Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The rain master Randy Mamola celebrates his 500cc GP win. Wayne Gafdner (2). Christian Sarron (6) and Kevin Magee (40) race past the sellout crowd that packed the Suzuka facility despite the miserable weather conditions; Both Sarron and Magee crashed on the 14th lap. NSR, and Tadhiko Taira. aboard a Yamaha YZR, filled the front row; then came impressive Australian newcomer Kevin Magee on an '86 Yamaha. another man with Suzuka experience. He crashed twice. however. caught out by hard-eompound radial front tires. Only then came Lawson's Marlboro-Yamaha teammate Rob McElnea, who might have done better had he not crashed in the third session. . Team Roberts/Lucky Strike riders were complaining of a lack of warmweather testing and "winter cobwebs." with Mamola qualifying eighth, and Baldwin II th. Alone among the top runners they were on Dunlop tires, and seemed to have the worst of the deal, in the dry at least. They sandwiched Ron Haslam, riding a new NSR while awaiting the latest version of the radical hubcenter-steered Elf. and French Yamaha rider Christian Sarron. There were a number of other crashes (Briton Roger Burnett on an '86 NSR three times). and it was lucky nobody was badly hurt. The track and pits had been much improved at the riders' request, but the guardrail was still uncomfortably close in places. as McElnea· discovered.. As Lawson said: "Before. you'd get killed. Now you only get badly hurt." The first GP was remarkable for the number of works V-4s on the 500 lineup - no less than 22: 10 Yamahas. seven Hondas, and two Italian Cagivas (though not the promised new model). japanese riders dominated the 250cc class. with promising youngster Masahiro Shimizu on pole, and fellow Honda rider Masaru Kobayashi third. It made Suzuki first-time Martin Wimmer's achievement at putting his slower Yamaha YZR Vtwin in second the more impressive. Masamitsu Taguchi was third. then came" DominiQ.ue Sarron on a Honda NSR. and PatrIck Igoa, on a Yamaha YZR, both benefiting from endurance-racing experience here. As ever, Carlos Lavado produced a stunning ~ormance. to his own discredit. Sull suffering from testing injuries, he pulled out of the pits early in the first session, only to spin the back wheel with its cold new tire, and crash almost before reaching the track. He broke his collarbone. and was out before he had begun. Similarly. Spencer. who was entered for the 250cc class. did not even attempt to ride. . Race day was rainy, and the organizers allowed extra untimed practice to try wet-weather tires. Not everybody learned their lesson. The first GP racing clutch start was problem-free. and Gardner. Mamola and Haslam took off ahead . of the pack. By half-lap, Mamola was in front. and he proceeded to pull away - eight seconds by lap two. 15 by lap four. By then, Baldwin had got through to second, and it was obvious that the Dunlop riders were enjoying a big advantage now that it was wet as the Michelin runneFs fishtailed out of the bends in hopeless pursuit. The Marlboro team were worse off. Knowing the Michelin wets to be poor. team chief Carruthers had chosen an intermediate rear for Lawson and McElnea. Lawson ran into the dirt on lap one, and pitted to change to a full wet, rejoining way in back only to retire after eight laps. McElnea had lasted for five before he decided it was too dangerous. "The tire. was a slick compound, and didn't have much pattern on the shoulder. It gripped under 'acceleration, but was dangerous on the bends," said McElnea. Meanwhile, a fierce battle was developing for third. The pack included Gardner. who maintained an advantage throughout, Magee, Sarron. Mackenzie, Haslam, Yatsushiro and Taira. As the two British riders pulled ahead, the pressure started to tell. First, Sarron crashed in front of the pits on lap 14; half-a-lap later Magee went too. Then Yatsushiro unloaded a lap later, breaking his collarbone. Four laps later. Baldwin threw away his lonely second place. "I can't really explain it," he said later. "I lost