Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Carlos Lavado (3) is about to be passed by eventual winner Dominique Sarron (31) in 250cc action from the wet British GP. suffered a broken left elbow and wi'll miss Sweden. He hopes to be back at the season-ending race at Misano. The single digit lineup on lap 10 read, 4-Gardner, 2-Lawson, 8-de Radigues, 9-McElnea, 7-Roche, 5Haslam and 6-Mamola. At the halfway point on lap 14, Gardner's lead had swelled to almost 18 seconds. Going into Copse Corner, the first turn, de Radigues went inside Lawson and took over second. Lawson, in third, still had eight seconds on his teammate McElnea with Mamola moving into fifth another eight seconds back. A poor tire choice had Haslam fading fast and Roche moved in behiJ:ld Mamola in sixth. At about this poim Mamola was thinking about pulling in. "Coming onto the front straight about the middle of the race I was leaning off the right side and my foot slipped off the peg and went under the bike," he said. "I wem right to the white line and grass. I couldn't stop it from wiggling on the straights. It 'was so painful at certain points that it would collapse. I couldn't have raced if it was dry." Lapping comfortably in the I :45s, Gardner's lead was getting worrisome to his mechanics. "I kept seeing them waving for me to slow down," Gardner said. "I was a little bit surprised Eddie and Didier didn't push me harder. We had the same tires except for Didier who used Dunlops. I just had to watch the board and judge it from there." De Radigues was pulling away from Lawson and McElnea was catching him. But with the two point difference between third and fourth on the line, McElnea slowed the pace. "I was catching Eddie and I knew that it wasn't viable to pass him so I slowed down a bit," Lawson's teammate explained. The race conditions were constantly changing as Lawson explained. "At first I couldn't see, but it wasn't slowing me' down that bad," he said. "Then the rain got really bad, then the wind came up the last five laps." Gardner was also affected. "I couldn't concentrate toward the end because I was so cold. What happened was I was so far out front that I relaxed and then I realized how cold it was." From the 15th lap to the end of the 28-lap, 82-mile race the order for the top six wouldn't change.. It read GardI!er, de Radigues, Lawson, McElnea, Mamola and Roche. A trio of Englishmen, Niall McKenzie in his 500cc GP debut aboard the Skoal Bandit Herron Suzuki and Kenny Irons aboard a private Suzuki. It was Haslam, Irons, MacKenzie on lap 23, but at the end the order was reversed with MacKenzie an impressive seventh, Irons a strong eighth and the veteran Haslam ninth. West German Wolfgang von MuraIt scored his first Grand Prix point of the year with a 10th. For Gardner the win was something special. "It was fantastic," he said. "We're back in business. I wamed to win this one so badly, especially in Britain. It was cold and I wanted to do what Eddie and Freddie do; go out and set a fast pace and build up a big lead. At one point I had to put my foot down in the fast (160mph) lefthander at Maggots Curve when the front end tucked under. At midrace it started to rain harder, the puddles got bigger and I was aquaplaning." . "I think I like the wet and the bike and tires worked good," a smiling de Radigues said of his best career finish and first podium visit. t'I knew I couldn't catch Wayne because I think he was riding quite well. Eddie and I were riding together and I could see .he was sliding always." It was a great personal triumph for the upright-riding Belgian because his tendency iJ:l the past when faced with this sort of success has been to fall. This year alone he's broken his collarbone three times. To Lawson it was a survival contest. "I was just riding around," he said. "I just wanted to finish. I couldn't take a chance on falling down. We're 16 points ahead now so we're pretty good. I wasn't worried about Gardner, I wanted to know where Randy was. I'd like to try hard in Sweden and win the championship." To clinch the title, he has to either win the race outright or finish ahead of Gardner and Mamola if someone else wins, which isn't likely since the three of them have combined to win every race this year. Like Gardner, McElnea was affected by a lack of concentration. "When I was catching Eddie I was concentrating, but once I started to back off I got real cold. The spray was bad and it was a bit dangerous. You couldn't feel the rain, but the puddles kept getti ng bigger." "My injections wore off about halfway through the race," Mamola said after being released from the medical cemer. "You could hear it spinning all the way down the from straight. Going imo right-handers it was so painful because I would be on the brakes and trying to lean over and hold on with my right hand. My Australian Wayne Gardner took his third win of the 1986 season at Silverstone and moved himself into second in the World Championship standings. trainer Dean Miller is coming over this week with a muscle stimulator to get me ready for Sweden. If I can rest it, it should be all right. We know what's going to happen to the championship in Sweden, the fight now is for second." The championship may be decided by Misano and even Gardner admits the likely outcome. "Eddie