Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Phillis was unhurt and the bike received only minor damage. Simon Crafar, however, was lucky to survive a scary crash earlier in the day. During his first session, Crafar lost it going into the high-speed Curva Grande when his Rumi Honda seized while wide open in fourth gear. Luckily, he suffered nothing more than whiplash to his neck; the bike, meanwhile, was wrecked. Race one Polen grabbed the holeshot into the first chicane just ahead of Pirovano, Roche, Bontempi, Merkel and Roche —making a rare good getaway. Fogarty started from the pit lane. His Ducati had gone sour on thé warm up lap, refusing to run over 8000 rpm. He did one racing lap and pulled in with a faulty fuel pump sensor. Phillis took the lead at the start of the second lap and held off Pirovano until lap five when the Italian took over. Already, Polen was in trouble with his rear Dunlop not working. Bontempi was looking wild in the bad conditions, taking to the gravel trap at the first chicane then rejoining the track further along the road without losing a place — but almost taking out fourth place Roche in the process. As Pirovano piled on the pressure, Phillis faded as his face shield fogged over and Roche was up into second —but not for long. The French ace lost it going into Lesmo One, the most slippery corner on the course. He remounted his battered bike and tried to continue, but was in pit lane a lap later with a misfiring machine. Lap eight was almost disaster for Phillis. By now Pirovano was over 16 seconds ahead and Phillis was fighting to keep Merkel and Bontempi at bay. Phillis tipped into the first chicane, realized he was going too fast and took to the gravel. He stayed on, but only after being all but flipped over the bars as his bike bounced over the curbing. Phillis had limited vision by this time — hence the mistake. "When Fabrizio came by me, that's when my visor started to fog up. I was riding by feel — I certainly couldn't see a lot." Bontempi was shaken by Phillis' actions and he also took to the gravel, this time almost taking out Merkel as he rejoined the tarmac. It wouldn't have mattered. The same lap, three corners further on, Merkel fell in the same place Roche had and his race was over. Phillis saw the crash: "Fred (Merkel) came up the inside of me along the straight and as he tipped in, I said 'no way Freddie, that's too fast.' He went down and I got locked up sideways trying to avoid hitting him." A very disgrunted Merkel said: "Only one way to describe that crash —stupid!" Falappa was now up to second with Bontempi third, Mertens fourth and Phillis back in fifth — with six laps to run. Then on lap 12, Falappa also went down at Lesmo but got back on, minus his right footpeg. Pirovano never let up his pressure, adding a couple seconds each lap to his lead to run out the winner by 27 seconds. After the race he revealed there had been a problem: "With 10 laps to go my gearshift started sticking. It was a bit worrying. I knew I had to win for my team, our sponsors and all the people who had come to watch. I went at my own pace, but had some slides which worried me. It was quite dan gerous out there with too much water in some places." Second place was decided on the Doug Polen made a bad tire choice in round one and finished 10th, but placed fifth in round two to maintain his points lead. penultimate lap when Bontempi, briefly in second, made yet another mistake at the first chicane. He quickly got back onto the track but Mertens had slipped by for second and Phillis managed to stuff under the Italian for third and Bontempi tried to get back into the action. "Some people were making mistakes but I rode my own race, trying to concentrate on what I was doing and not worry about the others," Mertens said. "Like when Falappa came by, I knew he was too fast for me so I waved him by. I was only concerned about myself." In fifth place was unknown Italian production rider Destefanis, who gets direct help from the Ducati factory. Daniel Amatriain snatched seventh place on the last lap from Frenchman D'Orgeix while Polen ended up 10th having