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/126909
en ~ m :::l TEri ..J a.. Z 0 ;:: u « <, YEARS AGO en U z « a:: u. 0 (,Q a:: « :r !:2 a:: > III 00 Q') ..- en 0 0 >- :r a.. Kevin Schw ant z (80) leads Roger Burn ett (9) and St eve Manley (44). Roger Burnett (9) leads Paul Lewis (4). Roger Marshall (11) and Kevin Schwantz at Mallory Park; Schwantz claimed two seconds and a fourth . Schwantz debuts at Mallory Park By Peter Clifford Photos by Richard Francis MALLORY PARK, ENGLAND, APR. 19-20 Texan Kevin Schwantz did not win any of his first three outings on a Grand Prix twostroke, but with two second places and fourth he certainly demonstrated that his Easter thrashing of the British was no flash in the pan. Riding an RG500 Suzuki that Barry Sheene found uncornpetitive 24 two years ago but filled with a 1986 engine, Schwantz had only one brief da y of practice to get to grips w ith th e new machine a nd the short, tri ck y Mallory Park circu it. The track is in the British Midlands, a bo u t 35 miles south of Birmingham. Two-time 500cc R oad R a cing World Champion Sh een e h el ped get Schwantz back 10 England by paying his airfare a nd a rra ng ing th e ride; Sh een e d id so a fter being so impressed with Schwan tz at th e Trans-Atl ant ic Challenge meeting a t Donington Park. " He is the next Freddie Spencer, " sai d Sh eene on n at ion wide television at th e time. Sh eene dragged hi s o ld; p ersonall y modified 1984 works aluminum fram ed Suzuki o u t of a museum an d H eron Suzuki lurnished th e engi ne, 1986 vin mge perhaps, hUI virtuall y th e sa me as they were using in 1984. Due to Schwantz's Dunl op tire contract, th e bike's front wheel had to be changed to 17-inch from 16-in ch and that necessitated ch anging th e triple clamps as well. Apart from some new magnesium four-piston Lockheed ca li pe rs and some 43m m forks, the bike was pretty much as it was when Sheene mothballed it. Sh eene wa s on hand o n Saturday 10 give his new American friend so me advice about the Mallory Park circuit. Schwantz was thrilled with th e bike, if not the circui t; Mall ory Park is 1.3 miles long a nd is essentiall y laid out as a mil e o va l with a series of esses, a tight dogleg hairpin , a ch ica ne and th e infamous Devil 's Elbow off -camber left-hander a t o ne end , " It's reall y something th e wa y th e bike turns in to co rners, " Schwantz sai d . " It's so much lighter than the four-stroke. Ever yth ing h appen s so fast. The power co mes in much qu icker a n d yo u have 10 be m o re ge ntle o n the th rottle bu t it 's not too hard 10 get used to th e th ing . You have to pl a y a lot wit h th e 750's si x-speed gea rbo x so th at 's not a problem o n th e 500. Mallo ry may n ot be the greates t track but I'm enjoyin g m yself a nd it's th e sa me for everyo ne ." Qual ifying o n th e front ro w for Sa tu rday's tel evised race, Sch wa ntz wa s soon in th e th ick o f things, chasing ea rly leaders Paul Lewis o n th e ca r bo n -fi be r-fra med Skoa l Bandit Suzuki and R oger Marshall o n th e Rothmans RS500 H onda . Marshall 's teammate, Roger Burnett, had a slo wer sta rt th an Schwantz a nd to ok time to ca tch up. Srhwantz was ,k stl'oyi ng rluopposit ion going into rlu- hairpin, but Ihe S uz uki s lacked rlu- H onda 's Ik-xibi lit y, and wer en 't getting o u t o f the turn s as well. The three pl a yed ca tand-mouse,' trading pl aces a t th e front until Burnell arrived o n th e scene , cras h in g his wa y to th e front o n th e brakes into th e hairpin , bouncing off Schwantz in th e process. " O ne fork seal was leaking and o il got o nto the di sc," claimed Burnett lat er. The co ll ision push ed Schwantz 10 th e hack o f th e grou p and alt houg h h e fou ght back to seco nd pl ace a head o f Marshall . it was Burnell wh o led across th e line. " I reall y enjoyed th at ," sa id Schwan tz. " It was fru strat ing being h it by Burnett but I guess he had a problem . I h ad a pl an ~\' here I was goi ng 10 tr y for th e lead o n th e last lap but it didn 't work o u t. I hav e lea rned a lot an d we'll m ak e a few cha nges for tom o rro w." Su nday's p rogram had two races for Sc h wantz, incl ud in g th e rev ived Race o f th e Year which ha s been won in p revio us yea rs by J arno