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/128235
Vermeu len and his teammat e K arl Muggeridg e w er e th e cl ass acts o n di splay a nd with a lack of team o rders left the ir pote ntial fairing bashing largely to tile last laps of the 21 . Muggeridge was also using some new engine p art s on the <:: B R, deemed too m uch of a risk for Vermeulen to use. Whateve r th ey were , they worked. " We h ad n o t eam orders ," Mug geri dge said . "Ou r team boss , Ronal d T en Kate, t ru st s Chris and I enough , and w e resp ec t eac h o t he r' s ridin g eno ug h, not to do anythi ng too crazy . Ro nal d j us t t ol d us t o go out the re and p ut o n a good show , so that's what we did. " Vermeulen di d have a spell in th e le ad and a p op at Mug ger id ge , th e leade r ent ering the Rivazza co rne r o n the last c irc u it . but he mana ged to outb rak e him sel f , sav ing a ny c rash by run ning wi de. M ug geri d g e d idn 't need a second offe r and swept insid e to lead th em all hom e to the flag. It w a s M u g g er id g e ' s seco nd strai ght win , foll owing up o n hi s dev a stating p ol e ti me in quali f ying , a lthough an oth er Auss ie , wild c a rd rid er Yam aha Motor Germany 's Kevin Cu rta in , took th e new race la p record of I :5 3. 12 2 b ef ore ret iring with a worn out gear lin k age. So ra dica l was h is lean ang le , he was a p p a re ntly bu f f in g th rou gh it , and it fell off heartbreak in g ly close to th e end of the co nte st. Ya m a h a B el g ard a 's J urgen v an den Goorb er gh retu rn ed to third in the c ha m pions hi p after scor ing th ird in th e Imo la rac e. b ut for the Alstare Suzuki pairing of Stephane Chambon ( fo u rt h) and Katsuaki Fuj iwara (a retiree through c r a sh i n g), Im o l a marked th e end of th eir cham p io nship asp irations. Not a bad effort from th e old est bikes in the fie ld and on e of th e ol dest riders. in th e final anal ys is. " I wa nt ed to st ay with Vermeu len and M uggerid g e , but I g ot stu ck beh ind Cha m bon and Charpentier in the first la ps, " Goorberg h sai d . " When I had cl ea r track . somet im es I was able t o close. but the n I wo uld lo se tim e else w here . I a m r ea sona b l y happy to fi nish th ird. and I wa nt to go for second overall in Fran c e." Kla ffi Honda ri der Seb ast ien Charpentier w as in line for a Hond a clean swee p at one st age bu t suffe re d two m onumental near hi gh sid es, leavin g him w ork to d o after lo sing p l ac es. His fifth wa s good; it co uld hav e been m uch , much bett er. Fa b ien For et . str uggling in q uali fy ing once m or e, cou ld have had a bet ter result, but a loose wa te r pi pe pu t an end to th at , and a Pere Riba retire m ent co m poun ded th e m is ery of a team wh o are out of a co ll ecti ve j ob in 20 04. after one up -and-down sea son on a slow bi k e. On his own tarmac Gianl uca Nan nell i was f ighting li k e the d evi l t o secure a t op p lacing. mak ing hi s agonizing la ck of gas on th e last sec tor o f the las t lap a heartbreaker. He took sixth , almost stum bling over the li ne after an ag gressive ride. Kevin Curt ain' s new lap rec o rd on t he Yama ha G e rm a n y ma c h i n e , • L . team w orked hard, and I ga v e 10 0 percent and pulled the resu lt o ut of th e bag ." In th e regu l a r Ya m a ha Ge r ma ny tea m b o th K elln e r and T eu ch ert cras hed , re mo unte d a nd finish ed in the po ints but ou t side th eir person al f i eld s o f expecta tio n . K e lln e r w as 12th; Teuch ert a bummed ou t 14th. It appear s th at Ya m aha Motor Franc e are goi ng it alo ne on R1s next year. not supported R6s, bu t Thierry van den Bosc h did not start at Im ola ; M atth