Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

electric as it became clear that he was cutting the lead by four - five - 'six seven seconds a lap, and at that rate he could catch Chandler before the finish, Thus it was almost an anticlimax when he did so with four laps to spare, and flew past him so fast as to make the earlier race leader look as though he was going backwards. "That was a gamble that almost didn't payoff," said Lawson later. "The first couple of laps were really miserable. I was on carbon brakes too, and they didn't stop, and I had no grip." By the finish, however,- the absolute opposite was true, and he charged to a clear and very popular victory. Chandler was safe in second. "I couldn't try and stop him, and I'd probably have landed on my head if I'd tried," he aid. "We needed another five minutes of rain. But we didn't have the choice Lawson did. When Rainey and Kevin both fitted wets, I had to as well. I couldn't afford to gamble. When I saw the weather was clearing, 1 tried to get in as many good laps as 1 could. But the race was just a bit too long." Mamola was thrilled to be back on the rostrum in the year that he got a reprieve from enforced retiremen"t with the Budweiser ride with Team Roberts, and he was magnanimous enough to. express his pleasure at victory at last for the Cagiva team which had almost ended his GP career. "1 knew what Eddie's situation was with tires, and when 1 saw steam coming off the track I knew he'd be coming. 1 saw the pit signals showing he was 17 seconds behind, and then three seconds. 1 looked round, Loris Reggiani (13) led Luca Cadalora (1) early on, but Cadalora worked his way past and went on to a convincing 250cc GP win. and all I could see was his number seven." Schwantz had caught and passed Rainey, his major target for second in' the championship, and said afterwards: "There was so much smoke coming off his rear tire the next thing would have Chandler .nabs h.I'S fl"rst-ever Role i,Q ~!c~~~~tf~~::~~~~ ,~ hi.S:first v been to see flames." It was a fine result for a man with one broken arm and a painful swelling in the other one. "The rain was the best that we could have had," he said. "It meant I didn't have to muscle the bike around, and 'made it much easier on me." Rainey was obliged to settle for fifth, and said later: "1 almost pitted to change tires about five times, but I knew there was no way 1 could make up the time I'd lose." . Gardner pulled his Honda through to sixth, after his sound tactical move of last thing you want here is more power." He was suffering considerable pain from a broken rib in his back.! sustained when he fell at Assen but only diagnosed here.. ./II hope I can forget about it in the race." .~:~t~~~~7$~S::Oy~~;:E'i~:. the circuit. This time, ~e managed crutches. Instead: "Kiy JiipiS :ID1:tl:Hy cau:.s,irig me any trouble at all. My arms are i to repeat the feat on Saturday, to score his first pole painful, but we've screwed the steering damper up some and choseo gearing to min'imite the number of shifts I have to make, and we'll have to see how I go. I'm sure I position in GP racing. Everyone was left short of time by rain on can make race distance, but I'm not sure how fast. I hope it rains, because that will be Friday, which imposed its own extra problems on a easier on me." Juan Garriga was alongside, just over a second down on pole, and three-tenths track with too many tight comers and too many bumps.. • quicker than Lawson, who now found h~lf "short of motor" after his fine run at 2; Sbn, I set to,,~()minate'tl,1ef\ " " A,$S,JeO.~ The: qagi,va'Si el~~pnic ' spensiql;;t workefiPlne, but even the latest d ,~., . ... 'ug a1 . . . d,repeat his Assen ! :type engine wasn't enoU,ih to' with'Mle wor~gapanese bikes, ev.en,thoil.g position. Then towardS the end of the timed Friday was riding as hard as ever, Teanttnate Alex Barros was.alongside him to complete row afternoon .session, it started to dry, and things got two. really hectic. First Wayne Rainey moved to the top Row three was headed by Randy Mamola, still in pain from his hand injury; with of the list, then Wayne Gardner. Then in the last Alex Criville, winner of the last race, unable to get down to it over the bumps on his gasp Chandler displac.ed the invalids after pitting Honda, and qualified 10th. Then came Niall Mackenzie, who got a bad fright in the ri~ht,near the end of the session to fit a slick rear tire (the rest were all still on intermelast session when his suspension bottomed out and he had to take to the dirt. He , dil,in,.'t fall, bqt was irate, sarin : 'i ~t's t:!te third. time this thing has!ried to :kill: .i~ Wb614t'i~'tm.:at~t too mtl:ith'unlessthefa<:e ~as'aiSQ to be ~l1n il'l/$bni;~ ;roe';., ." , / I . , " lar'mixed conditions. 