Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Wayne Gardner (7) le a d s Christian Sarron (6 ), Mamola (2) and Haslam (5 ). (Below) Mamolagot by Sarron to take fourth place . Carlos Lavado (3) leads Spencer (19) in the 250cc class; Spencer took the lead on lap 15 to record a rare double GP win . 24 th e rh i nl spot o n rhe n imh a nd 13th laps. th en sei zed i I for good o n lap Ii , a full 30 seconds behind Lawson . " Ra nd y and I were having a bi g di ce and h e pointed back th at ' Here co mes Christ ian .' I tri ed to get going and apparently they a lm os t hit and had their big moment togeth er . I don 't like these last lap dashes so I was happy 10 have som e room, " Gard ne r said. " Randy just passed me before the braking point in the fir st ch ica n e," Sarron bega n . "I was bra king later and la ter. H e rook the inside quickly a nd I had 10 go eve n farther inside. Theonly pl ace m y suspension didn 't matter wa s in the braking so I could brake later. " The o rd er o f l h e top 10 cha n ged ver y little in the last seven laps with Sarron losin g th e battle for fourth 10 Mamol a o n th e 24th lap and Roche winning th e bailie for seventh on th e 25th lap. G iven that Roche co u ld barel y walk after h is qualifying cras h , it was a su r p r isingly good perfo rm ance. And as he sa id, " It 's four p oints." Th e w inn ing m argin wa s 9.24 seconds for Spe ncer after he av er aged 94. 7i mph fo r th e 88-mile race. Lawso n had a lmost a 40-second cu sh io n o n G ardner who in turn had seven o n Mamol a . For Lawson it was a n o ther three points lost 10 a machine that was clea rly in ferior to hi s in the seaso n opener in Sou th Afr ica, bu t which has been co nsta nt ly updated . "I think th ey (Ya ma ha) kn ow th ey have 10 ge t som e miles-per-h our o u t of it to m ake it competitive. Maybe J a pa n will co m e up with somet hing . It doesn't put you in th e right frame of mind 10 know vour bike 's slo we r th an th eir 's. I just want to be eq ua l." Lawson sa id after th e ra ce. " It g ives us a lilli e relief ," Spencer sa id . " All th e g uys hav e worked rea lly h a rd o n both th e250 a nd 500. We had so me trou ble at So u th Africa . th en we test ed in Yu g oslav ia a nd we've had th e bike work ing better ever si nce. It a ll d epends o n how hard yo u wor k." The hardest working rid er in th e " seco nd" ra ce wa s G ardner. " T h is is m y first yea r on a factory team a n d my second third place thi s yea r. I won the ra ce of th e three-cy linders. " The first three-cyl ind er privateer, Baldwin on the RS500, was content with his finish after a hecti c weekend. " In t he m o rning practice on Friday I blew a for k seal a nd gradua lly lo st all of the oil. We got th at cured and that fixed th e from end chattering problem. But since I wasn 't ab le 10 get through th e turns as well. I was undergea red for the race. Their bikes rev 10 about II,iOO-II ,8oo and mi ne only goes 10 11.000. \\'e had til(' tire \\'t' wanted on the from, but not the rea r. I was di cing with Didier a nd McEI nea and ther e were some o thers in a pack . I followed th em until th ere were five la p s 10 go th en I knew that I co u ld sp li t," said Baldw in . Foll owing the vict ory lap a n d th e c ha m pa g ne p odium ce le bra t io n, Spencer wa s back in th e sad d le, th is time o n his Honda RS250R W, second o n th e grid to fa st qual ifi er