ieu Lag rive finish ed l I th, j u st behind Sanna. An yone remember A ntonio Carla c ci? L ots of other Yamaha rid er s should, as he scored a wil d c ard n inth at hom e , in front o f their supported t h e ir Du tch -made boomerangs o u t front, but finishing is always be tter tha n hu rtin g yo urself and yo ur pride in a fa ll , right in fro nt of the p it lane . Mayb e th e really depressed p eop le are the ones o utside the T en Kat e pit. D espite t he rec ord num ber of go od bikes and fast blokes , it wa s one -way Ten Kate traffic th is season , Ho nda double yellow li nes all the way al ong the expresswa y at Imola . With Muggeridge on his fo rm at Magny Cours, his desired hat trick of wins is m or e th an reali stic; with vet m eul en on hi s fo rm . he will be the one to depose him - with all the rest on to p form, we can have the race of the yea r as a goodbye to the Dunlo p tires, whic h have shod some winners this year. CN m ach in es o n his Start T eam entry. In the last few points-scor in g posi ti ons, Rob ert Ulm once m ore was less than his best in 13th, th e afo rem en tioned Teuch ert in the same boa t. and A lessandro Po lit a a sing le poi nt scorer. Mo st depressed m an of the m eet ing? A t o ss-up b etw e e n Kats uaki Fuj iw ar a and hi s boss Fran ci s Batta , i t see ms, as t h e J a p an ese fell at a c ru c i al t im e in th e race, la p eight. Maybe he wo uld h a v e made no impression on the fly ing Aussies on n c ue I e Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari Imola. ltaly Results: Septe mbe r 28, 2003 [Round 1]J Xaus celebrates his sixth win of the yea r. 1:53. 12 2 (with Curtai n tes t rid in g as a possibl e rep lacement for th e ou tg oing Teuc hert), wa s set hunting do wn Nann ell i on the 16th la p . Yamaha , othe r th an van den Goo r bergh ' s good bounc e ba ck fr om his As sen di sap pointments to third pl ace, h ad a t orrid time w i t h riders being rep lac ed by wild c a rds - w hile t hey wer e st ill th e re. Sim on e Sann a w as giv en th e good new s th at he is out of the Bel gard a tea m in 2004 ju st as 2 1ye a r-old Japa nese prodi gy T ek k yu Ka y o came in for the w eek en d. He w as glad he d id, looked sh arp and bra ve in p ractice and scored sev enth , seco n d- best Yama ha r ider a mo n g droves of them . la in M a cph ers on co n t i n ue d to show t hat whatever bad luck an d bad habit s he has , he is qu ick on his day after f iv e seasons in the tu rm o il of WSS . Eighth was a feat of arms ,afte r q ualifying 18th . " I' ve rea lly struggled this weeKeQd, so to get a t op ten is rea lly good," Macpherson said . " It doesn't so und so good given my past results, bu t the S/ BK QOAUFYING: 1. Ruben Xaus ( 1:48.636): 2 . Regi s La c on ! ( I :49 .042 ) ; 3 . Ne il Ho d g s on ( I :4 9 .0 5 1 ) : 4 . J am e s T o sel and ( 1:4 9 .2 28 ) : 5 . Pierfr an ces c o Ch ili ( t :49 .2 45 ) ; 6 . Tro y Cors er ( 1:49.880): 7. Steve Martin ( 1:49.92 1); 8. Juan Borja ( 1:50. 188) ; 9 . Greqorlo Laville ( 1:50 .3 18): 10. Chris Walke r ( 1:50 .4 13 ); I I. Iva n Clem enti ( I:50.803 ); 12 . L uc io Pederc ini ( 1:5 0. 8 49 ); 13 . Ma rc o Bo rci ani (1 :5 1.419); 14 . Mau ro Sa nch ini (1:5 1.834); 15 . David Ga rcia ( 1:52. 106) ; 16. Se rgio Fuertes (1:53 .843); 17. A lessandro Gram igni ( 1:52.649) ; 18. J ames Heydon (I :53. 13 4) ; 19 . Walter Tort orogli o (I :53. 263 ): 20. Luce Pini (1 :53.379): 21. Horst Saiger (1 :53 .938) ; 22. Gi useppe Zanni ni (1 :5 4.3 27 ) ; 23 . Lor en zo Maur i (1 :5 4. 4 63); 2 4 . Lu c e Pede rsoli ( 1: 5 4. 8 14 ); 25 . Simo ne Conti (1 :55.261 ); 26 . Gian maria Li v eran i (I :55.395) : 27. Jiri Mrkyvka ( 1055.895) . e _ S • O C TO B ER 8 , 2003 31