Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Doug Chand ler w as sixth ove ra ll . This was t he race. at leas t unt il Roberts upped the pace: Mamola (5), Ro berts (2) and Baldwin (1 ). Most ofthe t ime it was Roberts and Mamola (bel ow) doing wheelies and 1 :0 9s; the race pace was 1 :0 6 . AMA Camel Pro Series: Round 1. 7 Mamo/a beats Roberts at Laguna Seca By Paul Carruthers MONTE REY, CA, J U L Y 14 Honda V-four-mounted Randy M am ol a took th e o verall hon o rs with a win in the sec o nd 33- la p se g men t o f th e Champi o n Spark P lug 200 a t Laguna Seca. But Ma mola's victory over out-of-retire m en t Ken n y R o b e rt s didn ' t co me befo re R o ber ts d em o n stra ted tha t a year a way from ra cing h a s n ' t ma de hi m lose h is touch. R o ber ts , a boa rd Tadahiko Taira's Eddie Lawson replica YZR 500, set a new la p record in qualifying at I minute, 6.488 seco nds for a n average speed of 102.876 mph ; th a t brok e h is 1984 reco rd of I:06.592 a t 102.72 rnph., Ro ber ts was. d early the fastest man on the twisty circuit until shi fti ng problems slowed him a t the haI£way mark in the second segmen.t, allo wi ng Ma m o la to streak to ~ tS third win a t Laguna in th e la st Iive yea rs. Do u g Chandler had a n o the r in,tpres s iv e o uting o n th e Freddi e Spencer Ra cing / Su pe r'Tra p p H o nda and his sixth place fi n ish gave h im the AMA /Camel P ro Series point lea d over the spectating Bu bba Sh o ber t, 14 1-13 I. Mike Ba ld win added a th ird dimen sion to th e Ro berts/ Ma m ola baule in th e ea rly go ing of ea ch seg me nt , bu t co u ld n' t keep p ace a n d se u Ied for third wi th a 3-3 score . Ra nd y Ren fro w fo und himself with a lonely fourt h p lace i n eac h segment for a fo urth overa ll; filth place went to Miles Baldwin. ' 'I' m g lad to co me ba ck an d i t's grea t to be h ere," Ma rnol a sa id a fter th e win . " I' m g lad to be a ble to co me back h ere an d as yo u ca n see Kenny a n d I lo ve to put on a good show a n d Mik e wa s right th ere . At first I co uldn 't tell what pa ce we were run n in g a nd I kept looking at Mi ke Ba ldwin 's sig n boa rd to see the ti m es. I saw he wa s doing l O's and 9's a nd ] wondered how fast I was goi ng si nce Mike was still in th e lead. I felt like'] was goin g fas t; it was reall y ha rd to judge time o n a sm a ll ra cetrack ." A gl ance a t th e ring finger on Marn o la 's ri ght hand made hi s win even more i m pressive. On ly o nc wcck ca rlier , at th c Belgian Grand Prix, Marn o la cra sh ed a fte r runni ng into the ba ck of Ra ym o nd Roch e's Ma rlbo ro Yamaha. A tendo n was to r n and Mamol a underwent a skin graft opera tion , requiring 30 stitches. on Tuesda y. T h c ski n n eed ed to repair his finger wa s tak en from hi s right th ig h a nd during practice o n T hursday the th ig h both ered him m ore than the finger. " I norm ally brake with my whol e h and because I h ave sma ll fingers," Mamola sa id . " In th e last fo ur or five laps, I wa s actually bringing i t (the h un finger ) out there and bra kin g with it. " In practi ce. Ro bert s found that h is right thumb a nd wrist were cramping from pushing ha rd aga inst the h andlebars while bra king. A bui lt up styrofoam-and-duct-tape pad was i ns ta lled o n hi s bike's gas ta n k; th a t a llowed Ro bert s to lean o n the pad a n d reduce th e th e pressure on th e hand under braking . Fo rmula One qualifyin g o n Sa tu rda y sa w Ro bert s a t h is fin est. Aft er turning co n sistent I:08s o n Thursday and Frida y, h e got down to bu si n ess a n d pro m p tly bro ke his o ne- yea r-o ld la p record. Dun lop tire tech n ici a n Pet er Ingley took a br eak from th e Gra nd Prix circui t to accom pany prototype rad ia l rea r slicks for Roberts ' use ; it was o n th e new tir e th at Ro bert s se t th e new reco rd . Mamol a , m ean wh ile, was tr ying a solter-t ha n -no rma l, A-co mpo u n d Mi chel in radia l; but a lter one lap rh e tire was, in Ma rnol a 's words, "ea ten u p ." Marn ol a 's bik e was th en Iiu ed with th e G- compound Mich elin radi al he has been using in Euro pe a n d o n hi s f if t h la p Ma m ol a cu t a I :07.824 for the second spot o n th e £ron t row . Ba ld w in t urned i n a 1:08.8 14 for th e third Ia stest tim e while SCOll Gra y put th e ex- Ma rno la RG Suzu ki G amma on the front ro w with a 1:09.865. . Team MacLeans ' problems began in practi ce when R ich ard Sch lacht er cras he d his 250 cc Formul a Two Honda in th e co r ksc re w and broke tw o bones on th e o u tside of hi s foot . Schlachter 's teammat e. Wa vn e Ra in e y, w a s back ra cin g a he r bad l y brea kin g his a r m onl y three weeks ea rlier at Loudon and th eir pit area res embl ed a h o spit al e me r g e ncy ward . R a i n e y' s a r m wa s h e ld 10geth er with tw o seven -in ch p la tes a nd wire, a n d was fill ed with a specia l removable cas t; he reported that h e o n ly en co u ntered p roblems w hen he had to cha nge di rec tion quickly in traffi c, a nd wa s ot he rwise set .to go. Bu t th e tea m ran i n to serio us m echanical problems whe n th e big-end bearings on every H onda en g ine th ey had seized. The problem first showed up in qua lifyi ng o n Saturda y a s Sch lacht er and Ra iney wer e still scu ffing i n ti res a nd warming up; th ey still managed to cu t laps in th e I :lis for th ird row grid positions. Neither sta rte d the ra ce because new en g ines installed Saturda y night p ro m p tly se ized big-end bea rings i n the first pra cti ce session Sunda y. The sa m e p ro b lems to o k bot h R a i n e y and Sch lachter ou t of th e For mula Two rac e. Bal d win wa s rhe first to crest th e hill a t the start of the first segment. but R o ber ts wa s close behind with Mamo la sta rt ing slowly in filth . The fa ctory four -c ylinder Honda soon showed its power as Mamola blasted by Chandler a nd Ren fro w to set th e stage fo r a three-wa y ba ili e. R o berts gra bbed th e lead fo r the first ti m e in the corkscrew, but Baldw in sn uc k through o n th e ins ide going into the h airpin, turn nine. Gray became th e first dropout of the ra ce w hen h is Suzuki fouled th e pl ugs on th e line and ch ugged its way to th e pits after th e fir st lap. The third lap sa w Roberts, Mamo la a n d Bal d w in th ree a breas t bet wee n turns three a nd four; Mamola passed R o bert s for second place in turn nine. Mea n wh il e, the pack wa s a lrea dy be ing lef t be hi nd the lea d i n g tri o ; R en fr ow, o n his R o n Barri ck-prepared RS 500, wa s raci ng Dan C hivi n g ro n a n d hi s G eorge Vin ce n s i-tuned TZ500 fo r fourth place. R o berts led fo r th e first time on lap six with Mamola second and Bald- 7

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