Mart in Wimmer and just a head o f form er 250cc World Champion Lavado . Fil ling out th e front row wer e Faust o Ri cci a nd August Au inger o n th e WMB . Spencer h eld the pole with a 2:0,1.96 until the final sess io n when Wimmer suddenlv found over a second a nd a ha lf to tak~ th e to p spot with a 2:04.60, averaging 94 .1i mph . "Freddie's bike is going almost 143 on the straight and mine is a bo u t three mi les -p er-hou r slow er , " Wimmer said. " At th e moment we hav e o n ly on e good en g ine, although we don ' I know wh y o ne is fa ster than th e o ther. So th e fir st three sess io ns I was co ncent ra ting m ore o n th e eng ine than r id ing a nd in th e fou rt h sess io n I ('OIHent ra ted 1000~ on a faSI tim e an d did a ,1.6. I o n lv did o ne 4.6 but I had a bo u t four or fi\'(' laps th ai wo u ld hav e pu t m e o n th e p ole. No o ne ex pects a ny thi ng o f m e, even after last week . so it's fu n to race." Wimmer cla irn ed to hav e u sed th e sa me tires o ver th e last two sess io ns , bu t severa I o f th e a ther 250cc ri ders bel ieved he was usin g a specia l quali fying tir e good for o n ly a bo u t fo ur or five la p s. Wh a tev e r W i m m e r di d , i t was m eanin gless because h e fr ied hi s cl u tc h o ff th e sta rt , e ndi ng hi s day a nd pl a ce o n top o f th e poin t sta nd in gs. La vado got the h ol esh ot with R icci seco nd , Mang third a nd Roland Frevm ond fourth o n his Yamaha . Spencer's bike wa s reluctant to lig h t and he was a way m id -pack . " We had a reall y hi gh fir st g ear and vou don't crack th e throttl e the way yo u do with the 500 . I wasn 't su re how q ui ck I'd ca tc h Carlos once I got ou t of the pack . I got a " Min us 9" on the third la p a nd was ca tc h ing him at about a ha lf a second a la p , bu t I wa s afraid of ti re problems . I th ough t I' d catch him abo ut halfway," said Spencer. First he had to ge t past Ri cci , which h e did on th e eighth of22 laps. Mang and Loris Regg ia n i, on the Aprilia, were debating fo u rt h along with Freymond and Jacques Cornu on th e Pariessiene unti l he dropped off the pace. Lavado was turning mid 2:06 lap tim es and at the halfway _point still held a lead of nearly three seconds on Spencer. Although Spencer closed, Lavado's Yamaha was clearly a match for the works H onda o n tOP speed a n d for three laps Spen cer probed. but co u ld n ' t pass. The m ov e ('a li I<' Oil rlu- I;'>th la p . " He got o n th e thrott le a nd th e back end ca me a rou nd a bit and I went by him, " sa id Spencer. " T h is tra ck is n ot the eas ies t to get around. Like I sa id before, it 's kind of monotonous becau se yo u 're alwa ys leaned over a n d going ba ck and forth ." Once a lo ne in the front, Spen cer pulled a slight lead wit h Lavado wa it ing fo r th e mistake tha t never ca me to re-take th e lead: At the check er ed flag, Spencer 's 2.i9 second marg in translat ed to a lmost a quarter o f a mile victory w it h th ird -pl aced R icci a mile behind Lavad o. Regg ia n i made it Ital y 3-4, bringing in th e Aprilia just out of the winner's circl e and j us t a head o f Man g, Freyrn ond was six th . Spencer' s second win o f th e da y sent th e sta tis ticia ns scurryi ng for th e record bo oks. At th e Isle o f Man Tf in 19i6, wh en it sti ll held World C ha mpionshi p sta tu s, Tom my H er- ro n won both th e 250 and 500cc GPs, a lt hou g h