Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

then the crash barriers, it was not the best ra ce of all time to be wearing a Duc a ti logo as the World Supersport te am was a lso in bad straights - s coring ze ro points . "To d a y was a d isast er , " sa id Du cati team ma nager Da v id e Tar dozzi. '" have never s een an yth ing like it in my who le ca reer. " J ust to add more s picy sauc e into wh at has be c om e a rea l melting pot of a season, Izuts u's first race win made it five d ifferent fa ctories tak ing wins in th e first five races - and th e re wa s only o ne twin on th e podi um all we ek end. th at bein g Edwards' RC51 . Pier -Franc esc o Ch ili was the o nly ot he r Western er to gaze down on a palt ry (al t ho u g h cl a imed 2 9, 0 00 to tal ) c rowd from the ra refied heights o f third p lace o n the podium , altho ugh he was rob bed of po ints in th e second ra ce when his wiring loom shorted o ut and drai ne d the battery. Ak ira Ryo , fourt h in the opene r on his All-Japa n Su zuki , found it impossi ble to live with the fa ste st of th e fas t this tim e and he settled for fourth a nd n int h p lace fin ishes . His tea m mate Keii chi Kita g awa also missed ou t a t ru nn in g at the front , fin ish ing sixth and e ight h . Th e n e ver -end in g st ra nge ne ss of th e Sugo race eve n ra n to t he ti re worl d , where eve ry Mich e lin ru nne r except Ed ward s was strugg ling for grip. That didn 't sto p the Dun lop run ners fro m ha ving a s hare of tire dramas e ntirely . Troy Cors er , for exam ple , wa s m or e than displeased to find (Above) Ducati double disaster: Factory Ducati teammates Ben Bostrom (falling) and Troy Bayliss (sliding) were victimized in an opening-lap crash that also took out three other riders. (Below)lzutsu (64) leads former Sugo winner Akiro Ryo (58). Haga and Ch ili. he wa s toilin g to finish n int h in ra c e o ne after his rear tire was sh ot away in spectac ula r fa shi on . "I've been ha ving tire problems a ll weeken d in te rms of findi ng s om e th ing tha t wou ld work we ll," Co rse r said . "I do n' t kn ow if it's th e setu p or wh a t eve r, b ut a ll t he t ires fee l t he sa me he re - th ey a ll se e m to s pin and not dr ive after about fo ur lap s . T he track su rface is rea lly polished so that doe sn 't he lp either. Th e second-race t ires we re a b ig improve ment fro m the first ra ce a nd so was t he re su lt. O u r la p t im e s were fa s t e r , e ve n th ou gh we were lo s in g q uite a b it goi ng up. th e h ill and on the st ra ights . Eve ry lap I wo u ld lo s e o ne o r tw o bike lengths ." A p oo r d a y for Yamaha's Vi tt o Gua resch i sa w him p unc he d o ut of it by t he ski tt ling Duc a ti s yndrome in race o ne and th en he retired on la p t h ree of rac e two . T he wal king wounded in the Ka wa s a ki te a m, Ak ira Ya nag awa a nd Gregor io La viJIa , ha d m ore suc cess with Lavilla' s top 10 in both rac e s and Yanagaw a recovering cycle from a ra ce -on e retirement to finis h s ixth in race two - brok en collarbone a nd a ll. It was a great day for t he Red Bu ll Gerin priva te er boys as Andy Mek lau and Robe rt Ulm gave them points in re lat ive p len ty , with Meklau winnin g the ir ow n little internec ine battle with a n 11th a nd 12th pla ce finish . Ant ho ny Go b ert' s g lo ry in Aus tr a li a eva po rate d in a sh ow er o f sp a rks a t Sug o , when t he y oung Au ss ie c ra s he d o ut of ra c e two on the entry to turn three, tum bled at huge s pe e d down the tr a c k a n d then was ve ry lucky to be missed by his c ata pu lting Bim ota . A broke n ha nd a nd left c lavic le we re the fina l resu lts of a ll this dissipa ting kinetic e nergy , a nd the CAT sca n he underwent s howed that h is mi nor c o nc us s io n wa s j us t tha t - m ino r. Unqu e s ti o n a bl y , th e star o f t he S ugo Wo rld S up e rbike ra c e was lzutsu a n d h is sweet - ha n dl ing a n d speedy Ka wasa ki. '" d id we ll h er e in t he All-Ja pa n race a nd it was my tim e to win ," lzuts u s a id . "I was doing th e s am e times in the National ra c es , so I d idn 't hav e to d o anyt hing d iffe rent. I u s ed t he same Dunl op 303 tire I ha d in th e first n e vv S • MAY 10,2000 19

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