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Mike Baldwin (11) leads Rob McElnea (9) and Raymond Roche (7); Baldwin and McElnea battled for the entire distance with Baldwin getting third. Stephane Mertens (36) leads Siegfried Minich (23) and Jean-Francois Balde (17) in the 250cc Grand Prix in Sweden. Marlboro Yamaha's Eddie Lawson takes the checkered flag for his sixth Grand Prix win of the season and his second World Championship. 24 him anything. I wanted to break away from the start, but Eddie got awav first and I lost him on the straights." On the seventh lap Mamola swapped places with Haslam and moved into eighth where he would tay to the finish. He would narrow the gap on MacKenzie in seventh to just over three seconds, but he couldn'l reel him in. Lap 10 had Gardner still on Lawon's tail and 94 seconds ahead of Baldwin, in third from the eighth lap, McElnea, and Roche with de Radigues dropping, but still seven econds ahead of McKenzie. The 12th lap was Gardner's fastest at 1:36.91 averaging 93,02 mph just before they got into back markers. At the halfway point on lap 15. Lawson turned a leisurely 1:37.58 and their lead on Baldwin and McEInea increased to al most 13 seconds. Roche, by this point, had dropped some four seconds off the third place pace. but with de Radigues dropping back was unchallenged and resolved to cruise to the end. . "I ~'ent slow because I didn't want to crash and I just went too slow" Roche said. "I made a mistake one time on braking in the big righl and Baldwin and McElneagot by. I want to go to the inside accelerating out and the bike wants to go to Ihe outside of the track. I crashed at Pau I Ricard and didn'l want to crash here. I hope to have the V-four at Misano." McElnea outbraked Baldwin going into the left following the sweeping right after the front straightaway and moved into third quickly opening up a 30-yard gap. "I tried to get away there and saw a few backmarkers," McElnea began. "I got a few more not quite rights. I just didn't get them right when they would look back and see me there. Mike got back by me in the slow left before the pits on about the 24th lap." "Comingout of the carousel before the slow left he'd down-shift to second," Baldwin explained, "I just gassed it by him and braked real hard." Out from Lawson had opened up a two-second lead on the 19th lap, which would be his faslest at 1:36.59 averaging 93.4 mph. "At the end I picked up the pace. I stuffed a few guys and broke the draft. I thought 'If he's going to play, I'm going to play.' The race suspension was a little loose and not working as well as I would have liked." Still his fast lap was good fora new record eclipsing Kenny Roberts' I:37.11 during the 1983 race. A slight drizzle began to fall on the 24th lap. but it wasn '( enough to slow anyone down. Lawson was now over four second in from. Gardner was over 15 seconds aheadof Baldwin and McElnea who, in turn, were 13 seconds ahead of Roche. De Radigues was in sixth eight econds ahead of MacKenzie who had no II au ble sta\ ing 10 second ahead of Mamola whose Swedish GP Anderstorp shoulder was getting progressively worse. Lawson stayed in the 36s to the end and won comfortably with Gardner dropping to 16 seconds back at the end after an off-track excursion. "I made a dumb mistake on the last lap and got on the grass. I wem outside a backmarker at the bottom of the back chute and onto the grass. I chased him as hard as I could and I had to let him go at the end. He rode a great race and deserves to be World Champion. My congratulations to him. Our bike has quite a ways to go to catch Eddie's." For the last few laps it appeared that McElnea was sizing up Baldwin for a draft at the finish. McElnea turned his faSt lap two Laps from the end clocking 1:37.45. Unfortunately, Baldwin's fastest lap was the white flag lap when he wem 1:37.40. It was good enough for a I.I-second gap over McElnea at the end and with Gardner's mistake Baldwin was only 2.4 seconds ourofsecond when the checkered flag fell. McElnea said that he had tried the bias-ply !ire in training and, thought the radial wou Id last longer than it did. "I felt like I rode okay. There's not a lotto say really. I guess