Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

..... M 0.. < Suzuki's Randy Mamola won the last GP of the '82 season, but all in all had a disappointing year. Europea n circuits he's goi ng to get h urt badl y enough to put h im ou t of action C a good wh il e. It 's not or always been h is fault whe n h e's fallen oC but a little ca u tion exercised C, would enable h im to real ize the m ost fro m h is undoubted tal ent. Don't underestimate Lucch in elli , eithe r. He ma y hav e given th e irnpression o f bein g delighted at Un cini 's success last seaso n, bu t under th e su rC th e two a re deadl y rival s, a nd ace Mar co is a proud ma nwho will be o u t to prove th at hi s title win two years ago was no nash in th e p an , n or down to Rob ert o G allina's o rga n ization . Honda's only co ncern may be keepin g th eir two leading riders awa y from eac h o ther, but if the y do , I expec t th em both to win ra ces, with Spen cer m y fa vorite to just edge Robert s for th e title. It cou ld go the other way, th ough, depending o n how much Yam aha has im proved th e OW61 over th e winter; either way, it seems certai n we' ll be crow n ing another American 500cc World Champion at season's end , with Honda th e certain Manu facturers titl e winners, wi th riders of th e quality of Gu ido Paci, Michel Frut schi, Victor Pal om o a nd th e like o n RS500s pack in g th e gr ids. One interest in g co m pa rison will be to see ho w th e n ew pr oduct ion Honda - th e firm's first over th e co u nte r G P race r since the little CR93 125 of th e ea rly '60s - will stac k u p aga inst th e RG500 Suzuki, h ithert o ' th e privat eers' chosen mount, while wa itin g in th e wings is the techn ically fascin ating Swiss ADM ro ta ryval ve Ila t-Iou r which lead ing priva teer Andreas H oHmann h as been test ing over the winte r break. 250cc . I£ th e 500cc cla ss looks like provin g - 30 to be a battle ro yal between th e leading Japanese manufacturers, it will be but a skirm ish com pared with th e war o f a ttr itio n waged in th e 250cc ca tego ry th is season . No less th an 10 dif feren t fac tory teams will be taking part - II if G arelli co mes in a t th e en d o f th e season as presently envisage d - a n d pi ck in g a winn er a t th is stage is but a variatio n o n th e. o ld needl e-in -a-haystack routine. After winn ing thei r first 250cc title in n in e years last season, than ks to Tou rnadre's co ntrolle d shoes tri ng eHort , Yama ha is back in busin ess in a big way, wit h Britain 's Donn ie Rob in son and teenage sen sati on Alan Carter-brother o f sp eed way star Kenn y-j o in ed o n fact ory-back ed machines by Germany's Martin Wimmer, Daytona winner Antonio Neto o f Brazil, fiery Ven ezuelan Ca rlos La vad o and hi s coo ler co untryma n Ivan Pal azzese - winneroC two 125cc GPs in '82, an d th e Fren ch p a ir of Tournadre (w ho saw h is cha nce o f a 500cc ride di sappear with th e breakup o f Ago' s private team ) an d Christian Sarron. I£ that a rray o f ridin g tal ent isn 't su fficient, Yamaha al so ha s a sta ke in Angel Ni eto 's lat est effort to prove h e's not just a sma ll bike rider. Th is time he'll have a Yam aha en gine in one o f th e sem imonocoque Ll-frarn e Kob as chassis from Spa in wh ich scored so me useful pl aces a t th e end o f last season in the han ds o f risin g Spanis h star Tito Pons , who once aga in will depend o n Rot ax tandem -twin power C '83. or Also Rot ax -powered wi ll be the sole factory Waddon, ridden by Europea n 125cc cham p Stefano Ca racc hi, as well as th e increasi ng nu m ber o f British Arm strongs, n ow sold in No rth Ameri ca as Can-Arns, In addition to th e factory backed Randl e team of Cl ive Horton a nd rising sta r T ony Rogers, as well as experie nced p ri vat eer Tony H ead , o ne o f the several well-known names o n th is th e bestknown Rotax "kit bikes" will be Sw iss ace Ro land Freym ond, th ird in th e '82 title race and a GP wi n ner o n th e Moll er-developed MBA. I£ a nyone can m ak e th e Arm stron g in to a winn er, Freym on d can, th ough to do so h e'll ha ve to cope with so me o f th e ten repli cas o f hi s last yea r's mach in e which have been produced by th e Itali an factory Cor private sale; a t this stage it seems unlikely, though , th at an y leading rid er will be mounted o n one. . Also Rot a x-powered is th e new EMC, a famous n ame from the sixt ies GP world heraldin g ..the retu rn to runn in g h is o wn team o f th e legen dary/ no torio us Josep h Ehrlich . A man yo u either lo veorha te, Dr..joe ; : -, .. ~: .... .., Honda's Freddie Spencer returns to Europe with GP experience