Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

LC') 00 O'l '- (A bove) deRadigues (9) is c hased by Mamola (2) and Lawson (1) in the 500cc race. Lawson was fourth . Mamola eighth. (Below) Carter (9). Mang (5). Wimmer (7) and Lavado (3) start the 250cc race. Note Spencer (19) in the second row. - West German GP 22 (Co ntinued [rom pa ge 20) At th e halfway point Spen cer wa s turning in lap times of 2:28 and movin g on Mang, p assing him a lap lat er fOT seco n d pl a ce. The eighth was Spencer's fast est lap. Wimmer held a three-second lead on Spencer which rem ained constant until th e threequarter point when he began 10 take off, T he reason: rain . As th e ra in p icked up .Sp encer had 10 back off a nd Wimmer began to fly. Lap 13 was hi s fa stest , a half a seco nd better th an Spen cer 's best and from th en on h e began 10 build an advantage that would become II seconds at th e chec k. ered flag. Mang was another eigh t seco n ds back in third and had over 20 sec o n ds on fourth-placed Carter. Cardus finished fifth . " A lot of it is who sta ys up," Spencer exp la ined. " I couldn't see in th e back where we go into th e fore st. I wa s hoping it would dry because th ey had full rains (tires) and we didn 't. I had to lo ok up over the bubble just 10 see where I was going because it wa s ra in in g twice as hard in th e back. " Spencer co n ti n ued . "T hese guys really know this tra ck well. About four laps from th e en d Martin sta rte d pulling away. The 250 was sp in n in g a ll th e way up the strai ght. The 500 ha s a lot of power so th at shou ld be a h andful." " At th e halfway mark wh en it started to ra in h ard er I kne w I had it won. After th at, Freddie n ever got closer than one second," said Wimmer. II was only Wimmer 's second Grand Prix win an d it co mes a t a time when he is expected to take th e pl ace of Mang as th e outstanding West German rider in th e hearts an d minds of th e fans. The ·27·year-o ld Munchener had p redicted the success in private th e da y before th e ra ce and a fte r lea ving th e victory pod ium flashed a big smile and said, " I told yo u yesterday I'd win ," As in th e 250cc class, Spencer didn 't put in as much tra ck tim e as h is rivals in th e 500cc class. After four session s he was second fastest behind Lawson, then went o u t and found a second and a half to take the pole posi tion by 0.75 second. " We put the Mich elin radial s a t both ends in th e last session," Spen cer beg an. "We'v e n ever been able to get th em to work because th e ch assi s wasn 't stron g enough to handle it . We hav e die bike set up th e wa y we're going 10 race it , but I don 't think th e race will be run as fast as we qualified. We've made th e chassis lighter since Daytona and cured most oT th e from end chattering problem. We did 2:08s two years ago here on the th reecy l in der a n d we 're a lm os t three seconds a lap faster. " "The last practice was just a test, " second-fastest Lawson said. " We're trying to get a heating problem taken care of. II gets hot and slows down . We also changed transm issions and that was wrong, but I feel capable and I know that I can go faster. We were running the radials from and rear and we're going 10 run the race on th e tire I qualified on. II ought to be a good race. Freddie's bike is very fast. I couldn 't dr aft him. II's a missile down the long chutes and hand les th e ch atter bumps going in the chicane pretty well. A lot of people get worried a bo u t qual ifying. I don 't . It all depends on th e tir es," Indeed, Spencer's Honda NSR500 . was unofficially timed at 182 mph with Lawson 's Yamaha OW-81 IOpp ingoutatl79 mph. T ak azumi Katayama had th e fastest of th e threecylin der NS500 Hondas at 175 mph with Randy Mamola thinking his own was a mong th e slow est. " Ka tayam a kn ows a lot a bo u t gearin g a nd acce lera tio n. The ga p pi ng in the gearbox gi ves you th e accelera tion. My best ti me was a 2:02, bu t that was wh en I went th rough th e chicane . My mech ani cs look ed a t th eir wat ch es a nd sa id 'T he re's so me th ing wrong here.' I tried the Ch evall ier fra me because it's stro nger. I di d a 2:10.05 on th e NS a nd a 2:I0.13on the Chevallier . Sin ce th en I di d a 2:09.05 which is better, but I'd lik e to see what I co u ld do ' now o n th e Ch evallier . If. they wa nt to brin g it 10 th e track I'll ride it ," said Mamola. Th e normall y co n fide nt Mamola had a bru ta lly hon est assess me nt of hi s chances on ra ce da y after h aving qua lified n in th fa stest. " A threecylinder won 't win here. The best we ca n h ope for is fo urth or fifth beh ind th e Iou r-cv linder H onda a nd Yam ah as. All a;o und the track th ey accelera te well and handl e so good . I kn ow that as lon g as Freddi e's health y I won't rid e the fo ur a nd for Fredd ie's sa ke I hope h e stays h ealth y," Mik e Baldwin qual ifi ed two spots behind Mamola a t 2:10.65. but not witho ut in cid en t. "T he plugs were 100 hot in th e fourth session an d it melt ed th e alu m in u m o ff th e top of th e p iston, seizing it u p on th e back part of th e co urse. In th e second session we bro ke a m ot or mount and didn 't ge t a cha nce to try the radial. There a ren 't as many availa ble for th e th ree-cyl in ders as for th e fours." So me o f th e ri ders who 'd raced in th e 250cc an d 80cc classes had co m' p la ined th at th ey co u ld bar ely see in th e back p art o f th e co urse. T he 500cc rid ers had wa n ted to delay the sta rt of th eir race for safety reasons, but after a wa rm-up lap the show went on in a light rai n whi ch p icked up a t the start . Spen cer ran away a t the start lead ing H asl am , Didi er de Radi gues, Mamol a, Rob McElnea , rai n -specia list Boet van Dulmen , and HB Suzuki 's Sito Pons. Wayne Gard ne r a nd Sarron foll ow ed al ong with Kat ayam a and Roch e. Law son wa s a bo u t midp ack a n d Baldw in 's day ende d a fter h e lost the from en d in th e slick first turn . Sarron beg an h is move through the pack, pick ing up a t least a place a lap until on th e fifth o f the 19 la ps he was in third behind Spencer and a rejuvenated Haslam. " I got my confid ence ba ck a bit . After the Match Races we didn 't do a n y testing and th e wet weather tires I had there broke my con fide nce. We didn 't get any wet practice here and we didn 't know what 10 exp ect. Dunlop made us n ew rain tires and we could have gone another nine laps," said Haslam.· Spencer had almost 10 seconds on Haslam who had about five on Sarron with Lawson in fourth a comfort able distance ahead of Mamola and de Radigues. Roche was farther back and having both engine and tire troubles that would drop him to 13th at the finish. At the halfway point Sarron was in second and gaining and the crowd sensed the pass was about to happen. Spencer was turning in 2:24s and had close to seven seconds on Sarron although the Frenchman was obviously ch a rg in g . " I ride more on the front and less on the back wheel," Sarron explained. " I was braking even later, exaggerating it , and accel erating sooner. Even though I was driving more with th e front I knew that I had to economize th e rear. At the halfway point I was catching Freddie at three seco nd s a lap," Sarron said h e noted as he watched his pit boards. " T h e bike was spinning bad on the

• Cover