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/128344
w in. The only way I found to do that w as on t he very fast left in fifth gear. It was hard but fo r sure I had to go fo r it. The last ch icane was very difficult, I braked late but I knew it was late to the finish, so I tried to be fast all the way through." The news on Sunday night was that Laconi would be the third rider to attend the final round of the AMA Championship at Virginia Inte rn at io nal Raceway, making it Eric Bostrom, Lorenzo Lanzi and Laconi going for another 999 win in America this year. The act ion in Italy was spectacular throughout, w ith lrnola's cambers and bumps making it a physical job for all 21 laps of each race around the classically sculpted 3.05-mile circu it. The 76,Ooo-strong weekend crowd, blessed by sunshine and wowed by some exceptionally dramatic on-track action, cheered on the Ducatis and the charge through the field of Chris Vermeulen. Even with the bad luck suffered by Pie rFrancesco Chili, who started fro m 16th on t he grid in each race, th is was negated by the excellent first-time showing of Gianluca Nannell i, capita lizing o n some bad luck for the front runners to take a impressive fourth in race two. After two races of pure adrenaline and punishing high revs, happy Frenchman Laconi took the championship lead from his teammate Toseland, a rider with a new sense of purpose but st ill maybe one degree less in his ability to set up his bike for full race distance than Laconi. Laconi overpowered Ten Kate Honda's Vermeulen in race one, as the young Aussie lost front -end feel and traction due to a poss ible leaking fork or some other malady of the front end of the machine. Its normally reliable bikes and near immaculate preparations apparently slipped a little at Imola, but Vermeulen overcame some strenuous tests of character to take a useful 30 points , and his team was able to provide him with a bike from pitlane that allowed him to make a dazzling recovery from a bizarre start to race two. A virtual start-to-finish victory for Vermeulen in race one was halted only by the aggression and pace of Lacon i on the last three laps of the 2 1.lap opener, as the Frenchman blew by on the run dow n the hillto the first Ravazza, putting ove r a second be tw een himself and Verme ulen in the last two laps. Laconi had simply upp ed the pace, and Vermeulen fought against his loss of fro nt-end fee l and perfo rmance but still finished sec o nd on what his tea m now calls the "Hon da Powe rb lade ." Tose land recovered from a midrace drop in pace , slipping behind Haga to repass the Japanese rider for third place after a bold pass on the exit of the Variante Alta on lap IS. Toseland was plainly not in the mood to be messed about in race one, but he could not ge t anywhere near the front-runners in the latter stages. "Regis [Laconi) was obv iously protecting his line going through the last chicane," Toseland said. "Unfo rt unate ly, that finish line is very close to the last corer, but I had to try and win it. It was a fantastic race; that pass that he made was a tough one. I didn't want to finish second, but I'm st ill in the hunt for the title with one race to go. It cou ldn't have worked out any better fo r the championship. Regis and I are teammates so there is going to be no love lost at Magny Cours. It will be close right to the e nd." Garry McCoy capitalized on his frontrow start with fifth place, but he had to watch his brand-new Scuderia Caracchi Ducat i Xerox teammate, Gianluca Nannelli, beat him in race two, muc h to the delight of the local crowd . The second outing was another spectacular man -to -man fight for the win, after a tr iumvirate of riders had made it a close contest for half the race. Haga crashed o ut of the lead after experiencing mechanical problems on lap nine , allow ing Toseland to escape to possible victory, only to be headed off in the last three laps by Lacon i. Haga's throttle had jammed open as he hit the brakes , taking a beat ing as he met terra firma and bounced across the bows of Toseland - down and almost certainly out. It was a bizarre day all around, and the number 41 was evidence. Haga's race number is 4 1, he is now 4 1 points be hind Laconi the leader in the championship, and Laconi's eventual margin of victory over Toseland was to be only .04 1 seconds. Spooky or just immate rial as Haga , a rider many fancied fo r t he tit le before this weeke nd be g an , be ca me one of lrnola's many nonfinishers . In an aforesaid photo finish to race two, Laconi he ld off the aggressive Toseland, try ing to elbow his way past on t he short finish straight. Toseland looked too far back on the last half a lap for even that, but