Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

by Edward s and then C h ili o n t he fo l lo w ing circui t. Fr o m . 8 o f a seco nd b eh i n d , Bayl iss ca ugh t Ha g a again on th e main straight, p assin g at t urn o n e in his t ypicall y late- b raking fashion . Three attemp ts to regai n the advant ag e on the same lap failed fo r Haga, pr imarily b e c a u s e o f the agg ressio n shown by Bayliss , w ho was making up f o r a l ack of t r ac k knowledge with sheer ex u beran c e. The leading quartet be came a t rio after Ed w a rd s was dropped back into the clutches of Yanagawa, as h is tire started going off earl y, w ith B o rja running just behind . Th e d rama of Ha g a ' s atte m p t e d ove rt a k e s was unremi t t i n g u n t i l h e H ole s h ot m a n H a g a was soon o ve r ha u led b y th e su per- aggressive Bay li ss , who e k ed out a 2 .36 1- sec o nd gap in a sin gle lap , le ading fro m a d eterm in ed Edwards a s Haga w as swa llowed up by the surg ing p ac k . Bo rj a was making it a happy early st a rt for Ducati , head ing up a loose serum o f Yan agaw a , Chili and Hag a after the first t wo circu its had been completed. Two laps in and th e fi rs t t o p rid er , Gregori o La v il la , w ent down, close ly fo ll o w ed by the ra c e leader Ba ylis s, wh o was distraught at m iss ing out on hi s c ha nce o f a w in to celebrate h is recent 2 0 0 1 c ontrac t sig ni ng. B o rj a , seei n g h i s c h a n ce f or a m aiden W orld Superbik e w in , started to reel in Edwa rds from then on . After t wo laps , Edwards was 1.297 seconds ahead of th e Spaniard . Then it was down to only 0.62 9 a lap later, wi th the chasing p ack 10 sec o n ds d own o n th em . On lap fo u r th e l eadi n g p ai r lappe d J i r i Myrkyvka, w ho had th e d ubio us honor of b ein g t he earliest Troy Bayliss 1 1) ran strong a ll 2 weekend, qualifying second and leading both races, but It was not to be. He ended up c ra shing In both races after ri ding too agg res sive ly on a tra ck he had ne ver b e en to. Haga (4 1) showed t hat t he Ya m a h a R7 works in the wet and In the dry - at least when h e ' s onboard. lems w ith r ea r -wheel grip, an d came s o close to cra s hi n g as he w e nt m o to cros s i n g o n l a p 10 that h e decided to stop p ush ing so m u c h . Antonello ' s second b out o f g r as s tra ck ing l ed to a crash, e nd in g h is in terest in the rac e for th e second a nd fairly t erm inal t ime . E ight second s w as the g ap at two th irds d i stan c e , w it h B o rj a sa ving c rashes despite his re duced pace. Making great progress from his 18th -place sta rt was Romboni , wh o blitzed up t o sev enth by l ap 14 , a grea t performan c e fr om th e man who return ed t o racing a t As sen aft e r a horrific crash at M onza last year. A har d r a c e f o r Assen rookie Bos trom culminated on Ed wa rd s' last lap. A s E dw a rd s loo k ed like he wou ld lappe d ma n anyone co ul d remem be r seeing. H ol d in g sta t io n b eh in d E dwa rds , Borja waited hi s t ime , as t he no rm al - pass B o st r o m b efo re the checkered flag , he d ecid ed to h o ld his pace as he c ruised ro u nd t o garner h is f irst eve r w i n at A ssen - from B orja an d ly fa vorab le w et co nditio n s for C h il i cla imed h im o n lap fi ve. H ag a , wh o had d rawn h imse lf th r ee seco n ds Haga , with C o rser fourth a n d Slight fifth . Edwards' win tempora ril y extend- cl ear o f Slight and fou r cl ear of Yana- ed h is lead over Haga , 3 0 6- 2 7 2, w ith C orser now th ird wi th 270 p o ints. gawa , inherited h is th ird place . T he sl ow -starting Corser was up to sixth by la p six , ch a rg ing ahead of his tea m mate A ntonello , who had started from 19th p lace on th e grid . Cors er's pa ce w a s e no ug h t o l et h im d ra ft Y a na ga wa o ver th e start -fi nis h straight at the beg inn in g of lap eig ht ( h alf d istance ) , as he m ad e a determ ined atta c k o n t he leaders . Antone llo ' s good fo rm e n d ed on la p nin e , w hen h e ra n off t he ci rc uit b efore re - sta rt in g , w h ile o n th e sa m e la p h is t ea m m ate was up t o his t ricks ag ai n , making a hard pass on S light at the entra nce to the fi nal chicane. A t the fro n t, just as E d w a r d s steadily buil t u p the gap to 4 .378 seconds, Borja got himself into prob- RACE T W O Haga w a it ed only three corners to p ass Edw ar d s as th e Wor ld Cha mpi onsh i p leader r an w ide on the f irst la p . Ed w a rd s had another go u p the ins ide at the hairpin, but it took only a short t ime for Haga to squ irt past again . Th e l e a d in g fo ur riders - H a g a , Edw ards, Ch ili a n d B a yl i s s - sh o t aw ay and m ade an im med iate g ap on th e rest be fo re Hag a m ad e a decisi ve spurt o n lap t wo and qua rried out .4 of a second and then .8 of a second of a gap on h is ri v a ls b y lap three. Ba yliss was the man to pick up Haga's Samurai gl o ve as he fi rst shot \!ll@ufJ@) @(Jfl[j)@[M[j)@[?