Saarinen , Steve Baker. Pat H ennen. Kenn y Roberts a nd Randv Mamol a . But first came an other stra igh t500ccco n test , w ith a push sta r t. As Eddie Lawso n will co n firm , push starts are not eas v an d Sch wantz found o u t wha t a di sadvantage th ey ca n be as h e was left behind, sti ll pushing on th e grid as th e field left . " It made m e mad," sai d Sc hwa n tz, " T he others h ad gone by th e time I got the engin e started a nd I just went like h ell. " H e had onl y 20 laps of just o ver a mile 10 ca tch up and although he thrilled th e fan s by cu tting through th e ' field, Schwantz co u ld get no furth er than fourth place before h e ran out of tim e. The race was won by Burnell from Marshall with new British hopeful Mark Phillips third on his Suzuki. The Race of th e Year was a clutch sta rt a n d Schwantz was a ble 10 take co m ma nd ea rly o n, H e looked 10 h ave th e race won , chased by Marsha ll. Burnell re tired w ith cran ks haft failure but th en Schwanu hit mechanical p roblems, 100 , with two of four th ro ttle cables popping o u t of the tw ist gri p. The engine ran o n two cyi n de rs a nd Ma rshall had Ii ule trouble in relegating Sch wa ntz to ' seco nd ahead of Phillips, The RG500 Schwantz rode ma y not be the most co mpeti ti ve Grand Prix machine in th e wo rld, but perhaps Schwantz ca n do eno ug h with i t in a few 1986 World Championsh ip G rands Prix to ge t himself a good works ride for th e future, after fini shing out h is 1986-1987 AMA Superbike co nt rac t with U, S, Suzuki , • Results INVITATIONAL 500. APR. 19: 1. Roger Burnett (Ho n); 2 . Kevin Schwantz (Suz); 3 , Roger Marshall (Hon); 4 . Paul Lewis (Suz); 5 . Mark Phillips (Suz); 6. Trevor Nation (Su z). MOTOPRIX 500. APR. 20 : 1. Burnett; 2. Marshall; 3 . Phillips; 4 . Schwantz; 5. Nation; 6 . Alan Jeffrey (Suz). RACE OF THE YEAR. APR. 20: 1. Marshall; 2. Schwantz; 3. Phillips; 4 . Kenny Irons (Suz); S. Ron Haslam (Hon); 6. Lewis. RECORDLAP SETJOINTLY BY SCHWANTZAND BURNETT, 52 .3 SECONDS. 94 .3 MPH AVERAGE. Engla nd 's Barry Sheene wo n th e openi ng ro u nd o f th e 1976 500cc World Road Racing Cham pi o nship in LeM ans. Fra nce a fter beating Ven ezuela n Johnny Cecouo: Ameri can Pat Hennen retired m idw a y th rough . th e race. Both th e 250 a nd 350cc classes went to Itali an Walter Villa o n hi s H arley-D avid son. Gianfranco Bonera fini sh ed seco nd in th e 250cc class with Ceco tto chasi ng Vill a home in th e 350cc even t. Herbert Riuberger won th e 50cc class: Heikki Mikkola co nt in ued hi s domin ation of th e 250cc World Motocross Champ ionship with a 2-1 tall y in th e Belgian Grand Pr ix , Harry Everts was second overall with Jaroslav Falta finish in g third. AMA 250cc Na tio na l Mot ocross actio n from Ri o Brav o Mot ocro ss Park in T exa s sa w Suzu ki 's Tony DiStefano win hi s fir st National of the season to regain th e po ints lea d in th e series. DiStefano won both rn oto s to beat Marty Smith, who fi n ished seco nd with a 3-2 tall y. T h ird place went to Yamaha 's Bob Hannah w ith Kent Howerton fini sh ing fourt h . T he point lead er goi ng into the Texas ro u nd, Jimmy Weinert DNF bo th mo tos. The 500cc Support class win went to Wyman Priddy w ith Dan Farley tak in g seco n d. Ted Boody totall y dominated a half m ile in Springfi eld, Ohio. after disposing of seco nd-p lace d Gary Scott and third-placed Han' Scott, Jay Livingston and Corky Keener rounded out the top five. Marty Bushman won the Novice class with Audey Witt taking the Jun ior win . Nineteen-year-old John Savitski, th e 10th ranked AMA 250cc motocross rider in 1975, sig ne d 10 join th e CanAm team for th e 1976 l25 cc National Motocross Ser ies. Savi tski was set to take o ver for th e injured Tim Hart. Jack Johnson teamed with Rolf TibbIin to win th e Mint 400 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The JohnsonlTib.. blin duo beat th e co m bi na tio n of Larry RoeseIer a nd E.c. Bakken while completing th e 400 miles in less than I r hours. T he Wid owmaker in Bluffdale, Uta h . wa s tamed as Jim True blasted his chain-equipped 900cc Harley-Davidso n off th e sta rt line a nd didn 't sto p until h e reached th e top of th e 15,000 foot hill. True was the o n ly co m pe ti tor 10 cres t th e plateau.