Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126815
o - ..... .... 0.. ~ (A bov e) Ron Has la m (5) and Wayne Gard ner battled for third in 500cc. (Bel ow) Fast Fredd ie Spencer in 250cc ; note shroud over rear wheel. there wa s water sp rea d aro und . After the crash th e quest ion as to wh eth er The ultra-com petitive 250cc rider s were not impressed by thi s intrus ion into their domain by Spencer and whi le he shaved a 10th off hisrecordbraking time on -Friday, ex-Wo rld Champion La vado put in th e big effort to stea l po le p ositi on. Local man Mari o Rademeyer moved up to th ird ahead of Wimmer and Mang . Wimmer was not very con fiden t about th eir cha n ces of hol d in g o n to Spencer, th e interloper from th e 500cc class. " He was doing I:29 last week and we have onl y just got going th at fast. I timed him at I:28 in that last session even if the time keepers didn 't get it. " Wi m mer's fears turned out to be well-fou nded as Spencer was at the front of the field from the moment the lights turned to green. Lavado and Mang were right with him, though, and the Ven ezu elan took hi s turn to lead during the opening laps while Raderneyer had to make up for a poor start. By la p five , th ough, th e th rea t to Spen cer from Mang and Lav ad o wa s decl ining and Radem eyer had forced h is wa y through to fou rt h a hea d o f Wimmer. So u th Afri can Raderneyer's year-old Yamaha lacked th e speed o f the works machines a hea d but he made up for that w ith co u rse kn ow ledge a nd hard riding. By lap II in th e 28-lap race he was th rough to second pl ace with h is sig h ts set o n Spencer. Over th e next eig h t laps he cl osed th e gap to under three seco nds , but in doing so he had cooked hi s tires and the engine lost 500 rpm . As Ra de rne yers pace dropped , Spen cer o pe n ed up th e ga p to seven seconds a nd Man g repassed Rademeyer , wh o was forced to settle for a saf e third a head o f Lav ad o and Wim mer. Spe ncer's team p rotected h im from th e press in th e bare half hour before th e sta rt o f th e 500cc race, bu t on th e wa y ba ck fro m th e shower he said, " I feel th at I've had a race but I still feel rea l good a nd read y to go. " On th e 500cc start lin e h e loo ked fresh a n d co m posed as always, and when th e V-four fir ed up a nd he took the lead it looked set for a repeat performan ce a nd a cha nce to be th e fir st man to win a 25Occ/500cc GP doubl e si nce T om Herron ba ck in 1976. Lawson tu cked in behind with Hasla m , Gard ner, Sarron and Roch e follo wing . Mamo la hadn 't go tte n a way well a t a ll. "Sarron was right in f~ont of me o n th e grid." Mamol a sa id lat er. " Before th e ra ce Christian sa id th at h e was too sore to push a nd would give me ro om on th e left to go pa st as he push ed from th e right. T he trou ble was wh en th e lig h ts went to green he put in th e bi g effort but th e bike sta rte d to go to th e left , right in fro nt o f me. I a lmos t had to stop, the en gine bogged a nd th at was it. " Mam ol a had to ge t inspired if he was to recover from that and he did, improving on his practi ce lap times and wo rking hi s wa y up to sevent h behind Roch e and Sa rro n , w ho had both made better sta rts tha n th e Ca lifornian . Neither o f th e two Fren chmen Ro ch e a nd Sar ron - sh ow ed a ny signs of h oldin g ba ck aft er their cra shes in practi ce a nd were battling (Above) Mike Baldwin (3 3) ra ced Didier de Radigu es. fin ished ninth. (Below) Randy Mamola had an off day. f in is hin g fifth . hammer -and-tongs for fifth , wh ile a si m ila r battle between Gardner