Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROADRACE Road Race Series: Round 12 ~ Lua Cadalora (1) pulled away from Max Biaggi (29), Francesco Orili (partially hidden), Loris Capirossi (6) and Loris Reggiani (73) in the 250cc race. Biaggi was second. from the third lap to the end, with MacKenzie finishing ninth in front of Mamola. The Scotsman chose too narrow a front rim and found it didn't work in the race. "I didn't use it in practice and the race tire didn't work on it," MacKenzie said. "On the really slower corners it pushed the front end and I lost confidence in the front end handling. Fitting it seemed like the right thing at the time, but it turned out to be a costly mistake." It was also a costly mistake that hurt Mamola, but it wasn't his own. On the first lap, Ducados Yamaha's Juan Garriga fell right in front of him in the first left-right combination. In order to avoid crashing, Mamola had to stand his Budweiser Yamaha up straight as Garriga slid in front of him and .the rest of the field went by. "Once I got going it was hard to pass. I could go through the chicane really fast and get a good drive onto the front straight. I'd stay in sixth longer 250cc GP Luca Cadalora may have already won his second World Championship, but with his future undecided, it didn't hurt to display his talents, which is exactly what he did in Brazil. Third off the start, Cadalora moved into second on the second lap before taking the point on the third, passing pole-sitter Max Biaggi, and leading a quintet of 250s. Biaggi was an early second, PierFrancesco Chili third, Loris Reggiani fourth, and Marlboro Team Pileri's Loris Capirossi fifth. Behind the leaders, HB Honda's Doriano Romboni ran in front of teammate Helmut Bradl and Mitsui Yamaha's Jochen Schmid. By the seventh lap, Cadalora had over a second in hand and would start to increase the pace. He was quicker his next two laps, but was consistently hat happened on the track during practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix wasn't nearly as interesting as what happened off of it. The question, after Marlboro Roberts Yamaha's John Kocinski had earned the pole position, was whether he, or any of the other 500cc riders, would take to the track for the race. Riders were mostly in accord, though there was some confusion and a few staunch holdouts. With Rothmans Honda's Mick Doohan returning to racing after an eight-week layoff and the championship in the balance, the race was accorded extra importance. The question that most needed answering was: How did it come to this? And though some tried to answer it, there was a modicum of doubt as to whether anyone had all thefacts. ' , As'Jor the trac1<, Paul Butler, the head of IRTA,explained: "The track was

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