Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1985 06 05

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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(Above) Christian Sarron (6) beat Freddie Spencer (4) to w in the West German GP. aided by the correct t ire choice. (Below) Before catching and passing Spencer, Sarron moved past Edd ie Lawson. the Sonato-Gau loises O W-Sl 500cc Yamaha and that he did it World Championship Road Race Series: Round 3 Sarron breaks American win streak in GerDlany By Hanny Ray Abrams HOCKEN HEIM, W. GERMANY, MAY 19 20 The record books will show that the American stranglehold on th e 500cc class was ' ended on a rainy day in Hockenheirn, West Germany. They will show that the hold was brok en by Frenchman Christian I Sarron in'only his third ride on decisively, beating Rothman Honda's Freddie Spencer by almost 12seconds with Britain's Ro n Haslam third and Marlboro Yamaha 's World Champion Eddie Lawson fourth . What the record books won't show is that he did it with the intelligent ch o ice of a rear tire that went the distance while Spencers va nd Lawson's tir es failed. Before this weekend an American had won the last28 500cc GPs, dating back to the.Swedish GP at Anderstorp in August, 1982, when Takazumi Katayama won . Sarron graciously admitted that if it wasn't for the steady rain which fell during the race, it would have been 29 American wms 111 a row . "At the moment I cannot beat Spencer and Lawson . I need more experience and someday, maybe yes, I will beat them. I like this circuit and I am at ease in the rain. I never thought I could beat them. I cou ldn't believe it. I thought I was too lucky," said Sarron, who won the German 250cc GP in 1977. Spencer's second vaults him into first in the World Championship title chase with 39 points 10 Lawson 's 35. Sarron is third with 30. Spencer's Honda Rothman 's teammate Rand y Mamola was hampered by a fogged faceshield on his AGV helmet and-slowed in the final stages of the race to finish eighth, one spot better than his ninth place qualifying mark. Mike Baldwi n, who qualified II th on his privateer Honda, fell in the first corner on the opening lap and was taken 10 the paddock medical faci lity for treatment of minor hand injuries and released. Spencer also had to settle for second in the 250cc race. again the victim of a tire choice. With a ligh t drizzle failing as the machines gridded, Spencer opted for an intermediate front tire and a rai n tire in th e rear. T he cho ice proved wrong whe n the rain began fa lling h ar der halfway into the race and he could do nothing but watch crowd favorite West German Martin Wimmer pull away on his L u i Yamaha foran l l-seco nd win and the top spot in 250cc p o int s. Wimmer has 33, Ma rlboro's Toni Mang, third today, has 32, and Spencer 29. In other action , World Champion Stefan Dorflinger easily beat Gerhard Waibel in the 80cc race with Gerd Kafka third. Dorflinger was Krausermounted. . Italian Pier Paolo Bianchi was fast qualifier in the 125cc class on an MBA. bu t it was August Auinger, also MBA-mounted, who handily won the race by almost 13 seconds. CarelIi's Fausto Gresini was second and Bia nch i was third. Bia nchi holds a one point edge, 2510 24, over Gresini in the ti tle points chase. Kra user Racing 's second win of the day came in the Sidecar G P class w here the Schwarzell Buck team steered their LC R-Ya mah a rig 10 a slim victory over a similar cha ir piloted by the British Webster/Hewill team. The Dutch World Champion team of StreuerlSchneiders was th ird on the Barclay LCR-Yamaha. Since this was the first Sidecar GP of the season the three teams hold their respective spots in the tit le chase. Spencer's long weekend began in the 250cc test sessions where from almost the minute he first set a tire on the-track he had the fastest time. Over the five 35-minute sessions he turned in just 20 laps, less than half that of most of the other riders. His polesitring time was 2 minutes. 15.66 seconds over the 4.22-mile Hockenheimring at an average spe ed of 111.92 mph. Martin Wimmer was 0.35 second behind with third-fastest Anton Mang on the Marlboro Honda over a second behind in a class that last year usually saw the top 10 riders on the same second. Wimmer tried a wider rear rim in the la st session and almos t ended his weekend when the Yamaha tried to highside him in the stadium horseshoe. "We found out tha t we could n't lean the bike over as far with the fat rim because of the tire profile," said Wimmer. The track was soaked and a lig ht drizzle was falling at the start of the final and Wimmer had gone back to the narrow rim 10 fit rain tires. Spencer. hoping th e light drizzle would remain constant, gam bled and went with an intermediate front . He ' thought about changing it on the start line after the warm-up lap, but was told that he would be penalized if he did. From the drop of the flag Wimmer was out in front with fellow countryman Mang in tow . The partisan crowd of 120,000 mostly-fluorescentraingear-clad fans, was enthusiastic in their response as the pack came through the stadium portion of the track on the opening lap. Behind the two Germans came Alan Carter, also on a Honda. with Venemot os Yamaha's Carlos Lavado and Spencer rou nding out the top five. Sixth on . the Cobas was Spaniard Carlos Cardus, On the second of the 16 laps Ma ng briefly too k the lead , bu t Wimmer was gelling a far better drive o ut of the corners and once out front began purring space between himself a nd the pack. Spencer moved up to third with Carter fourt h and Lavado chalIenging in fifth. His day ended, though. with a crash in the chica ne. (Co ntin ued to page 22)

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