Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Team Marlboro. on Yamahas: World Champion Edd ie lawson (above) and Frenchman Raymond Roc!le (bel ow). both on new V -4s. Team Rothmans. on Hondas: 1983 World Champion Freddie Spencer (above) on the V -4. and new teammate Randy Mamola (bel ow) on the V-3. Season Preview 1985 World Championship Road Racing By Peter Clifford For m ore than tw o years n o w no other a nthem bu t the Sta r Spangled Ban n er has played after a 500cc World Champion Grand P rix. Eddie La wson , Kenn y Rober ts, Freddie Spencer a nd Ra nd y Mamola have shared the la st 26 ra ces between them since T akazumi Katayama won the Swedish GP 12 in 1982. That situa tio n ma y co n tin ue th rough the co m ing sea son but th ere are stro ng E uropea n c ha lle ngers . America ns are sti ll goi ng to ca p tu re a big proport io n of th e spoi ls with Lawson. Mam ola a nd Spencer finn favorit es to fight ou t the cha m p io n sh ip betw een th em . Th ey a lso have th e su p po rt o f Mike Ba ldwin wh o has bought th e RS500 H ondas he raced la st yea r to win th e U.S . Formula One Cham pionsh ip and wh o will co mpe te in th e full G P series fo r th e fir st ti me. So rt ing th in g s o u t m ore def ini tely th an th at , th ough , is fraught. After th e 198 4 season we sho u ld h av e lea rn ed that World Championship crysta l-ba ll ga zing is a n almost irn- possible p ropo sit ion . T his ti me last yea r things looked clear enough . King Kenny had retired and World C ha m pi on Freddie Spen cer was a lrea dy being p en cilled in by man y for his second cro wn. No ne of th e opposition look ed poised to ta ke Spence r o n . Randy Mamol a wore the number three pl at e bu t he didn ' t e ven have a bik e to ride a t th e start of th e season a nd missed the first two ra ces. Eddie Law son , wh o had been fo urth i n h is firs t fu ll GP season , was Yamaha 's number o ne but he had ra re ly cha llen ged Spen cer during th e previous yea r. The fir st G rand Prix in So u th Africa turned th e crysta l ba ll upside down a nd when th e rai n clouds had cleared , Law son wa s th e co nv inc in g victor and Spencer was o u t o f ac tion with a da ma ged a n kle. For th e rest of th e sea so n Lawson co n tin ue d to do everything that was required of hi m while Spe ncer was a lte rna tely brillia nt or out o f lu ck, crash ing twi ce more and leaving Mamola a nd French risi ng star Raymond Roc h e to pi ck up seco nd an d third in the cha mpions h ip behind Lawson. Last year m ay have been more trou b led for Spencer th an anyone co u ld have en visioned but this year h is difficulties are all too clea r; hi s number o ne p roblem is Lawson. H e h as a not he r yea r of expe rience a nd th e support of a first-cl ass ma chi ne in th e V-four Yamah a, whi ch shou ld be eve n better th an i t was la st season , p l us th e ass is ta nce o f R a ym ond Roche, Yamaha 's new sig n ing is ca pa ble o f doi ng everyth ing required of h im incl ud ing win Grands Prix or even th e World Ch am pi onsh ip. Spe ncer is not in suc h a happy position wh en it co mes to m achinery: The V-Io u r th at made its debut in th e Dayt ona 200 last yea r did not prove to be th e g rea t G P weapon that H onda hoped. It was a good deal more d iffi cult to rid e th an th e Cham pi onship-winning V-th ree of 1983 a nd th a t ca u sed Spencer to swap ba ck to th e triple for two of his five cha m' pi onship win s. After a winter.s. development the . V-Iour, now Rothmans spo nsored for the first time, will be differen t for 1985. How different on ly the factory knows to date; Honda is well capable o f building a completely-different engine as they did severa l times with th e four-stroke NR500 project, An en tire ly-ne w engine seem s unlikel y th ough, because th at would provide a no ther set of unknowns. Yet according to press kits rel eased at Daytona, th e 499cc water-co oled V-4 two-stroke has been redesigned to make it a more .co rn pa ct unit; it features, as it did in 1984, Honda 's ATAC exhaust system a nd cra n kca se reed valve induction, Spen cer was not co n vinced th at th e under- engine fuel tank used last yea r was a n ad van tage. In th eory th e low center o f g rav it y it provided sho u ld hav e mad e th e bike easier to cha nge directi on but it has been sug ges ted that pl aci ng th e mass of fuel so far from th e rider 's weight crea ted m ore p roblems th an it so lved . In December 1983 tests in Au stralia wh en th e four was fir st tried, a co nvent iona l twinlo op a l u m i n u m fra me wa s used a lo ngside th e event ua l choice which Honda called th e double di amond. So this year 's bi ke nas a far more conventionall y-arranged frame. very ,

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