I should have gone bananas to get on the rostrum," McElnea, who finished fourth for the fifth time, said. Following the post-race press conference Lawson. wearingan "E. Lawson, 1986 World Champion" T-shirt pre-primed for the occasion, was thrown into the pool along with his two mechanics and, later, team owner Giacomo Agostini. ''I'd say the high point of the year was at Paul Ricard when I wasn't 100% physically after crashing at Laguna Seca and I still won. And the low poim has to be falling at Assen. But these things even out at the end because Wayne didn't score any points at Italy so we both finished nine races. Rand) is (he only one that scored points in every race. I knew Wayne would be competitive, but I didn't know he would progress as fast as he did." Lawson was asked if he would be back with the Marlboro Yamaha Agostini team next year and he admitted that he had been approached by other factories. Given that his contract is due to be renewed with Agostini it's a common tactical ploy to let your employers know that your services are valued elsewhere. However, given his success with the Kel Carruthers-led team and the phenomenal reliability of the Yamahas, it seems highly unlikely that he would want to break up such a winning combination. With the pressure to win the title off, Lawson was looking forward to the season-ending race just off the Adriatic Sea at Misano. "Now I can go to Italy and relax," he said, and no one would argue that he had earned the right to take it easy. • Results 500cc: 1. Eddie Lawson (Yam); 2. Wayne Gardner (Han); 3. Mike Baldwin (Vam); 4. Rob McElnea (Vam); 5. Raymond Roche (Hon); 6. Didier de Radigues(Che); 7. Niall McKenzie (Suz); B. Randy Mamala (Yam); 9. Ron Haslam (Elf); 10. Wolfgang von Muralt (Suz). RACE DISTANCE; 30 lapl, 75 miles. AVERAGE SPEED: 92.029 mph. RECORD LAP; Lawson 1:36.59. 93.396 mph. OLD RECORD: Roberts 1;37.1 1. 25Occ: 1. Carlos Lavado(Vaml; 2. Sito Pons(Honl; 3. Jean·Francois ealde (Han); 4. Maurino Vitali (Garl; 5. Dominique Sarron (Han); 6. Stephana Mertens (Yam); 7. Jacques Cornu (Hon); 8. Jean Foray (Vam); 9. Siegfried Minich (Han); 10. Alan Carter (Cob). RACE DISTANCE: 23 lapl, 57.5 miles. AVERAGE SPEED: 83.8B9 mph. 125cc: 1. Fausto Gresini (Gar); 2. Lues Cadalora (Gar); 3. Domenico Brig.glia (Duc); 4. Bruno Kneu- buhler (LCR); 5. Lucio Pietroniro (MBA); 6. Johnny Wickstrom (Tun); 7. Thierry Feuz (MBA); 8. Adi Stadler (MBA); 9. Pier Paolo Bianchi (MBAI; 10. Hakan Olsson (Sta). RACE DISTANCE: 23 laps. 57.5 miles. AVERAGE SPEED; 84.945 mph. RECORD LAP: Cadalora 1:45.01. 85.B7 mph. OLD RECORD: Torma 1:46.94. SIDECAR: 1. A. Michel/J.M. Fresc (Kra); 2. M. Egloff/U. Egloff (LCR); 3. D. Baylay/B. Nixon (LCRI; 4. D. Jones/B. Ayras (LCR); 5. M. Kumano/H. Diahl (Vam); 6. F. Wrathall/K. Chapman (Vam); 7. R. ProginlY. Hunziker (Sey); 8. T. van Kempen/G. de Haas (LCR); 9. S. Abbot/S. Smith (Vam); 10. G. Gleason/Po Linden (LCR). RACE DISTANCE: 23 laps, 57.5 milas. AVERAGE SPEED: 87.86 mph. RECORD LAP: Webster 1:40.27,89.97 mph. 500 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS; 1. Eddie Lawson (1241; 2. Wayne Gardner (105); 3. Randy Mamola (95); 4. Mike Baldwin (70); 5. Rob McElnea (60); 6. Christian Sarron (53); 7. Didier de Radigues (38); 8. Raymond Rochee 1291; 9. Ron Haslam (161; 10. P. Chili (11). 250 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS; 1. Carlos Lavado (1141; 2. Sito Pons (96); 3. Jean-Francois Balde (63); 4. Dominique Sarron (62); 5. Toni Mang (57); 6. Martin Wimmer (51); 7. Jacques Cornu (32); 8. Donnie Macleod (27); 9. Fausto Ricci (24); 10. Pierre Bolle (19). 125 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Luca Cadalora (98); 2. Faulto Gresini (B91; 3. Domenico Brigaglia (69); 4. Ella Gianola (491; 5. Bruno Kneubuhler (40~; 6. Lucio Pietroniro (37); 7. August Auinger (35); 8. Johnny Wickstrom (31); 9. Pier Paolo Bianchi (29); 10. Willy Perez (26). SIDECAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Michal/Frese (69); 2. Webster/ Hewitt (611; 3. S"euer/Schnieders (601; 4. EglofflEgloff (49); 5. Kumano/Diehl (33); 6. Abbott/Smith (32); 7. Zur!>rugg/Zur!>rugg (30); B. Jones/ Ayres (29); 9. Biland/Waltisparg 1201; , O. Stenhaulen/Hiliar (10).