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
Troy Baylis s (21) was again im p ressive , f inishing second bo t h ti m e s out on the factory Ducati. He re he lea ds Bo rja (1gl, Haga (41), Katsua kl Fujiwara (9 ) a nd PierFran ce sco Chili (7). What cha n ce d oe s he h a v e of m o re tha n a p o d iu m fin ish in his home ra ce at Valen cia ne xt we ek? If he rides like this, ple nty. And th er e 's also a good c ha nce of ther e be ing a decent c ro wd in S pai n for a c ha nge . B ayliss , as always, w a s n on p lussed by th e whol e thing , talki ng about o n ly his e ighth Wo rld Superbike race this season. "It's been a bit of a n up -a nd -down weekend with my c ra s h and s o o n, but I must be happy with tw o podium s ," the Austra lian s a id . "I tr ied to win , but aft er runn ing of th e tr a ck wh en [Noriyuki] Haga 's b ik e c a me ba ck on the c irc uit, s e c ond wa s th e best I could do then, " Fujiwara was a re a l b ig s u rp rise, looki ng eve ry inc h the man to repl a ce h is teammate Pie rfranc esc o Chili o n th e pod iums o n a d ay w h e n th e unquestioned number- on e rider in the Alstare Suzuki team had a m echanica l DNF a nd a co lla rbo ne- b rea k ing crash , The sec ret of Fujiwara 's su cces s wa s si mp le, th e seem ing ly obvio us mov e of putting his s ettings clos er to tho se of h is teamma te , inste a d of those dictated by his fac tory hierarc hy. "We c hanged the setti ngs o f t he mac h ine to a m or e Eu rop e an s tyle a nd t h a t is wh y we have had th e s e re sults, " Fu jiw ara sai d. "I have no t just cop ied Ch ili's settings, but I have u s ed th e m a s a b a s e . I am v er y ha ppy to finally get on the podium ." It work ed we ll s o c arryon, mate , a nd welc ome to th e party · one a nd a ha lf yea rs a fter th e invite wa s iss ue d. Bostrom wa s simpl y a roo kie rev elati on , getting hu ge c heers as he s lid and slit he red his wa y to a podium in race two a nd a (very close to fou rth ) sixth p lac e in th e opener. Th e sp irit of appear, " Yanagawa sa id. "T he bik e was o k a y whe n we roll e d o ut , bu t when we ro lled ba c k I realized we had a problem and I pulled into th e pits to jump on the spare b ike . T he cl utc h didn 't wo rk pro perly at th e secon d start, so I ha d to rele a se ' it aga in, a nd off the field wen t." His la test t em p or a ry t e a mma t e Peter Go d da rd was another new/o ld World S upe rbike boy , this time seizing th e c ha nce to go World Superbike ra c ing again after having a d ismal time in th e ultra- c ompetitive British Superb ike Champion ship. His pa ir of eighths got h im an oth e r ride at Valen cia - and ma yb e mor e . "It was· j us t goo d t o g et a rid e aga in ," he s a id . "I'm pr etty p leased th e way it turned out. A c haotic cou p le of ra ces a nd few people fell of f but, ye a h, it wen t pr etty we ll." Nor iyuki Haga wa s onc e more th e cente r of much c ontroversy, this time after he c ra s he d at th e c hicane in ra ce two , with his bike sliding rig ht across th e trac k, putting Bayliss and Bo rja onto th e grass a nd out of con te ntion for the rac e win , an d the d irt and dust s pread ove r the exit proba bly ca used Ch ili to c rash , putting him in th e hospita l. "I wa s push ing very hard in ra ce two and I just clipped th e insi de of th e rumpl e s t rip a t t he chica ne ," Haga sa id . "The fron t we nt strai g ht away and the re wa s no c ha nce to ke e p it up with m y kn ee ." Chili , d esp er a t e t o st a y in the c h a m p io ns hip b a ttle a fter fa llin g to third in the p o in t s , is co n si de ri n g drastic m easure s . "Luc k ily m y colla rbone is a clean break and I am ha ving a p lat e fitted on Monda y by Dr. [Cla udi o] Costa in Bo logna ," Ch ili said. "The dec is ion is .Capta in Am e rica brea the s at la s t. A k ir a Ya n aga wa m an ag ed to restore th e hon or of the mor e e xpe rie nced Wo rld Supe rb ike men , with a ,fift h a nd six th, m a king up for seve ra l proble ms in pra ctice a nd e ve n s wa p p ing b ike s be fo re th e re -start o f th e c haotic a nd two-lap s hortened sec ond race , wh e n his cl utch acte d up . "At the first sta rt, the red light we nt ou t, but t he g ree n lig h t d id n o t Bayliss even ha d a n off-track e xc ursi on in ra ce two, thanks to Noriyuki Haga's c ra sh in the c hic a ne. eye' e n e _ s • J UNE 2 8 ,2000 27