Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

II pressure on Freddie to make up the d ifferen ce . I think that t ha t kind of III pressure is one one of the rea son s tha t I jum ped off in the six-hou r. W e were not su re of ou r posit ion a t the time a nd we were gai ni ng on both the Ka wasa ki a nd the Honda . I was riding a little bit faste r. I was just pus hing ' it so ha rd that I took a ch a nce th at ended up being detrim ental . I ran into the back 00 of somebody goi ng slow. 0) Spencer a nd Pierce will be a good 1"""'4 team . Ron 's a real good rider. I like ~ Ron . But I'm not real worried a bou t Spencer and Pierce. They d id good a t et') the six hou r. I was rea lly impressed there. but I thi n k tha t Grae me a nd I - ; will be a good tea m . 100 . -:. Now, if they had Spencer an d Hasl am together , I'd be wor ried . because Haslam went rea l fast last yea r even after his bike lost two gears , and he fin ished second with just th ree gea rs left. • ~ t o o >- Jeff Haney/Roberto Pietri-American Honda Superbike I don't think that Pietri and Haney will be in the top of the grou p. I d o th ink that they will put on a good show for the spe ctators. They . d id pr etty good at the six-hour . and Roberto ha s a lot of four-stroke experience a nd rides his Superbike better all the tim e. Haney is short on experie nce .. th e six hour was about his first race on a fou rstroke that I know of.. but ha s pote nt ial. John Ulrich/Gina Bovaird-Castre/Moriwaki Kawasaki 22 Another Am erican team is J ohn Ulrich and Gina Bovaird. I d on' t thi n k tha t they' ll be in th e winner's circle at th e end of th e race . But I thi nk that fact that Gin a's goi ng over is good . I ha ve to give her .. or an y woman -cred it for raci ng m otorcycles, since it's mor e or less a m a n's sport a nd she does n't d o too ba d a jo b at it. I'm sure th at th e Moriwak i Kaw asak i t ha t th ey'll be ridi ng will be competi tive. but Gina is a t a terrible d isad vantage bec a use she has no four -stroke experience . She doesn 't rid e these th ings, and rid ing a four -stroke is a lot d iffer ent fro m rid ing a two stroke. You ' don 't ju st j u m p on th ese things and go fast. I th ink John will be faster than Gina , just becau se he rides fou rstrokes and he know s what he's doin g . She doesn 't. I know J ohn ca n ride it . no probl em . He's had some good rides on four -strokes a t clu b ra ces in Californ ia a nd he races th e AFM Sixhour every yeiIT. Hi s problem is tha t he is a lways riding a d ifferent bike. He has two jobs , on e as a reporter for Cycle World and one as rid er . So he does a sto ry on one bike. rides it once or twice , writes a story, and the nex t tim e you see h im he's on a tota lly different bike. He never has time to learn anyone bike 100%, and he's not real familar with Moriwaki's latest bike, either. Trying to go to Suzuka as a racer and also fill in as race reporter too will make it difficult .. probably impossible--to be near the top in the race. I mean , I can barely race and turn a wrench , let alone have to write a story and race too . John has been to Suzuka to write a test report on Moriwaki's Daytona bikes , but he doesn't have too many laps . Gina's never seen the track . I think that David Emde and David Aldana will be Moriwaki's number one team for rac e results . But as far as collecting publicity and stuff. John and Gina will probably throw a lot of th at in just be cause of the nature of the tea rn -va reporter and a female. Their team will probably be able 10 help out tremendously as far as promotion of the race and adding interest for the spectators. All th e spe ctators will want to see an Am erican woman rid e and 10 see how good she ca n do. I'm sure th a t Mor iwak i is loo king a t it as a publicity type th ing , a nd th en the fact tha t John orga nized Moriwak i's Daytona effort for him an d m ade a lot of arra nge m ents for Aldana a nd Emde at this end p robably a lso has a lot to do with him riding, plus he's a pretty goo d frie nd of Mor iwak i's I understand. Gina--like Aldana and Em de ..is spo nso red by Ca stre gloves for th is ra ce and John is sponso red by Cy cle W orld. Marty Lunde/Mike TrimbyMoriwaki Kawasaki t" Marty Lunde is an America n who lives in England. and Trim by is an Englishman . They've been doing a ll th e 24 hour races in Europe an d doing really good for th e equ ipme nt th ey ride . I'm not sure but I th ink that they' re riding one of Mor iwak i's renta-ra cers, where they pay a set a mo u n t a nd he provides a bike a nd full su p port for the ra ce. Lunde set th e Ont ari o long -course lap record at 2:04 ba ck in 1974 on one of the origin al Yam ah a T Z700s, a record that stood un til I went 2:02 in 1979 on my OW3 1. But I don 't think either one . Lunde or Trim by, ar e ridi ng as Fast as th ey used to. Summary All the teams will fac e th e problem with traffic . I'm not sure abou t th e stat us of t he race th is yea r, bu t last year they allowed 250cc sing les. It 's a big problem . j ust like t hey ha d a t Ontario th is vear. T he re're some sections where you have a 30. 40. 