Cycle News

CN III ARCHIVES I f you look at the raw numbers from Wayne Rainey's 1984 FIM 250cc Grand Prix campaign they aren't that impressive—eighth in the final standings, one podium (third) and a slew of finishes outside the points. Not what one would expect from the rider who'd won the AMA Superbike Championship the previous season. What the raw numbers don't show is that, in spite of wearing Marlboro colors and being direct- ed by Kenny Roberts, Rainey's Yamahas were painfully stock, and he had only one—there was no backup bike. It also didn't tell of Rainey racing with injury he suffered in the Anglo-American Match Races; or the time he ran a frame his boss Kenny Roberts built that was so crooked fel- low riders who drafted directly behind him said they could see his bike's front wheel; or the cylinders that were supposed to give him more power, but instead caused his motor to seize. The other story the record book doesn't tell is that Rainey simply never learned how to fire the bike from the dead-engine bump starts used in GP racing in that era. He often spotted the field 20-30 seconds before finally getting his bike underway. What the records also don't show is that in spite of the injuries, faulty frames and bad starts, Rain- P94 RAINEY'S FIRST GP SEASON season it would be four more years before he made it back to Grand Prix racing, and when he returned he was a veteran with infinitely more experi- ence, both from his previous Euro- pean stopover, but also from several seasons of racing 500cc two-strokes in the AMA Championships. The very fact that Rainey raced GPs in 1984 was almost pure hap- penstance. He'd won the 1983 AMA Superbike Championship for Kawasaki, but Team Green made major cutbacks as a result of the early-1980s recession and the Su- perbike program got the ax. He was considering different options, includ- ing going back to flat track, when in February, Roberts approached him about racing the 250. Roberts had just retired from the sport and was looking for some- thing to keep him busy. His relation- ey showed flashes of brilliance, perhaps most notable was his ride at Misano where the field was a half-lap gone by the time he got the bike fired. Burning with anger for yet another failed start, Rainey rode like a banshee, blistering the 250cc track record by nearly four seconds, catching the field and passing riders wholesale. He was still passing riders when he looked up and saw the checkered flag. "When I came in, they made me go somewhere away from my pits," Rainey recalls of Misano. "I wondered what I'd done wrong, then they told me I got third place." It was one of the most spectacular rides in GP racing that year. There was no doubt after that outing that Rainey had the talent to race in the World Championships. After his rookie 250cc GP Wayne Rainey made his GP debut in 1984. BY LARRY LAWRENCE

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