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/128619
World S u p erbik e C h a m p i"! n s h ip Round 7 : M isano , Ita ly With Haga right in Corser's wheel tracks after seven laps, h is repeated attempts t o pa ss b ore fru it wh en Corser ran w ide at Curva del Qu erci a, only to re -pass the Yamaha man on th e nex t big left , t he Variante d el Rio . Thei r war allow ed Fujiwara an d Bayliss to c re ep closer ev ery lap and by the ninth circuit they were alm os t r igh t w ith them. Then Haga c r a s h e d, l o s i n g th e front at the m idpoint of the ch icane when he cl ip pe d the in sid e kerb , wi th h is sliding machine forcing th e follow ing Ba y lis s and Borja o ff the tra c k . Chil i was w or st affe c ted wh en his ma chine app e ar e d to slid e o n t h e d eb ris , spira led off the t rac k , destroy ing itself as it w ent, and Chili 's co ll arbone went c r a c k. H i s M isan o jin x st ri k es aga in . Clear at t he fr ont, Corser had Ben Bostrom (1 5 51 had his best ou ting of the season in the second race as he was able to finish third. He beat Juan Borja (191 - the man who was given Bostrom's factory Ducati one race ago - along the way. sty le an d no sh ortag e of grit. His rid ing st yle and li nes - very wide in all po ssi ble senses - lo oked to be ea ti ng up h is t ires, but for th e d et ermined American th ere was no letting u p . A nother m ista k e fro m B orj a , as he t r i ed t o pass b ot h Haga an d Fujiw ara on l ap 16 , allo wed Fuj i wa ra t o fi n ally g et ah e a d o f Hag a , and to o k one more lap to pass and be re- passed by Bo rj a , With Corser away and clear, Bay li ss and Fujiw ara slu gge d it out for second , with the Au str al ian triumphin g in th at personal du el , and th e fo llowing gro up of four head ed up in cl ose bu t unpassable f as hio n b y B orj a , Y a n a g a w a , Bo strom and Hag a, wh o had used all h is tires and a little b it m ore, G oddard w a s a n impressive an d worthy eighth, with Aoki n in t h , and A nt on e ll o a t i r e - ham p er e d l Oth , Mek lau , ano ther man fighting shredd ed r u b ber , w a s a f ad ing 11th, althou gh 19 seconds ah ead of fo rmer 125cc World Champion , Alessandro Gramigni. Only 20 finishers m ad e it to the ch ec kere d flag from 3 3 starte rs. RACE TWO A start-lig hting unit ma lf un ction cause race t w o t o b e h alt ed shortly a fter it h ad b een miss- st arted , w ith the fi n al race cou nting on ly 23 of its sc he d u le d 25 lap s. Fujiwara took t h e holeshot on th e re st art , wi t h Hag a close b eh ind and Corser waiti ng t o pounce. He lung ed into th e lead on lap two, us ing the slipstream an d then th e brak es to scoo t past th e Japanese four- cylinder factory m achin es, once more trying to get free of t hem all early . Hag a m ade a break fr om F uj iw a ra on lap three in pursuit o f the elusive Corser , us ing all h is ex u b era nc e to made a four -s econd gap on Fujiwara by l ap 11 , whil e Bos trom - on an even mo re impressive charge than his race one examp le - sw ept past Borja , the very m an who took h is ri de from h im a short time befo re. W i th Ba y l i s s taki ng over t he mantl e o f ch ase r fr om Fu j iwar a sh o rtl y afterward with another dive off the d eep en d at T ramo nto , t he f i r st fiv e started to g et strung o ut; with C orser , B a yliss , Fujiwa ra , Bostr om a n d Borja i n l ine astern , an d seco n d to f i f t h c o v ere d b y 8 ,321 sec onds . B o st r o m , still on a c harge, started hunting arou n d th e r ea r t ire of Fuj iwara a t the 16 mark , we aring d o wn th e Su zu k i w i th s o me m es - six, Edwa rds , w ho sp ent alm o st a ll of t he r ace langu ishing i n 1 1th s i a ni c ze al , before passing him on la p 18 w ith an a w e s o me move insid e at Curva del T r a m o n t o , everyone ' s f a v o r i t e p lace to try a quick pass , N ext up in B o strom's sights was B ayliss an d wi t h a few dummy run s b e h i n d the seco n d Aprili a fac tor y a n d h e b eg an t o ch ase a n d catc h Ba yliss . Yanagawa left i t until lap 21 to p a ss f i r st B o st ro m and then Haga , before h is f inal att empt at th e last ri der Anto nello , w as ag ai n h av i n g problems after his c o mi n g together pa rt of the chican e o n th e p enu ltimat e lap , B ost r om went b y t he Auss ie - and wa s i m medi a tely re pa ssed on t he wa y o u t. sta y w it h th e Aprilla p ilot o nce h e g ot h im sel f in to contention on l a p The Superpole competition was another cracker of a mini-event in its own right. First we had the unlikely sight of Katsuaki Fuj iwara mak ing it to the front row of the grid, after try ing settings from Pier-Francesco Chili that he had never had the opportunity to try before. "The machine felt much easier to tum and had much better feedback from the track surface, n he said. "I felt much more comfortable on it and because the throttle linearity was good, I could ride the bike very aggressively. My best-ever Superpole result, so of course I am very happy with the result." Then, horror of horrors, Chili , who has something of a Misano curse after hurting him self last year, crashed by highsiding on the exit of the first set of com ers, bruising his leg and being taken away in an ambulance - and halting Ben Bostrom's warm-up lap. Bostrom almost succumbed to the same misfortune on the exit of the first right-hander, when he highsided but landed back on the machine, wobbling away and losing him self a couple of seconds he nearly made up again, His problem - back in the somewhat gray world of the privateer - is that he only had one set of Michelin qualifiers for Superpole and was therefore on partly used rubber. "I was so lucky there because the highside happened so fast it actually pushed me up and forwards, which slammed the throttle closed, n Bostrom said. "I'm so glad I didn't crash, because I would have ended up on another planet I was going so fast.' Colin Edwards joined his nearest champi onship challenger Chil i in the gravel when he lost the front after letting off the brakes entering one of Misano's many slower lefts. "I don't know what happened, because I had let the brakes off but the front just went straight away," the Texan said. Edwards' loss made little difference to Troy Corser, who made it a full house of first, second and Superpole quali fying successes in one weekend, and also took his third Superpole of the season. Only he and Edwards have won Superpoles this year. "My lap was prett y perfect," Corser said. "I saw Frankie and Colin go down SO I was maybe a little more cautious than usual. The plan now is to hit the front and keep going." The upshot of all the madness is that on the fourth row there are at least two men who you must say are norm ally favorites for the win. Corser, Noriyuki Haga, Fujiwara and a revitalized and come ring -happy J uan Borja made up the front row, with the Spaniard finally delivering on his promise. "After all the problems we encountered at Hock enheim, things are going a lot better now," Borja said. "If we can improve the front -end grip even more then we'lI be okay ." 30 JUNE 28 , 2000ยท cue I e neuvs: with h i s te a m m a te Sligh t i n ra ce o ne . Bo strom a n d Corser celebrate after race twa. Corser i s second in the championship point standing s w ith Bostrom now holding down seventh.