex t T o sa h a i rp in he simp ly pu t a b lo c k -pa ss o n th e Spa n ia rd. N ot t o be out do ne, Xaus was back in fro nt at Va r i ant e A lta , and as th e l a st l a p app roach ed, the y we re righ t t og ether on t he head long flig ht d ow n t o th e Rivazz a co rn ers. Halfw ay down Ho rst Sa iger and Gius eppe Zan nin i got in th e w a y a l ittl e , th e F i la b oys sque e ze d th r o u g h an a la r m ingl y sma ll gap alm o st side by side , and Hodgson was left in a less-than -id eal p lac e to atta c k . He did so, of co u rse, but off lin e on the way into the seco nd Rivazza, w ith Xa us da ngerous ly fa r ahead , Hodgson gave it a handful and spun Sideways, ma k in g what wo uld not be hi s first or last im p ressive save of th e da y . H o d g son m a y have b e e n h el d b a ck b y th e pre sen c e of t h e tw o backm arke rs in ra c e one, bu t he outbraked hims elf into th e turn at Tosa i n rac e t w o , r un n in g o f f t h e tr ac k . Sa v ing t h e sit u at io n wi t h ap lo m b , Hodg son di d not cras h bu t re-j oi ned in fifth , finish ing his ra c e in fo u r th aft er t he chec kered flag w as shown . An oth er g reat save , but th at was of ....,;iio.iiIilll.. tte ~onsolation, it"' iliiIo., ~ • • > _, ' Xa us a rdn realIze tha'h'1 ~ nv ~l 1 _ was. behind In ril"c e.twoalld"the r,efor'..e_ ..j-"!:!Ul;J:i" muchsas h did _ .............. VJheA"'hi ivills t:a c o nl an d B a9liss 1 2=~ra c,e d to~th e f l a g . " I111"1...~ ra sh e d c}J~ . ......iiIl- rac~,: · j h =................,."",_"........,.., c ase o f tr y in g t o ha ng in t here, but once th ere was a bit of a gap, I had too m uch time t o thi n k about th e arm pu m p . Th e bik e w as p er f ec t , an d I had no co m pla int s, j ust disa pp ointed with th e fi rst ra ce wh ere I sho uld have finis hed fo urt h . The best private ri der on show w as di ffe re nt in eac h r ace, DFX Du c ati Pirelli 's St eve Martin foll ow in g in the tra ck s of Ch il i in ra ce o ne , and Ped erc in i Ducati 's Lu cio Pederci n i scor ing a g reat sixth p lace in race tw o. He retired in race on e wh il e in a strong top -t en p lac e. B ack i n f acto ry la n d the F o gg y def lectin g it away from th e ti re, so I decid ed to pu sh hard and try tel fo rce Sanchini into a m ist ake rath er t han wa it for the last lap to make a move." ij J am es Haydon ran off th e trac k and then had a tec hnical failure in race one and f oll o w ed t h a t~ up w i th a n o t h er engi ne failur e in rac e two , as well as o ve rhe at ing w o rri es . Lea k i n g he ad gaskets ar e the prob lem , it app ears. H ay d on wa s o n a d i ff ere nt spe c o f ma chin e from Corser bu t is showing all th e sig ns of a rider up to the back t eeth o f t his se aso n and rea dy f o r another in ano ther plac e if possib le. Kawasa k i Bertocc hi's Mau ro Sa n c hi n i, t eamm at e Iv an Cl em enti and Ma rco Borciani to ok the last pla ces in the top ten in rac e o ne, Sanchini, Juan Borj a and David Garcia scoring th ose finishes in the seco nd 2 1-lapper. Clementi fe ll from race two , hu rt ing himself as he bounc ed sick en ing ly throu gh th e grav el b ut esc a pi n g any truly serio us inj ury . Race two was actua lly a rep eat of rac e o ne in ma ny res pec ts as it saw the Du c ati Fila ri de rs ta ke each othe r on with little fratern ity dem o nstrat ed o n tra ck . It was, as pe ople who have a little histor y in a m o n g st th e ta lk o f the fu ture , the second tim e tha t Xaus has go ne t o e-to -toe w ith h is ow n t eamma te at Imola , ju st afte r h is ri d in g bu dd y ha d been cro wned new Wor ld cham p. Th e other: Bay liss , wh o br o ke hi s c o ll arbo ne in his pu rsuit of Xa us and took out La con i