Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GR~ADRACE World Championship Road Race Series: Round 8 ~ Pier-Francesco Chili handily won the 250cc GP over defending.champion Luca Cadalora. There was another stirring ba ttle behind them, all Dutch, and involving the van den Goorbergh clan and Wilco Zeelenberg: two Aprilias against the injured Zeelenberg's works Suzuki. First Patrick vdG dropped out, his Aprilia seized, leaving Jurgen and Wileo to scrap to the finish, with all Wilco's earlier thoughts of retirement forgotten in the heat of battle. It came down, almost inevitably, to a barging match in the final chicane as they each tried to outbrake the other, and arrived at the crucial first bend simultaneously. They collided, with Jurgen bouncing off on the inside of the first comer to run horribly wide on the exit of the next one, and Zeelenberg standing on the footpegs as he motocrossed across the grass, narrowly missing the gravel patcr.. Jurgen won the drag to the flag, the 1991 European Championship discovery claiming his first World Championship point, but Zeelenberg still justly proud of finishing - the only Lucky Strike rider to do so (his teammate Herri Torrontegui had crashed after a secondlap top-10 tangle with Shimizu). There were 25 finishers: notable among retirements was practice crasher Doriano Romboni, too sore to continue, and Stefan Prein, who crashed his HB Honda very spectacularly for a second race. Another Aprilia triumph - but Cadalora's second was enough for yet another increase in his points lead, now 136 points over Reggiani on 82 and Chili on 72. Brad! has 61, with Puig showing in fifth with 60 points. 12Sce GP The first race got off to a botched start when Luis Alvaro took off long before the green light from the fourth row. It was red-flagged at once, and after some confusion they all pitted to refuel, and the whole race process began again. For five riders, it was all over by the first bend - Heinz Leuthi, Kinya Wada, Fausto Ricci (on the Yamaha), Steven Sidecars back for g_ood_? T _ he extraordinary and scandalous affair of the sidecars came to a head at Assen, but was at least partially resolved by the end of the weekend. Pushed from pillar to post, and banned to outside the official IRTA paddock, the cinderella class of GP racing came close to extinction in Holland, ~ith virtually unpaid competitors won· dering if this would be their last race. A series of meetings with the various interests, . however, resulted not only in another $50,000 cheque from the FIM, but also a rapprochement with IRTA, who officially recognized them as being from now on part of the Two Wheels Promotions GP circus. ·After the race., winner Rolf Biland spoke of tpeir future being assured "'for the next 10 years with lRTA"; ~hile lRTA general secretary Mike Trimby said: "It was a shotgun wc!iiding,'but we're now committed to haVing the sidecars aboard." IRTA's sh'\ndalways been dear: tbey w~:not part of the package. But the FlM point on sidecars bargained with TWP chief Bemie . ... TV moguls Doma to ana~ an eight"ra .' '.' '1L.x . . . ,Unfo texistin~contracisbad" drawn uJ? without including them, and one'thomy qq~ion concerned paying their-travelling expenses and prize'.rnoney. At first, it seems. tl'\eFIM promised to pay, but the sidecar drivers dubbed FIM president Jos Vaessen a tumcoat after he washed his hands of this responsibility, after promising a S100pOO payment to cover the first two races in Spain and Germany (the payment received in Assen was the second installment). With no more money on the table, the whole future of the sidecar championship was now in doubt. Then came an ElM proposal for a further payment from ROPA funds, and (apparently quite independently) a change of heart from IRTA. It seems likely that Ecclestone may have influenced IRTA's decision. The treatment of the sidecars as unwanted poor relations combined with th~r steadfast refusal to accept defeat and go away was becoming an embarrassment at a time when he is keen to improve the overall image of the sport. The villain was held to be FIM president Jos Vaessen, whose pledged support to the three-wheelers tumed out to be a hollow promise. But it was Ecclestone who was the target of the crowd's derision, a reflection of their loyalty to the Dutch-dominated FIM, as well as a partisan attitude towards the sidecars. There were a number of "p'0" Ecclestone" banners, and even a ceremonial buming of a Bemie effigy hanging from the gallows. One banner referred to the unique deal the Assen organizers thrashed out with Ecdestone - instead of paying his $l-milIion asking fee, they are understood to have got the event for something less than half-a-million, plus a two-doliar roYalty on ea<:h race-day tic~t sold (worth something more than $'250,000). The banner ra¥!: "BERNIE - TAKE NlY TWO DOLLARS AND SHOVEJM." But the stanqtOOk t came at the start of the sjdeCar race, when the packErlgraitdcclestone" J;efrainin~Sed song. 4 ."" ::: "

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