Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

But, despite the pessimistic weather forecast, the clouds had gone and the track was dryas dawn broke on Thur day. Rain SLOpS practice at Macau. Not only because the circuit is dangerous enough when it' dry, thank you very much, but because LO make things even, and to keep the already high cost of transportation down, no wet weather tires are allowed. While Haslam and de Radigues started as quickly, almost as they had laid off 12 months earlier, others were taking things more easily. Renfrow had an engine failure after just three laps of practice, and with no time to repair between the 8 a.m. untimed session and the 10:30 timed effort, the diminutive American champ had to sit on the pit wall and watch the others. Haslam was quickest of all, with de Radigues not surprisingly second best. But Haslam was almost five seconds quicker than the Belgian, and almost eight seconds a lap better than Brit Steve Parrish, who was third best on the Loctite Yamaha in the somewhat strange colors of Lucky Strike for this one-off Oriental c1asSlC. Ron Haslam rode the Elf Honda to the Macau Grand Prix win after battling with Belgian Didier de Radigues. AMA/Camel Pro Formula One champ Randy Renfrow (1) leads Kenny Irons; Renfrow finished third. Haslam wins Macau Grand Prix By Chris Carter Photos by Hermann Pickartz MACAU, NOV. 22, . Ron Haslam's fifth victory In the Macau G P made the Bri tish road racer a hero in the eyes of the 660,000 residents of the tiny Portuguese territory on the mainland of China. 16 Haslam on the Elf Honda ' d d d S500-, h a pro uce some 3 N breathtaking form to win the first leg from Belgian rival Didier d~ Radigues, and.then ensu~e overall V1CtOry by followmg de Rad1gues home by less than a second in the second 15-lap race through the streets of Macau. Ha lam and de Radigues had been the stars of the show, just as they had in 1985, but the supporting cast was even better than ever. Macau GP newcomers Randy Renfrow, the U.. Formula One Champion, and Britain' Kenny Irons, the reigning MCN SupersLOck winner, were both superb, and Sweden's Peter Linden was not so far behind them. Macau regulars like Finland' Eero Hyvarinen and Germans Ernst Gschwender and Peter Rubato played their part LOO. The start of race week had been far from encouraging. It was wet, miserable and cold on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and the chance of practice starting early on Thursday morning eemed remote as the party of riders, mechanics, journalists, enthusiasts and friends went to bed on Wednesday night as the rain lashed down. Manfred Fischer on the Hein Gericke Honda was sixth fastest, just ahead of Kenny Irons and Keith Huewen, Parrish's teammates for the race. Friday's weather was even better, and hundreds of workers had been up since before dawn brushing the dust off the worst spots on the 3.7-mile public roads circuit. Haslam was again quickest, but the British ace had LO go out for a final, three-lap thra h, right at the end of the 45-minute se ion. after a determined de Radigues had put in a lap at 2 minutes, 38.09 econdsquicker than Haslam had clocked on Thursday. Haslam did what was needed. He lapped in 2:36.39, close to two seconds better than de Radigues' "quick" one. And the Belgian would have been even more unhappy if he had heard Haslam tell a friend, quite matter-of-factly, that he could take another couple of seconds 0((, if he had to. In normal circumstances Haslam's efforts were remarkable. But amazingly the tires from Dunlop Japan had been held up in Macau customs for want of the right piece of paper, and no amount of Grand Prix pressure could free them. As things turned out, Haslam rode both practice days and both 15-lap races on the same set of tires he had fitted at the start of the weekl It was going to bea two horse race. that much eemed certain. But Rubatto and Gschwender on their big four-strokes bad taken third and fourth best times, and joining them on the front row of the grid was Manfred Fischer. Peter Li nden, the Swedish jet pilot, had been flying, too. He was sixth fastest, followed by Renfrow, Andy McGladdery and Irons-all first timers at Macau. The two legs of the Grand Prix were both run on Saturday, a break from tradition, and race day dawned fair and warm, very warm. Heat and stamina were LO play key facLOrs. A new element had come into the reckoning, too. Efforts, on the grounds of safety, common sense and television and tracks ide entertainment, to make Haslam and de Radigues ease their pace and play around were rebuffed. De Radigue 'pointed out that, like Haslam, he wanted to win, and would ride his very best, for ,his own sake andJ.hat of his Macau sponsor, film manufacturer Agfa. Haslam, too, was not so keen on

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