is riding perfectly right now and I think he's the best rider. He's got a good bike and he's got it all going for him." Like the 500s the 250 qualifying times didn't mean anything because they were run in the dry and the race was run in pouring rain. For the record Lavado was fastest ahead of Marlboro Yamaha's Martin Wimmer, Pons, Pierre Bolle and Jean-Francois Balde. Dominique Sarron was ninth fastest. Carter thrilled the crowd by leading laps two, ,three and four after Aprilia's Loris Reggiani led the first lap. Sarron took over on lap five, but Carter took it back through lap II of the 24-lap race. Tight behind the front two were Lavado, HB Honda's Reinhold Roth, Campsa Honda's Carlos Cardus and Virginio Ferrari. Wimmer was as high as fourth on the third lap before falling and remounting. A clogged fuel breather slowed him down, but he cominued forward. His teammate Tadahiko Taira would crash injuring his foot on the 16th lap. At the halfway mark, it was Lavado ahead of Sarron with Carter third, Roth fourth and Cardus fifth. Two laps later Sarron took over the lead with Lavado getting pressured by Carter. Roth and Cardus were secure in fourth and fifth and would finish there. Pons was sixth on their tail and would make his move on the 19th lap passing Cardus first then two laps from the end getting Roth to finish third. With three laps to go Sarron's lead was almost three seconds over Caner. Lavado had backed off resigning himself to third with Pons having pounced on Roth for fourth. Two laps from the end Carter saved a potential raceending slide in Woodcote. On the white flag lap he couldn't save it and went flying over the bars and into the hay bales in full view of the front grandstand spectators; he was credited with 23rd place. The margin of victory for Sarron was 15-plus seconds over Lavado. Pons was another five and a half back and just a second and a half ahead of Roth. Cardus was fifth, Ferrari sixth and Jean-Michel Mattioli seventh ahead of the Belgian Stephane Mertens. Wimmer pressed on after his fall and got two points for his ninth place finish. Lavado now stands in roughly the same place as Lawson in the title chase. His 99 points is 15 better than Pons' 84 and finishing ahead of him in Sweden would give the friendly Venezuelan his second World Championship. • Results 500cc: 1. Wayna Gardner (Han); 2. Didier de Radigues (Che); 3. Eddie Lawson (Yam); 4. Rob McElnea (Yam); 5. Randy Mamola (Yam); 6. Raymond Roche (Han): 7. Niall MacKenzie (Suz); 8. Kenny Irons (Suz); 9. Ron Haslam (En); 10. Wolfgang von Muralt (Suz). RACE DISTANCE: 28 laps. 82 miles. AVERAGE SPEED: 95.66 mph,,, -{ 25Occ: 1. Dominque Sanor (H~;' 2. carlos Lavado IVam); 3. Sito Pons (Hon!:.I4: einhold Roth (Han); 5. Carlos Cardus (Hlm~ '" 111 inio Ferrari IHon); 7. Jean-Michel M,nioli JHpn)rl§~Stephana Merrens IHon); 9. Marrin Wi",mer (Ya'll), AVERAGE SPEED: 94.30 mphl c.q ,I 12Scc: 1. August Auinge'Ill.8f);;2ill_nico 8ri· gaglia (Due); 3. Luca cadalqr~ tGi\.<);,,4. Johnny Wickstrom (Tun): 5. Lucio Peitronll.a1M",f.6. Willy Perez (Zan): 7. Jussi Hautaniemf fM8;.\),dli Oliview Liegeois (ASX); 9. Ezio Gianola(I)ll.B~h.10. Pier Paolo Bianchi (See), .~" AVERAGE SPEED: 90.27 mph. I ... 1'l11t. 8Occ: 1. Ian McConnachie (Kra); f~,.~,ef.n Dorflinger (Kra); 3. Jorge Martinez (De,r)j 4. Manuel Herreros (Der): 5. Hans Spaan IJVM): 6. Gerhard Waibel (Rea); 7. Gerd Kafka (Kra); 8. A. Barros (Aut); 9. Wilco Zeelenberg (Cas); 10. Do/"ingo Gil (Aut). AVERAGE SPEED 99.99 mph. SIDECAR: 1. E. Streuer/B. Schnieders (Vam); 2. S'. Webster/Tony Hewitt (Yam);'3. Markus/U. Egloff (Vam); 4. Zurbruegg/Zurbruegg (Yam); 5. Kumano Diehl (Vam); 6. Jones/Ayres (Yam); 7. Wrath all/Champman (Yam); 8. Gleeson/Colquhoun (Yam); 9. Progin/Hunziker ISey); 10. Barron/Rose IVam). AVERAGE SPEED: 112.40 mph. 500 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Eddie Lawson 1109); 2. Wayna Gardner (93); 3. Randy Mamola (92); 4. Mike 8aldwin 160); 5. Christian Sarron (53); 6. Rob McElnea (52); 7. Didier de Radigues 133); B. Raymond Roche (23); 9. Ron Haslam (14); 10. Pier Franceseo Chili (11). 250 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Carlos Lavado (99); 2. Si.o Pons (B4); 3. Toni Mang (57); 4. Dominique Sarron (56); 5. JeanFrancois Balde (53); 6. Martin Wimmer (511; 7. Jacques Cornu (28); 8. Donnie Mcleod (27); 9. Fausto Ricci (24); 10. Pierre Bolle (19). 125 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1.luca Cadalora (86); 2. Fausto Gresini (74); 3. Domenico Brigaglia(59); 4. August Auinger (35); 5. Ezio Gianola (49); 6. Bruno Kneubuehler (32); 7. lucio Peitroniro (31); 8, Pier Paolo Bianchi (27); 9. CTtE) Johnny Wickstrom/Witty Perez (26). 80WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Jorge Martinez (821; 2. Manuel Herr.ros (67); 3. Stefan Dar/linger (65); 4. Ian McConnachie 146); 5. (TIE) Angel Nieto/Hans Spaan 139); 7. Gerhard Waibel 134): 8. Pier Paolo Bianchi (29); 9. Fisher (9): 10. Gerd Kafka (6). SIDECAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Webster/Hewitt (6t); 2. Streuer/ Schnieders f6); 3. Michel/Frese (54); 4. Egloff/ Egloff 137); 5. (TIE) Abbon/Smi.h/Zurbruegg/Zurbruegg 130); 7. Kumano/DiehI127); 8. Jones/Ayres (21): 9. Biland/Wahisperg; to. S.einhaueen/Hiller (10).

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