Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

...... ... . l-o 0.. -< Wayne Gardner (7) raced Randy Mamola (2) to win three of the six Match Races. all held at Donington Park over three days. heavily in color posters and other pre-race advertising, all without a contract having been signed. Star technical attraction of the weekend was new British GP sta r Ro b McElnea on the superbly-presented Heron Suzuki, with a carbon -fiber honeycomb chassis, but sa d ly onl y '83 factory en gi nes, which gave a noticeable speed penalty compared even to th e Honda Britain R S500 bikes, let alone th e three fa ctory NS500s. Sporting the co lo rfu l green and white liv ery of brand-n ew sponsor Skoal Bandit, whose motorcycle race debut this was, th e innovative mach in e was rea lly having its fir st race after the debacle at the South African G P when the ignition failed on the warm-up lap. Also Suzuki-mounted were Gary Lingham, second in the '84 European . Championship, and now equ ipped wi th a brace of R G 500s, and Suzuki G B rider Mick Grant on the only fo ur-stroke in the race. For the first event on Saturday, Grant used an o ld '82 XR69 one-liter bi ke. but that n ig h t the two brand-new GSX-R 750R Yoshim ura-prepped fac tory racers on w hich he'll contest the '85 World Ch a m p io nsh ip TT Form ula O ne Series arrived at the track , having been £la wn in from Japan that morning. All-night work by mechanics Nigel Everett and Pau l Bolton saw the bikes turn a wheel for the first time, still in grey primer paint, inrhe Sunday races. aft er they'd been uncrated, assembled, and then converted to right-foot gearchange for the British veteran. . Rounding off the British team wa s perennial team member Steve Parrish, who had intended on riding his Harris-framed R D500L C-based Yamah a TT- I machine. This, however, was still being devel oped a nd is not yet race ready, so instead Steve wheeled out his elderly Yamaha TZ500. Race 1 (Saturday) T eam ca p ta ins Mamola and H aslam qualified th eir NS500s on joint pole in I minute, 14.84 seconds. for what turned out to be the only race run on a compl etely dry tra ck, the American rider taki ng the lead position on th e grid thanks to having recorded the time first. Somewhat su rp risin g ly, R o b MeElnea put th e H eron Suzuki, third on the grid, j us t ahead of Mike Baldwin with Wayne G ardner fifth fas test . Doug Brauneck ca use d a few ra ised eyebrows by pl acing 11th fastes t o n th e o ld 'dinosa u r' T Z750, ahead o f British teamsters Burnell, Lingha m and Parrish , on his first VtSll to Europe, but on th e warm-up lap th e ' Georgia rider slid off as so many have done before going down the offca m ber downhill Craner Curves on , cold tires. Thougk th e bike was only lightl y damaged , and he him self uninjured . Brauneck was a nonsta rter, leaving th e Ameri can team with onl y six riders o n the sta rt ing line-up for th e first rac e. Fa st-starting H asl am se t the pallern for th e week end by leading th e first lap, with Mamola tu cked in behind a n d Baldwin shooting past Honda Britain 's Marshall for third down th e stra ig h t. On lap two Haslam had pull ed out a 100-yard lead, with McElnea past Marshall for fourth a n d Gardner closing on hi s teammate a fte r a slow start . A gap wa s develop ing between the factory bikes (ex cept for Ba ldwin 's and th e rest . wit h Lingham purring in a fighting ride from the ba ck of the grid to place seventh on his Suzuki, tussling wi th Ri c h Schlachter. On , la p three; though , L ing harn too k a tumble a t Craner Curves, leaving Schlachter to take urgent avoiding ac tion . " I saw his front wheel tuck under and as he went down 1 could n 't help bu t think of th e last time 1 raced her e and had my accident' at th e exac t sam e place," said Schlachter, who thereafter had a lo nel y ride well ahead of a sfmi larl y lonesome Steve Parrish. Lingham roughed up th e palms of his hands , but was fit enough to ride th e next da y. Up front, G ardner has passed Marsha ll an d set off after McElnea , takin g fourth place on speed from th e H eron on lap four. Next time round, th e determined Aussie made it three places in three laps when h e nai led Baldwin for third. Meanwhil e Marnala had been gradually whitrling down H a slam's lead, a nd o n lap five h e shoved past at th e ch icane to lead th e race, with M cElnea ta king Baldwin for fourth a t th e same place. Lap six, and Gardner zipped pa st Haslam down th e stra ig h t after gettinga better d rive o u t of th e fast right leading o n to it, a n d ch a ll enged Mam ol a for the lead a t the chica ne . Not hing doin g that tim e, but th e next la p H aslam leapfrogged into th e lead aga in, with th e three Rothman 's Honda rid ers putting o n a super b ' di spl ay o f h igh -speed ra ci ng, .their blue a n d white bikes sq u irm in g a nd sli d ing a s th ey strove to pass eac h o the r, o ften severa l ti mes each la p aro u nd th e circ u it. On lap eight the inevitab le ha ppened, a n d a ll th ree tried to enter the Mamola (2 ) and Haslam (5) line up on the grid . Note their lack of Rothmans lettering - their Rothmans