Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

W o r ld Supe r b ik e Championsh ip R o u n d 1 1 : Assen, H o lla nd Alessandro An ton ello , who managed to crash three times in two races , and lea ve Holland with h is tail b etween his frequently-earthbou nd legs .) "I was lappi ng the same tim es as Ed wards and those guys , b ut I was 10-seco nds down a fter only t hree la p s, s o I wasn ' t goi n g to catch them ," s aid Corser, a nothe r who may have just kissed his ch amp ionship aspirations goodbye. Fi nding the lea ding pack long go ne when he got to clean ai r in ra ce one , Co rs e r could do no better tha n fo u rt h , whi le a s e rio us ly und e rp erformi ng rear tire in race two left him langu ish in g beh ind t h e s tunningl y imp ressive Al essandro Gram igni , do wn in seventh. Gram igni 's s ixth p lace wa s e ve n more im p re ss ive t h a n th e e xcell ent performance put in by returnee World Superbike r Dor iano Romboni in race one , with his seventh place partly due to the wet condi tions. "The rai n ma ke s it a bit easier for me , b e cau s e t he re is no t s o m uc h fo rce through the b ike , bu t I h ave tre ate d this m eeting as pra ctice , not a re al race, so I think we can be very satisfied: Romboni sa id. Gra m ig ni had been a revelation all weekend , easily outpacing the us ua l Worl d Superbike privateer brat pack .by so me disfance in the second leg . With his teammate Markus Barth out with a broken hand and ankle, J urgen Oleschlaeger wa s left with the lone Alpha Technik torch to c a rry and did well in both races, fin is hi ng a gre at ninth in the wet , wher e o utright pow er a nd speed mean less than abil ity a nd tra ck knowledge . "The ra in eve ns things out be tween the fastest bikes because they c an 't put down the ir bigger power quite a s m uch ," h e said . "Plu s, I know thi s track very well wh ich helps me a lot. I am especia lly happy too have made a good race this wee kend. Of the last e ight races I had on ly two finishes, so this is an im porta nt ra ce for me." His fel low -up 12th pla c e made it eas ily the be s t d a y fo r ' ali ' in h is World S up erbike caree r s o fa r. An ot he r a bsol ute dis aster for Pier Franc e s co Chili saw h im highside in rac e one , a nd then highsi de e v e n harder in ra ce two. "I lost the ba c k end ou t th e back of th e circ uit, " sa id Ch ili after his first o ff, watc hi n g h is Worl d Champ io ns hip ho pes dis a ppe a r into th e grav · e l aga in. His s e cond a ccident looke d like it would be particularly nasty, especia l. Iy a s Chili lay pro ne at the final chi cane a s his b ike mi m icked him in th e middle of th e circuit. His only injuries, a fter a medical exa mi na tion, we re a ba sh ed hand and foot . With the ra c e not s topped , a nd a serious suspicion of oil on the tra c k, Da v id e Tar dozzi ha d one o f his almost customary bu st- ups with official dom , as he ente re d a pu sh in g 28 S EPTEMBER 1 3 . 2000' cue ma tch with th e p it -la ne marshals in his efforts to g et t h e race at least halted temporarily. To no avail. Be n Bostrom ha d .his second dis mal day in a row , with h is m isted visor s lowing h im to 16th on race one and an undisclosed mechan ical fa ilure in the second leaving him pointless. "My visor just m isted up in ra ce one and I co u ld n't see a th ing," expla ined Bostrom a fterwards . "Eve ntua lly, it cleared enough to let me see a bit, but by the n I was miles beh ind ." Gritty a nd to ug h was Robert Ulm , who ove rc a me pa in from his br ok en ankl e a nd a m ysteriou s p ain in h is forea rms to take 12th and 10 th, while it pr oved to be Andy Meklau 's tim e to crash. Mek lau 's DNF in race on e a nd an Ulm -b eating n inth in race two we re d isappointments, but as all th e German s pea king riders mentioned • it's off to Oschersleben next wee kend. Ulm , maybe , will fare litt le better as his ag on ies show li ttle sig n of abati ng . "I go t injectio n s into my sore shou lders and th e y we re fine , but I have no w got terrible pa in in my forea rms and my lower leg s ," he said. "I nee d to get the