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. Randy Mamola won two races and earned 10,000 Brit ish pounds as the top scorer of the Match Races, but even that good effort couldn 't keep a relatively-weak U. S . team from being beaten. The British made u p for last year's U.S . w in by t rouncing the Americans.
TransAtlantic Match Races
Brits trounce Americans
By Alan Cathc a rt
CASTLE DO N IN GT ON . DERB Y. ENG LA N D. AP R. 6-7-8
The British Commonwealth team turned
the tables on the U :S.A. to' win the 1985,
vers io n of the an n ual Eas ter Trans.Atlantic
Match R aces by th e crus h in g margin of 336
points t0254 . U.s. tea m captai n
Ra nd y Marn o la earn ed 10,000
British pounds top prize as lead in g poi n ts scorer overa ll , bu t
won o n ly two races co m pa red 10 th e
three o f Au ssie Wavn e G ardner . wh o
hea ded the British riders. M ike Bal d win . top sco rer in 1979. won th e o the r
ra ce. an d finished a sti rr ing third in
th e p oints tab le, a head o f Commonwea lth team ca p ta in Ron H asla m .
J u st as la st yea r. mos t o f th e ra ces
wer e televi sed live in Engla nd. a nd
made exce lle nt viewi ng wi th n ail bit in g act io n a t the h ead of th e field ;
thi s. together with the rather disma l
wea th er . led to a drop in cro wd
a ttendance but by di nt of sp readi ng
the race over three davs instead of tw o
as previously. th e o rga n izers came
clos e 10 repeat ing th e reco rd-br eak in g
to ta ls of 1984.
The teams
Aft er th e vinta ge 1984 sp ectacle o f
h igh -sp eed racing by m os tly th e
Am eri ca n sta rs. it wa s hoping too
mu ch 10 be a ble to ' rep ea l su h a n
exh ib itio n. With Ken n v Roberts now
retired , and Edd ie Laws~m a nd Fredd ie
Spen cer co ncen tra tin g on th e Worl d
C hampi onship 500cc ti tle chase. th e
l{.S . team th is year was led by Randy
Marn ol a, o n a factory H onda NS 550
tr ip le. with sponsor sh ip from the
So ut h Afri can R o th ma ns cigarette
co m pan y whose co lor s were a lso o n
three bik es in th e British team . At one
sta ge it seemed po ssib le th at Randy
mi ght a fter a ll be joined by hi s G P
H onda team leder Fredd ie Spe ncer.
but th ough R othm an s a nd Freddie
were reportedly very keen that he
sh ould tak e pa rt. H on da R a ci n g
d
Corporation in J apan n ixed th e ide- .
Ins tead . Ma mol a was su p po rte d by
a team o f rid er s mo stl y ridin g H onda
R S500 pri vat eer m ach in es. led by
form er America n H o nda rider. now
G P pri va teer and reign in g U.S. Na ,
tion a l Road Racing C hampion. Mi ke
Baldwi n . Top points scorer a s far
ba ck a s 1978. Ba ld win was the o n lv
Am eri ca n rider with two bikes a t h i~
di sposa l on whi ch h e rod e a lte rna tel y
th rougho ut th e weekend: one was a
bra nd new RS500. in Iact an '84
model whi ch had o n ly co vered 200
miles in IO ta I. the ot he r th e o ldes t
survivi ng th ree-cylinder Honda racer.
an '82 machi n e updat ed by mecha ni cs
, Bru ce Ma us a n d Phil McDona ld (on
lea ve o f a bse nce fr om Am eri can
H onda ) 10' la test sp ecifi ca tio n . Also
RS500-mou l1led were Ran dv Renfrow
an d Ri ch Sch lachter. th e latter mak ing a ret urn to Eu ro pea n ra ci ng in
gen era l a fter a co up le of years ' absence.
an d Don in gt on in particu lar. T h e
last time Schlach ter rode at the Bri tish track , he cras hed badl y. broke severa l bo nes a nd los t a to e after co m in g
off h is 250cc Waddon o n the treac herous su r face whi ch . a fte r the
hugely-su ccessful T ru ck G P last yea r.
a tten ded by a ro u nd 100.000 spec ta lars. had sta rted 10 break up badl y.
