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/126760
Eddie Lawson (above) assumed the top spot on Team Marlboro/Yamaha upon the retirement of Kenny Roberts. Kel Carruthers (right) will continue to handle the mechanical end. Lawson still must be considered the underdog. ..24 assisted steering!) and there are promi es of updated engines too. I personally have a lot pf time for Gallina: he's anachiever, and Ithink he could spring a big surprise this season if both his riders lUrn out to be fit enough to race at the lOp level. Franco Uncini has not ridden in public since his horrific Dutch GP accident which he was fortunate indeed 10 survive. and new man Sergio Pellandini, certainly the lOp Suzukimounted privateer last season until his season ended at SilverslOne on his first time on a factory bike, has yet to show that the foot he so nearly lost in his accident is fully repaired. I reckon Gallina sees '84 as a recuperative sea on for both team and riders, with his eye on '85 and a factory comeback with him in charge, but even so he and his pair of former invalids will want to show the GP world that they're back in busine s. Don't write them off. I'd like 10 be able to say the same about the other Suzuki semi·works team, but without any plans to drastically update last year's equipment I don't see Suzuki GB's Barry heene regaining any of his former zest for winner's circle. With MamoIa's '83 bikes, he'll be scratching to beat the privateer Hondas, but new boy Rob McElnea might well spring a surprise if he's allowed to get his fair share of the team's "good SlUff." The husky, good-looking youngster has definite star quality and a great deal of talent. I'd agree with those who place him above Alan Caner as Bri· tain's brightest long-term hope for the future. However, it's unlikely he'll cOlllest more than a handful of GPs thanks to TT Fl commitments. In a similar boat is Aussie Wayne Gardner. bUL in his case Honda GB wanted him to go GP racing. but couldn't find a sponsor. 0 the man generall y accepted to be one of the stars of the future has to wait another year for his complete transfer to GP racing, which will surely come in time. Wayne has time on his side, and so 100 does fellow-countryman Paul Lewis whose meteoric ris.e to notice earned him a point in his first-ever GP at Silverstone and not many friends among the Olher riders for his ruthless but effective style. If, as is rumored, Lewis gets a Honda R , and if he stays in one piece, he'll be the surprise ofthe sea on, bUl he rides awfully close to the ragged edge and I just hope he cools it a lillie before he really hurts himself. Having said that, the guy is dynamic to walCh even if off the bike he looks barely big or old enough [Q be wearing long pants, and he cenainly has not the slightest regard for reputations as Sir Barry Sheene found out when the diminuitive Aussie rode around the outside of him at the flat-out Woodcote corner in the British GP at Sil· verstone last year! With so many good riders packing the grids on the pricey but effective RS Hondas, there's a strong chance that one or more of them will get in amongst the works bikes on a permanent basis. Raymond Roche and Jack Middleburg must be the leaders of the privateer Honda pack as they were last season, but with the likes of Chris Guy and Keith Huewen joining them, not 10 mention a horde of German and lLalian riders with wealthy sponsors, the competition for the leader board finishing· positions and World Championship poi illS is goi ng to be very exci ti ng. And if Richard Schlachter can persuade sponsor Bob MacLean 10 let him take in a couple of GPs on his RS500R when he's not trying to win the U.S. title, then we may see a real spanner in the works in mid·season. Most GP observers of the '82 circus reckoned Schlachter a stand·out with competitive machinery: this could be the year he proves it. However, I reckon the biggest threat to the works teams will come from a Honda-engined special, the ELF-sponsored Chevallier of Didier de Radigues. If they can get the new bike sorted out quickly (and backup rider Christian Lei iard is one of the lOp development rider around) the Belgian with the film star looks, who only closely missed out on World Championship titles in the past two seasons in the 250/350cc classes, cou Id really spring a surprise. There's a lot of technical expertise and no lack of financial backing in this team, and with rumors of a revolutionary design for 1985 based on the chassis· less ELF endurance racer. a bright fUlUre seems in SlOre. I'll tip Didier to finish in the top fnur of the GP series, but like everyone else. I find it hard to believe Freddie Spencer won't win it again. If Katayama's recovered from his Imola injuries, and the Honda V-4 has a few gremlins at the start of the season, then maybe Takazumi has an outside chance, but I reckon the tussle is between him and Lawson for second place. We'll eel Whoever wins it, the cost of riding in the 500cc GPs, even as a privateer, has now reached truly astronomical heights: figure 60,000 just for a Honda RS and a few spares, before you've even thought of a transporter and all the backup. I wonder how many slimly·financed riders are going to be unable 10 see the season through. And with the arrival of the big name sponsors' own private teams (Marlboro, HB, ELF) comes another trend from the world of Formula One car racing: the kit·bike. Just as the avail. ability of the Cosworth engine permilled a whole range of small teams 10 race successfully in four-wheel GPs (Tyrell, Williams. LOlUS and· Brabham even won titles that way), so the Gallina-Suzuki and ChevallierHonda are the precursors of a similar trend on two wheels in the 500cc class. If prospects in the 500cc class look prelly cut and dried for the coming year, picking the winner of the 250cc