Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

as the three previous rounds a nd the point sta ndings reflect it : Nieto's four 15 point wins give him 60 points, Lazzarini's four runner-up finishes are worth 48, and Bianchi's quartet of th irds leav es him with 40. Th e sidecars provided the fin al race of th e da y and th e fast qualifying tea m of Rolf Biland and Kurt Waltispe rg won by 30 seconds in th e 27la p . 107 mil e race o ver Krauser R acin g teammat es Werner Schwaezel and Siegfried Huber. The Lucky Strikel Caraca ch ai r o f Strever I Sch n ieders fin ished third. Biland/Waltispergconrin ue 10 top th e cla ss point standings. Th e name o f the game in th e 500cc class is p rogress and no one sh owed it be tter in Au stria th an Yamaha. From th e fir st practi ce sess io n o n , R oberts' tim es dropped gradually until he kn ocked o££ a lap in I: 17.89 which was good for th e p ol e. " We put th e whol e co m bina tio n togeth er for th e last sessio n - th e sh ock , th e tires, th e gearing, the engine. We hadn 't had all th ose things on th e bike in one practice session, " sa id Roberts. It was h is third po le o f th e year. The other three have gone 10 this race's seco nd fastest quali fier . Fr eddi e Spen cer , who was over a seco n d o ££ Roberts ' pace. Clearly, the tra ck , with its long uph ill stra ig h taway a fter a sweep in g 180-degree turn two, fav ored h or sepower. And in Au str ia th at meant Yamaha. So i t wa s no su rprise th at Law son, co n tinuing h is steady improvement, wa s th ird fas test, half a secon d beh in d Spe ncer. " I kn o w I co u ld go a littl e faster," Lawson began, " Bu t I'm co m forta ble at that p ace. L ike Kenny, we JUSt pu t it a ll togeth er. " T h is tr ack , like a ll but o ne , is new to Law son a nd learning i t is a s importa nt as so rti n g th e Yamah a O W-70 o u t. " I like it," sa id Lawson. ' " Ir's fas t. bu t vou don ' t . want to fall o rr h ere." Ma ki ng th e to p four quali fiers AllAm erica n was Ra ndy Mamol a. The factor y Suzu kis haven 't been up 10 sn u ff th is year a nd th e u phill sectio n here clearlv showed th e defi cien cies o f th e XR -45 Mark III HB Suzuki. " We ' re m iles be hi n d. You ha ve to ride yo ur rear o££ in th e co rners because th e straig h ts ar e so fast. I can accelera te wi th th em , but a t top spe ed th ey get me. H alf a second a t th a t spe ed is a lo t o f bike lengths, " said Mamol a . T he ra in -pl agu e, wh ich has hit th e 500s sinc e th ei r a rr iva l o n th e co n rin nent, held o££ a nd th e 33-ma n field started the show for th e 100,000 spec ta tors linin g th e hill s of the natural am p h ithea tre. Hondas, tru e to form. led the wav. " T h ere ;"ere four H ondas in front o f m e in the first turn ," said Mamol a, na mi ng " H asla m . Kat a yama. Lucchi ne lli a n d R och e, I got two of th em goi ng up th e h ill , but co u ld n 't ca tch Kat a yam a th ere. T he n I got pa st H aslam a nd Kat ayama . H e tri ed me again , bu t I was a head ." After th e H ondas, ca me U nc ini and Law son, with Spe nc er next, ahea d of " j urnpin J a ck " Middelburg and, b a ck i n nint h , " K i n g Kenn y " Roberts, Roberts exp la ine d: " What happens is wh en it fir es you pull th e clutch in . It just wouldn 't ta ke up. This guy o n a Suzuki behind me a lmost bl ew me into th e woods. " Once R obert s was goin g , he qui ckly dispatched traffic. " T h e draft up the hi ll W u nbelievaS able. When I cam e up on everybody, Freddie wa s in th e front and I passed th em a ll together. " R och e Was ou t on the firs t lap , a gr im sig n for Honda, bu t th ere wo uld be more bad news later, Mamola took the lead from Katayama u ntil th e fourth lap when Roberts got by . Spencer, a lso , got by and it looked like_another Roberts-Spencer battle A CAMEL PRO SERIES NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP JULY KENNY RoeERTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_. CHAMPION SPARK PLUG 200 TICKET ORDER ADVANCE PR ICE NO. TOTAL Name _ Add ress Sunday Adm issi on $11 2·Day Adm ission 15 Children 6· 12 yrs. Event Ad m iss ion 4 2· Day VIP Ad m iss ion, Paddock Grandstand 30 Cam pin g Friday and Sat urd ay nigh ts 18 CARS 14 BIKES Camp in g Satu rday night only g e ARS 7 BIKES _ City State Z ip _ Mail to : Champi on Spa rk Ptug 200 P.O. Bo x SC RAMP Monterey, CA 93940 TOTAL _ _ _ Ch eck or mon ey order payable to SCRAMP. _ _ _ Mast er Charge No . Expiration Date _ _ _ Visa No. Exp irat ion Date _ _ _ _ Ch ildren under 6 yrs. 01 age Iree w ith parent. Paddock and grandstand IIc kets avail able at raceway. DAT SUN Ollic ial Car 01 Lag una Seca Raceway ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21

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