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Marlboro's main man
By Paul Carruthers
It's hard to believe, but, In the long run,
maybe losing his 500cc World Road Racing
Championship in 1985 was the best thing
tha t's ever h appened to Eddie L a wson. It
made L awso n angry, hungry;
h is serio us pre- 1986-season
trai ning program has brough t
about a stronger mental atti-
16
tude th a t may tran slat e into a second
World T itl e. Law son is rea dy for th e
cha llenge o f a fourth sea son' in Europe, but fir st h e fa ces a no the r task th e Da ytona 200.
Lawson wi ll co m pe te in th e March
9 Daytona 200 o n a Yamaha FZ750
al ong with J imm y Filice as part o f a n
in-house Yamaha Motor Corp., USA
team . T he 27-yea r-o ld 1984 500cc
World Champ io n has, in th e past,
been cri tica l of th e AMA 's decision to
allow th e Superbike class to become
th e main event a t Daytona. H e still
feels it' s th e wrong way to go, but say s
it's out of lo yalty to Yam aha that he
wi ll be there.
" Ya ma ha in Am eri ca wanted it
pretty badl y, so I decided I would do
it ," Lawson sa id . " I told th em I
would onl y do it if th e eq u ip me nt
was cap able of running in fro nt.
T h ey seem to think it is and af ter
testing it . it seems good. It ha ndl es
good, bu t I don't know what it runs
lik e becau se after ge tti ng o ff th e 500
everyth in g is slow . I really don 't
know wha t the power is suppos ed to
be , so we'll have to wait an d see ti ll
we ge t o n th e track with th e H ondas.
Mostl y, though . th e reason I a m
doing Da ytona is because Yamaha
want ed to do it. "
With politics p u t as ide , Law son is
ready for the competition Daytona
shou ld offer. " I'm lookin g forw ard to
th e race between Freddie (Spencer)
a n d Wa yn e (Ra i n ey ) a n d Kevin
(Sch wa n tz) a nd I think th ere wi ll be a
few g uys right up there. As far a s th e
fo ur-s tro kes are co nc erne d, I do n 't
think that 's the wa y to go racing, but
I think it will be a good race. I think it
w ill be qu ite a sho w . I don 't agree
with th e AMA a n d wh a t th ey a re
doin g wi th Am eri can racing , but
tha t's just my p erson a l o p in io n and
p eople don't have to ag ree with th at.
" I think it 's goi ng to be mor e
expe ns ive, a nd just th e "h assles o f
. cha ng in g th e en gine instead of just
ch a nging a piston if yo u have a problem . It is a major ordea l w here th e
two-strokes are very sim p le; yo u just
pull th e cylinder off, throw in another
piston a n d away you go. And yo u
don't h ave to race in oi l. There are a
lot of advantages in racing twostrokes; th ey are ligh ter and just a lo t
better to ride. I thi n k p eop le go to see
exotic stu ff and the public is smart
enough to kn ow that th ese Superb ikes aren 't exactly wha t th ey ride to
th e race tra ck."
Lawson a nd h is new Marl boro
Yam a ha Grand Prix teamma te Ro b
McEln ea recently returned from a
four-da y test session o n th e new 500cc
Yamah~s in Brazil. J u m p in g from
th e GP bike to th e Superbike won 't
be ea sy, even for the two-time U .S.
Superbike Champion. H e wi ll have
to co m pe te with g uys like Schwantz
wh o o n ly ride Superbikes a nd nothing
else - but th e main co m pe titio n
sho u ld co me from hi s G P rival
Spencer.
" It tak es so me ge tti ng used to beca use th e power is so different, " h e .
sai d. " T h e p ower im p u lse is so much
different. There are o n ly a handful of
guys wh o ca n ride a two- st roke fast
a nd if th ere is any th ing good ab out
th e four-strokes. it will be th a t there
wi ll be more gu ys o n four -strokes
with closer ra cing . The Su perbikes
are eas ier to ride. I'v e been riding th e
500 a ll week and now if I get o n this
thin g , I kn ow it will tak e me quite a
few laps to get u sed to i t aga in . It's a
lot eas ier to go fast o n a Superbi ke."
Not ed racing trainer Dean Miller
ha s worked with th e likes o f Brad
Lackey, Kenny Ro bert s, Wayn e Rainey, Ri cky Gra ham, Bu bba Shobert
and Ro n Lech ien to name a few, but
h e rates Lawson as the ro ad ra cer in
th e best co nd i tio n . " He's way a head
of everybody else I'm working with, "
Mill er said recently of Lawson . "He's
in th e best co ndition of any road racer
I've seen si nce Kenny (Roberts ) in
1978-80. He 's doing a lo t of flexibil ity
type exercis es that he ca n continue to
do whi le in Europe; he ca n do over
200 situps in o ne sess ion righ t now .
In addit io n to the physica l co nd itionin g , he has a superb mental a ttitude right now and he has that hunger
that is so important in racing. I'm
just delighted with his progress."
Lawson is reluctant to tal k a bo ut
hi s traini n g, but hi s program is working a nd it a ll points tow ards th e goa l
o f regaining his World Championsh ip.
" I' ve been goin g to Nautilus, I'v e
been doing aerobics, I' ve been run ning, doing p ushups and situ p s a nd
j us t getti ng a fter i t, " h e says . " I think
it ca n o n ly h el p . I feel better and if I
feel better ph ysicall y, th en m entall y
I'll feel better. If yo u feel good about
you rself a nd you feel lik e you 're physically fit, th en it 's just one more th in g
tha t ca n hopefu lly get you arou nd
the track better. "
.
One of th e thi ngs th a t hurt Lawso n in hi s quest to ret ain his cha m pi onship in 1985 wa s hi s inability to
push-start th e Yama ha as quick ly as
Spencer and the o the r H onda riders
ca n p us h-stan thei r bi kes. T h e problem is simple: Wh en Lawson gets off
th e line with Spen cer , h e ca n usually
stay with him an d has th e opportun it y to beat him. When h e gets left on
the lin e, h e h as to fight h is way
through the pack a n d by th at ti me
Spen cer is long gone. It will be a key
to h o w this season goes and it could