and wins under his belt. Is he the man to beat? was the man beh in d th e su dde n rise to competi tivity last season of th e Waddon , bu t whe n the firm 's bosses refu sed to fo llo w his a n d th e riders' (a m o n g st the m Ri ch Schl a chter ) advice abou t th e need Cor a new chas sis , h e packed hi s bags a nd left. The EMC , with a bea u tifu lly-made squar etube a lloy frame by Spondon, is th e result, but n om in at ed riders are sti ll unknown. Though Fren chman Ser ge Bosset, head of th e Performan ce co m pa ny wh ich h as wo n th e last two Endurance World Championships for Kawasa ki, has p ersu ad ed th e J apanese factory to en trust h im with four of th e tandem-twin m achines on which Ball ington and Man g domin at ed medium-capacity GP racing for th e last C years, don 't expect th e bik es ive to be winners in th e future. The pace of development in th e 250cc class has never been so hot si nce th e midsixties, and th ough Be sser's su perb orga niza tio na l abi lities will co u nt C m uch, rid er Raym on d Roch e and or whoever else su p ports h im will h ave a ha rd time of it agai ns t th e newer bikes. Am ongst these must be n umbered the h igh ly sophis tica ted Fren ch Chevalliers, now fitted wi th Aus tria n Beko en gi nes but re ta in ing th e o nboard comp ute r which mak es jett in g a nd o ther carbure tio n cha nges unnecessa ry. Form er Kawaski ace J eanFranco is Balde, o ne of th e m ost experien ced GP ri ders arou nd, has joined the tea m, together wi th Bel gian Didier de Radi gu es, who n arrowl y lost ou t o n th e final 350cc world title in '82 a n d is tipped by man y as a future 50 0cc c ha m p io n. P ernod rej ect T h ierry Espie m ak es up this very stro ng team, but a pl entiful su p p ly of spa re parts m ay be a pr erequisit e as both de Radigues and Espie h ave a reputation as crashers, a nd th e Beko en gin e is unproven in co m pe tition. That 's not, however, th e case with th e third Au strian pow er unit, th e Bartol (a flourishing eco no my a n d sou nd engi nee ri ng en viro n me n t a re the proba ble reasons C th e eme ror ge nce o f this unlikel y nati on as th e chi ef rival s to th e Japanese o n th e GP scene) . H arold Bartol p roved th e suc cess of hi s engine th eories last season in a four- year-old Bimot a frame. Patrick Fern andez up. A co mplete Bartol motorcycle will debut th is sea son, with Fernandez-now regr ettabl y _ past h is best-on board a nd Au ssies JeCc Sayle and G raeme McGregor mounted o n sim ilar m achines. Sayle must be a very stro ng conten der for th e title if he ca n gather su fficie nt spo nsorsh ip for a serio us effort: he put in severa l good rid es on th e Armstro ng last season and wh ile not quite as fast as McGregor o n hi s day is much less lik el y to throw it down th e road the n McGregor. H e'll tak e so me beating if th e Bartol's half as good as it looks lik e being. Wh il e Harold Bartol - o ne of ra cin g' s really ni ce peopl e - h a s struggled on a shoestr ing to ac h ieve deserved success, th e Pern od team h as work ed i n inv er se p roporti on s. Reprieved for one final season, th e heavil y-sp on sor ed team is now down to just one rider , Christi an Estrosi , wh o's a lso runn in g th e show: designer Jea n Bidal ot has departed, or so it seems . T he Pern od h as severa l times Clattered to deceive, and ma y yet go dow n in hi story as one of th e most expensive C ilures ever . I ho pe not , a Cor mo torcycle racing needs m ore co m pa n ies like th e gia nt Fr en ch liquor manufacturer runn in g th eir own team s. but pe rha ps th e d esire to p roduce a n a ll -Frenc h win ner m ay in retro spect hav e been un wise. With th e m oney th ey had ava ilabl e th ey co u ld have hired Moll er (w ho coi ncidentall y was Cree a t th e tim e) and tha t wo ul d h ave ass u red success . As it is, Es tros i h as o ne more season to mak e go od . Plun ging h eadlong into that ha yor stack. I'll pick Wimmer C th e 250cc title: he h as th e right mixture of spee d and co nt ro lled aggression, and must be on e of th e most intell ige n t riders around in a ny class. But Sayle co u ld be a su rp ri se, and so could Balde if the Beko en gine works. Everyo ne in Europe is touting de Radigues or C th e title, but I just have a feel in g h e gets over-exci ted wh en th e ch ips a re down: h e fell o ff in th e lead at Assen last seaso n for a bso lu tely no reason a t a ll , a nd I'm n ot yet co nvince d h e has th e maturity C world or ~ hq pors. T ournacir, c,m, ..a.. ~prk~ P .. I .' •. e t~e, . , • • , ... . . . ~. ,

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