Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126482
o CO (j') .-4 IAbove left) Motojournalist John Ulrich competed, but a crash left him with fractured ribs. (Top left) Heyue Moineau lpictured) and Marc Fontan finished third on a Honda France RS1000.(Rightl Teammates Dave Aldana and Dave Emde (top) went fast before the crank broke. .wo eas y qualifying laps and turn the aike over to Aldana for the attempt for the pole position. Emde complied re o luc tantly and qualified at 2:27.79, be hind American Honda's Superbike team of Roberto Pietri (2 :25 .73) and Jeff 'Haney (2 :26 .38), but ahead of John -Ulrich, who went 2:28.16 with severe 'ca rb uretion problems discovered during late warm -up after a last -minute 'engi ne cha nge before Ulrich's final 'qualifying session, Rather than miss th e session Ulrich rode with th e bike 'm isfiring during acceleration off the turns and qualified the team 25th in spite of his partner's 2:33 , In practice U lrich had gone'2 :27 . , Moriwaki rent-a -racer ride rs Marty ' Lunde and' Mike Trimby .q ualified 14th. Lundy turning a 2:23 and · the n cha ng ing rid er armbands with partner T rirnby and turning another 2:23 in the place of Trimby, whose best time in practice had been a 2:27. Aldana and Haslam fought for the lead at the Le Mans start of the race, out it was Hansford in front after about 40 minutes; Crosby dose behind and pursued by Aldana. Richard Schlachter had reached only a few turns after the start before his bike's engine quit, and it wasn't until Schlachter pushed back into the pits that he discovered that nobody had turned the gas petcock to th e on position for the start of the race. Schlachter and co- rider Mick Cole set to work blazing their way back into the 'to p 10. . Spencer was out almost immediately with an ign ition failure , pushing the bike around several turns in th e humid heat before parking and leaving the RSlOOO where it rested. John Ulrich started about 35th and passed 10 or 15 riders in his first 50 minutes, then tangled with a lapped bike at the entrance to a fast turn at the end of the backstraightaway and high-sided, badly bruising his shoulder and knocking the breath out of him . He lay motionless at trackside for several laps regaining his breath before pushing the damaged Moriwaki Kawasaki into the pits . H is co-rider took over after repairs. By the second hour Lawson had 20 seconds on Cooley , who had almost two minutes over Roger Marshall , . Haslam 's partner. The three leading teams had already lapped fourth through ninth places once and 10th through 14th twice. Emde was eighth, Haney 11th. Turning points came in the third and fourth hours. In the third , Crosby passed Hansford to take the lead and stretch it out by 33 seconds; in the fourth Lawson took over with Cooley 52 seconds ahead. Fontan and Moineau moved into third , while -Haslam and Marshall encountered tire problems and changed the rear tire, then broke the drive chain, mercifully dose to the pits. Haslam pushed the bike in and Marshall carried on . The French Kawasaki team of Christian Huguet and Richard Hubin was eliminated when Huguet crashed hard with injuries after 21 laps, but an . even earlier crash by Johan Van Der Wal (Honda Holland , partner Bert Struyk) didn't stop the Dutch effort. Van Der Wal picked up his bike, re - ~ installed the gas tank (flung 30 feet by the crash impact), push-started the bike and returned to the pits for repairs. By the fourth hour Van Der Wal and Struyk were up from 43i-d to 17th. Schlachter and Cole were 11tho • Meanwhile , Aldana and - Emde dropped out with a crankshaft failure, followed soon after by Lunde and Trimby with the same problem . Ulrich's partner, Hagiwara, crashed endover-end in fifth gear on the back straightaway when the front tire, possibly damaged during Ulrich's first hour crash, exploded during the fourth hour. Hagiwara was hurt and the Mori waki Kawa saki destroyed. About th e same time, Cole grabbed too much throttle and spun out his Yoshimura Suzuki in th e esses. and Lawson , following closely, grazed Cole 's bike , ran into the grass and crashed. Lawson lost 45 seconds getting going again, but the bike was essentially undamaged. When Cooley pitted for th e fourth gas stop, mechanics discove red that the front brake pads wouldn't go the distance and scrambled to install new ones, but forgot to knock the caliper pistons back before pulling th e ' old pads. The new pads were too thick to fit and the team lost several minutes prying back the pistons and installing new pads. With about 30 minutes to go and darkness settling on the track, Jeff Haney's American Honda Superbike exploded on the back straight, sending a con necting rod through the cases and splattering oil on the exhaust pipes. The oil promptly ignited and Haney wrestled the fireball Honda to a halt and jumped off. The team of Haney and Pietri was seventh at the time. At six hours Hansford and Lawson led Cooley and Crosby by 17 seconds, with Crosby ga ining. Fontan and Heueau were third a lap down, with Jean Peyre and Pierre Samin on the Suzuki France GSIOOOR fourth, another lap down. Hansford found that he couldn't pitch the Kawasaki - suffering from a worn front tire - into the turns as hard as he wished , and settled for a sure second instead of risking crashing, even though Crosby was gaining. By the end of the race, Crosby had passed Hansford and, pulled out a 40 ·second lead. Fontan/Moineau were third, first Honda ; Peyre and Samin fourth ; Kiyama and Abe fifth ; Haslam and Marshal sixth ; Akihiko Kiyohara and fourth- in-the -Daytona-Superbike Masaki Tokuno seventh; Germans Helmet Dahne and Alois Tost eighth and Van Der Wal and Struyk ninth . • Results 1. Wes Cooley/Graeme ,Crosby (Yoshimura Suzl 200 laps: 2. Eddie Lawson/Gregg Hansford IKawl 200: 3. Marc FontanlHeyue Moineau (Hon France RS10001 197: 4. Jean Peyre/Pierre Samin (Suz France GSloooAI 197: 5. Kongo KivamaJTakao Abe (Han ASC AS1000i 196: 6. Aon Haslam/Aoger MarshalilHon UK ASlOOOI 196: 7. Akihiko KiyoharaiMasaki Tokuno IKawI: 193: 8. Helmet Dahne/Alois Tost IEeken Han) 192: 9. Jollan Van Der WallBen Struvk IHan Holland AS1ooo1 188: 10. Akitaka TomieiKiyoichi Tads (Moriwaki Kawll88. TOP QUALIFIEAS: 1. Graeme Crosby lYoshimura SuzI2:17.62: 2. David Aldana IMoriwaki KawI2:17.69; 3. Eddie Lawson (Kaw Japan) 2:18.25; 4. Gregg Hansford IKaw Japan) 2:18.34; 5. Freddie Spencer IHon ASC AS1(00) 2:1B.83; 6. Kongo Kivama IHon ASC AS1000i 2:18.95: 7. Wes Cooley (Yoshimura Suzl 2:19.17; 8. Richard Schlachter lYoshimura Suz) 2:19.46; 9. Aon Haslam IHon UK AS1ooo12:19.78; 10. Christian Huguet (Kaw France) 2:20.89. 15