Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The Yamaha o f Roberts and Taira proved to be the fastest b ike at Suzuka . Results 1. Wayne Gardner / Masaki Tokuno (Hon RVF7501 195 laps, 8 hours. 1 minute. 40 .10 2 seconds; 2. M ike Baldwin /Dominique Sarron (Hon RVF7501 195 . 8:02 :57 .219; 3. Kevin Sehwantz/ Gra eme Crosby (Suz GSXR7 50) 19 2; 4. Takao Abe/ Keiji Kinoshita (Hon RVF75 0) 192; 5. Patr ick de Radigues/ Jean Pierre Oudin (Suz GSXR750) 190; 6. Shosuk e Kita /Satoshi Tsuj im oto (Suz GSX R750) 190; 7 . Herve Moineau/Richard Hubin (S Ul GSXR7501 19 0 ; B. Anders An dersson /Per Jansson (Suz GSXR75 01 190; 9. Rob Phill is/ Kevin Magee (Hon CBX750f) 189; 10. Shoji Saito/ Kiyokazu Tada (Kaw GPz750R) 18B; 11. Shigeharu Otsu kalYasutaka Kenbaya shi (Suz GSXR7501185; 12. Yasuak i Fujimoto /Nobuyosh i It o (Hon CBX750F l 185; 13. Milsuo Saito /Kei ji Tam ura (Yam FZ7501 185; 14 . Su sum u Sh imada /H id e h iko Fu ku sh i m a (SUl RG400) 183; 16. Masa h iro OkalTada ich i Kusaka (Kaw GPz750R1183 ; 17. Kenny RobenslTadahiko Taira (Yam FZR7501182; 18. Todd Bruba ker/ Kunihik o Sato (Hon CBX750F) 182; 19. M iyoshi Abe/ Koji Ikeda (Suz GSXR750 1182; 20. Susumu Kaw a· bat alTadsteru Hanamura (Yam FZ7501 180; 3 1. Herve Gu illeux/Nao Ikeda (Suz GSXR750) 171; 35 . Seon Gray/lsoyo Sugimoto (Suz RG400 ) 164 ; 40 . Rueben MeMuner/Rickv Or lando (Hon CBX750Fl 145; 5 1. John longlTakesi Yokoi (BMW RSO 73; ) 52 . Gerard Coudry /Patri k Igoa (Hon RVF750 171; 53.Joey Dunlop /Roge r Marsha ll (Hon CBX75OF )62; 54 . David OldlTatsumi Aoki (Yam SRX600156; 57. Jo hn Bettencoun /Sam McDonald (Hon RS750R ) 30 . QUALIF YING (First ri der li st ed for each team set faster tim e.) 1. Roben.slTeira . 2:19 .956 ; 2. Gardn erlTokuno . 2:20 .799 ; 3. Shunji Yatsushiro /Hikaru Miyag i (Hon CBX750F I. 2:22 .1 13; 4. Coudry /lgoa. 2:22.59 1; 5. Baldw in/ Sarron. 2:22 .944; 6. Ktta lTsuj imoto. 2:23.120; 7. Kinoshita / Abe. 2:23.483 ; B. Moine au/ Hubin . 2:24 .187; 9. Phil lis / M agee. 2:24.465; 10. Kiro yu ki Kawa saki /Shinichi Ueno (Yam FZR750). 2;24.484; 11. SehwantziCrosbv. 2:25 .122 ; 12. Andersson /Jansson. 2:25.53 9; 13. Oudin /de Radigues . 2:25.611; 14. Takayosh i Yamamoto / Shin ichi Kaneda (Yam FZ750). 2:26 .047 ; 15. Takum i Ito/ Yoshih iro Nakam ura (Suz AG400) 2:26 .3 57 ; 16. M arshall /Dunlop. 2:26.54 5; 17. Shimada / Fukushi ma. 2:27.1 20; 18. Ma san ao ShibatalTsugu o Takemasa (Hon CBX7501 2:27.164; 19. Guill eux/ Ikeda. 2:27.84 2; 20 . Shi nji Hagiwara /Kalu ma MorimilSu (Hon CBX750Fl2:27 .957; 32. MeMun er/ Orla ndo. 2:29 .669; 45 . Sato /Brub aker. 2;3 1.258; 55. Vesa Kulta lahti /Hiiroo Takemura (Hon CBX750 / Dom e ) 2:32 .193; 5 6. Bett encour t /McD ona ld. 2:3 2.223; 57 . Sugimoto/Grey. 2;32 .912; 59. Long/ Yokoi. 2;35 .837; 60. Aoki /Old. 2;4 1.785. Suzulz" notes By Mike Esd aile The 1980 Suzuka Eight-Hour winn er , Gra em e Cro sb y , teamed with up-and-coming Am erica n Kevin Schwantz on a 16 Yosh imura Su zuk i GSXR750 with Schwantz CUll ing a sli ghtl y faster qual ifying lap to put th em 11th o n th e grid with a 2:25. 122 q ua lify ing ti me. Neither Crosby n or Sch want z was happy with th e handling o f th e bike, a n d both would have pr eferr ed different transmission ratios. As Crosby p ointed o u t. h e qualified fa ster in 1984 on th e o ld air-coo led GSX7 50. Bu t a n indi cation o f how fast thi s year 's ra ce was can be ga in ed from G ardn er a nd Tokuno 's winning tall y o f 195 la ps - four m ore tha n 1984. And Cro sby a nd Schwantz mana ged 192 laps wh ich wo u ld hav e been good enoug h to win th e '84 event. " A five-speed six-speed" was how Cros by described th e transmission in th e Yoshimura Suzu ki. H e said th e fir st five gears wer e sp rea d fairl y wide, wit h a small ra tio ch ange to top whi ch resu lted in o n ly a bo u t a 250 rpm drop in revs in th e cha nge from fift h to sixth. "The tra ns m issio n th ey supp lied in th e bike d idn ' t h av e th e normal ga ps between the gea rs. The ga ps