Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126832
(Above) Freddie Spencer (4 ) leads Wayne Gardner in t he early stages of the 500cc race in LeMans; Spencer took the win while Gardner went out with a flat tire. (Below left) Spencer leads Toni Mang in 250cc action. (Below right) Eddie lawson fought his way to fourth after getting left on the line. Road Race World Championship Series: Round9 Spencer doubles in France By Peter Clifford L EMANS, FRANCE, J ULY 21 Freddie Spen cer took a large step towards his second 500cc World Championship by winning the Fren ch G rand Prix at Le Mans. Reign ing Champ io n Eddie Lawson finished fourth on the Marlboro Yamaha a fter being left on th e line a t . the start a!1dnov:' trails Spencer by 17 points WIth, three races 16 rem a inin g . L aw son 's teammate, Frenchman Raymond Roch e, fin ished seco nd , sp litt ing the Rothmans H ondas o f Spe ncer a nd Randy Mamol a. Au stral ian Wayne Gardner , rid in g for H onda Britain , looked set to push Spencer hardest as he batt led with 111m for th e lead aft er the pair o f th em passed th e fast-st arting Ron Haslam . With Mamo la joining th e gro u p to mak e it a Honda benefit, Yamaha's best chance lay with German Grand Prix wi nner Christi an Sarron o n th e So na uto Ga u lo ises machine as he moved into fifth pl ace. Despite a bro ken ex ha ust p ipe whi ch dr agged on the tarmac th ro ugh the left hand corners a fte r o n ly a few laps, Sa rro n closed o n th e leading g!OUP and wa s u~ to th ird by lap eig h t as he passed first Marnola , wh o was a lready suffering from th e fin ger he in j ured cra sh ing in Belgium two weeks ago, a nd then Ha slam . " I just co u ldn' t keep up the pace," adm itted Mam ol a lat er. " I o n ly had two fingers wrapped arou nd th e tw ist grip of the brake instead o f four. The th in g wh eeli es so much here o u t o f th e tight turns 1 wa s jus t hanging o n . 1co uld n 't keep th e fron t wh eel o n th e ground. The four-cylinder Yama has acce lera ted so well th at the o n ly p lace to catch up on th em is on th e brakes a n d 1 can' t try a nyi hi ng too much wit h m y hand. 1 d idn't wa nt to do a ny thi ng stu p id. " T he hand wa s covered in blood afterwards from Marn ol a 's recent ski n graft opera tion a nd was a rea l handicap o n th e tight, three-hairpin circu it. On lap 14 Gardner suffered th e frustration of being forced out with a flat tire. " I co u ld have won," he as sert ed later. Sarron closed right in on Spencer but as th e Championship leader lapped a slow er rider Sarron was put off line by th e sa me man and cra shed unhurt. " It was my mistake," said Sarron. " I should have wailed until aft er the corner. Even though 1 might h ave lost a second. 1co u ld have made it up after. 1 tried to go past and cha n ged m y line, 1 don 't know if th e ta rmac was more slip pery but th e front wh eel slid a nd 1 cras hed." As for th e result if Sa rro n a nd Gardner had not been put out of ac ti o n. Spencer a d m itted that he m ight not have won. " Wa yne was riding reall y well a nd Christ ian was ca tchi ng before he fell . 1 was a wa re th at it was not th e la st race with th e World Championsh ip hanging on m y winnin g it so 1 don 't know th at 1 would have in crea sed th e pa ce. 1 wa s a ware of Eddie's position and 1wanted to make sure 1 rod e a co ns istent race, sco red so me points and was in good sha pe to rid e th e 250. Lawson ad m itted that the race was lost from th e push sta rt. " I just didn 't have the bik e moving fa st enough wh en 1 jumped on and had to get off a nd start aga in. Wh en 1 fin ished th e first lap and saw m inus 23 seconds 1 knew th at 1 co u ld not win but 1 just gave it 100% as 1 have always done. You have to say tha t Spen cer will be c ha m p io n n ow unl ess h e h a s a mechanical failure. 1 th ought ea rl ier in thi s year th at it wa s not going to be m y lu cky season a n d it wa s not in th e cards for me to win it again. Today just confirmed tha t." With their hero Sarron gone, th e cro wd 's attention turned to Roche, who was closing up behind H a sla m , who was then in third place. By la p 17 of th e 29 Roc he took third and Lawson had worked his way up to fifth. Th e crowd went wild as Roche seized second from th e tiring Mamola in the closing stages and Lawson took fourth from Has lam with two laps to go. Mike Baldwin was happy enough to finish 10th and collect another point in hi s last GP o f the season aft er almost crashing in the ea rly stages. " I was off, over th e bars a n d a lmos t into th e bal es. The back end ca me a ro u n d on me a nd th en just dug in a n d came so close to throwing me o ver th e bars. We went off onto th e grass besid e th e track and ran down skimming th e bal es an d fenc es until 1 get it ba ck on th e tarmac." He settl ed down to co ns istent ride in th e race once he had regained th e ci rcu it, fin ishing betw een two Italians, Fabi o Bilioui and Armando Errico. The Elf team had a poor day though th e lat est addit ion, Pierre Eti en e Samin , fini shed a fin e six th on the production RS500 Honda. Didier de Rad igues retired after 18 laps with a broken chain while lying seventh. The Elf2 ma ch ine ridden by Christian LeLiard stop ped a fter eig h t laps with th e same fuel sta rvation p rob lems th at had troubled it throughout p racti ce. Freddie Spencer added th e 250c race to hi s impressive list of six other wins to make it 39 points ahead 0