doctor to look at me to fin d out wh y . Th ere is only one week to Os c her s leb en so I think it will be very ha rd for me the re. My confiden ce is a bit better des p ite my pro blem s because I got two good finishes here." Gio va nn i Bu ss e i a ls o deserves a men tion , one for his brilliant ninth in th e wet of ra ce one, and then for an acrobatic dismou nt as his ma chin e spa t him off as it ra n into on e of Asse n's famous (o r infamous) drainage ditches in the second. So just when it looked like we were about to witness th e re-flowering of Edwards as the ve ry man to stamp I e neuvs his authority on the rudderless c ha m p ion sh ip , Haga popped up with ye t an o ther of h is spe ci a l we ek ends . Even if Corser has , like the luck less Chili , moved furth e r'f(om thecharnpi onship lead . Haga has proved to be the man who rea lly could beat Edwards to the title ... If only it wasn 't for the poss ibility that Haga may be b anned fro m the last round of t he ye ar at Brands Hatch , in addition to los ing his Kyalami points. Whatever the ou tcome of his discipli nary meeting in Sw itzerland later in th e mon th , Ha ga at least is do ing his bes t to take us t he wh o le way to th e la st round Chili (7) leads Haga (41) and Akira Ya nagawa (4) in the wet first race. C h ill crashe d , Ha ga w a: t..': r.l ; net Ya nagaw a finished sixth. The Kaw asaki rider f ollow e d that up with a fine s ec o n d place In the second race. before the t itle is awarded . And in mo ral , s p iri tua l , and measura b le form , Haga is leading the wo rld rig ht now anyway. RACE ONE Th e second wet race of the seaso n (the firs t b e in g at Ph illip Islan d in rou nd two ) got underwa y with many a last-m inute cha nges of tire plans a s th e rains redoubled th e ir a nger. For the first time this season . a wet Superpole was declared, despite the track drying fast enough between the decision to hold it under wet rules. and then the riders starting the first of the 12 laps they are permitted. What can be an occasionally exciting way of going about things was tumed into the most literal of damp squibs when it started raining halfway through the 50-minute sess ion, meaning no one could improve on their early lap times. and thus sat around listlessly, just like the spectators. Aaron Slight did venture out on the slick surface, to huge sheers from the drenched locals. The winner by a mile was Slight's teammate Colin Edwards. who set the fastest-ever Superbike lap of Assen with a sub 2:03 time of 2:02.678 . "It's the first time here with the new machine and I've no complaints," Edwards said. "I like the wet Superpole format and it definitely rewarded me today. I got my lap in early in the session and just watched the TVmonitor for the next 20 minutes." Troy Bayliss put his first few hard sessions at Assen . including what he described as the fastest crash of his ca reer - behind him to go seco nd on the grid, with Pier-Francesco Chili third and Noriyuki Haga a strong fourth at a track he doesn't love too well. "I was two-seconds faster than I was in Superpole last year so we've obviously come a long way," said Haga. "I've never been completely happy here at Assen, the lap feels just a bit too long." Troy Corser was especia lly miffed because he never managed a quick early lap due to an undisclosed machinery problem, and he thus qualified in ninth, after being front row in regular qualifying. Best priva tee r per form an ce defi nitely ca me from Robert Ulm, who took a fine 11th, despite a broken left ankle. "It doesn't hurt to change gear. but it hurts a lot on the bumps and when I have to change direction," said Ulm afterwards. Ben Bostrom's Superpole was cursed when his machine cut out suddenly, stranding Bostrom on the track and losing him va luable riding time , dropping him to·14th. "I knew the rain was coming so I needed to put in a quick lap," he said. "I had a very good fi rstsplit time but then the bike died suddenly. When we got back to the pits all we did was toggle the ignition switch and we were able to start it again."

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