'But it.was interes'ting a11 the same 'because he did exactly the 250$ had an even wetter time bf it than the 500sbn Friday, and the rogue condisame thing in the dry~ pitting to fit a new rear in the closing minutes. '1 thought I'd tions and unusual track threw up some odd times. Not for Luca Cadalora, however, missed it, because I got held up that lap and 1was expecting to really go for it next time with the title leader qualifying on pole position again, fully a second ahead,of the field. round. Instead I saw the flag Signalling the end of the session and I reaUy !=ursed," he "1 found it quite easy," he said demoralizingly. "The fact that the Aprilias are faster doesn't matter very much here. I find this circuit interesting because it is so twisty and said. Like his teammate Kevin Schwantz, Chandler had both bikes fitted with the new bumpy." . "drone'~ engine, with·the better rorque curve for theplanyslowcomers, "You needthe It.w:as nota view echoed by everybody, especially Carlos Cardus, who produced a , front to work 17eally weU herE!! t,oq," he said; "Beca'QS~ .of. the dqwrot~1l Cbr;n,erentries/' ; remar'ka ble p'erfQrmance after~~~ing h~was ,going to take ite4.sy to qualify sec,bnq His pole was significant for many reasons, not least because In the limited dry practice fastest. The effort cost him dear, ho~ever, hurting ligaments in his still-injul'ed shoul~ time he had been able to get on the pace at once, showing his growing familiarity with der, and on Sunday morning he withdrew from the race. the Suzuki; and also because it showed how the bike has improved over the year, at the Loris Reggiani was alongside him, best of the Aprilias, and wishing he'd had more sort of track with tight unbanked corners that has in the past brought out the worst .in tirqe to get the suspension right over the mid-comer stutter-bumps. the delicately balanced bike. Fourth overall was Carios Lavado, giving the Gilera its first-ever 250 front row posiRainey ended up a close second, after playing around with both the new Yamaha tion, and the reward after the company had replaced their always troublesome ignition drone engine and the oJd one, as weH as using an electronic "kiil-shift". lIe was dose to with a new Austrian unit·called Comtek. But Lavado crashed twice, the last time right fun 'str~gtlhafter qllssing As~n, and riding agg£E!~sively again, hoping to use.the at the end of the fsnal session, and~i'ls lucky tQ escape urihwrt chance to regain second place overall, ahd perhaps even to challenge Doohan's title Dorlano Romboni led row tw<)after shOWing well throughout on his special RS.ll lead. "They always say anything can happen in racing, and I know it's true, so you Honda, and he qualified narrowly ahead of NSR--equipped Helmut Bradl. Puig was never give up hope," he said. seventh overall, with Chili completing row two, in his first visit to the track. Teammate John Kocinski was alongside, making his usual complaints about the Th~s put Max Biaggi on row three, unable to reproduce his recent form after strugYamaha chassis. "I'm doing consistent laps," he said; "But they're consistently slow. gling to get the right gearing. as well as with suspension. He had JP Ruggia alongside I've tried outriding the chassis before, and it doesn't pay." But he drd feel that the new on the second Gilera, then came Jaenen Schmid (who had led the first day in the wet on engine gave less risk of highsiding than the old one because of its less abrupt power, his works Yamaha), with Herd Torrontegui completing the row on the works Suzuki. ,~dUk~ Rajneyt.expeated, he W"ould.probablyrace It.'i, , 'J' Z Lor~s Capirossi led the fqurtry r0W ,Qnhis, $PL Hy>nda from the works bikes of ! Gardner took the last place On the front row, using some new engine parts tha'thad Zeelen'berg and Shimizu.- . . . . ' _ already been available to Doohan, "1 can't really teil what they're like," he said. "The All 35 entrants qualified. ' The II

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