been passed by Jari Suhonen in the last couple of laps. Race two As the rain came on even heavier for race two, Bontempi led into the first chicane as things got a little out of shape behind him. Fogarty got in too hot on the right-hand side of the track and was lucky to stay on two wheels as he ran across the curb and back onto the track in front of the pack. Phillis wasn't so lucky. He came flying in too fast, sat up to outbrake Pirovano and overshot. To stay upright, he leaned on Pirovano but he had come back one gear too many and as he tried to get back on the gas, he was in first gear instead of second and the rear tire spun out leaving Phillis on the deck amidst the pack. "I just grabbed the wrong gear and it spun around. I was frightened to death I was going to get hit," said Phillis who had jumped to his feet in the pack, waving wildly to avoid getting run over. By the time he got back on and fired the bike up, he was already over half a lap behind the last bike and had no chance of getting back into the points. He soldiered on to finish 16th. Fogarty was an early retirement again. He pulled in on the fourth lap. "First lap it misfired, then every time I feathered the throttle it would cut in and out. It was just too dangerous to continue," he said. Fred Merkel qualified well, but crashed out of both races in the wet conditons. Bontempi led for two laps but soon gave way to pressure from the flying Pirovano, then came Falappa, Roche, Mertens — already struggling with a fogged visor, then Polen and Destefanis. Merkel was back in 10th having been run off the track in the earlier Phillis crash. Maybe Merkel was trying too hard, too soon, but he slid off at the Ascari chicane. Up front, there was little Roche could do to prevent Pirovano running away with his second win. "I knew it was going to be a hard race again but I had no problems this race." Roche said: ''My engine was slower in this race than before my crash. Maybe it picked up some dirt. Right at the end of the race it slowed right up, maybe something is broken? "I'm not sure about going to Aus tralia and New Zealand," he added. "I have no budget and now the engine situation is very bad . . ." Bontempi locked up third place when Mertens backed off because of his visor problems. Polen took fifth place after passing Falappa on the 111th lap. So the championship heads for Australia with everything to play for. To use a well worn racing cliche — this one is going to the wire! cn Results RACE 1: 1. Fabrizio Pirovano (Yam); 2. Stephane Mertens (Due); 3. Rob Phillis (Kaw); 4. Piergiorgio Bontempi (Kaw); 5. Valerio Destefanis (Dqc); 6. Daniel Amatriain (Due); 7. Juhan D'Orgeix (Kaw); 8. Mauro Lucchiari (Due); 9. Jari Suhonen (Yama); 10. Doug Polen (Due); 11. Virginio Ferrari (Due); 12. Giancarlo Falappa (Due); 13. Udo Mark (Yam); 14. Patrick Igoa (Yam); 15. Vi torio Scatola (Kaw); 16. Michel Amairio(Yam); 17. Fabrizio Furiati (Due); 18. Florian Ferracci (Due); 19. Luca Fasini (Due); 20. Roger Kellenberger (Yam). Time: 35 min., 04.230 sec. Distance: 16 laps, 57-536 miles. Average Speed: 98.341 mph. Margin of Victory: 27.417 sec. RACE 2: 1. Fabrizio Pirovano (Yam); 2. Raymond Roche (Due); 3. Piergiorgio Bontempi (Kaw); 4. Stephane Mertens (Due); 5. Doug Polen (Due); 6. Giancarlo Falappa (Due); 7. Jehan D'Orgeix (Kaw); 8. Daniel Amatriain (Due); 9. Roger Kellenberger (Yam); 10. Virginio Ferrari (Due); 11. Jari Suhonen (Yam); 12. Gastone Grassetti (Due); 13. Mauro Lucchiari (Due); 14. Patrick Igoa (Yam); 15. Michel Amalrio (Yam); 16. Rob Phillis (Kaw); 17. Florian Ferracci (Due); 18. Andreas Meklau (Due); 19. Walter Amman (Yam); 20. Luca Pasini (Due). Time: 34 min., 35.063 sec. Distance: 16 laps, 57.536 miles. Average Speed: 99.818 mph. Margin of Victory: 5.367 sec. WORLD C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. D<،ug Polen (304); 2. Raymond Roche (288); 3. Rob Phillis (249); 4. Giancarlo Falappa (247); 5. Fabrizio Pirovano (242); 6. Aaron Slight (189); 7. Stephane Mertens (167); 8. Daniel Amatriain (142); 9. Carl Fogarty (125); 10. Piergiorgio Bontempi (99).

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