Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

With Spencer out. the British GP was a duel between Eddie Lawson. left. and race winner Randy Mamola. Inset: Mamola tried the Honda V-3 NS500 (shown) in the first practice. but opted to race a V-4 NSR500. World Championshig Road Race Series: Round 10 MalIlola wins British GP by a hare's breath! By Ian Norris SILVERSTONE, ENGLAND, AUG. 5 Let's hope that Freddie Spencer got a good paycheck from Laguna Seca, because going there and falling off could just have cost him the 500cc World Championship title. Spencer's latest tum ble came in practice for what was billed 'I . a Kenny Ro be rlS ast racIng appearance on two-wheels, the 26 Camel Pro Series ational at the nonhern California road racecourse. With twO weeks to go before the Brilish GP race. everylhing looked O.K. for a liule pocket money by racing in sunny California, but a crash, said to have been caused by a brake problem - something that neither Spencer nor any of lhe other Honda riders have mel before - resulted in the deft·nding World Champion break· ing a collarbone in ('xactly the same place he had before. when he got Tboned in Ihe final rount! of Ihe 1982 season in Germany. Honda;lhe SilverslOne organizers ant! pencer's growing legion of fans hoped that il was just a crack, and Ihat Freddie would be able to race, but al the beginning of ract' week it became clear that not onlv was he a certain non-staner in B~itain, bUI that the August 12 Swedish GP looked extremely doubtful too. er SpencN was out of hoth races. that left only Randy Mamo.la with." mathemaucal chanceof beaung Eddie Lawson for the title - and that was only if Team Marlboro Yamaha's Eddie Lawson broke his 100% fin· ishing record. Still, the possibility ishing record. Still, the possibility was there, so Mamola became honthe weekend. Considering Ihal Mamola i nominally a privateer entrant, running his own team with money collected by manager Jim Doyle, he ceTlainly seems to have been readily accepted into the Honda factory set· up. Tht, same is true of Frenchman Raymond Roche. who gets almost as much factory suppon as Mamola. At Silverstone Mamola and Ro he. together with Britain's Ron Haslam, hat! bOlh three and four-cylinder Hondas available. and the first pract ice sessions were spent deciding which model they thought was the best for the high·speed former air· field circuit. Final decisions had to be made on the basis of the two sessions on Friday, for both Saturday periods were a erected by rain. The second wa delayed for over an hour, while lightning Clashed across the ky and streams of water C10wed across the track on tht, fast Woodcote corner. The paddock was full of talk about how 500 c practice sessions are the most erectin' means yet of creating a rainfall. Like South Africa in March, where rain affected both 500cc practice and the race, Britain had been suffering from a droughl until the motorcycle racers came! During the dry sessions, Roche turned in his fastest lap, at one min· ute, 28.80 seconds, which was good enough for the pole, Roche turned the trick aboard a three·cylinder Honda. Haslam, who was fifth fastest, had also opted for a Lhree·cylinder machine. Mamola put in founh quicke t time on the four-cylinder, and opted to use it for the race. Second faSteSL was Belgian Didier de Radigues on the Chevallier·framed Honda. He had profited by following Roche on his quick lap and has posted a time only a temh of a second slower, aL 1:28.90. Third fasLcst was good old Steady Eddie Lawson him elf, ompletely living up to his reputation. All through the weekend, as soon as it became clear that Spencer was out, journalists and hangers-on had been Lalking Lo Lawson in terms of 'How doyou feel aboul being champ?' His answer to all of them was along the lines of 'It ain't over till the fat lady sings.' Lawson steadfastly refuses to coum his chickens until Lhey are halched. and knowing what can happen in motorcycle racing, you can't blame him. Another thing that you can'l blame him for is his careful aLLitude to his racing between now and the time thaL the fat lady does finally sing. He's not going to take any chances Lhat are going to stop him finisbing each race in the top four, bUL it can take some of the exciLement out of the racing, and some of the press and fan are complaining abouL it. Lawson's aUitude is clear - he is in a position where he can take the championship without winning the remaining races. and he isn't going to go down the road on his backside and lose it all by going for a first place he doesn't need. "If I get the championship," said Lawson - and there's a strong verbal underlining of the 'if' - "then next year we'll go racing and I'll show all these smaTlass Europ an journalists I'm a winner. At the moment, the imponant thing is to prove I can be World Champion." Sixth faste t in practice was Virginio Ferrari, Lawson's Yamaha teammate, finally showing that he was recapturing hi old form. Behind him came Barry heene, best-placed Suzuki rider and no doubt hoping Lhat the rain which had fallen during Saturday's practice would return for the race and give him a chance to show his acknow ledged wet-track skills. Absent from the 500cc lisLs were Kenny Robens and Wayne Rainey. both of whom had been entered by Yamaha when it looked as Lhough Lawson might need back-up in his Litle quest. As Lhings Lurned OUL they weren't required, which no doubt helped save the Marl boro/Agostini/Yamaha bank account a fair amount. Another absentee was extrovert Italian racer Walter MiglioraLi, who gOL busted by Italian frontier guards on his way back home after the Dutch and Belgian GPs. Walter was charged with bringing a few pounds of m·ari· juana and cocaine home as a souvenir of Amsterdam, and he is now unlikely to be a regular on the GP scene for a year or so. Felice AgosLini. Giacomo's broLher, was in Silverstone, however, in his usual role as gofer on the Yamaha team. The ILalian police had picked up Felice when Migliorati had named him in a staLement, but Waller later retracted his words, saying that he had just said the first name that came into his head, obviously fearful fonhe well-being of his family's kneecaps if he gave genuine names. The Agostini family was unimpressed by the turn of events, and Migliorati now looks as though he could face the civil as well as criminal couns. Sheene's prayers for rain went unheard, and race day was bright and clear, with only agusting wind blowing across the wide-open circuit Lo bother the riders as the lights changed and Lhey were off. Mamola and Haslam have got into the habit of having a little private duel about who is going to be first into the first cornl'l', and this time it was tht' Briton, cheered on by hi home crowd, who won and led Ihe first lap. De Radigues. taking advantage of his be I grid position so far this year, was going well, and Sheene had the crowd's joy complete by keeping in the top four just behind Mamola. Roche made a poor SLan. but was moving forward, and Lawson, never as quick off the line as the Honda riders, was in his accustomed place shadowing the leading group and waiLing to pick them oer one by one. Haslam led for the [irst quarLer o[ the 28-1ap race, but Mamola was behind him and Lawson was making inexorable progress to take Lhird place behind Randy. Roche had made his way up to fourth, but on the eighth lap his Honda expired and the stocky Frenchman showed his displeasure in no uncertain terms, dropping the lifeless machine at the side of the track and giving it a couple of kicks to vent his feelings. By now Haslam was coming up on back-markers, and Lhis gave Mamola and Lawson the chance they had needed to catch him and slip past. They were involved in their own private battle for the first two places

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