in t he proc ess. In the cha m pionsh ip Hod gson and Xaus are almost c omicall y far ahead of the ir peers , on 464 and 341 points r e s p e c t i v el y, w h il e L ac o ni h a s hopp ed away t o t h i r d p l ac e in th e c lass i f ica t io n , w i t h 25 7 p o int s to T o sel and ' s 2 4 0. L avill a is t he t o p fo ur-cy lin de r ride r, in fifth with 230. T h e fi n al tw i st i n t h e t a l e , o n a weeke nd of non stop discuss ion abo ut the fut ure, tire deal s and leg al implic atio n s, was that X a us a n d Ho d g son lined up on the gr id in rac e tw o wi th what looked like cut slick rea rs - on a dr y day with no rain rea lly threaten ing . • at lm ol a wh en he first W o 200 1. ' , In fro nt of t h e Im o l ese Du c at i st i , X au s w a s k in g t o d ay , an d h e ev en had the throne roo m pre tty m uch to him sel f w h en Ho d g so n fi n i shed off th e pod i um in the sec ond l eg . No t qu ite to him sel f, of c o urse , beca use as w ell as Ho d g so n be in g th e fi rst ru n ne r - u p in rac e o n e. NCR N o r t e l D u c at i ' s Regis L ac o ni d i d h is ow n c h am pio nsh ip c ha llenge a wo rld o f good with a th ird. He pr op ell ed him se l f b ey on d th e lu c k l e ss Tose land into t h i rd o ve ra ll, a fte r a seco n dplace fi nish in the second race. " I am very happy w ith thi rd position and t o m ov e cl oser to Toselan d in the cham p io nship ," La c oni said . "All race I tried to k eep my rhythm and do good lap tim es, bu t it was di ffic ult. HM Plant Duc ati 's Tosel an d retired in rac e one with a bro ke n gea r lin kage and cras hed in ra ce two. He was frustrated sitting behi nd the bl ocking yet rap id Lacon i, and w hen he determ ined t o pas s, he pu shed too hard and fe ll hard , bashi ng his head to th e poi nt of dizziness, if not unc ons ci ousness. T he loss of points and thi rd -p la c e sta tus w ith one m eeting to go will hurt a lot m ore , as Tosela nd's de te rmi natio n sim ply got the better of him . After a few m eetings of gri m ness, Alsta r e S uz u ki 's Gr eg ori o L a v ill a improved matters so me wh at as th e Regis Lacon i (5 5) ha d a no ther good weekend w ith a pair of podium fi nish e s and was second in Superpole on Saturday . Ch ris Walker (9) had a DNF in rac e one and fi ni shed f ifth In rac e two. Wa lker fini shed his weeke nd with a rac e-on e cra sh and a rac e -t w o fifth pl ace, th e sensation of race one being . PSG - 1 Du c at i' s Pierfran c es c o Ch ili, who sta lled on the line and th en rode t hr o ug h to fifth . He ende d rac e tw o w ith a tech n ic al ret ir em ent , hard ly a great reward for a rider who m ay be in his final seaso n of competi tion - or not. "I bashed my arm in th e first race, and it pumped up afte r about 12 la ps in the second rac e ," Wa lker said . " I co u ld k eep u p u nti l James p a ssed Lacon i. He upped the pace a co upl e of ten th s an d towed Laconi on , bu t I was going as fast as I co ul d. It was a Petronas 9 00cc t ripl e of T ro y Co rse r was in good f orm in c ompa rison to the m i dd le seaso n rac es, d eliv erin g Co r se r a pair of se v ent h p l a c e s , al though wit h c ontrasti ng ra ce ex pe riences t o hi s teamm ate. "W e have had th e new bik e work in g pretty we ll in th e sho rt tim e w e hav e been here ," Corser said . "I had a g rea t sta rt in ra c e o ne, but all th e other bik es were a littl e fas ter than us in th e strai g hts . In th e seco nd ra ce the eng in e was slower from the st art , and I almost had to pull in wi th six laps to go, as I could see o il o n th e bik e. But t h e re ar hugge r mu st h a v e b e e n cue I e n e "" S • O CT OBER 8 , 2003 29

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