Cycle News

CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE E ddie Lawson was on a path to become an AMA Grand National Flat Track racer. During the 1970s, at the height of dirt track par- ticipation, Lawson emerged as one of the leading amateur flat trackers on the West Coast. The trouble for Lawson was when he broke through to become an expert in 1978; he was riding Shell Thuett Yamahas. No doubt Thuett was one of the most talented tuners in motorcycle racing at the time, but racing Yamaha dirt trackers in the late-1970s was a major uphill battle against the dominant Harley- Davidson XR750s that ruled dirt track racing. Lawson's talent was obvious, even in that rookie expert campaign. He managed to qualify Thuett's Yamahas in the main a handful of times, in spite of being seriously outgunned. He faired better on the smaller bikes of TT and short track racing. Lawson's best finish of his rookie season was fifth in the TT national at Santa Fe Speedway near Chicago. Fortunately, Lawson had a fall- back plan. Earlier in life his grand- father bought him a 50cc Italjet to learn road racing. He later gradu- ated to a Yamaha RD350. This road racing experience would later prove to be a very valuable asset. In 1979 Lawson finished run- ner up to road racing wonder kid P86 EDDIE LAWSON'S FIRST NATIONAL WIN bike rider was a pretty big deal in 1980, it wasn't anything like it would become. In fact, even though Lawson was racing for Kawasaki, he signed up for the 1980 Daytona International Lightweight class riding a privately entered Hunt Racing Ya- maha TZ250. It wasn't that unusual for the time. Lawson's rival Fred- die Spencer had just signed with Honda's new superbike squad for 1980, but at Daytona he too would be racing a private Yamaha in the Lightweight class. Spencer would even race in the Daytona 200 on Freddie Spencer in the AMA 250cc Grand Prix Championship. That led to him being hired as a factory superbike rider for Kawa- saki starting in 1980. It was perfect timing. With Honda coming in with a factory effort that year, the focus on AMA Superbike racing was about to intensify. Lawson's time with Kawasaki would see the superbike class grow to the point that it rivaled the premier Formula One class and within a few more years would sup- plant it altogether. But while being a factory super- (Above) Eddie Lawson (21) leads Freddie Spencer (8) in the 1980 Daytona International Lightweight race. (Right) Eddie Lawson is beaming after winning a great battle over Anton Mang (left) and Freddie Spencer (right) in the 1980 Daytona International Lightweight race. PHOTOGRAPHY BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARY GROTHE

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