between th e gea rs u p to fift h were fairly wide. the n th ere was a short ga p to six th . Masaru Iwasaki (Suzu ki's test rider) and a coup le of other rid ers p u t th e tra n sm ission togethe r for Suzuka. I think we wou ld have been a lot bett er by running a close ratio six-speed. T he to rq ue curve peaks a t 9500 rp m and peak power is a t 12,000 rpm. Wi th th at transm ission, everyti me you 'd flic k it back a gear to co me ou t o f a co rner it 's at about 10,000 rpm - halfway betwee n maxi mu m torque a n d max imum power - and it ju st woul dn't do a nyth ing until it go t to abo u t 10,500, th en it starte d to go," Crosby said. "The bik e wasn ' t too bad but I thin k we were pretty well under-ti red. I think we've got to sta rt looking for radial s but it wa sn ' t bad . T he front tir e got pretty knackered . We did five, almo st six h ours on a fron t. We'd co me in and it wou ld be ' how's th e fro nt tire, wh at 's it look like?' an d we'd hear, 'it looks good ' but th ere's a big di ffere n ce between loo kin g good a nd feeling good," Cro sby added. " It 's a small-budget bik e made for ge ne ra l co nsu m p tion, not just a oneoff. It wa s a o ne -off yo u co u ld do a lot with th at bike. But as it is, it's a lmos t bulletpro of ," he added. As th e race neared its co ncl us io n a nd Crosb y was ridi ng th e final hour, Schwantz was ph il osoph ical a bo u t their performance. " Bas ica lly everyth ing's gone as pl anned. We kn ew we co u ld n 't run wi th Kenny - th a t Ya maha isjust so fast - and Mik e (Baldwin )an d Wa yne so we were j u st go ing to sit back a nd wa tch , which is wh at we did. And we've ended u p fou rth ," he said. ' " We didn 't expect th e Ya mah a to go th e wh ol e eig ht h ours a t the pace th ey're go in g , but th ey'r e doi n g it. I don 't like finish in g fou rt h but I th ink th e tea ms we go t beat by were rea l good riders on very co m pe titive bik es. I think we tried our best a nd I th in k th at' s all yo u ca n do if so me body has fa ster eq u ip me nt and it handl es bet ter. " Ha rdl y had Sch wa n tz mad e th ese co m me n ts th a n th e n ew s ca me through that Taira was o ut. T h e Yamaha 's engine had bl own. And that put Schwantz an d Cro sb y up to thi rd . ••••• With Fred Merk el , h is wi n ni ng coride r from 1984, o ut with a brok en foo t, Mike Bald w in teamed w it h Fren chman Domin iq ue Sarron o n a works H onda R VF750. Their bik e Gardner jumps off as Japan 's Ma s aki Toku no prepares to take over. was th e same as th e other R VF750s , with th e exce p tio n o f th e filli ng o f a single-sided rear swi n ga rm . This look ed a lo t like th ose u sed by the Fren ch Elf team a nd was filled to provide faster rea r wh eel cha n ges. Austra lia ns Rob Ph ill is and Kevin Magee had a frustrat in g build-up to the Eigh t-Hour. T hey wanted severa l small cha nges to the Moriwaki mach ine the y sha red, but weren 't allo wed to ch an ge th e bike. H ow ever, o n th e Friday ni ght before fin al qualifying, Ma rno ru Mori waki had a co n ference with the rid ers a n d apologized for hi s inflexible attitude, explaining he had problems understanding wh at they were co m p la ini ng about. A cha nge in front sus pe ns io n sell ing and gearing saw th e p a ir much happier o n race day. Bu t th ey still had one o f th e slowest o f th e leading bikes. Early quali fyin g sa w Aus tra lia n Wa yne Ga rdner clock a two -m inute, 20. 