Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

RACE T W O M inus the injured U lm , who was lu cky t o es cape with just a concussi on f r o m h is race -one cra sh , ra c e two g ot unde rway fo r the fir st o f its 23 laps w ith Hag a hav ing a sc are in the w a rm-u p la p, when h is m a ch in e stalled a n d th en fail e d to f ire fo r a w orrying len gt h o f t ime. T h e 32 ,000 (t hree d ay ) crowd w as giv in g t he be st o f th em a warm en ough g r ee ti ng to s et th e pla c e a b l az e, and t heir n e w favo rite B ostrom - took a su rg in g le ad from the line , closely foll o wed by Ed w ard s and Corser. Borj a, desperate to atone fo r his e arli er sins , w as ra pa ci o u sly c ha si n g so m e p od ium p oin ts , but try as th ey mig ht the f irst fo u r co u ld not m ake an y signi fi c a nt inroa ds in the first few lap s. In a d eterm ined m o od, B ostrom h ad atta c k ed th e c lea r t rac k a n d , Who's there? Ben Bostrom looks over his shoulder to see if Noriyukl Haga was alone as he went around Bostrom lat e in second race. t imes. ,A oki's glo ry was short -lived , t hen t he surprise of the race - Go d - w it h t he p ri va t eer Ducati m an c rash- dard, w ho s l ew ed p a st S l ig ht and i n g o u t on lap 21 at the final le ft - Fuj iw ara for sixth . c i rcuits , w a s in maj estic form , win - big bad way, loo k ing bemused by the ning at an increasing pace a he ad of whole un c h aract erist ic a ll y u ncompet - squa d [Bo rj a ) h a d bee n blow n i n t o t he weeds - b y h is own eagerne ss although in t his ins ta nce , he regained his sense o f o c c a si o n a nd d i r ection enough to put in a great p erformance at the end and f ini sh ed n inth, in st ead of scuttling b ack to t he safety of the Bostrom, H ag a , Ba yli ss , Edward s , it ive d ay at the races. mother ship in pit la n e. h an d t urn . Anto nello, fig hting some setup for a ru n to the flag, as Bostrom set- Corser, in creasing h is lead by o v er pro bl ems w ith his new c h assi s , w a s tled for a good second . H ag a, com ba t ive and sassy , w as having o ne of his be tter days , while another of his h alf a second p er lap for the last few ninth, with Yanagawa , off h is o ats in a c o m p a t r i o t s , Ha r uchika Aoki, was soari n g into fifth pl ace and th en the gra vel at the f inal corne r of lap 20 after h is front tire cr ied en ough when he tried to hunt dow n Ba y liss , who unbek no wnst to Aoki was go i ng faster th a n ever. " I was t rying very hard to catch th e r id er in front u ntil I crashed I didn 't rea lize at th e time, b ut he was going faster and faster each lap and I think I tried to ha rd," A o k i sa id . The aforeme ntio ned Ba yliss was really up fo r it , and had h e not ru n o ff the circ uit may h a ve gotten an other p o d ium t o add to h is rec ent su c cesses at Ho c k enh e im and M isan o . Passi ng backmarkers from la p I I onwards, C orser an d Bostrom dro p ped Haga , w it h the J apanese ride r sliding ty picall y sideways into all th e corners . Edwards , who had been down th e order in th e f irst laps , led h is fe llow Honda ma n Slight up to th e tail of Bayliss , w ho had started sliding ev en m ore th an his norma ll y l oose styl e d ictated , k ic k in g up dust o n th e co r n er exits. G odd a r d , l et go b y Ap ri li a l a st ye ar , had th e in est ima b le p le as ure of o v e r h a u l i n g h is ol d t e amm at e An tone llo fo r ninth after the h a lfway stage, turnin g in the first of two sh arp and su refooted perform an c es. Aok i sw ept up to a n d p ast t h e tw o Cast r ol m en o n l a p 1 8 and d is patch ed th em b oth wi t h so me a p lo m b o n lap 19 , as th e RC 51 r iders dropped in t o th e h i gh I :3 8 l a p d espit e pressure from behind , his low 1.37 pace was enough to give h im a sma ll le ad o f .8 o f a sec ond b y lap fo u r. B y th en , t h e man who h ad replaced h im in t he D ucati Infostrada It .was a battle between the German conti ngent this weekend, both me n and teams , with Chri sti an Kellner and his tea mmate Jorg Teuchert