Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

W o r ld E n d u r a n c e C h a m p io n s h ip R o u n d 6 : S ol d 'Or As with many world t itles before this , the final act hinged not on their fi ni s h po sit ion , but o n the finish position of thei r only c h a m p ions h ip riva ls - th e Fr e n ch GMT Kawasaki team - wh o are a lso a bunc h of private ers , albeit in a vi s ib ly m o re e x p a n si v e fo rm tha n th e l imited Phase One squad. When a term inal e n gi ne pro b lem pu nched a hol e in th e GMT Kawasaki ' s cran kca ses in th e m idd le o f t he nig ht, th eir rac e a nd s e a s o n where ov er, e ve n if the ride r S e b astien S carn a t o m a na ge d to g et th e machi ne ba c k to the pits b efo re sub m itti ng t o crue l re a lit y . Until th at poi nt , th e cha mpio nsh ip , and the ra c e itse lf, we re wide open , wit h fortun es sw a p ping p laces with all th e f re q ue ncy of th e r id e r c h a nges . Th e outcome ' o f th e Bol in 2 0 0 0 its e lf ha d a more predicta b le sto ry line , be ing won by the official facto ry Ya maha Fr a nc e e ntry o f Jean -Marc De leta ng , Fa b ie n Fo re t an d Aussie Mark Willis. But not until the usual dramas invo lved in ra cing on the lim it for 24 hours . At th e d r o p of the French Tri c ole ur, 56 te a m s (the mos t th e other- By GORDON RI TCH IE PH OT OS BY M AR K W ERNH AM MAGNY-COURS, FRANCE, SEPT. 16 s World Champio nships go , the 2000 World Endurance batt le was a peculiar campaign, which cul m inated in a bloodless war of attrition at the 64th Bo l d'Or. The nature of pres ent d ay enduran ce ra ci n g is su ch that the winn ing recip e for th e o ve ra ll ti tl e proved to be m ade fro m th e simple st possible ingredients - a te am of ex pe rienced am ateu rs , th re e c ons iste ntly swift riders , a privatel y pr epared and en t e re d Suzuki , and an a bi li ty t o actuall y sh ow up and finis h we ll at every one of wh a t where e ventu a lly on ly s ix rounds . M&P Phase One , in its 16th yea r of contin uous World Endura nc e competitio n , took the ultim a te pr ize in the sp ort fo r t he first time as a team th an ks to th e efforts o f rid e rs War wick Nowland (Australia), Peter Lind en (Sweden) and Stephane Mertens (Belgium - although a fina l tw ist in the tail sees only Nowland and Linden c rown ed cha m p ions because Mertens m is sed out on points in the two-rider on ly Suzuka a-hours) . . A 6 OCTOBER 4 , 2000' c u e I e n e vv s wis e vast Magny Cours ' p it com p lex c an contain ) sprinted lntoI lfe . with World Supersport regular Foret hitting the front in sh ort-ci rc uit style to take the e a rly lead. With o n ly four fact o ry te a ms entered at th e Bol, the pod ium places lo oked to be pr e -orda ined fo r the m , but dramas fo r a ll the major team s s huffled th e for t unes of e a c h lik e a dec k of c ha nce ca rds. Th e blue m a chine was the firs t to go down , c rashing with For et aboard for h is seco n d sti nt a fte r th e rea r bra ke seized up . Losi ng e ight laps in the pits, while new contro ls, fairi ng an d lights we re fitted , a nd a p pearing to be out of th e runn ing , it was a noth er Yam a ha , o f Morrison , Cazade a nd Paillot who led after the first hour. The Igol Kawasaki of Be rt ran d S ib e le au , Igo r Jerman a nd Lud o vic Hulo n was also ta st ing gr avel com parat ive ly early , a nd in an astonish ing fas hion . Sliding off on oil left at turn one, Sebileau t ip ped off harm lessly , until his ma chine hit the grass , and started to tumbl e , seeming ly to destruction. He was jo ined soon after by anoth e r si x ri d ers , includ ing the n ewly The 64th 801 d'Or gets underway at the Magny Cours circuit in France with a Le Mans-style start. formed Phoen ix GB Moto team , who had their R1 crash and then set itself on fire in spe ctacu lar fas hio n. Extinguish ed afte r a minute or two , the ma c h ine , just like S ibel aeu's, was ri d de n b a ck t o the pits for som e much -ne ede d repairs, only to go out wi t h te rmi n a l g ea r box prob lems toward th e end of th e race . With t he Honda and Yamaha in tro ubl e , the po le pos itio n Honda team of Char pen t ier, C o s t es a n d Mug geri dge we re ut ilizing th e ir fa cto ry RC 5 1 t o th e m a x, h amme r ing out la p s consistently o ne seco nd fa ster th an th ei r c o mpe titors as d arkn ess fell to take a n a rrow le ad ove r the Su zu ki of J e an -Miche l Ba yle , Christian Lavie ille and stand -in rider (after Arnaud De n Bo s s c h e inju re d himself,) Phillipe Dobe. The first sect io n of the ra c e was punctuated by three a ppe a ra nc es by the pa ce ca r in the opening fou r hours . A c hange o f bra ke pads for the Honda , pulling back their advantage somew hat , dr ew th e Suzu ki r ig h t back into content ion, after th e Ya m a-

• Cover