Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Briefly... a bit of cat-and-mouse, but the most important thing was that we got away from Nori and it came down to us two in the last few laps. I love to do well here in front of all the ltalians, there's iust some- thing special about the place, I've done the double here today, and the last tjme I was here, I was lucky enough to get the same result. I think I've got the best team in the paddock and a big thanks to every- one for these wins today." A last-gasp attempt to get on terms with this trio resuked in Toseland crashing at the Parabolica on lap 17, when his pads had been knocked back into the calipers, and he found himself without brakes for a moment - a moment too long - and he was lucky to make race two. The aforementioned multiple-rider, first-corner pileup, involving seven riders in total, reduced the midfield and allowed the top riders to make a clean break at the earl,est possible opportunity, as the rest picked through the fallen bikes and riders. The fallers were Fonsi Nieto, Michel Fabrizio, Ruben Xaus, Max Neukirchner, Gianluca Nannelli, Vittorio lannuzzo and the luckless Norick Abe. Bayliss had a three-rider fight with Ten lGte brouSht its lalest engine specs to Monza, with a tad more power to handle the occasional flat-out sections oI the Monza circuit. They did not, howevei have ary real form of traction con$ol, and thus, even though James Toseland and then Karl Mug8eridge were back in comrol of their own destinies to a great extent, they could still show a hiSh detree of rear sliding when required. Traction control is still the buzzword of the moment, €ven more so than the pro- posed l200cc rr.:les for tlvans, which look like they will be adopted, time frame unknown. TEction control being removed lrom all the bikes on the grid, restrictor plates for the bigger twins, and less tuning in teneral beint allowed for the Ducatis, seems to be the price that Honda wishes to extmct for agreemenl with rhe l200cc pro ^^.,t. The Ste.ilgarda Berik team squad rolled out a different color scheme for race day at l"lonza, with more red in it than usual. The), will repeat the trick in Hisano and lmola, in another set of colors. The intakes on the Yamaha Motor ltalla Rl machines drew comments from some quarters at Monza, as they certainly looked bigger and lonSer than those on the street- bike. A quick read ofthe nrles appeared to quellany worries about FIM intervention, as the airbox ductings (forming the inrernal of rhe intakes) are allowed to be changed, and the bod/work has !o be broadly similar to the o.iginal, not completery identical. The difference between them and rhe Yamaha Motor Frrnce machines was pro- nounced, howevex Yamaha Motor ltalia did not reckoh to have a special Monza tune for their bike in termr of equipment, iust the mapping changes you would expect from a circuit like Valencia to l',lonza. Each rider rtarted the weekend with one regular swingarm and one of the.lapanese-made lightwei8ht race arms on their machines. Ruben Xaus' brakes forced him to wth- draw f.om his Superpole laps, after he had completed one sector ofthe lap. Slowing and blipping the throttle, while pumping the brakes Save little evidence of the exact nature ofthe problem until much later. It was a busy weekend for Xaus, who ended up in a punch up with Norino BrrE- nola in the morninS qualifying sesrion. Xaus, who had won an ltalian National Champj- onship race at Monza the weekend befo.e, was taken out when Brignola dived up the inside of him, right into his blind spot as he turned into the first chicane. Xaus, trying to get to Brignola before the bikes had stopped slidint, tot up and ran over, belting him with an open hand on the crash hel- met. As each rider testiculated, Brignola seeminSly in innocence and Xaus in rate. Xaus per{ormed one more light tap on the helmet and stormed off to explain what we Continued on page 35 CYCLE NEWS . MAY 17,2006 33 ! ipr ?r g ffi ,l ) I ,/ L }. Bdyli$ (2t) wos ogoin lhe closs of the ficld. winning both rnces. Corser (l ) ended up third ond rc(ond with Hogo (41) fourrh qnd rhird. r- T : r The firrt-

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