Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ 00 0') Defending World Champion Freddie Spencer handily won the French GP aboard the Honda four-cylinder. World Cham~ionshi~Road Race Series: Round 6 Spencer, Lawson, MaDlola 1-2-3 in France By Ian Norris LE CASTEL LET, FRANCE, JUNE I I The result line of the French Grand Prix at Circuit Paul Ricard seems simple enough: First Freddie Spencer, second Eddie Lawson, third Randy Mamola. But again it was the behind the scenes action which was the real interest _ . d apart f rom a f ew spIlt. seco~ s 1SO-yards from the flag in whIch 14 Lawson showed that although he might be leading the point standings because Spencer missed two races, he is a tactician and a planner who could just deserve to be ahead. It was a Monday race, to fit in with a French public holiday, and when the journalists arrived for the first day of practice on Saturday they were amazed to find in the press room a Honda press release giving the news that Mamola was to have the use of a V-4 NSR500 for the race. Honda has a reputationofbeingprettytight-lipped about their racing plans, and their usual PR plan is to talk about races after they have happened, so the release was a shock. The fact that the release admitted that the Honda team had had problems with the NSR was an additional shock - no Japanese factory likes to admit that sort of thing, but there it was in black and white, with quotes from Spencer and Mamola. Spencer was quoted as saying that "missing two G Ps has put us 27 points behind, and the problem at Salzburgring dIdn't help." "I am very happy with Honda's decision to let me ride the V-4," the release had Mamola saying, "The problem which Freddie experienced during the last two races appears to be behind him now and I am looking forward to racing the bike on Monday." There were those cynics who pointed out that Mamola's problem with the three-cylinder, which partially seized on the last lap and enabled Spencer to take second in Austria instead of third had helped, but that was incidental. The main thing was that Randy, although nominally a privateer, was getting full works backing in the attempt, as the release put it, "to reduce the 27-point deficit" between Spencer and Lawson. Ron Haslam, who is a \factory rider, was promised the possibility of a few laps on the V-4 in France and the certainty of a chance to try it in Yugoslavia next wee·k by Honda team boss Yoichi Oguma. SQ the line-up ~as Spenc;,er al)d Mamola with the choice of Honda threes and fours, Haslam and Takazumi Katayama with factory Honda threes, and the man who was actually lying second in the title chasealthough nobody seemed to remember it-Raymond Roche with a top specification factory three-cy linder motor in his Honda France NS500. Yamaha had factory V-4s for Lawson and Virginio Ferrari, and Suzuki lined up Gallina-prepared factory Suzukis for Franco Uncini and Sergio Pellandini. PeUandini's number was also on one of the new Gallinadeveloped Suzuki TGAI machines, but it was not seriously considered as race-worthy. In addition there w.as the usual turnout of privateers ranging from top contenders like Barry Sheene, Rob McElnea and Reinhold Roth, to the tail-enders like Papandreou, the Greek privateer who runs his Yamaha on the tightest budget bu t who has, in his wife, the best looking crew member in the business. As practice progressed, the most asked question in the pits was "What's he on now?" Spencer was constantly changing from the three to the four and back again, and just as constantly changing tires in a Michelin test program designed to improve the Hondas' handling. Mamola was also trying both bikes, but was finding that the four took some getting used to. It was the best of the ex-Spencer models which had become available when the factory builta new machine for him, and since it was the first time that Randy had tried it, everything was new. "I had to even ask them things like how many revs to use," said Mamola when practice was all over. "I didn't know anything about it, and I only did 15 laps on it. The main impression is how quiet it isl" Mamola had been due to turn some practice laps on the circuit before official qualification. but the V-4 was late arriving, so there was no chance to run outside the official sessions. With insufficient time available to get to know the machine, Mamola opted for the three-cylinder. . It was not until the last of the four practice sessions that Spencer finally decided to run thefour-cylinder, much to the relief, no doubt. of the Honda R&D men, who must have lost face when their latest production was cast aside at .the Nurburgring. In true Spencer fashion, the defending World Chilmpion went out in the final session and cut a 2 minute, 01.41 second lap, 0.62 seconds faster than anything Lawson had done all weekend, and thus placed himself firmly on the pole. Lawson was second, with 2:02.0!J, and was confident that he had a machine which could run the whole race with lap times in the low .02's. Local man Roche was third - one of' . the few whose pit crew could sleep at home when work was over - and Ferrari was a surprise fourth, just pipping Mamola in the last session. Uncini crashed in that same session, breaking a bone in his foot, and was a non-starter 1n the race. Spencer also blew an engine on the V-4, which required Erv Kanemoto and the crew to work well into the early hours. Sitting in the press room watching American John McEnroe lose the French Open Tennis championship after practice, Spencer was relaxed. "I'm glad we've finally decided which bike to race," said Freddie, "and I'm glad it's the four. I think it will go well here." Lawson was not inclined to watch tennis, unless it was to cheer for McEnroe, who was as usual cast by the French crowd as the villain of the match, but he too was confident about the suitability of his Yamaha for the circuit. One person who agreed with him was Mamola, who was impressed by the Marlboro machine's handling and the performance of their Dunlops. That didn't mean, of course, that he didn't think he could beat them. Lawson's confidence was severely dented on the warm-up lap. He came back to Kel Carruthers on the grid_ and said, "It doesn't feel right." There was nothing to be done then, however, with the three-minute board already showing, and Eddie had to stand and wonder what had suddenly robbed the Yamaha V-4 of power as he waited for the drop of the flag. When the flag did go down, it was Haslam who made his usual rocket start, followed by Roche, eager to please on his home track, and Mamala. Spencer was in the leading group, but Lawson stullered away, the fluorescent red and white of the Yamaha standing out clearly as almost half the field swept past him. At the end of the first lap it was Roche who led, followed by Mamola, Haslam and Spencer. Lawson was back in ninth place, but was running at race speed, setting a time of 2:02. 73 on lap two. By lap four he was up to fourth, but by that time Spencer was already in the lead, and between him and Lawson were Mamola and Haslam, whose task was to reduce the deficit in the point standings. Although only 5.2 seconds behind Spencer, Lawson was going to have to get past the two other Honda men before he could attack for the lead. Disposing of Haslam was no great problem, although Ron did give Eddie a run for his money down the Ricard start/finish straight before dropping back, The next target was fellow Californian Mamola, but it became obvious within a few laps that Lawson was tailing Randy rather than trying to get past. Eddie was able to .stay with the Honda three. but didn't seem confident in his ability to get past and stay past. Spencer was pulling out a lead over the following pair, and ~t the , , ,fas(e$( rM:~ lap -;- ~ nnv, r~Q~d. ~ o~ •

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