Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Mamola leads Haslam. Spencer. De Radigues. Lawson . (Below) Ca lifornian Don Greene ahead of S iggy M inich and Hans Becker. Freddie Spencer leads Edd ie Law so n late i n the race . This is as close as Lawson got; the margin of victory was 5 .27 seconds. Th e 500cc class looked to be th e most co m pe titive in rece nt week s with th e top three with in hal f a second o f eac h o the r in quali fyin g . Spencer was tops a t 2:28.57. La wson second at 2:28.92 . a nd Sarron third a t 2:29 .57 . Spencer's previous record. time of 2:32.66 was broken by the top five rid ers w ith Gard ne r fo urt h an d Mam o la fift h . Th e po le p o sit io n a verage speed was over two m ph fa ste r th an pr evi ou sl y , 10 4 .4 9 6 to 102.366. In 11th o n th e grid, ave ragi ng 100.66 with a lap ti m e of 2:34.23 was American Formula One Cham p Ba ldwin a fter sufferi ng ge ne ra to r problems in th e first q ua lifying session and ha vin g o n ly one bik e to ride a fter selling h is spare to Ted Bood y. Lawson had the m o st exci ting quali fying session. " I co u ld've made th e ch ica n e, but I decide d to use the run -o ff a rea . I came to the en d of the run-o ff where th ey have th ose big foam r ub ber bloc ks a nd a lmos t sto pped . A co rner worker g ra bbed m y ar m a n d whe n h e did I hit th e front brake, th e wh eel turned , and I h i t a cone in fro nt o f me as th e bike fell o ver. We got i nto a li ttl e tuss le, the en d result of wh ich is that he ' ll p robab ly be removed." T h e problem was ca used by an informal rule wh ich says that if yo u go straight in th e chica ne you h ave to wait 10 seconds so as not to get a faster lap ti me. In fact . as ma n y ri ders po inted out. o nce yo u overs hoot the ch icane yo u ' ve lost yo ur la p time. There was some disagreement a mong th e riders as to whether th e IO-second ru le was ever full y exp la ine d to a ll o f th e co mpet itors. For wh at ever rea son , aft er the skir mish , which happened to be tel ecast, Lawson turned up the boost and his fast lap tim e was on th e last lap o f the q ua lifying session. Spencer. virtually imprisoned in h is motor home by the uncontrolled cro wds th at flooded the paddock a fter practice, was happy a bo u t h is pe rforman ce. but unh appy w ith th e o rga n izers . Secu rit y wa s a ll eged ly boosted in light o f th e ri ot at a soccer game in Brussels a t th e end of May wh ich ki lled 38, bu t you cou ldn ' t tell it from the paddock. H isto ricall y, securi ty in Belgiu m has bee n lit tle mo re than a joke. T his yea r, some fans w ho wan ted a three-foo t wid e Ro th m a n s sticker o n one of th e team 's tents. cut a hole in th e tent instead of tr ying to peel it off . R ider rep Mike Trimby threat ened to call for a boycott o f th e 500cc race. but to no ava il. ~ .. , i .u .""'s,,_o- CC)«wI . U Marno la , H aslam and Didi er de R adi gues j u mped into th e lead . bu t by the chicane o n the fir st la p Spencer was in th e lead a nd Lawson bega n playi ng ca tch-up, Q u ickly, Spe ncer . warming up the ti res a t a 2:29 pace, worked the clear track to h is advantage while Lawson had a ba ttle royale wi th Sarron for second and a group headed by Mamo la was fighting for fo urth . It wa s th e three-cylinder H o n da s of Marn ol a , H asla m , Gardner an d Elf J ohnson's de Radig ues a head of th e Marlboro Ya ma ha of Roch e in eigh th wi th So uth African Dav e Petersen in n i nth a hea d o f Ba ld w i n a n d the Tosh iba She ll H o nda o f Boer va n Du lm en. By th e fift h la p , Spencer was a lmos t fo u r seconds in fro n t o f Lawso n an d Sarr o n and. wit h th e tires wa r med up. had d ro p pe d th e sta ndard into th e h igh 2:28s. Sarron h ad a bo u t I I seconds o n Gardner who 'd separa ted h imself from th e Mamo la , H aslam duel fo r fifth as Roch e and de Radigu es di sp u ted seventh . Sarron mo ved back in front o f Law son o n the eigh th lap as Roche passed de R a d ig u es. Spencer h ad turned h is fast lap of the race, a 2:28.6 1, a veraging 104.47 m ph, a lap earlier. Ii was four seco nds faster than his fastest from the previous yea r, but it would not be the fa stest lap of th e race. That would belong to Lawson lat e in th e race and o nce free o f Fren chman Sarron. At th e halfway m ark of th e 20-lap race, Spencer had a bo ut a seve nseco n d lead which he wa s co ntent with . " Af ter I gOI th e seven- second lead th a t was en o ug h . Basica ll y, all I was co ncerned with was going as slo w ly as possible. Six, seven, eig h t seconds was p lenty. They don 't give points fo r the