a nd H a slam raged for third. Up fron t th e ga p that Spen cer o pe ned up over Lawson was never sec ure, and on ce h e h ad se tt le d d own th e World C ha m pio n cl o sed in o n H onda' s n um ber o ne man . On lap eig h t Lawso n sli pped past a nd it was Spe nce r's turn to hug th e slips trea m . The three sepa ra te battles co ntinued, but Mamola was closing o n th e last pai r and ca ug h t up to them on la p 21. Roc h e th en crashed a t well over 100 mph but o nce mor e walked .a.wa y from it , a nd Mamol a passed Sarron without too much trouble. Baldwin had become lock ed in a battle with Didier de Ra di g ues on th e Elf-sponsored works Honda triple, Thierry Espie on th e ex-de Rad igu es Cheva lli er H onda and Si to Pons on th e Gall in a Suzuki , wh o had ridden impressi vel y if a litt le on th e ragged edge aft er a bad sta rt . Pons' teammat e Franco Unc in i defended a lonel y 11th a hea d of privateers h eaded by Dave Petersen on the Kreep y Krauly Honda . T he di ce for th e lead look ed to be goi ng down to th e wi re but ove r th e last five la ps it beca me obvious th at Spence r co u ld n ot increase hi s speed to cha lle nge Law son. Wh en he tr ied to speed up, he lost gro u nd as th e V-four H onda 's front tir e skittered across th e tarmac. T wice Spen cer ran wide go ing in to the difficu lt esses section . "The tra ck has a lot o f bum ps a nd ripples," he said afterwa rds, "and whe n I tri ed to push it ha rder th e fro nt end would n ot take it. I was a lso feeling th e effects o f th e 250cc ra ce. It 's a lot to do at this altitude a n d temperature." Lawson crossed th e lin e with a four-second lead a t th e flag , having lapped nearl y 0.5-second qu icker th an he had in pra ct ice. It wa s Spen cer who set th e new record, th ough. with a time 0.7-second slo wer th an hi s pract ice effo rt. With a co u p le of laps to go H asl am mad e a mi stak e in hi s pursuit o f G ardner a nd took a slig ht excu rs io n into th e ro ugh. That was a ll Au stralian Gardner needed to lead him over th e line by three seconds. Lawson had sta ted th at this "ea r he wa s o u t to win races rather th ~n just accumu lat e points for th e championship. a nd he sta rte d th e year perfectly. Spencer, a s usual , was not o utspoken. " I' m still keen to rid e in both races," Spen cer sa id . " I think I ca n win, but th e priori ty is still the 500cc a nd we will just take eac h event as it co mes." Lawson wa s looking forward to Spain. " I like it th ere and I think th at thi s bik e will be good a t J arama ." • Results 25Occ : 1. Freddie 5pe ncer (Han) 4 1:5 6.3; 2 . Ton i Mang (Han ) 42 :3 .4; 3 . M ar io Rademeyer (Yam) 42:3 .8; 4 . Carlos Lavada (Yam ) 42 .10 .9 : 5. Mart in W imm er (Vam) 42 :29 .0; 6 . Carlo s cere us (Cobas) 42 :37 .7; 7. J ean Francois Ba lde (Pe rnod I 4 2:4 3.6; 8 . Stephane M ertens (Yam) 42: 49.1; 9 . Fausto Ricci (Han ) 42:49.1; 10. Ja cqu es Cornu (Paris) 42:56.6. TIME OF RACE: 4 1:56.3 AVE RAGE SPEED: 10 2.1 5 mph. . RECORD LA P: Rademeyer 1:28. 14 . 101.85 mp h; old record Balde (Chevall ierll :3 1.4 5. 100.40 mph . 500cc:.1. Eddie Lawson (Yam )42;58 .0; 2. Freddie Spencer (Hon) 4 3:02 .9; 3. W ayn e Gardn er (Han) 43:20.9; 4 . Ron Haslam (Ha n) 43;23.4 ; 5. Randy Mamala (Hon ) 43:41.8; 6. Christ ian Sarron (Yam ) 43:49.6; 7 . Didier de Rad igues (Han) 43 :23.6 ; 8 . Sito Pons (Suz) 43 :23.9; 9 . M ike Baldwin (Han) 4 3 :24 .8 : 10. Thierry Espie (Chev ) 43 :2 5.2 . TIM E OF RACE: 42:58.0 A VERAGE SPEED; 106 .82 mp h . RECORD LA P: Spen cer 1:2 4 .91 , 107.75 mph ; old record Spencer 1:26 .43 . 106 .21 mph . 21