swapping paint in their efforts to beat each ot her to the top step of the podium . A final dive up the inside at the last corner of the last lap was j ust enough for Kellner to overcome Teuchert and Win his second race in a row. "The plan was not to wait until the final corner, but that's how it turned out," said Kellner . "J org was taking hard lines and he was very difficult to pass, but I managed to outbrake him on the inside and went on to win the race. Even better, I am now second in the cham pionshi p , whic h is t he perfect way t o go into t he summer break . This is another gr eat day fo r our te am, espe cially ,the mecha nics who work so hard for both Jorg and I." " Teuchert was philosoph ical about his luck. ' "Two laps from the end Christian and I clashed together, but I don't thin k it was much of a problem for either of us," he said. "On the last two laps I was mak ing myself as wide as possible so that no one could pass me, but on the last corner I had a bit of a slide on the front brakes and Christian went up the inside. I hoped ,that .1 would have better drive out of the corner, but Christian managed to hold on. I think there was about 10 centimeters in it at the end. Christi an has my congratulations , and he rode very well." . On the Teutonic theme, even la in MacPherson, the long time third pl ace ma n and early leader was on a Germ an -bas ed Eckl Kawasaki, although he made a small error to lose th e lead and then his chances of a podium, runnin g too hard int o Doohan comer and ending upr ight in the gravel. His return to the fray left him sixth , The m ain benefact or of MacPherson's off was Pere Riba, with the local man j umping with joy and forward roll ing in the gravel traps as he celebrated his podium in traditi onal style with the biggest flreworks in the country. "It was a tough' race and I had to ride about as hard as I've ever ridden to get third place, even though lain Macph erson ran wide and handed me it," Riba said. "I am happy enough with third , especia lly at my hom e race," In a crash-spattered event, with 18 finishers and 16 non-finish, ers, there were several notable incidents. James Whitham dealt his chances of ultima te success a severe blow when he bailed off on lap eight . from what looked li ke a comfo rtable watching brief as part of the freight train of eight riders vying for the lead. "What can I say?" Whith am said. "A terrible ending when it was all looki ng so good . In the early laps I was j ust sitting there watching everybody else messing up and thi nki ng it was possible to win it . I had experien ced some pattering from the front but noth ing really , and then come lap eight I lost the front at the first comer. I'm gutted for the team as much as myself because that 's another bike to be rebuilt." His teammate befell the same fate with both riders asking serio us questions of their front Micheli ns, and Massimo Meregalli stormi ng off before the end of the Supersport day. Ducati's Paolo Casoli had already gone by the time Whitham was off, resting his inju red wrist in the sand trap, while he dug himself further from victory . Ruben Xaus, his Ducati Infostrada teammate, joined him , but managed to get going again, only to finish 18th and last. Of those who did manage to finish, and fin ish well , Fabrizio Pirovano was fourth, one ahead of a once-more impressive Antonio Carlacct , who looks quite at home in front of the 600cc boys. . A dust -co vered and disappoin ted Macpherson came next, W Ith Piergiorg io Bontempi, another early leading light in seventh. Andrew Pitt is finding Europea n racing hard, but by no means impossib le and he ended up eigh th , finishing j us t ahea d of Christophe Cogan. Wemer Daemen was once more a to p l O m an, after his ninth in Germany. The upshot of Kellne r's once mo re gr eat tactical display and sheer determi nation to win is that he has moved up the ladder to second in the World Championsh ip standings, II points 'clear of Whitham and 17 behind Teuchert. c u e' e n e "" S • JULY 5 , 2 000 15

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