fastest lap and it wa s a lot slipperi er than in th e 250 race, " sa id Spencer. Au ssie Gardner had split from th e Marnola, H asla m a nd Roc he duel while tha t trio was well a head of de Rad ig ues who rode a lone in seventh. T he day en d ed for Californian Mamola w hi le chasing Roche o n th e 14th la p . " I was ou tbra king him when I closed up o n h im in the corner. I was comm itted to th e line a n d I h i t h is exha ust pipe," Mamo la explained a fter th e crash. H aslam , who wat ch ed it from h is seve nt h p lace van ta ge point. sa id . " Roche didn't even kn o w he was th ere. When that happened, Roch e wobbled and I we nt past. When he came back past me about lap 15 I let . h i m go." Mamola , wa tch ing it o n television a fter th e race, gave a bl o w-by-bl ow co m mentary: " T he Yamaha 's were runnin g rea ll y fast in th e left-hander. H e ge ts so bi g o n the camera . No w look a t how he slows down i n th e. middle of th e co rner. Now h e looks back and after that, booml" T he pit signals fo r the leaders ha d the same numbers, but with different notations. With fiv e laps 10 g o Spencer 's cre w informed him via th e pi t board th at he had a n eig h t-seco nd lead. while Lawson 's cre w flash ed h im a "-8" on h is bo ard . La wson h ad put a bo u t six seco n ds o n Sa rr on a t th at p oint wi th Gardner 10 back of Sarron a nd 20 a head of Roch e a nd H asla m . Ign iti on problems were pl aguing Spencer. " It was pinging a littl e so I'd run it up to 12,500 o ne lap and short shift il the next. It so unded fun ny and felt nat and I 10Sl about two or th ree-h und red revs. It gOI hotter and hotter than in practi ce. I had to sh ift anoth er g ear a n d with the downshifting th at tak es time. The 18th lap was La wso n's fastest, a 2:28.35 which wa s over four seconds better th an Spencer's 1984 time. Too li ttle. too late. T he difference at th e end was 5.27 seconds with Sarron another 30 seconds back. Gardner was a comfortable fourth in the battle o f th e H onda triples wi th Roch e fift h a n d H a sl am s ix th ahea d o f de R ad igues a n d Ta kaz u rni Kat a yama. T hree p laces back , Ba ld win fin ish ed 11th. • Results 500cc: 1. Freddie Spe nc er (Hon) ; 2. Eddie Law so n (Yam); 3. Chr istian Sarro " (Yam); 4 . Wayne Gardner tHon); 5. Raymond Roc h e (Yam~: 6. Ron Haslam (Hon) ; 7 . Didier de Rad ig ues (Hon ); 8 . Takazumi Kat ayama (Hon): 9 . BOlit va n Oulmen (Han); 10 . Gustav Reiner (Hon) . DISTANCE : 20 laps. 86 mile• . TIME: 49:5 1.8 . SPEED: 103.72 mp h. RECORD LA P: lawson. 2:28.35. 104 .58 mph : OLD RECORD : Kenny Robert• • 198 3.2:32.4 2 . 101. 8 8 m ph. 500cc POINT STA NDING S: 1. Spenc er (9 6): 2 . lawson (8 6): 3 . Sarr on 1 621; 4 . Gardner (611: 5. Haslam I5 1); 6 . Mamo la (40); 7.de Radigues(34): 8 . Roch e (221 9. M cEln ea [1 9); 10 . van Dulmen [14). ; 2 50cc: 1. Fr edd ie Sp e ncer (Hon) ; 2 . Ca rl os Lavedo (Yam); 3 . An ton M ang (Hon); 4 . M art in W immer (Ya m); 5. Carlos Cardus ICob ); 6 . M anfred Herweh (Rea); 7 . J uan Carrig. (Cob); 8 . Do m in ique Sarron (Ho n); 9 . A lan Carter (Ho n); 10. Patr ick Igoa (Honl. . DISTA NCE: 16 laps. 69 m il es. TIME : 42 :05 .73 . SPEED: 98.28 mph. RECORD LAP : Spencer. 2:36.12. 99 .38b mph; OL D RECORD: M . Herweh. 1984. 2:39.00. 96 .5 mph. 250cc POINT STANDINGS : 1. Spencer ( 1041; 2 . Mang (70): 3. W immer 169): 4.lavado (6 1): 5 . Reg· gi ani (34): 6. RIcci (22): 7 . Cart er (20): 8. Cardus (17): 9 . Roth (16): 10 . Cornu (1 3). 125cc: 1. Fausto Gresin i (G ar); 2 . Bruno Kneu bu ehler (Le R); 3 . Lucio Pietronir o (M BA); 4 . Aug ust A uin;er (M BA); 5. Pier -Paolo Bianchi (M BA); 6 . W iliV Perez (Zan); 7. Domen ico Brigaglia (M BA); B. Oliv ier Li egeoi s (KLS ); 9 . Johnny W ickstroem IM BAI: 10 . Jus.i Hautaniemi IM 8A). 125cc POINT STAND IN GS: 1. 8 ianch i (6 91 2. : Gresini (64); 3 . Gianols (42) ; 4 , Kneubuehler (40); 5 . A uinger (3 8); 6 . Piet ro niro (2 41; 7. Br ig agl ia (221; 8 . Sell in i (2 1): 9. Liegeois (1 3): 10 . W ickSlrom [121 . SIDE CA R: 1. Streu er / Schn ieders (Ya m); 2. Bil and /Waltisperg (Kra) ; 3. Schwaerzel / Buck (Yam); 4 . A bbot / Smith (Yam ); 5 . Kumano/ Diehl (Yam); 6 . Chr istinat/ Fah rn i (Yam) ; 7. Egloff / Egloff (Yam ); 8 . Bay le y / Ni xon IYam); 9 . Zurbru egg /Zurbruegg (LCRI: 10 . Huegli / Schuetz (LCR). SIDECAR POINT STA NDINGS: 1. 8i landlWaltisperg (50); 2 . Sc hw aerzel / 8 uck 1 91: 3: Streu 4 er /Schn ieders (4 3); 4 . (TIEtWebster/Hewltt & ZurbrugglZurbru gg (22 ); 6. Abolt/Smllh (13) : 7. 8a, · ton / 8irchallll 1t. B. (TIE) Kuma no / D'ehl & Hugh l SchUlZ (8 t. 10. Chris' inat / Fahrn i (6). 19

• Cover