the tough Yorkshireman literally pushed his teammate all the way. Vermeulen's race two wa s cursed, sainted, then cursed again. Feeling a lack of top-end urge on the sighting lap, Vermeulen sw appe d his number-one bike for his spare after a suspected electrical problem, crashed on his spare, then made the race after receiving a lift back to the pits. Starting dead last, and suffering from a badly bru ised hip, hand and ank le, he took an impro bable and outstanding sixth . He even had to overtake the pace car en rou te. His chauffeur into t he pits was Giovanni Bussei, who had to take a pitlane ride through fo r his altru ism and generosity to Vermeulen's plight. The sight of the young Aussie being given an impromptu pillion around almost the entire lap was one t hat the TV cameras lingered on. Bussei was last to fo rm up on the grid, re ject ing Verme ule n's re quest to start from pitlane , where his o ther bike was placed . As the field blasted away without him, Vermeulen limped at running speed to his bike, and with some words of cau tion from bike rac ing surgeon Claud io Costa, set off down pitlane . "I had a bit of a problem on the sighting lap w ith my number-one bike: It wouldn't rev out properly, like there was something w rong with the electrical system," Vermeulen said. "I said it to th e guys o n the grid and they arranged to swap the bike for my number-two bike . It felt comfortable, set up the same as my first one, but on the first corner I was right out of the seat and crashed. Some other riders said they thought they saw a wisp o f smoke or steam fro m the bike so maybe an oil or water line came off or something like that. I'm not sure. I got a lift back with Giovanni Busse i and I have to say he is a very nice guy in my book! I made the finish and rode as well as I co uld. I've go t a sore wrist, ankle and hip, but it could have been a lot worse . I'm 14 poi nts Briefly... The usual blizzard of wildcards attacked the Imola round in allclasses of competition. InSuperbike there was the delicious sight of team MazzaJi and their MV Agustas, two bikes for Andrea MazzaJi. The bikes, in largely red and silver color schemes, were fitted with Marzocchifront forks, unique brakes and a racing exhaust system, but still had four pipes exiting under the seat. The bike was tuned to a superbike spec, not the expected World Endurance trim. A blast from the past, stillactive in the Italian Superbike championship, was back at Imola,with Doriano Ramboni running a Yamaha RI in Giesse Racing colors. Polish rider PawelSzkopek was a welcome newcomer, and the Zongshen Suzuki team grew another arm to add to the Suzuki pairingof regulars Piergiorgio Bontempi and Warwick Nowland. It was a red Kawasaki belongingto Stephane Duterne. Unable to get a wild-card ride on his own, he was shoehorned in via the Zongshen entry. In a game of musical Italianchairs, Giancarlo De Matteis took over Chili's unwanted 999s in the PSG· I squad, Gianluca Nannelli defected from the 998s of the Pedercini squad to the 999s of the Scuderia Caracchl Ducati Xerox team, making a place for Alessio Velini, who's exit from the Union Bike Yamaha team allowed Paolo 810raa go on the Yamaha RI. Nannell;'s move is a peculiarlytimed affair, but it is probably part of the expected move of the Caracchi team into the official Ducati Supersport slot, which Ducati cannot run as a factory effort next year. His riding partner is as yet unknown, with current single Breil Ducati rider Lorenzo Lanzi expected to ride in the AHA Championship next year. The presence of Fausto Gresinl in the Imola paddock was no surprise for someone who livesup the road a bit in Ravenna, but it started tongues waggingabout a potential linkbetween his Honda team and the currently optionless Pier-Francesco Chili. Chili, an old mate of Gresini's, has found a few cold shoulders so far, and his desire to keep his chief mechanic - who will not leave Italy- has already precluded his presence in some teams, such as Klaffi. The prospect of MV Agusta ret urning to World Superbike in 200S appeared more remote than ever at Imola. The possible tie-up between the Alstare team and the Italian manufacture r has not been confi rmed, and it looks increasingly like MV wants to wait a year until its 1000cc F4 is more proven at the highest levels. Having just been bought by Proton , there isalso some insecurity regarding any future plans, despite MV's management affirming that it would liketo go superbike racing. Lucio Pedercini, a big fan of Ayrton Senna, to the point of naminghis son after the late World Champion of FI, was once more wearing a Senna replica crash helmet at Imola, the sight of Senna's fatal accident . Continued on page '5