Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ World Championship Road Racing Series: Round 1 ! Lawson beats Spencer 0') o ~ ..... .... 0- ~ (A bove) World Champion Edd ie Lawson (1) came from behind to pass and bea t f orm er World Champion Freddie Spencer in the 500cc race. (Below) Spencer (19 ) sta lks Anton Mang in the 250cc race. before t he 500cc event. By Peter Clifford KYL AMI, SOUTH AF R ICA, MA R. 23 Freddie Spencer won the firs t G ra nd P rix of th e season at Kyl a mi bu t he was bea ten by Eddie Lawson ! Spencer won the 250cc GP , bea ting off the attacks of ex-World Champions Carlos Lavado (Yam ) and Toni Mang( Hon) bu t hecou ld not repeat th e perform ance on the NS R500 and followed Law- 20 so n across th e lin e. Ran dy Marn ol a to ok fifth aft er a bad start with Mik e Baldwin ninth. World Ch ampion Lawson was ecstatic, throwing h is arms in th e air in a show o f sheer p leas ure th a t we had h ardl y seen th rough 1984, whe n th e pr essure had been on him to exercise co n tro l a nd co llec t points for th e cha m p ion sh ip rath er than win ra ces. Fo r him it wa s a clea r-cu t victory over Spe nce r in a straight fight that vindi ca ted hi s p o sition as titl e h older. - " I' m gelling to lik e thi s pl ace, th a t's two win s in a row, " said Lawso n , sweating after a ra ce run in California -like su m me r co nditio n s. " T ha t was hard , though . I rea lly had to work for it. H e was gell in g away from me a lill ie bit and I had to push it ha rd to ge t by him. It got a bit sca ry at tim es and th en th e tir es sta rte d to go o ff a lilli e bit and I sta rte d to co nserve m in e an d m y lap board read p lus zero for an a wfu l long time, T he n at th e end it read plus 1.6 a nd I th ou gh t th at if I co u ld just ge t thi s la p ped g uy between u s o n th e last la p th at would do it a nd it worked o u t." T wo davs before th e race th e event ual resu lt 'Ioo ked unlikel y as Spence r head ed both practi ce lead erboard s. On the 500 h e stood o u t as th e o n ly rider to brea k th e l-rninute, 25-seco nd barri er fo r th e 2.55-mile circui t a nd cu t over 1.5-seco nds o rr his two- yearo ld lap record. All th e top teams had been testin g in th e wee k prior to th e race a nd th e lap times did not fall much through th e two da ys o f timed pr acti ce. Spencer dropped h is time by a no th er four tenths on Fr ida y m ornin g to head Law son by 1.3-seconds th at wou ld amoun t to th e best part of half a la p by the end of th e race. Lawson remai ned uncon cern ed by the disparity , on the surface a t least . " We' re just runn ing arou nd tryin g a few th ings o u t and I ca n keep up that pa ce for the whole race. I don 't kno w if he ca n. Ou r bike is certa in ly a lot bett er than it was la st year. They've improved it in th e right a reas so th at it co mes o ut o f th e turns a lo t bett er. th e pow er is beuer a nd I'm ge lli n g more traction from the tires. It a lso cha nges direction a lot bet ter than the o ld on e which ma kes th ings easier for lap tim es and d uring th e ra ces where it will be Jess tiring to rid e." Law son 's new teammate, Raymond Roche, wa sn 't keeping so ca lm a bo u t th ings , th ough , and cra shed heavil y in th e Fridav afternoon session. There was a suggestion tha t a wa ter hose ha d split or come off a nd certai n ly there was water at th e crash site. R oc h e , th ough bad ly kn o cked a bo u t, got back to th e pits a nd went o u t on h is spare ma ch ine la ter in the sa me session . Fe llow French ma n Christ ia n Sarro n , o n a n id entical Vfour Yam ah a bUI run in th e Sona u to Gauloises co lors, was n OI so lucky when h e was hi g h sided in the sa me sessio n. H e was thrown to the ground with en ough force to sen d h im to the hospital for a chec k o n suspected co nc u ssio n as well as bruised back, ribs and hip. It was particu larly bad luck for the reign ing 250cc Champion as he had a lrea dy secu red third p lace on the g rid with hi s Frida y m orn in g time . T h e disappoi ntment o f p ract ice and the race was really Mamo la , who had finish ed 1984 seco nd in the 500cc Wo rld Championship a nd looked th e man most likel y to threaten Lawson a nd Spencer for the 1985 champ ionsh ip. At Kyla m i he ba ttl ed . he co u ld no t kick himself ou t of seventh p lace o n th e pract ice lead erbo ard, T he best he co u ld do was a low 1:26, over two seco nds slower than Spe ncer. H e was n't impressed wi th th e new works tripl e he had been g iven. " It 's just not as good as the bi ke I rode in Mal aysia six weeks ago," Mamola said. Life wasn't made a ny ea sier by the tire tests Micheli n were doing wi th radia l fronts to go with th e radi al rear tires th at ha ve become usual wea r th e rad ial fronts p rodu ced a very differen t feel and perfor ma nce. O n th e o ther hand, Dunlop, which ha d h ad their problems while working with Law son a nd th e Yamaha team th rough '84. were ecsta tic a bo u t th e wa y things were goi ng now th at th ey were work in g with th e Rothman s H onda Bri tain sq ua d o f Ron H asl am and Wa yne G ardn er. T hey had been expe rime nt in g with a radi a l rea r through '84, bUI before th e J apanese side of Dunlop step ped in with enoug h cas h to sa ve th e a iling British co m pan y, research a nd development wa s some wha t stra ng led . Now with fin ancia l a nd technical backing from J apan th ey had mad e g rea t strides helping H as lam a nd G ardn er to fourth and fift h p laces o n th e grid. T hrough p ractice Mike Ba ldwin h eld o n to n inth p lace, sp liu ing the two G a llina Suzukis o f Sito Pons and Franco Un cini . H is team and pair of ex-Ame rica n H onda RS500s a rrived on ly fo r th e week of offi cia l practi ce and as h e poin ted out he didn ' t need the handicap of less practice ti me than th e works teams. " " 'e ca n ' t a fford to go hiring th e track a nd do ing hundreds o f la-ps befo re timed practice sta rts , Wh en I got here and did m y first la p o f practice La wso n a nd Spencer were doi ng th ei r two hundred a nd first. As you shave a bit o f tim e o ff every time yo u go out they start o H with an adva n tag that is hard to make up . I'll be happier wh en we get to Spai n wh ere I' ve rid den before a nd th ey wo n't have the ex tra tra ck time." In th e 250cc class Spe ncer had a lso sto le n the one-seco nd ad va ntage over th e op p os itio n by th e en d of th e seco nd sessio n o n T hursda y. Martin Wimmer la y seco nd on his factoryissued Yamaha ahead of Toni Mang on a wo rks V-twin H onda just like Spence r's. Fourth was Ca rlos Lavad o on a seco nd wo rks Yama ha .

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