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/128620
Wor-Id Sup e r-b ik e C h a mpio n s h ip Roun d 8 : V ale n cia , Spa in B ack a t th e sh a r p end , H aga was the m a in man o n th e e a rl y move , takin g C o r s e r and Edwards before the 1 0th l a p was up ,. with E d wa rds f ighting him off a g a in before Ha ga s l ipped through on the s a m e left that he h a d used t o overhau l C o rser - tum five . S tart ing his pu r su it of B ostrom , H a g a wa s bre ath ing down h is neck for a l o ng ti me b efo r e ma k ing h is d ecisive m o v e o n l a p 16 . A n i m m e dia te co u nter -atta ck was re p u l se d c o m p r e h e n s i v e l y , but n o t h a n k s to t h e b a c k m a r k e r s th e y h a d j u s t co me th r ough , t h e lea din g t wo were never to s w a p pos iti on s aga i n. Pu ll in g a s ma ll gap until over a seco n d ahead with three l a p s to go, H a g a seemed to be controlling t he ga p to Bostrom, and with Bayliss j ust b eh ind , his latish but formida ble cha llenge ( i n the low 37s) wa s bl unt" e d wh en he ra n some t hree feet off t h e t ra ck in h i s pursui t. Gas fu ll o n , th e t o ugh A uss i e s u rvived h is close call w ith t e r r a i n fi r m a , and d uly fol l owed t he o ther t wo h ome f o r a littl e (From left to right) The top three: Bostrom, Corser and Haga celebrate after race one. BRIEFLY••• our styl es are so diffe rent. so it's more an ability to understand the machine more .· Chili and Fuji wara were ru nning not Corona but Coronita l ogos on their machines . as that is the trade name of their main sponsor in the Spanish market. The latest development in the Nori y u k i Haga story is that Yamaha's lone Superbike son will have his appeal against a one month ban heard by the Intemational D isciplinary Court of the RM on June 30 - 28 days after the first judgment against him. If Haga is banned for one month from date of the hearing. he will miss the all-importan t Suzuka 8 -hours . which would be a cataclysm ic blow to Yamaha . who. like every other Japane se factory. sees this as the most important race of the year. With 12 races sti ll to be run this season , pre Valenc ia at least. the offer o f $1 million for the winner of half the races of the year was still - tec hnically - up for grabs . Co lin Edwards is the only man even close to loo king able to do it. as his four wins already (Haqa's Kyalami win included) leave him "o nly - nine to go , with C orser next closes t. having already wo n thr ee . C or ser. meanwhile. co uld still wi n the $3 00 .000 that goes to any man w ho wins six Superpoles in a row. as he has taken the last two . Robert Ulm was a revelat ion on his Ducat i in pract ice. firing on both boomi ng cylinders from the first to the last. and put his great perf ormances down more to his familiarity with his Ducati afte r yea rs o n fo ur-cylinder Supersp ort and S uperbike machines. than any machinery advantages. " I am learning a lot more each we ek about how to get the best out of the Ducati, - Ulm said. " Andi [M eklaul and I don 't really share that much information because 16 .IuLvS,2000· c ue ' e neVIl's with slicks in 200 1 and then th e GP paddock in a planned 2003 . The final official qualifying session on Saturday moming was held in the most h orrible conditions for any rider, damp without being wet. and wi th enough rain falling to keep it that way. but not enough fall ing to make the con ditions any more wet. Hen ce few improved on t heir Friday li mes, although many had banked on it. with Col in Edwards putting in his best lap early, before the rain appeared with any great force . Pier-Francesco Chi li. who suffered a broken left collarbone whe n he crashed out of race two at Misano (scene of his only ever GP win, but somet hing of a jinxed track for him these days) . went through a successful operation to plate and pin the offe nding fracture . His collarbone was actua lly broken by an impac t from the rim of his own helmet. which may have co ntributed to the fact that the break was clean and therefore operable . unlike his Supe rs port cou nterpart . St ephane Chambon . w ho' s break was too co mplicated to be plated . Two plates and seve n pins now hold his shoulder together. with the tough Italian gritti ng his way thro ugh the pain to line up on the grid for fir st practice . only five days afte r his crash. - I am in a lot of pain. " Chili said. "The bloo d seems to be ge tting into my arm. but it doesn 't feel like it' s co ming out agai n," .lonnie Ekerol d . who has been campaign ing a Wh ite Endurance Team Honda RC S1 all season. has parted ways w ith the team after a string of disapp ointing res ults . His last -mi nute decision not to race meant he was replaced in Spain by local