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/126519
Team Suzuki'. stIIr of the 1981 500cc World Championship Road Race Serie•• American Randy Memola, served notice lit Donington'. Perk'. JoIwI PIeyer Gold Cup that he'. "over the""1ItrictIy on businessl No one could touch him. New bike, ·new leethers end e fifth piece for Kenny Roberts. Mamola, S~zuki dominate JP Gold Cup By Lou Martin DONINGTON PARK, ENGLAND, APR. 12 Suzuki G.B. rider Randy Mamola dealt a crushing win in the John Player Gold Cup at Donington Park. A star-studded field contested the first English 500cc International for 1981 10 in front of 40,000 people on a cold spring day. I in A first corner crashMamola's resulted the top exhausts of workS RG500 being bent downwards at the silencer section but this little modification didn't hinder the performance of the all-new Suzuki. Franco Uncini led on the first lap after Mamola lOSt valuable time recovering from the chaos of lap one. At the stan of lap two, Randy was in second, and he moved into the lead by the end of the·lap. Mamola's Suzuki teammate Graeme Crosby started in sixth place, moved into second place behind Mamola, and from this early stage in the race 'til the finish line, the flying Suzukis completely dominated the 30-lap race. Reigning 500cc World Champion Kenny Robens staned weH and settled into third with Yamaha teammate Barry Sheene a very close founh. Robens and Sheene circulated for 25 laps with less than two bike lengths between 'them until' Rol'>erts tired and Sheene pulled away. Mamola's lead at the finish line was 5.7 seconds over Crosby wbo was a massive 35.8 seconds ahead of Sheene. Englishman Keith Huewen on an RG500 passed Rabens on the final lap to take foufth platt. Works Kawasaki rider Kork Ballington fell on the opening lap after his front tire let go. Both Roberts and Sheene rode reverse cylinder, tubular aHoy-framed machines. The biggest feature of the Yamahas was the paint sch~e. For political reasons, both Robens' and Sheene's machin~ are in Yamaha japan's colors of white and red. Roberts missed the Transatlantic Match Races as he was testing in Australia over Easter weekend in readiness for the fonhcoming GP season. Both Crosby and Mamola went to Austrial on April 14 to test their . bikes ~ again. The 1981 works Suzukis of Randy Mamola and Graeme Crosby are aU new for the upcoming World Championships. The bikes retain the square four configuration but have two crankshafts instead of four. Without going into specifics, Graeme Crosby said the bore and stroke are unchanged but the cylinders, exhausts and ignition advance curves are the mOSt imponam performance changes. The bi~ change in terms o{ the handling of the machine is the employment of a 16-inch from wheel. Randy is very impressed with the 16inch wheel and says it allows him to brake deeper into comers. brakes quicker everywhere and steers a lot easier. The bikes are' smaller than the previous models; about one inch lower with the distance between the handlebars. footpegs and seat being reduced. The weight is down by 15 kilos (about33 lbs.) with power up allover the rev range. At the opening English International at Donington Park, both the works tearns of Kawasaki and Yamaha were more than just a little worried about the new flying Suzukis.