50 mph speed di ffer ent ia l. You co me u p on someone who's goi ng that mu ch slower , a nd it' s easy for them to cha nge th eir lines . They get radica l, cha nge th eir lines. a nd you're going so mu ch faster it m ak es it hard 10 not hit th em . It 's something tha t you ha ve 10 wa tc h out for. I ' made a m istak e a t O ntario. I wasn't wat ching ou t as mu ch as I should ha ve bee n. th is slow guy cha nged his lin e, a nd I hit him . He d id n't fall do wn, b ut I d id . I think that there was a 33 secon d d iffe re nce in qualifying times between first an d last pl ace at Suzuka last year. lf you're talking ab out 160 laps, you' re talking about passing somebody abou t 40 tim es during th e ra ce. That brin gs up the cha nces of runn ing into som ebody. espe cially in t he first few laps, or m aybe even the fir st hou r where you hav e pe opl e reall y trying hard and trying to get around a some body or not let some body get awa y from them . It ca n ca use a problem. Suzuka is an im po rt a nt race . For me it's extremely im po rt a nt to do well because I'm riding in front of th e people who are the motorcycle industry, the manufacturers. The top people from Honda , Kawasaki, Suzuki , and Yamaha are there, watching th e race. If you can do well at Suzuka, it helps, it makes it ea sier when you come back to the United Sra res and hae 10 deal with a manufacturer. There is a reference from somebody who is higher up, who has horsepower at the factory in Japan . So for me to do good over there is more important than to do good at, say, the Mat ch Ra ces or an ything on that level. When we won in '78 , it helped Pops with Suzuki, and it helped me. If Pops is doing good, then I'm doing goo d . He's alwa ys tak en ca re of me . so it' s important for me tha t we go a nd win th is thing. And that's exac tly what we're go ing to do . • Randy Mamola was understandably happy following his first GP win. World Champ-Ionshlp' Road Race Series: RoundS Mamo/a • wm« Be/gianGP By Nick Harris ZOLDER, BELGI UM , JULY 6 Californian Randy Marnola's first-ever Grand Prix victory could not have come at a more opportune moment. Following his win in the Belgian GP at Zolder, the twenty-year-old now lies second in the 500cc point standings, just 12 po ints down from defending World Champion Kenny Roberts , who finished third behind Mamola and Marco Lucchinelli. Riding a works monoshock Suzuki, Mamola, after taking the lead on the first lap, ne ver looked like being in any danger. although Italian Luchinelli, after losing valuable time avoiding ' fallen teammate Graziano Rossi, set the fastest lap in pursuit of the leader. Roberts. suffering from handling problems on his Yamaha , could only claim third spot. in front of New Zealander Graerne Crosby who produced the best performance of his short Grand Prix career, "Fantastic" was Mamola's verdict after the gruelling. 30-lap battle.: " I just hope I can do it again in some of the other Grands Prix." Crosby steamed into the lead from the third row of the grid at the start of the race but was relegated to fifth place at the end of the fifth lap by Mamola, Lucchinelli, Wil Hartog and Roberts. " I didn't know where to go at the first bend with nobody to follow." joked the New Zealander. Mamola then cleared off to record 30 perfect laps at the front of the field while the battle raged behind, Dutch TT winner Jack Middelburg crashed on the first lap together with Markku Matikainen and Patrick Fernandez while Rossi on the fifth la~ stormed into third place and dived in' front of teammate Lucchinelli at th e chicane with dire consequences. Rossi went down . and Lucchinell r taking avoiding action; ran off the track into the dirt. He stalled his Suzuki's motor and lost five vital places and many crucial seconds before , bump starting the machine back' into life . :) Roberts moved into second place' with Crosby on his tail after passing , Hartog, but it was Lucchinelli who caught the eye of the crowds and d ie timekeepers' after his earlier incident, :) By third distance he was closin grapidly on Crosby and Hartog and t~o laps later passed them both and had Roberts firmly in his sights. He quickly closed on the champion and made his move, passing him at half distance, And Crosby added salt to the wound by following suit a couple of laps later'. American teenager Freddie Spencer, making his Grand Prix debut. retired with petrol on the rear tyre after a start line shunt and Venezuelan Johnny Cecotto, after being with the leaders in the early stages. retired with handling problems and a slowing engine. . Roberts, complaining of handling problems with the monoshock of his Yamaha, retook Crosby eight la~ from the finish but with typical cheek the Suzuki ace. who celebrated his 25th birthday a couple of days before the race, redressed the balance twei laps later before finally succumbing to the world champion's experience just three laps from the finish. '() Hartog was a comfortable fifth in front of Franco Uncini but Philip' Coulon crashed on the penultimate lap with oil on his rear tyre. Bernari:I Fau went down on the last lap but remounted to finish tenth. On the first lap he had his screen and fairing damaged\!hen Fernandez crashed. Australian Jeff Sayle (Yamaha) was another rider to crash, when he fell at the chicane, with injury, on lap 21. German Toni Mang West (Kawasaki) looks odds-on to clinch the 250cc crown after an easy victory in the 250cc race.

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