It's play time for lawson after wrapping up his second World Championship; between Jet-Skiing, boating and trail riding lawson keeps busy.
(Above) lawson's Superbike and Expert Lightweight number one plates.
(Below) His 23-foot Eliminator Daytona speed boat.
A few of lawson's motorcycles decorate his garage; a Yamaha V-Max, his
Yamaha TISOO dirt tracker and a Yamaha Daytona Special.
KniF;ht-framed Yamana that he rode
in the 1983 Houston TT National; he
won his heat and finished eiF;hth in
the National in whaL was his last-ever
din track appearance.
.
His other LOVS are those he uses LO
train with; a' Yamaha YZ490 and
YZ2.~O, plus a TT3!,O. Two Kawasaki
Jet-Skis usually accompany Lawson
when he Lakes his new 23-loot EliminaLOr DayLOna speed boat out to the
Colorado Rider. "It's (Jet-Skiing) a
good workout." Lawson said.
His boat. however, seems to be
Lawson's favorite toy. Two 300 Evinrude V-eight outboards produce 600
horsepower and can propel Lawson
across his favorite body of water at
close to 100 mph.
As you can probably tell, Lawson
likes LO go fast. Like most ex-din
I rackers. Lawson drives a van ('" moLOcrossers drive trutks"). Butl ike everyth ing- else he owns, the van is fast. A
460-powered For.d ("'ii'S been worked
on a lillie too") pulls hi boat up the
grade oil a Lawson-prdered high ral.e
oC speed. passing everything but the
gas "at ion. How many miles to the
g-allon docs iL get whiJo(lJ1 half joked.
Although Ihevan is Lawson's most
used mode of lritnSporWlion, he also
owns a POI'S h,' 930 Turbo to which
he JUSI added a 935 OP body kit. The
whole pack,lge filS Il('atly into his
garage with room 10 spare - more
room probably means mon' IOYs 1.0
co Int.'.
The serious swe 10 Lawson reali/.'·s
that nexl year's Grand Prix circuil
won't bea pushover. "Wayne Gardner
and even Randy (Mamola) will even
be tougher next year," Lawson said.
"Wayne is really going well righl
now. I think he's the guy to beat. He
was really smooth; that's the guy I
worry about. Randy goes real fast one
race and then something happens the
next. If he was consistent he would be
difficult. but he's lackinF; in the consistency depanment. But he'll be
LOuF;h; he'll know the- bike beuer."
Interestingly, the name Freddie Spencer didn't come up in Lawson's 1987
season preview.
Lawson was in the best physical
shape of his career last year; he stood
above the rest of his competition in
that depanment. So what will he do
this year? Train even harder.
''I'm going LO stan riding the din
bikes a little more-playing in the desen. r II use the boat until the weather
gets too cold. After that I'll concentrate on the din bi kes and stan my
training. I'm going to gel after it even
harder this off-sea on. I'll be in good
shape for next year. It's (physical conditioning) real imponanl now wilh
the way lhe bikes are. You have to
physically move Ihem around now."
In addition to lhccompetilion.the
upcoming GP season may fealure up
1016 races, including' races in Soulh
America and Japan. In 1986.theseason consisll'd of I I rounds.
"( like racinJ< in lhose different
countries." I.awson said. "New Iracks
will he nice. but the mon° races Ihe
more traveling. I don'l enjoy the travding, so that will make il a lillll'
tougher that way."
•
