Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

By Gary Van Voorhis Photos by Rich Chenet and John Ulrich Daytona Formula Two winner Wayne Rainey is poised for a full scale assault on the 250cc World Championship GPs, bu t knows he faces a very hard time. Rainey, now riding on Team Kenny Roberts/ Marlboro machinery supported d ' b y t h e Yama h -a f <;ictory, h ant planned on he~dmg to Europe ~o. this year. He wanted to defend his Superbike Championship title, get ar?th~r.teal .. j s1< sopj!)g unde~ pis. , o belt,andt,henlookforaGPprogram. Ramey, s plans ended when, as he puts It, One half hour after 1 had won the championship for Kawasaki 1 was literally standing there with the title in one hand and my walking papers in the other." Kawasaki's de~isiqll ,t9 .qisband th~ir rop~ I' ; ing effort left everyone connected with the team looking for employment. "Winning the Superbike Championship is the high point of my racing career to date," said 23-year-old Rainey as he helped new boss Kenny Roberts celebrate his Daytona 200 win one day prior to their departure for South Africa and the start of the GP season on March 25. "Riding for Kawasaki and racing against Honda in an under-underdog role was really exciting. We beat them and we weren't supposed to have a chance at the title. We had a good team and everyone worked together. When you can come from behind like that it makes you t~IJ;ood. I1ow~ve!,.19singthe chanc,e, ....... .. to defend my title was a bitter pill to swallow." Enter Kenny Roberts. At the time Rainey lost his ride, Roberts had just completed the GP season and had lost his bid for a fourth 500cc World Championship by two points. He had already stated his intentions to cut back on his racing program. "When Kenny and] first talked," said Rainey, "the plan was to put together a din track and road racing program for the two of us to contest the Camel Pro Series. However, the sponsorship money just wasn't out there. To run the team we wanted to in the way it should be run was going to cost a lot of money. When things didn't materialize, Kenny began using his contacts in and around the GP scene and came up with a very good program for me using his name and most of his sponsors." Roberts had been keeping an eye on Rainey. The two share California for a home state although Rainey is from Norwalk in southern California and R{)berts is northern California all the way. They both started with a background in dirt track before moving over into road racing. Roberts saw potential in Rainey as did the business manager they share, Gary Howard. "] believe Wayne has a tremendous amount oftalent and potential," said Roberts about his selection of Rainey. "I want to give him the chance to see just how well he can do." To many seasoned GP observers, the selection of Rainey to campaign the 250cc GPs-along with English rider Alan Carter-on the Marlboro/ Roberts Racing Team was a bit of a surprise. His two seasons riding a Superbike notwithstanding, Rainey had only one race on a 250cc machine prior to his Daytona Formula Two appearance. But that race was a stunner. Rainey, dressed in dirt track leathers and lineman's boots, dusted his qualifying heat in the Novice class at the 1981 Loudon National in the rain. He then came back on a drying track and won the final going away. Kawasaki signed him toa Superbike ride at the end of the season and that takes care of his history until Daytona. \ "I came to Daytona to get in all the practice 1 could on the 250 before the GP season,'" said Rainey. "] may have won the race, but 1 was stiH learning how to ride the bike on the final lap. Initially, my strategy was to put pressure on the other riders in the infield so] could wear them down or make them ride over their heads. ] felt ] was much stronger in the infield, but 1 knew 1 was going to have a real problem on the rest of the track where 1didn't have the top speed the Rotaxpowered entries had. . "I had some TUck go- m"y wa'y 6Y being able to keep up my challenge .due to slower traffic keeping the leader from getting away. When he crashed, 1 had a cushion over the rider behind me and] rode my own race from there on. The biggest advantage 1 had over the others was that] have a lot of track time at Daytona and] know how to ride it. Most of the top foreign riders were riding the Speedway for the first or second lime." Roberts had a hand in giving Rainey the confidence to push the others in the race. He spent a good deal of time during Yamaha's pre-Daytona test session - more than on his Daytona 200 machine - practicing with Wayne. Roberts, who said the sessions on the 250cc bike were the most fun he had had in a long time, was riding a bike he had built for Chuck· Aksland, son of long-time friend Bud Aksland. Rainey credits Roberts with helping him get used to his bike in.a v~ry short period of time.

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