the back end, but the throttle was closed. I think the engine may have seized - it was running badly, probably because of taking in water." Mamola was having the same trouble, and gestured wildly at" his engine as he passed the pits with three laps to go. "It kept quitting on me, and I nearly lost it in the same way that Mike did. It was out of the seat," he said.. Still, he was now better than 40 seconds ahead of Gardner, and could virtually cruise to the win. His victory established him as one of the best-ever wet-weather riders. Gardner was similarly untroubled on his way to his irtherited second, but the action behind him was fast and furious. Ito's Suzuki (also on Dunlops) was closing up, and Haslam crashed his Honda defending fourth place. As he scrambled back on board, with a lapand-a-half left, Mackenzie didn't realize he had gone, and he also crashed, with less than half-a-lap left. Thus Ito took third, Pier Chili's three-cylinder Honda fourth, and Haslam fifth. Taira was sixth, veteran Hiroyuki Kawasaki's Yamaha seventh; while Burnett rode steadily to eighth ahead of Shinji Katayama's Yamaha. Raymond Roche took the last point on the Cagiva It had been a remarkable race, with Mackenzie emerging as instant superstar, only to fall at the last hurdle. and the disadvantaged Dunlop riders comiQg out well on top in the rain. With Lawson and Spencer leaving with zero points apiece, it means the first European race at jerez, Spain, will be more interesting still. Held before the 500cc race, the 2505 faced greater confusion over tire choice, with rain spotting down. but not hard enough to wet the track thoroughly. A great variety of rubber-wear took to the start-line. Honda man Kobayashi took a first-lap lead and held it throughout, 27 seconds clear at the end.. Shimizu seemed safe behind him, ahead of Stephan Mertens, soon to crash his carbon-fiber Armstrong-Honda; but Masumitsu Taguchi was soon under pressure from Dominique Sarron's similar Honda NSR, with Alan Carter losing ground on the Moriwaki-Honda NSR. It was all to do with tires, Kobayashi was on hand-cut slicks (Bridgestones, their first-ever GP win); while Pons and Roth were running slick rears, and making ground fast. As they passed jacques Cornu's NSR, he crashed.. Carter did the same shortly' afterwards. Both on intermediates, their tires had overheated earlier, even though it was not getting wetter. The pair didn't need to overtake SarrOn in third: he had crashed in the same spot where his brother Christian did the same. Meanwhile, Wimmer was moving up steadily from I I th after the start, to an eventual fifth. Garriga and Igoa's Yamahas took sixth and seventh behind hini; Anton Mang, on a Honda NSR, had an undistinguished race to eighth, while Masarnitsu Taguchi and Takaoshi Yamamoto, both on Yamaha TZs, took the last two points-scoring places. Championship leader Kobayashi does not expect to race in Europe, so Pons was justified in saying: "It's like a victory for me." Both he and Roth had ridden fine races. with the latter half-a-second behind, after leadin~ Pons briefly on the last lap. Agam, the Yamahas have work to do before the April 26 Spanish GP if they are to present a worthwhile challenge to the Yamahas. But it's going to be an interesting season all the same. • Results _m 600cc: 1. ""ndy _ . (y.mt 2. W.yn. 9Hont 3. T.kumi 110 (Suz): 4. Pier Chile (Hont 5. Ron (E1ll; 8. T _ TIIinI (Y....t 7. Hiroyuki Keweuki (Y.mt 8. ~ ~ CHont 9. Shinji KeteyenuI (Y.mt 10. Ileymond Roche (Ceg). TIME OF RACE: 57 min-. 22.88_. DISTANCE: 22 ...... 80.81 mi.... AVERAGE SPEEO: 84.31 mph. FASTEST LAP: Memol. 2:34.8. 25Occ: 1. Meauru Kobeyahi CHont 2. Si10 Pons (Hont 3. ""inhold - . CHont 4. _ i t o Shimizu (Hont 5. MerlIn Wimmer (Y.....t 8. JUllIl Cetrige (y.mt 7. P1nrick Iaoe (Y.mt 8. Anton M.ng (Hont 9. M.sumilsu -r.ouchl (Hon): 10. T.k.yoshi Gercln Fnl V.....moto (y.ml. • nME OF RACE: 51 minutes. 15.8_cIs. DISTANCE: 20 laps. 73.28 mi.... AVERAGE SPEEO: 85.7 mph. FASTEST LAP: Kobeynhi 2:19.8.

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