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/126821
(Above) Bertin on the winning Suzuki GSXR750. (Above, right) Coudray, at work on his fast Rothmans Honda, before retiring. (Below, left) Hubin, Coudray and Sarron, the fastest in practice, reach their bikes in the LeMans start, then (below) take off. 2 .8 mi l•• • _ _.... .... "' , ;~::-...;;::::::~~0 1 LA ...... eH~1LU \f'11lAG1 • QU Q A IIAGI V' OT 24-hours of LeMans: GSXR750sfinish first,. seco"d in France By Peter Clifford L E MANS. F RANCE. AP R . 27-28 The p rivately-run Zone Rouge Suzuki team led by French Grand Prix ace G u y Bertin back ed up by Phillipe Guichon a nd Bern ard Mill et wo n the LeMans 24-hour race and were follo wed home by the si m ilar works GSXR750 Suzuki of exend urance cha m p io ns Richa rd Hubin a n d H erve Moi neau, 8 w ho h ad a troubled race. T he much fanci ed wor ks H ondas both retired wi th frame brea ka ges in the ea r ly hours o f th e morning. In a race fu ll o f incide nts tha t was m a rred by the d ea th o f French Ka wa saki ri der Dom in ique L ita udon who crash ed a fter o n ly five laps. almost all of the fanci ed run ners struck trou ble. T he brand- new wor ks R othrn a n s H onda s both retired wi th in 10 m i n utes o f eac h o ther after th ev had dom i na ted the fir st h alf o f the eve nt. It was aro u nd th e engi ne m ounts th at th e frame broke a nd a fte r Bo lle had ca ll ed into th e pi ts to re port ha nd li ng p ro ble ms th e fault wa s fo u nd a nd the team m anager ca lled in the o ther m achin e a nd o rde red its re tirem ent a fter find in g sig ns o f a simi lar fa ilure. T he number tw o works Suz u ki of Jean -P ie rre Oudin a nd Pat r ick De Radigues was in second pl ace when th e leading H on d a of Sarron , Boll e a nd Ba ui stin i re tired but De Rad ig ues crashed a n d a fter th e m a chin e wa s repaired th ey had d ropped to eigh th . At th at po int their teamm at es H erv e Moinea u a n d R ich a rd Hubin , the fas tes t men in practice. were thi rd 12 . laps dow n o n th e ne w lead er. th e Ber tin Suzuki. T he O udin , De Radi gues effor t fina llv ended two hou rs later w hen it was rea lized that De Radig ues wo uld no t be able lo ride agai n tha nks to a n inj ured arm. Oud in had a lready co mp le ted a dou ble sess ion in h is a bse nce a nd wou ld ha ve ha d lo res t for half an hou r even' th ree lo be a ll o wed to co m p lete the 'race as the Suzuki wo rk s bikes use o nly two ri de rs. The bailie fo r th e lead became ten se as the Ben in Suzuki de fen ded a sle n de r lead ove r the semi -works Ka wa sa ki ri dden by J ean Monn in . R o g e r S ibi lle a n d C h ristia n Berthed. T h is 1050cc m achi ne. eligi ble for LeM an s because it is n ot a world cha mp io ns h ip eve n t with a 750cc lim it. was based o n a G Pz900R Ninj a . T he Benin Suzu kih u ng gr im ly to a o ne- la p lead as th ey reached 556 laps in 17 hours a nd th en the p ressure was taken off th em as th e Kawa saki struck gearbo x problem s a nd d ropped back . T hey struggled o n w ith fewer a nd few er gears for a wh i le bef o re tak in g th e eng ine o u t a n d repl acin g it. T h is was perfo r m ed in d oubleq ui ck ti m e a nd still ena bled th em to fin ish sevent h a nd wi n th e Productio n class . T he Benin Suzu ki was then left te d efend a l O-la p lead o ver th e Mo ineau wor ks bik e which co nt in ued its troubl ed race a nd ende d with a large lump of foam fille d arou nd the engine lo a bsorb leaking oi l. T h ings ha d started to go wrong for the top Suzu ki pa ir in g du r in g the wa rm- u p sessio n o n th e m orn in g o f th e race when Mo in eau crash ed . T he bik e was rep a ired in time lo start the race but ref used to ru n properly a nd spen t severa 1pe riods in th e pi ts un til i t was so rted o u t. It was d o wn in 44th p lace a fter the firs t h ou r a nd it took so me determ ine d riding to ge t i t back o n th e lead er bo a rd . T he Be n in Suzu ki ex tended its lead lo 13 la ps by the finish with Mo in eau a nd H ubin still wi th a sixlap adva n tage ove r th e sta n dard-loo king FZ750 Yam aha o f Esp ie. Ra pi ca u lt a nd Fo ra v w ho in turn were five laps in fro nt o(the Tea m Bik e H onda ridden by Mall Ox ley. Vespa Kulta lahti a nd H owa rd Lees wh ich had a rela tiv elv-troub led free ru n bu t for a m ino r cr as h by Oxl ey o n a pat ch o f o i l. • Results 1. G . Ben in /B . Mill er / PH.. G u ich on (Suz l 78 1 laps, 2060 .4 . m i le s average speed 8 5.85 mp h; record race distance. old re cord Chr ist ian Huguet and J ean Claude Chemar in Kawasaki t 98t 2050.7 m iles; 2. H. M oineau / R Hub in IS uz) 76 6 laps; 3. T. EspielT. Rap ica ult / J . Foray (Yam) 762 laps; 4 . M . OxleylV. Kultalahti /H . Lees (Hon) 75 7 laps; 5. G. J ol ivet/G . Furlo ng/ J . Besselin (Suz ) 752 laps; 6 . J .Y. Mounier /G . Lestoquoit/G . Lussiana (HonI 742; f astest lap Sarron. 1 m inute 41 .3 seconds. 93.63 mph .