M OSI rider s co m p la i ne d o f being
peppere d by sto nes an d debris if th ey
slips trea me d an ot he r bike. a nd Ba ldwin 's bikes espec ia ll y sho wed sig ns
of th is with ch i ps a ll over the front o f
th e pai n twork.
T he fina l RS500-mo unted Am eri ca n team member had fir sthand experience o f Don in gt on 's sli p pe ry na ture
when he cras hed in unofficia l p raclice o n Frida y: J eff H a ney. o n th e
Entropy Racing H on da . T hird in the
'85 Da ytona 200 Superbi ke race a nd
,7th in the Da yton a 100-m il e Form u la
O ne race. H an ey ca me to Don in gron
routed as o ne of th e rising stars of
Am eri ca n ra ci ng. but sadl y he compl etely fai led to fulfi ll th at potent ia l.
tai led o ff a bad last in even ' race a nd
doing h is reputati o n a pow er o f n o
good in the p roces s. No do u bt never
having raced in th e wet before was a
probl em . but others wi th simi larly
res tr ict ed experience o n da mp track s,
suc h as Ran dy Ren fro w. picked up
sp eed througho u t th e weekend a nd
by the end of th e series wer e beating
the more experience d Brit ish team
rid ers at th eir o wn ga me.
Back on th e Ame rica n team for th e
fi rst lim e si nc e 1982 was J i m m y
Adam o. ridi ng the sq ua re-fo ur facto ry Cagiva 500: in fact . manager
Reno Leon i had brou ght o ver th e
o ld er C7 mod el w ith 18" wh eels o n
whi ch J im my fini shed seco n d in th e
fin a l U.S. Na tio na l o f 1984 a t M id Oh io . ra ther rha n rhe la ter C9 version .
" T h is bik e handl es bett er on a
slippery track ." exp la ine d Adam o . " I
fou nd a t Mid -Oh io wh ere it was ver y
we t tha t I co u ld ca tch th e Iront end
mu ch qui cker when it bro ke a 'ya ):
than I can w ith th e 16-in ch wheels on
th e new bike. Know in g how sli ppery
Don in gt on is. we decided 10 bring
this one ."
.
Ro u n din g o u t th e U.S. ri ders was
G eorgi an Doug Brauneck ; making
hi s Ma tch Race debut on hi s elde rly
bu t still co mpetit ive Yamah a TZ7 50.
The team sho u ld have been comp leted
by R ich Sch la ch ter's 'tea m ma te o n
th e Bo b Ma ct.can -e n rer ed RS500
H on das, Wa yne Ra in ey. but a t the
la st mi nute he decid ed th at h is co llar bo ne fractured wh en he un loaded
from the Iacto ry Yamaha FZ750 in
Dayton a practi ce had no t hea led su fficientl y well for him 10 be a ble to
ride . O rgan izer Bruce Cox w~s di sp leased a t receiving th e news too lat e
to be a ble 10 draft in another rider.
but decided to ho ld th e Brit ish team
a t eigh t riders in spite of havin g only
seven Am ericans on ca ll. w ith th e best
si x fi n ish ers o n ea ch side in eac h race
10 score points, Interestin gl y. for the
first tim e the American team had a predomi nance o f Eas t Coast rid ers. New
Engl anders Schlachter and Baldwin
joined by New Yorker Adamo. Vir-:
g inia n Ren frow a nd Geo rgia n Brau n eck . with o n ly Marn ol a a nd H aney
as prod ucts of the Ca lifo rnia rid er
factory.
T he Brit ish Co m mon wealth team
was termed such in deference to Au strali an Wayn e Gardner . wh o together
with team ca p tai n Ron H aslam was
ridi ng NS500 factory H ondas spon sored by Ro th ma ns. Also sport ing
th e blu e an d white co lors of th e
Sou th African firm were H onda Britai n team ride rs' Roger Marsh a ll an d
new recruit Roger Burnett, bo th o n
RS500s. H aslam o n ly reac hed agreem ent with the o rgan izers a t the last
m in ut e to ride a t a ll. a nd not iceabl y
had th e Ro th mans nam e on h is clothin g taped over sinc e th eir support of
him extends o n ly to th e G Ps. H ad h e
no t been a blet o do a de al. th e org anizers woul d have been in a m ighty
difficult po sit io n . si nce he fea tured