{1 @@l ! H JE08 fX]@C!!J[JiJ@) @ !XJDrilDD @[?CfJ[JiJiJCfJ After a 16- lap war of attrition held in wet -dry -wet-dry-w et condit ions, the drama couldn't get any greater. But two hours or so after the official end of proceedings, after the champagne had been popped, the trophies awarded and the poi nts tallied up, there was still more to come . . A common problem with the Yamaha R6's starter mecha nism - that it sticks when hot - meant that neither third-placed man Jorg Teuchert or seventh -pla ced man Massimo Meregall i made the revised results sheets after their machines failed to re-start in post race tech , throwing the World Championship into turmoil. Teuchert 's 16 points for his third, Paolo Casoli 's 11 points for fifth and Christian Kellner's no score after his first-lap crash originally meant that Teuchert had extended his lead in the cham pionship. After the wealth distribution brought on by a faulty sprag cl utch m echanism Paolo Casoli , now in fourth pla ce in race cl assificat ion, took the championship lead by six points, with Kellner now in third. Th e race itself was dramatic enough, Stephane Chambon making a blinder of a start to get the holeshot. After one com er, Kellner fell off (just as Casoli and Ruben Xaus shot into the lead) after a comi ng together with Karl Muggeridg e, whom the Germ an blam ed for the crash. Casoli , on full wets, mad e use of his extra grip in th e rain to charge ahead into a 3 .003 -second lead over Xaus, with Christophe Cogan (who fell off on the warm -up lap) in third place . Fabrizio Pirovano and Mauro Malatesta had a big coming together at the final chica ne, after Pirovano couldn't avo id the prone Malatesta's machine. lain Macphe rson crashed out on lap two at the exit of the final chicane, after experiencing thro ttle -response problems all race, flying high and wide right in front of his teammate Andrew Pitt, who was luck y not to be collected by MacPherson's bike. With eight riders out on lap four , the rains re-com menced, with Xaus cutti ng into the leader's three-second advantage. A mere 1.6 seco nds ahead of Xaus, Casoli was starting to feel the pressure, but in third place Christo phe Cogan was the real thr eat, now visible behind the Ducati men. Just as Xaus had clos ed in on Casoli , Cogan fell on the wet section of the circuit where it was raining - his second off in 20 minutes or so. With Xaus firing himself ahead of Casoli on lap five, the younger man immediately made 1.5 seconds of clean air by the end of lap six, ending the race as a cont est. Behind , James Whitham was putting in the ride of the race, doing 2: J 7 second laps to go from 12th pla ce to third in only seven laps. Stephan e Chambon was also in an aggressive form, just skimming past Christer lind holm on lap eight , to go to seventh . as he attempted to match the pace of brilliant standin rider Paul Young, from the BKM Yamaha team . A 2: 15 lap for Whitham took him to within three seconds of Casoli on lap nine, going on to pass Casoli on lap I 1 of 16. Cham bon became the second man into the 2:15s, attacking all the time as the rain started again in eamest on lap 12. Th e huge fluctuations in the weather made the last few laps a tense affa ir, with Whitham crashing for the fourth race in a row, ruli ng himself out of the title chase once and for all. ' Why do I keep crashing?" Whitham said. "l can 't explain any of it . Aft er the first rain shower I thoug ht I would have no problem s, because my intermediate front and dry rear seemed the prefect choice. It was work ing really well, even after the rains started near the end . I wasn't concerned about catching [Ruben) Xaus in the lead and was not pushing hard at all when I slid off on the fast left before the final chica ne. No idea why.' Cham bon started to swap second place with Casoli as the rains started to ease, while Charnbon 's disposal of Casoli was accom plished with some aplomb. Within half a lap the little Frenchm an was ahead of Teuchert to second, with the German settl ing for any pointscoring finish, unaware that he was on the podium at all. Chris Vermeul en, drafted into the Castrol Honda team at Assen, had a brilliant ride to sixth , using his experience of racing on wet Britis h tracks to keep his footing sure and swift. Only 18, the Au ssie made a huge improvement on his practice form . All the post-race ructions and the frequent crashes alm ost overshadowed the fact that Xaus rode a stunningly matur e and aggressive race to take his first win of the year, heading up Chambo n by a m argin of seven seconds as he got his intermediates to work well for him. A nother alm ost forgotten m an on the grid, Un dholm, on a good com prom ise setup , battl ed away to finish fourth, then m issed out on the chance to spray champa gne in the hom e cou ntry of his Dee Cee Jeans team because of Teuchert 's phantom finish. Casoli, depressed to mi ss out on the win, had the championship lead as something of a gold -coated consolation prize. cue I e n e _ S • S EPTEM BER 1 3 , 2000 29

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