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/126606
are the most intensely competitive in GP racing as they struggle to make up the power defici t o f th ei r p isto n port m otors by harder riding. Ju st watch th e efforts of Ca rlos Lavado, Richard Schlachter, Martin Wimm er and th e lik e to see wh at I mean . Lastly, ther e's th e pleth ora of Rotaxen gin ed bikes, ranging from the Britis h CCM Armstrongs with J eff Say le a nd Clive H orton a board, to the Italian SWM, the Spanish Siroko - now in monocoque form with Angel Ni eto a boa rd and former Minarelli engineer Jan Thiel in ch arge - and Kamas, ridden by rising yo u n g sta r Alfonso Pons, plus an intriguing unknown quality, the WaddonEhrlich. Reviled as an expensive PR hype when it first a p peared, th e Waddon team had th e last laugh _when Ton y Head won the final British 250cc race in '8 1 against stern o p positio n, th anks to a highl y modi fied engine which is the work of one o f th e '60s' great names in motorcycle racing, Dr. Joe Ehrlich . Mak e no mistake, this man knows what he's doing, and the spec tacl e o f him and Moller testing each oth er's wit s makes the 250cc class a fascina ting pro spect for 1982. In th e sma ller cl asses, th ere' ve been so me sha keu ps leav ing th e m ixtur e pr ett y m uch as befor e: T he 125cc ti tle-win n in g Minarelli team h ave been t.i ken over by Garelli , wh ose ri der Eugenio Lazzarini wi ll line up beside Angel Nieto in a n interesting co nfro nta t ion of fo rmer World C hampio ns ridi ng for the same team as equa l Nu mber Ones. MBA are ta kin g a back sea t this year to co nce ntra te on th eir 250, bu t Sa nvenero wi ll be tr yin g hard er th a n ever with Gu y Bert in back again , prob a b ly j oined by 50cc cha m p Ricar do T orrno , or possi bly former title-winner Pier pau lo Bianchi . Ni eto h as h is eye on Ago 's record 15 worl d titles, so expect h im to muscl e hi s way to th e top again. In th e tiddl er class, T ormo ha s ch anged camps fro m str ike-torn Bultaco to the wor ks Van Veen Kreidl ers he fou gh t so har d to beat la st season. U n less G ar elli can ge t La zzarini on a co m pe titi ve bik e soon, Ri card o has it made . Fina ll y, the sideca r class is, in my estima tio n, in grea t jeopard y of beco ming un wat ch able, as th e han dfu l o f to p-ru nners wh o can afford the exotic racing-car technol ogy necessary to win d isa ppear into th e di sta nce at eac h ra ce. Leading Brits J ock Tay lo r a nd Der ek J ones have joi ned th e " wobbly wh eel" set - Taylor af ter close sea so n fear s th at he mi ght be u nab le to co ntest th e series due to sponso rsh ip p robl em s - but the processio n of three-wheel ra cing cars cornering on rails leaves even th e most a rde nt sidecar fan un interested. La st year' s winner Ro lf Biland sh ou ld have enough up hi s sleeve to wi n agai n, especially as h is clos est rival Alain Michel is far too erra tic wh en th e chi ps are down, and 1980 champion T aylor will ta ke time to so rt out hi s new o u tfi t. It's typical of th e FIM 's ambivalence th at the y've all ow ed sidecar ra cing to get into thi s sta te, where it' s destroyed as a spectacle, a nd costs are far higher to be competitive than with a solo, without th e same rewards. One thing to watch for , though , will be the return of the RG500 Suzuki engine in many outfits after last season's crippling run of co n rod breakages on the 500 Yamaha motors. World Championship road racing has been building to a climax for the last couple of years. 1982 looks like being th e year it'll be achieved; I doubt very much that in 12 months' time we shall look back and say we • were disappointed . ' .. Day tona Speeduieek, 1982. The World 's fin est road racers; the World 's fas test ma chines. They all came to contest the Daytona Formu la One 200 miler. Among all the exotic two-stroke and f ou r-stroke machines, only one came prepared with Bel-Ray's new MCH , a p roven winning advantage Graeme Crosby 's Yamaha 72750 works machine. That Yamaha machine sailed past all competitors and put Grae me and new MC-1+ into the 1982 Daytona winner's circle. As the class of the world lef t Daytona Beach, they all took with ~., - them one learned ......_ _ lesson. In top competition, there 's j ust no beating Bel-Ray's new MC-H ! You ca n identify the new MC-1+ packaged the above two wtrys. II. The Lubrication Leader Bel-Ray Co mp any, In c. International Corporate Headquarters Box 526 Parmingdale. New Jersey 0772 7 (201) 938-2421 Western Headquarters 10015 Muirlands Blvd (G) Irvine, California 92714 (714) 859·093 3 BY St · 3 / 6 / 82 Daytona Beach. FLA FORMULA II 250cc RICH SCHLACHTER Yamaha on DUNLOP 2nd M. rtin Wimm.r Y. meh. on D UN LO P 3rd S.m McDoneld Y.m.h. on DUN LOP 4th Tony Hud W.ddon Ehron D UN LOP ~ong retuletio ns Vic tOry. Rich o n yo ur greet More cycles ride on DUlllop than any other tire in theworlcl. ~ D'UN~OP p.o. Box 1109. Buffalo. NY 14240