both cl a sses were h eavi ly bo ycotted by th e to p riders a n d th e win s ca me o n se para te da ys. Th e win s we re the o n lv GP vict ories of H err on 's career. It 'was back 10 Sa lzburg in 19i 3 th a t the records showed th at J arno Saar in en , the n 250cc World C ha mpio n, turn ed th e trick . H e a lso d id it a t th e Fren ch ro u nd a t Pau l R icard. But Saa ri ne n, wh o a lso won Da vtona in 19i3, would no t survive th e'seaso n. Given th e closeness o f th e races. th e adv a nces in technol ogy a nd co mpeti tio n, a nd th e SO- p lus d egree heat th at he had 10 ra n : in , th e Spen cer feat is a marvel. That he has set su ch high standards for himself a nd appears ca pa ble of reaching them is som ething that is now taken for grant ed . ' How did he feel after achieving yet another miles tone: " T h is is probably the hardest I ' ve ever worked for somethi ng. It' s different than my firs t I .Wo rl d C hampionsh ip because tha t involves a lo t more. And it's very per- I sonal. I ca n ' t rea lly pu t in to words how I feel right no w. The guys have done a wonderfu l job o n the bikes. Bu t Ii ke so m e bod y said 10 m e the other day, 'T here's still nine 10 go.' I to ld them , ' N o , 18 more 10 go.' " Now th ere a re 16 left anP with Spencer a to p both class point standings and his machinery getting beuer with every race, it may be a very long sea so n, not for Freddi e, but for those wh o have 10 follow him . • Results 500cc: 1. Freddie Spen cer (Hon ); 2. Eddie lawson (Yam ); 3. Wayne Gardner (Han); 4 . Randy Mamola (Han ); 5 . Ch rist ian Sarron (Vami; 4. Ron Hasl am (Han ); 7 . Raymond Roche (Han); e . franco Uncini (Su z); 9 . Rob McElnea (Suz) ; 10. Did ier de Rad igues (Hon). 500cc POINT STAN DING S, 1. Spencer (54 ): 2. Lawson (47) : 3 . Sarron (36 ): 4 . Gardner 1 : 5. 331 Haslam (26 ): 6 . Mamola (l7~ 7 . De Rad ig ues (16 ): a. Roche (10 ):.9. Pons (7): 10. (TlE)aaldwin/McElne a(61. 25OCc: 1. Freddie Spencer (Hont; 2 . carlos Lavada (Yam ); 3 . Fausto Ricci (Han); 4 . Lor is Regg iaru (Apr) ; 5 . Anton Mang (Hon l; 6 . R. Freimond (Yam ); 7 . J . Cor nu e (Han); 8 . P. Roth (Rom) ; 9 . A. Carter (HanI; 10 . P. Boll e IPar). 250cc POIN T STANDIN GS : 1. Spen cer (441: 2. Ma n g (3a): 3 . La.ado (35): 4 . Wim mer 1 33): 5. ca n er (18) : 6 . Ricci (12): 7. Card us (11) : a . (TlE) Rademeyer/ Reggia ni (101: 10. Roth (9 ). 12 5cc : 1. Pier Paolo Bian ch i (M BA); 2. E. Gian ola (Gar ); 3 . L. Pietron iro (MBA); 4 . 8 . Kne ubuhler (LC RI: 5 . J .C. Sehn i (M BA): 6 . J . W ickstroem (Tun ): 7 . J . Hau taniem i (M BA); B. M .A. San ch ez (M BA); 9. J . Hutt eau (M BA ): 10 . M . Escudie r (GNV). 125 cc POINT STANDI NGS : 1. Bianch i (401: 2. Gresi ni (24) : 3 . Gianol a (20) : 4 . Br igagl ia (1al: 5. Kn ubuhter (17): 6 . A ui nger ( 15): 7 . Sehn i (121: a . (TIE) Pietr oniro/ W ickstron (101; 10. W aibe l (6). 8Cce : 1. J . M art in ez (Der) ; 2 . M . Herrero s (Oer); 3. S. Doerf li nger (Kra); 4 . J . McConnachie {Kra}; 5 . P. Ri m me lzw aan {Harl; 6 . J .R. Bolart (A ut ); 7 . J.M . Velay(GMVI: a . G. Tabanelh( BBF): 9 .J. Lod ge (Kral : 10 . G. 5chirnhofer (Kra ). POINT STA NDINGS : 1. Doerfh nger (3 71 2. : Martinez (30) ; 3 . Herreros (22) ; 4 . Kafka (18); 5. Wa ibel (17 ); 6 . McConnachie (16); 7 . Rimmelzwaan (10): 8 . Timmer (9): 9 . (TIE) Prein /Velay (6 1 . soee

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