Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

McElnea leads Johnson (7) , Phillis, Middlemiss (22), Gardner (G) and Malcolm Campbell at Calder Park in the first Swann Series eve nt. Oran Park : Gardner and McElnea; (below) Dowson (1 ), Cox, Johnson, Phillis, Middlemiss and Gardner. Gardner wins Australian Swann Series By Bruce Newton Australian G ran d P rix racer Wayne Gardner demonstrated his maturity and ta lent when he easi ly won his home Swann Insurance In tern a tio n al Road-Racin g Series late last yea r. G ardner, supported by H onda Great Britain and riding a n RS500 triple, won only wh en he 14 needed 10 , being satis fied for th e most pa rt with fi n ish ing near th e top an d ga rneri ng th e necessar y po ints to cli nch th e titl e. T he 25-yea r-o ld Woll on gon g (nea r Sydn ey) rider 's main threa t in th e series was Englis hman Rob l\1cEln ea. Backed by British Suzu ki im porter H eron , a nd rid in g Randy Marn o la 's 1982 works XR 40, McEl nea loo ked equa l 10 Gardner a nd in fact the two were even wit h 27 points eac h a fter the fir st two heats a t Ca lde r, near Mel bourn e, after sharing a win a nd a seco nd p lace each. But a week lat er a t Sydn ey' s Gra n Park , Gardner virtuall y wrapped up th e series w hen McElnea DNF both hea ts, th e first time thanks 10 a minor fall a nd th en a brok en cush d rive. Ga rdner then cr uis ed 10 safe pl acings in th e fin al two legs a t Surfers Paradi se in Queen sland, 10 wrap up th e series . McElnea 's di sastrous Gran Park results were a tra ged y for th e seri es as Ga rdner was at least one class above everyone else in th e field, T hei r tu ssles a t Calder had p ro mised grea t things, with Gardner closing on th e Englis h man after a poor start in th e firs t heat , o n ly 10 fad e toward th e end as hi s brak es did . T h e seco nd h eat had seen the sa me story, except G ardner eq ui p ped 'w ith h ard er p ad s wa sn 't goi ng 10 fad e a way . H e passed McElnea o n th e very last lap o n ly 10 have h im co me back undern eath at th e last cor ne r. It was a bold bu t u ns uccess ful m o ve , as th e S uz u k i rid er 's rear Mich el in let go an d he wa s thrown h igh off th e sea t, but miracul ously he save d it and took seco nd- p lace in th e h eat a nd o n th e day. G ran Pa rk saw G ardner win th e ove ra ll aga in with a n effort less win and a fraught third place. . In th e first heat in Sydney Gardner took h alf th e race to di sp ose o f loca ls And rew J ohnson (Tea m H onda Austral ia RS500)and Robi e Phillis (Suzuki G S IOOOR ) before drawing aw ay, th en in th e seco nd Ph illis' fast but brittl e Su zu ki broke it s oi l cooler blowing o il a ll o ver G a rd ner a n d h is H onda. So me extra ea rly hai ry slides a nd nea r-offs co n vince d G ar dner to fin ish an d co llec t th e points. All the act io n was amongst th e loca ls in the seco nd heat wi th J ohnso n and Victorian pr iva teer Gl enn Middl em iss (Suzu ki RGB 500 Mk 2) disp u ting th e lead . J ohnso n was riding in di fficulty wi th a broken an kle. H e'd broken it a month before in a Superbi ke ra ce bu t had told no o ne o f hi s injury for fear his p rime rid e would go to defendin g cha m p io n a nd teammat e Mal Ca mpbell. Midd lem iss lat ch ed o nto th e rea r wheel o f J ohnson for th e last few laps o f th e Gran Park race, a nd it look ed lik e th ere wo u ld be a nother lastcorner cha llen ge, but it was n 't so. J ohnson. desperately trying to keep Midd lemiss o u t, turn ed up th e wick much too soon o u t o f a ti ght right han der as they ent ered th e fin al la p , a nd was p rompt Iy spa t hi gh over th e bar s. Middl emiss went th rou gh for h is first -ever Swan n heat win a nd into overa ll seco nd p lace in th e series with 39 poi nts. Mich ael Dows on, riding a n imma cu la te T Z750 fin ished seco nd for o vera ll third with 32 points, Gardne r. with 52 poi nt s, was vir tua lly unbeat able, set to become th e first man ever 10 win th e ser ies twice (h e won it first in 1981 on a Moriwaki Kawa saki ) a nd th e first 10 win it o n a two-stroke since Greg Prett y (T Z750) in 1979. G ardner did all th at was expected of him. fini shing th e series with a second a nd third for overall third on th e da y behind a rejuven at ed McEInea(1-2)andthesurprising Michael Dowson (4- 1). Dawson had threa tened to run away in th e fir st heat until a new fall put him back down th e field, while in the seco nd heat h e j us t disappeared into th e di stance lea vin g th e two intern ati on al s to sho w- boa t for second pl ace. McElnea won th e sprin t for th e line, but G a rdner took th e series, p rov ing h is favo rite sa ying, "points make prizes" co rrect agai n. Whi le McEln ea 's series was fru strating he far ed many times better th an a ny o f th e o the r int ernat ional s. The officia l Moriwak i Engineering team turned up with two beautiful CBX750-ba sed Honda F- I machi nes a nd en o ug h spa res to make anoth er two , plus a co m p lete ento urage of 13 including a television crew, and a race tran sp orter which had th e local racers ope n -mou thed in a maze m en t and jeal ou sy. U n fort u na tel y th e bik es were not pow erful enough and too heavy to m at ch th e ligh tweigh t two -st roke G rand Prix m achines. Th e rid ers, H ikaru Miyaj i (cu rrent J apan ese Formula One Cha m p io n ) a nd Sh u nji Yat su sh iro (1983 Ch ampion ) both st ruggled to ada p t 10 th e short, ro ug h and tigh t Au stralian circui ts. Miyaj i's efforts ca me to a pr emature end wh en h e cras hed a t Gran Park, break in g a co llarbone a nd totallin g a H on da! Yatsu shiro , th ree years olde r an d a little wiser, tho ugh sti ll desperate, su rvived th e ser ies unscathed a nd put o n so me en tertai n ing di ces with th e o the r internat ional s-name rid er , Paul Idd on. Idd on , 27, was a la st-m inute sign ing for th e series an d he a nd hi s Suzu ki RCB 500 Mk 2 sho wed th e sig ns o f lack o f tim e in pr eparation . Hi s best fin ish was a fifth a t Su rfers, in a nine-bike field. Overall th ou gh it was G ardner who walked away with a ll th e cred it, h e sho wed not so much hi s speed but h is race cra ft in win ni ng th e ser ies. H e was th e fav or ite, he had a good team beh ind h im , he had a good hik e, he was a t lea st th e eq ua l o f a n yo ne else in th e field. All he had to do wa s p u t it all togeth er a nd he wo u ld win . And he did. •

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