rider Oriel Fernandez. who is a former Spa nish Superbike Champion and highly rated by the Spanish pundits - despite his 28th place after final qualifying . hop o n t o t he e d g e o f th e pod ium . Ben Bostrom's biggest problem so far is one that is both enviab le and the n not so enviable. Having the use of what is effectively a full works mac hine ~ but only one . the American finds it impossible to swap between machines easily. Brakes , forks, and a different rear shock are the main changes between their machines. He was also operating under a little more pressure than normal due to one of his N CR team's main spo nsors being the circuit of Valencia · who came on board in the shortlived Borja era and were contractually obliged to stay after his departure to Infostrada land. Ulm has been the latest World Superbike star to come under a tta c k f rom t hie ves who use knockout gas to incapacitate their victims before robbing them in their own homes. Or even motorhomes. Ulm and his girlfriend suffered the same fate in a Southern France truckstop as Pier-Francesco Chili and his family suffered at home in Italy, as they slept off part of the long drive to Valencia from Misa no. The first they knew about it was when they bot h woke up hours after they intended, feeling the affec ts of the knockout gas. " I have to say they were very professional. - Ulm said. " I was almost impressed. They too k everything from my wallet one at a time and left w hat they didn't want by my bedside as I slept. So they took my cash and credit cards, but left me my driving lice nse. pass po rt and small change. Luckily I had a lot more things, like my video camera. well hidden so I didn't los e eve rything of value. The main thing is that we we re robbed. but otherwi se unharmed . " A ccording to stories in Italian sports papers , P irelli , co ntro l t ire s upp lie rs t o t he Superst o c k padd o c k and s uppl iers of Karl Mu gge ridg e and Piergiorgio Bo ntemp i amo ng o the rs in Su persport . will return to the World Superbike fray Gregorio Lavilla was bac k at Valencia, albei t with a pair of crutches . His pelvis, bro ken in two places at M onza, is st ill some way of healed, but the Spaniard was confident that - all being we ll he will be back fo r Brands Hatch in eariy Aug ust." 1 think that will be possible. and that is what I am aiming for now . " he said. "l am a little disappointed to miss out on racing at Valencia, but for me it is the who le championship wh ich is important. It was tough to recover fro m the bro ken wrist which held me back a bit in the eariy season and then break my pelvis. But I want to make the best recovery I can, then co me back with some good results ready for next year. - Harald Eckl, boss of the Fuchs Kawasaki squad. re-iterated that Peter Goddard, who has deputized for Lavilla so ably, is not going to be a long·term replaceme nt for the Spaniand this season. • Peter is doing a good job for us and has performed very well: Eckl said. " He has a good technical understanding and has ridden well. but when Gregorio is fit he wi ll be back with us in the team. The B rit ish Kawasaki team has been very kind and helpful in releas ing Pet er to us and I think it is very likely that he will ride with us at Laguna Seca. I think Ma rty Craggill [former Aussie Superbike Champion and a factory Suzuki rider in England last year] wi ll ride the British Kawasaki machine for the next round.Stephane Chambon's badly broken left collarbone - spirt from end- to-end in a gruesome fashion - has effectively put the chances of him riding a World Superbike at Laguna Seca in the tras h, as his break was so bad it co uld not even be operated on with any chance of success. The Sidecar race was tense and close. wi th only ,204 of a second between eventual w inner Klaus Klaffenbock and pole position sitter Steve Webster. It all came dow n to the last comer for a strange reason . " I co uld not see the pitboard . so I had no idea just how close S teve was on the last lap, - Klaffenbock said. " I had to take a hard de fensive line just in case he was right behind me. That made me abou t a seco nd slower than normal. and let St eve catch up. - Holding him up enough and with a good spurt of spee d to the line, Klaffenbock won his third race of the yea r , taking him to within 13 point s o f W eb ster, w ho wa s as cheery as ever , w hether victor or vanquished , "We tried out best to catc h him, and even put our bes t lap in on the final one. but still it wa sn 't eno ugh: Webs te r said . " It w as a good hard rac e though . and there were quite a few outfi ts covered by only a few seco nds in the early laps. - J org Steinhausen was third. alt hough 24 seco nds down , having led for a while but making tw o big mistake s.