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/128633
ha Ave nue m a ch ine of Morrison and Co. went out a t 10.38 with a m ystery mechanical complaint. Two minutes later and th e SERT mach ine was into the pits after its lig hts fa iled , losing four laps to the Honda . Th e num be r- I I m ac hine of Sebilleau a nd Co . was in tro uble next, with the e ntire re a r brake system ne ed ing changed . At such a stop/go track , with the e n try to th e Adelaide co rner an . almost complete halt from full speed , (Right) The Yamaha Motor France en try won the Bo l d'Or in the capab le ha nds of Frenchmen Jean-Marc Deletang, Fabien Fo ret, and Aussie Mark Willis. (Below) The Honda team of Sebastien Charpentier, William Costes and Karl Muggeridge (1 11 ) at speed during the early go ing of the 24-ho ur event. bra ke pr obl ems we re evident for m ost team s , with t he Ch inese- run Hon d a Zorig shen machi ne req ui r ing n ew calipers a nd a change of pad ma ter ial to handle the abuse , as d id Phase one in the nig ht hours . J ust after midn ight the SERT Suzuki, wh ich had been having electrical problems earlier in the race , was effectively ou t, after Dobe crashed at Lyce e corne r when the right-hand side of his mac hine literally exploded, stunning him enough to be taken to hospital. Down to two men, the SERT team soldiered on , albeit 32 laps down . Retiring just a fter nine in the morn ing , the blue and white machine wa s the on ly o ne of the tr ue factory m a c h in e s that fai led to fi nis h , a ltho ugh the Honda te a m wa s to ha ve rea l prob lems in the night. A bro k en rea r whe e l sp indl e caused fa ctor y RCS I man Charpen ti e r to pu sh in , o nly for f u el t o become a major is s ue. Go ing for a 36-la p refu eling strate gy, th e m achin e ran ou t of gas comin g in to pi t la ne, lu c kil y a llo w in g Charpentier to c oa st back a fte r hi s engine had died . Goin g bac k to a 34la p s trate g y , an un di s c ov ered fue l (Above) World Champions! The Phase One Endurance team of Peter Linden an d Warwick Nowland wrapped up the crown in France. The th ird member of t he team, Stephane Mertens, didn 't get a piece of the title because he didn't take part in the two-rider effort at the Suzuka 8 Hour. (Left) The Christophe Guyot-led GMT Guyot team goes to work on th e squad's Kawasaki du ring a pit stop in th e m idd le of th e ni ght. lea k was to blam e for a nother p re ma t u re lo s s of pet ro l, fo r c in g Mug geri dge t o p ush m os t o f the wa y ro und the circuit. Mor e dr ama fo r th e o ff icial Kawasak i s aw t he n um b e r I I ma chine pena lized 20 s ec ond s whe n th e m e chani c s wo rked o n it outs ide the pit, with th e le ss troubled Yama ha ta king a dva ntage of ye t a no the r p ie ce of m isfo rtune for one of thei r riva ls . S om e g reat nig htti me ridi ng meant tha t a t daybreak , 6 a .rn., the For the rest of the race, the thr ee re maining factory teams were locked in a never-ending battle for the lea d, but after the Yamaha team hit the to p of the timesheets at 7 a .rn ., they were never again headed at each s u b sequent hour. Mag ny Cours Bol d'O r e nded with the top th re e fa ctory b ikes in their rightful position at the top of th e time s heets, with th e win ners some 13 la ps a he a d of the best pr iva te te a m, the R7 of Protat, Musc at a nd Mizer a . S ixth , and th e 20 poi nts it ga ve Mertens , mad e h im s e co nd in t h e cha mpions h ip, an d ga ve Pha s e On e a full house of s uccess , ha ving finished the s eason with poi nts fin is hes from all six ra ce s . race o rder s huffled t he works m e n into Ka wasaki, one m inute a he ad of the Yama ha, with the Honda one la p beh ind the m both. W ith t he GMT Kaw a s a ki o ut, Ph a se One was a lready c row ne d c ha m p io ns , b u t w ith Mert e ns n o t yet g ua ra nteed seco nd in th e tit le ra c e , th e Eng lish-ba s ed t e am were strugg ling to fin ish as h igh a s poss ible , desp ite be ing ramm ed by t heir great r iv a ls in t he middl e of th e night. cue I e n e _ s OCTOBER 4, 2000 7