799-seco n d lap o n th e works R VF750 H onda - two seco nds fast er th an Kenny Roberts and Tadahiko T aira on th e works Yamaha FZ750. Wayn e recorded his time o n only his third o f seven qualifying laps and wa s co n fide nt n o o ne would better it. Then Roberts clocked at 2:19.9561apat th e en d o f Sa turda y qualifying to snat ch pole posi tion. T he bike proved an absolu te miss ile in the race and was clearly faster than an ything else. After Ro bert s clocked fastest q uali fying time, Gard ner ad m itted he had been ca ug h t with his lea th ers down. " I d idn 't think Kenn y would go th a t fast ," he sa id , adding that th e threetime 500cc World Champion ha d recorded his fastest lap a t th e end of qualifying, lea vin g him no time to go o u t an d bett er it. And when he found out th ere was a bonus of $2500 for fastest qualifier, he was kicking h im self. Several teams exp ressed doubts whether th e 'works Yamahas would fin ish th e Suzuka Eight-Hour race an d p ointed to th eir in consistent perfo rm ances in j apanese Formula One ra ces recentl y. From four sta rts, th ey had finished one race. Retirem en ts resulted from a vari ety o f problems: broken co n nec ting ro ds, fue l pump an d ignition problem s, a nd dropped valves. But Yamaha mech anics spen t . many hours ch ecking and re-ch ecking tn e bikes for th e Eight- Hour. The appearan ce of Ro bert s a t Suz uk a h elped swell the crowd from last year's 120,000 to 241,000. T he race was billed as a Gardner vs. Ro bert s co n fro nt a tion but also had th e best lin e-up o f interna tional riders in its eig h t-year hi story. Even on Saturday, . the re were 160,000 fans o n hand for the Formula Three race for j apanese Novice rid ers. T he works FZ750 raced by Ro bert s and Tai ra was painted in a n eyeca tch in g ma uve co lo r sche me , with both riders in m at ching m auve leathers. T h is was becau se th e team was sponso red by th e giant J apa n ese cos me tic manufacturer, Sh iseido. In Iact , T aira was signed up around five mont hs befo re the race to promote Sh iseido 's n ew men's co logne . T ech 2 a nd th e T ech 2 logo .was boldl y di spla yed on th e Yamaha 's fairing. A n ew four- into-two-into-one exh au st system wa s fitted to th e Yoshi mu ra Suzuki's a t Suzu ka , a lo ng with 34mm flat- slid e Mikuni carburetors. Both were used to boost mid-range p ow er without a ffecting top-end performance. •••• • T he j a pa nese Formula Three cla ss has gai ned enormo usly in popularity since its ince p tio n four yea rs ago and th ere were a staggeri ng 560 entries for th e Four-Hour ra ce th e da y before th e Eigh t-Hour. Of th ese, only 60 were a ll owed to sta rt - th e field being thinned on th e basis o f qualifying lap tim es. The Formula Three rules provide a 400cccapacity lim it for four-stro kes, and 250cc for two-stroke engines both having to be based on p rod uction ro ad en gines . The fastest of the no vice riders reco rded 2:32 qua lifying lap times - better than many bi kes that qua lified for th e EightH o ur race! Co ncurrent wi th the F-3 cla ss, a n SS400 class was run in th e Four-Hou r race o n Saturday. Essentially th is is a si lhouette class for 400cc street bikes and the standard fram e, tank , sidepanels, etc ., must be retained, along with the sta ndard carburetors. This helps keep the cost down as there is no point fitting F-3 camshafts as the stoc k carburetors won 't pa ss enough air for them to be of any benefit. The carburetor rule m eans th ere is around a 10 bhp di sparity betw een th e SS400 m achines a nd th e F-3 ra cers . • • ••• • One of th e m ost unusual machines in th e Eight-Hour was the H on da CBX750-power Super Monkey bike raced by Vesa Kultalahti an d Hiroo Takemura. This feat ured a carbo n fiber chassis a nd an all-enveloping fairing that was made in two vertically split halves that fastened together to form the seat, tan k cover and fairing. T akernura was drafted into the team wh en British journalis t Mat Ox ley cra shed and broke his right foot . T he two Suzuki France mach in es entered for Suzuka u sed Lockheed front bra ke ca lipers - wh ich accept thi cker pads - in stead of the Suzu ki brakes and had cha nges made to th e en gines, alt h o ugh the Fre nc h tea m m anager wouldn 't speci fy what th ey were. H owever , he con firmed that the co n necting rods had been cha n ged to a n ewer type a fter problem s had been enco u ntered with th e originals breakin g. •

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