Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

race. but luckily we had a good setup at t he front, and w e were able to brake a bit deeper th an him," Tose land said. "That's what made all t he differenc e lo r me rea lly. He had more grip o n the right- hande rs and me on the left , but it was an eve n and lair battle and a fantastic race. Well done to C hris an d also to Regis - he 's been awesome this w eekend. The championsh ip is no w look ing good; Regis and I ar e first and second . It has been lantas tic racing around here. I was just a bit disappo inted in having a lew problems early in the weekend, but we managed t o get it all together lor the races." He didn't q uite get it all his own way. as Vermeulen led race o ne with a pro per start off the line lor a chan ge , but t here was re ally on ly going to be on e w inne r this weeke nd. Laco ni's Iront running strategy and a disparate choi ce 01 tires used by t he other to p ride rs (w ith most regre tt ing the ir softes t option s in race on e). made the gam e one 01 two halves. Most opted lor harde r rubbe r in race two, and some we re rewarded. Vermeu len. for exampl e . w ent for th e hard est possibl e front after choosing t he so ltest in the o pener. He was also dropping back in race o ne w ith bog stock clutch trou bles, name ly it spinning as t he w ho le bike go t hotter in the 86-degree air tempe rat ures, and t he wet clutch lound its cu rrent limita t io n. Not that it made any differen ce to Vermeulen. who w ou ld be ex pelled from the second class of school fo r a non functioning ignition cut out switch. which is su pposed to cut ignitio n and luel pump circuits when the bike goes over on its side . In a spooky rerun of an earlier pr o blem for the Ten Kate team's rivals in Supe rspo rt , Team ltalia, it meant that t he ir best Superbike result of the day was ove rt urn ed . and Vermeulen lost all 20 po ints fro m race tw o . Alte r the desperately du ll an d co ld w ea ther of the o pening three rou nds. the sunshine at Monza was welcome , if so met hing 01an anvil fo r the riders to be slow ly roasted o n. Not to me ntion the bikes. In go o d po sition s in bo th races , Ren egade Du cat i's No riyuki Haga had his mechanical wo rld dr op out fro m und er him twice . For local god Chili, he had a similar fate - two bike lailures in on e race. Thi s seemingly impossible le at w as achieved as his hybrid street 998R (with a l04mm bo re 999 spec engine) blew up spectacularly. an d he was stranded out at the first chica ne . Bo rro w ing a sco o ter. he headed lo r the pits. Before the start of the actual race, about two minutes late r. he had got back to Pit Lane, where his single -sided swingarm 999 was waiting for him. Start ing o ff dead last. Chili was up to 14th by lap five shortly be fore his second engine went pop in a big way - again leaving him stranded at the first chicane . Miserere Do minum. " Breaking two engines was a huge dis- Briefly... Pirelli's recent trend of supplying more choices of tires than its mandatory three different slickfronts and three different slick rears continued at Monza. Four front and rear opt ions were made available. plus the qualifying tires, with one a dual cornpound to allow the left side to run hotter than the right - as there are so few lefts on the 3.59-mile Monza circuit. The fourth tire choice was once more an attempt to give those teams that have been experiencing severe chatt er (when using the same tires that Honda and Ducati riders fit) a wider range than just the one they have been able to use so far; Alter recent rainy experiences, Pirelli alsoopted to bring more rain tires than usual. as the poor weather at Misano almost emptied the trucks of rain tires. The tota l of tires brought to Monza therefore burst through to 6300, a record this year. Pirelli also has a new Supersport front tire, a softer versionthan ever before, after finding good results with it at a recent Monza test . Fra nkie fever has overcome Italyin the run-up to the Monza event . Extensive press coverage in the Inflated Italian sports and general media, plus Chili's 20-point lead in the series, have seen the popular Bolognese rider become this weekend's hot ticketeven alongside the MotoGP greats 01Rossi, Biaggi and Capirossi. Italian journalists have seen ticket touts in ope ration for the first time in living memory. and one Italian web site repo rted as much traffic for the SBK race at Misanoafter Chili won as it did for Rossi's win at Welkom. The Monza SBK crowd was claimed to be 86.000 over the three days. and that figure see ms the most accurate yet published by SBKthis year. appointment in rac e one," Ch ili said. "It is not possi ble that two en gines can break. We are sponsors of Ducati, and it is not correct . In race two there we re too ma ny people trying to win the race at the first co rn e r. I was afra id, and I d idn't wa nt to be hit. The n I lost muc h time be hind Tose land, and I t hink he bloc ked me when it was easy fo r him to stay behi nd. I made a mistake at t he Parab olica w he n I crash ed try ing too hard." He w o uld retu rn to race w ith a ne w e ngine in the 998 , on ly to crash ou t at t he en tra nce to th e Paraboli ca in race two on lap five . Althoug h in much be tt e r shape than newly deposed cham pio nship lead e r Chili. Vermeu len lo und the first race itself was something 01a d isappoint ment as he slid increasingly rap idly back to fou rth , In the early laps Toseland was back wi th Haga and Vermeulen again, as big plumes o f smoke vortexed off his rear Pirelli. Toseland disposed of Haga at the entrance to the Parabolica, and the Japane se was out a lew kilometers later, at the approach to Ascari on lap nine . Belore Vermeulen's podium demise. he had shown the Honda to be last do w n the straights, but the fact o ry Ducat is were just as rapid. a factor t hat he lpe d Toseland when Ve rmeule n co uldn't keep his spinning clutch plat es all in rotation at t he same speed . T hus McC oy passed Ve rmeule n o n lap 10. Toselan d was well away Irom the lap time of Vermeulen , his I:50.9 on e seco nd slow e r. A Ireak ex pe rien ce fro m McCoy allowed Vermeulen some respi te in his attack on the top positions, but the final gap. Irom th e elde r Aussie McCoy to th e you ng Aussie Vermeulen . was a w ho pping 23 seco nds. "I'm happ y to take two podiums here in Mon za," McCoy said . "I'm Aust ralian. but all the team are Italian, and I'm su re that everybody has paid special attention to th is race . In the fi nal part 01 race on e I overtook Toseland lo r the seco nd positio n, but a sma ll stone entered t he luel inject ion area, disrupting the full throttle move ment. By chance it didn't enter the engine and stopped short of breaking it . In race two the bike was bump ed from behind. but no t hing very bad . I hope that the fight lor second with Tose land was as good lor the public as it was lor us. In the final lap I t ried to pass at the first chicane. but we had different ways to approach that corner. and I arrived to o close to www.cyclenews.com Michael Schulten and Jurgen Oelschlager will race wildcard CBRI OOORRs for Team A1pha-Technik in Oshersleben. They are currently leading the German SBKchampionship, both with 45 points. Ja mes Tose land , well out of sorts in the opening few rounds, has gone back to a less radical chassis setup in an attempt to regain his confidence on the 999 Ducati. "It's just up to me to ride the bike now, rather than worry about the setup of the machine. I feel a lot better about things at this race." The young Briton has a spring in his step , missing from previous campaigns this year, despite having already taken a race win at Valencia. The very first Superbike untimed session was red-flagged, after Portuguese rider Miguel Praia crashed on the approach to the finish line. sliding to the edge of the track. L ying trackside , rolling around in pain, and with his bike firmly blocking the track, the session was halted. Beaten up but otherwise unbroken. Praia was whisked away. Praia was on the 998 Ducati this weekend, the newer 999 being used by Italian veteran GiancarloD e Matteis. and run - ning number 27. CYCLE NEWS • MAY 26, 2004 43

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