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/128617
F IM W o r ld Sup e rb ik e C h amp io n s h ip R o u n d 6: H ock enhe imring By G O RDO N RITCHIE PH OT OS BY G OL D f, G OOSE HOCKENHEIM, GERMANY, JaNE 2-4 f a ll the momento us hap penings a t Ho c ke nhei m this part icular race weekend , the goo·d ne ws - the be st pos s ible news for fans of a ll that is exc iting in road racing - is that none o f the off-track scanda l ove rshadowed th e fact tha t t he ra c in g itself wa s the most talked-about subje ct aft er th e action wa s ove r. No more political in- fighting about dr ug te s t s , ch ampionsh ip-wrecki ng po ints d e du ctio ns , rid e r c ha nges o r any of the stuff which had cons um ed the paddoc k in the days ru nn ing up to the a ction its elf. No wonder, becau se true to the old a d age t ha t fast tra cks deliver close rac ing , Ho c k enh eim wa s a bl indin g exa m p le o f h o w ra c in g s hou ld be . The indi vidu al incid en ts were m yriad , b ut it was im possi ble to si ng le o ut o ne o ve rta ke , o r o ne out b ra k ing ma n euv er , o r on e cl a sh o f fa irin g s fro m a not he r, b e c au s e th e y had b e c om e th e n o rm th is parti cul ar weekend . And there wer e a few more significant la nd m arks a nd o n -t ra ck happenings a s we ll. O 16 J ~NE 14, 2000' c u e I e First we had fou r-in-a -row pole -s itte r Coli n Edw ards fa il on c e m or e to do as he a nd his awesome VTR ha ve threate ned to on ma ny occ a s ions a nd disappe ar into the deep-gr een yond er a t ye t a no ther fast wood land track he h ad t h re a t en e d to mak e h is o wn p roperty. Mu gg ed at Monz a in o ne ra c e, he was stuffed at Hocken he im in both. "I thoug ht I ha d it wh en I pass ed Ha ga in th e Mot od rom Stadium se c tion in race two ," Edwards said, "But Ha ga obviously wanted a no the r piece of me . I let Haga pass m e o n purpose earlier on, so that I could attack him going into the stadium." Twi ce hi s aggr e ss ive ear ly -l a p c ha rges c am e to noth ing , wi th th e usu a l Worl d Supe rbi ke suspects , Nor iyuki Hag a , Pier-Francesc o Ch ili, Akira Yana gawa an d the rest ga ng ing up on h im. In a refine ment to the now-fa m iliar sto ry, Troy Ba yliss bec am e the lates t m a n to win a Wo rld Su pe rb ike ra c e th is season, de live ring a won de rfu lly hard-fought 25 points to the Infos tra da tea m for the first time this sea son. His win makes him th e eight h man to step on the top of the pod ium th is n e _ s ye ar, eve n with the ep he drina l de le tion of Ha ga's South Africa n win . Why? Be c au se the o t her man to have de p rive d Colin Edwa rds o f a win at Ho c k e n h e im yet aga in wa s Haga , wh o s u ffe re d Ed wa rd s ' aggressive ov ertake o n the la st lap at the Sa c hs Kurve and s layed him right ba ck with an eve n more d arin g move o n th e e xit. "As I ap p roa c hed the la st lap, I just tried to keep m y le ading po s ition in th e s tad iu m , " Ha g a sa id . "At t he Sa chs Kurve , Colin ca me across me, bu t I re -p assed him on the inside. It's b e en a hard we eke n d , s o to finish w it h a w in wa s g re a t. I am no t allowed to t al k a bo ut my ban , s o I m ust say no com m ent. " A mo re p opular winn er it wou ld have been hard to imagine , a s Hag a 's every ove rtake (a nd th er e were a few ), tai l-s lide (a few more of them ) an d trip ou t o nto t h e t rac k o f an y kind wa s m et with a solid wa ll of a ir horn s and c hee rs from th e 57 ,000s trong (to tal we ek end) c ro wd . It wo uld appea r - to the greater German public , at least - tha t Haga ha s been th e victim of a beaurocra t ic injustice ove r his pos itive doping test, and th e crowd to ok him in as one of its own. The perfect illustration of jus t how hot the pace was (and the tra c k con dit ions were) came from the fact that two potential winners had their ha rdwa re s uc cumb to the very nature of Hoc ke nhe im its el f. First Chil i had a sca ry m oment when his rear Dunlop s im ply d is inte grated at speed , flinging off its c enter tr ead a t full c ha t, right at th e following Haga , who was smac ke d squarely on the chest by a chunk of rub ber. A podium fin is h in race tw o was Ch ili's only wo rthw hile re ward afte r a m e eting with ma n y nigg les a nd frustrations. He did, how ever, take th e la p reco rd in his pursuit of th e le a d ing pa iring , a nd now ha s the honor of bein g the only man und er th e t w o -mi nu t e ba rr ie r ( 1:59 .8 8 5 to be exa ct) . But he would rather ha ve had th e po d ium po ints he loo ked like taking, "I had to change everyth ing a fter th e d is a ppointment of ra c e one - the typ e of tire , the m achine , e ve rything . The rear tire started to slide a lot at the midpoint of the ra ce , but my e ngine was good and I fina lly got on the podium. I am sorry for th e problems Nori is