deal is for GPs only. ch ica ne at th e same rime: th e o ne who drew the short straw a n d was forced to take to the slip road was Haslam, rejoining in fifth place with Mamola 's tire marks on his seat and fairing, just as Ren frow exited the pits after sto p p in g on lap four wit h a broken engine mount on his RS500. " I needed the practice and the team n eed ed the points," exp la in ed Renfrow. G ardner had been forced onto th e gr s a t th e chicane. but recovered to as cha llenge Mamola for th e lead again. Aft er making a trial run up th e inside a t the ch ica n e on lap II , h e for ced his way past th e American th ere on lap 12 to h it th e front aga in . Mamola fought back, ac tua lly got past a couple of times, but the griuy Au ssi e would not be denied and a fte r Mam ol a ran wide a co u p le of times at the ch ic ne, Gardner pulled out a 100a yard lead on th e la st lap to score his fir st-ev er Match Race victory. Marnol a was second bu t cau gh t by McEInea a t th e end , whi le Haslam did pass Baldwin for fo urth . "Boy, did we a ll have our moments out th ere," excl aimed a jubi lant Gardner on the victory rostrum . " I guess the important thing was that none of us crashed a n d we must have given the crowd something to go home and tell their friends abou t tomorrow. I onl y just stayedon a t the ch ica ne when R o n hit R a nd y and 1 was on the grass , and the last coupl e of laps I daren ' t look back, so I didn ' t realize Randy dropped so far back. What a great race!" Th e day ended with th e British team leading th e American s, 59 to 40. Race 2 (Sunday) Aft er Saturda y' s thrilling dryweather race. Sunday's three leg s wer e run o n damp tra ck s, making ti re selectio n critical. Lingham a nd Brauneck 's me chani cs had re paired th eir bikes o ver ni g h t, so th e teams wer e a t full strength as th ey ca me o u t for th e secon d leg, just as morning ra in sto p pe d : a ll wer e on full rain tires, h owever. Mike Baldwin got th e hol esho t a nd led into R edga te Corner , but th e big surprise wa s the man wh o cha lle nge d him for th e lead at the next turn: G ary Lingham , ridin g his privateer '84 Suzuki with skill an d ver ve , d espit e takin g p ainki llin g inj ections in both hands j u st before th e race. . Th ough he wa s n ever quite ab le to ge t pa st Mik e Baldwin - another ex celle nt wet -weath er rider - an d even t ua ll y had 10 gi ve u p seco n d pl a ce to Marn o la , Lingharn's gu tt y ride wa s a n o bje ct lesson 10 th e rest of th e British team . Ma rs ha ll was th e next Brit in fourth , tracked by McE Inea and Gardner, who seemed not 10 be too interested in risking things on the slippery tra ck. Adamo, challengin g Gardner, was riding th e older Cagiva well and ex p lo iting its good wet weather handl ing to th e fu ll. On lap six, Mamola went out front, having passed Lingham an d Baldwin on speed down th e straight, a nd he h eld on 10 th e end 10 tak e a co n vincing win. Baldwin held on to second, to make it 1-2 for th e U .S . with Lingham third. The next three places were h eld by H onda Britain riders, with Gardner gelling into top gear and making fast est lap at th e end of the ra ce to pl ace fourth , while H a slam recovered from an unusually slow start 10 catch Marshall for fifth . Grant gave the untri ed Suzuki fourstroke a satisfactory debut with eig h th place as he ran it in. "The engine's grea t, although the gearbox ratios are incredibly close together," said Grant. "Once we ge t the suspension sorted out this wi ll be a very co m pe titive bike in TT Formula On e - far better than la st year's 'Diesel'! " Bra u n eck im p ressed by shaking off the effects o f his fa ll to beat Schlachter and Ren frow , both of whom wer e not risking anything on the damp track. Haney was lapped by every other rider - and twice by th e leaders - in h is first-ever wet-weather road rac e. The British upped their o verall sco re to 116 points to the Am eri can team's 78. Race 3 (S un day ) With the tr ack drying fast during the intervening 30-la p European Championship 500cc ra ce, won by Suzuki rider Paul Iddon , th e' teams ca me out for th third race wi th a variety of. tire cho ices o n view . from th e' front intermediate an d rear slic k o f th e H onda Britain ride rs, th rou gh Marnola 's front so ft intermedi at e a nd rear handcut slic k, to Adamo's front rain tire/rear intermed iat e. H as lam lit er all y rocket ed into th e lead at th e ,sta rt , pull in g o ut 200yards on th e fir st lap an d exten ding his lead to n in e secon ds by h a lfdistan ce in the 15 la p s. Bald w a nd :in Mamola wer e ne xt up, with Gardner and McEln ea dueling for fourth. whi le Lingham was sho ved tip th e slip ro ad a t th e ch ica ne th e fir st time arou nd, lost six pl aces turn in g aro un d. a nd took four of th em back o n la p tw o . O n th e same la p Mam ol a eas ed past Ba ld win down the straight a nd set o ff after Hasla m, whi le Renfro w in sevent h was sh owi ng well too as he became more ac custom ed to th e co nditi o n s a nd circ u it. Bra u neck was 15

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