Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Justoneday.lleave for haly on Sunday, get there Monday and test Tuesday. Then I take two days o££ and get ready for o££icial practice. How critical are the two points you might have gotten in the Yugoslav GP if team manager Giacomo Agostini had ordered teammate Eddie Lawson to move over and let you pass, to the title outcome? . Two points wouldn't really have helped me the way the situation is now. If I had the extra points and I won Imola and Freddie finished second, we'd be tied on points, wins and second place finishes. We'd go to thirds and so on. If we're this close I don't think it would 'mailer. What really hun me was the way they scored the British GP. Freddie got second when he actually was founh. That really hun my chances. Was there a protest on the way it was scored? There was some son of protest. I'm not sure what it was. That's the games. Have you formulated any strategy for Imola? I'm going to go there, ride my race, try to win and hope that Eddie Lawson and/or Randy (Mamola) can get in between Freddie and me. How much of a factor will tbe other riders play? Well, someone's got to get second besides Freddie. That's what it comes down to. So, that's the big [actor. Looking at the way the two have performed in past races, is it a likely possibility? I think it's likely one of the two can get second at Imola. The last lap, last turn pass in the Swedish GP by Spencer, over you, for the win could well by the determining factory in who wins the title. What exactly happened? It was prelly basic. Freddie thought I was going to brake earlier than I did. At the last second when I was approaching second gear from a sixth gear straight, all of a sudden this red thing appears and I knew he wasn't going to make the corner. There was no way that we were going to make the corner. So I lifted up instead of taking my normal line. I bad to lift up and try to avoid what I thought was a potential accident. Freddie had the brakes on and was tryi~g to stop because he knew he wasn't going to make the corner and, as a result, I ran o££ the race track and he ran off the race track too. It was just a bad decision to make. Had I been him, instead of blindly going in and wondering what was going to happen, I would have made my choice a little sooner on what I was going to do. I think it was just his inexperience. He wants to win the championship real bad. He might have been hun and in my book that's noneal good. I don't even remember coming back on the track, I was so mad at that point. ,I don't remember any of what happened afterward or what I did. The fourcy Iinder takes a Ii llie while to get going. I had to clutch it to get it out of the din and it was kind of a problem. Had I been him, I don'tthink I would have made quite that big of an error, because I think I could have gone down, and going down means you're 15 points behind no mailer what happens. I didn't want to be 15 points behind so my first reaction was to avoid the accident, when I should have said, 'hey, I'm going in here and if we both crash I'll only be two points behind going into the last get much riding time because of problems. If there is an advantage it's in how my Honda starts. I've led the first lap at the past five or six GPs. I believe we should be in good shape. How much time will you spend test· ing at Imola prior to the GP? I'll spend two days testing. Honda has the circuit booked for August ~I and September I. The majority of the time will be spent making sure we have the right tires and I'm sure Michelin has something new just for this race. Erv (Kanemoto, Freddie's tuner) and I are prelly well set on what combination we're going to run in the engine/chassis set-up. Is there a great deal more pressure because it's now one race for the championship, than for the previous few GPs? Yes and no. I don't really feel that much pressure because I know what to expect, I know what I have to do, and I Know what the bike should be like. The pressure, if there is some, is in knowing the season is finally atan end. When the pressure was really on was at Silverstone for the British GP. In that race, we went in knowing we would be doing really good to come out with a second. (j) Have you formulated a racing strategy? "The strategy is to get a good start and immediately begin to put some distance between me and Kenny and Eddie (Lawson), 'plus whoever else might be favoring Kenny. I can't afford to lie back and wait." race.' What is it going to take as far as the lut race to win the title? Well, it's going to take me winning the race and someone gelling in between me and Freddie. That's. all, it's very simple. It sounds simple anyway. There's so much mote to it. G<') 00 What do you see as advantages/disadvantages of your machiney on Imola's high speed circuit? I don't think we really have any advantages except that the track does have a lot of turns. My bike did handle much beller through the turns at one time, but we've golien the tires working and added a lillIe more power and that's caused the frame to flex a bit which cancels some of the handling. I'm really not sure about advantages or disadvantages because in the April ~mola 200 I really dido't The strategy is to get a good stan and immediately begin to put some distance between me and Kenny and Eddie (Lawson) plus whoever else may be favoring Kenny. I think if I was Kenny I would try to get out in the lead and then slow things down because hecan'tjust win the race. He has to have somebody other than me finish second. I'm sure Kenny has thQught of that. I'm not going to be conservative. I can't afford to lay back and wait. It's basically going to be just another race like the rest of the season. How much of a factor, if any, will other riders play in determining the outcome of the race and title? I feel that Yamaha is hoping that Eddie wiJl get in there and finish second while Randy will be riding to win because he hasn't won a GP this year. I feel Eddie's job is to help Kenny while Randy is going to be just plain racing. Ron (Haslam), Marco (Lucchinelli) and Takazumi (Katayama) will be trying to help me. It's going to be interesting. The last lap, last tum pass in the Swedish GP could well have been the determining factor in who wins or loses the title. What exactly happened? I got up alongside Kenny before we went into the turn. We both wanted to win, I backed off a bit and got on the brakes really hard and he led me into the turn. He gotoff the track into the din while I didn't really go all ,the way off the track. There. was some run-off that was very rough. I got on the gas first and beat him to the finish. What I did was racing. It was a clean move, We didn't touch, I think Kenny was very unhappy he lost the race. His bike was basically quite a bit quicker than mine and I couldn't really draft him anywhere on the track. He may also have been upset because he wheelied off the turn before the last one and I was able to catch and draft him. That's what set up that pass. What is it going to take to win the title? Actually, it's going' to take just a normal race day with everything working properly. I can't make any mistakes and I have to ride a good race. I've led the championship from the stan and it almost seems as if I've already won the title, but no mailer who wins, whether it's Kenny or me, it'~ been a great, season. • 28

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