Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Mike Baldwin was injured in practice when his Yamaha seized. Ron Haslam rode his Honda toa third after battling with Christian Sarron in the 500cc class. - - - -------- --tro nic bo xes tested. If we do n' t find Tadahiko Taira piloted his YZR500 to a fourth place in round three of the World Championship Series at Hockenheimring. West Germany. 16 d raft in g : the g uys with shorter geari ng haven 't any thi ng left to p ull ou t of my slips trea m a nd get by." The top Yam ah a wa s nonetheless Christi an Sarron 's big-mouth , third a t 2:07.65, with Law son (2:07.80) fourth , a n d Sy u nj i Yatsu sh iro 's Rothrnans H onda NSR a surprising fifth . " I lik e fast ci rc ui ts," th e Japanese form er four-strok e rid er said, " and fast bik es. I've al so learned a lot from Gardner ab out sliding in th e bends." At 2:08.35, he headed a tight gro u p with in the same second, Mackenzi e, Marnol a, Chili, McElnea, and German privat eer Gustav Rein er. L ike Ch ili , Reiner rides a die-h ard V3 NS500. To a di sp irited Law son, as everyo ne else, it look ed like Gardner 's ga me. At least Mamola was ch eerful. " O ur Dunlop tires a re much bett er: though we've ru n .these tires before, we're ge tti ng to find th e co mbinatio n , and ada p t tires to the Yamaha." ' With 59 entrants go ing for 36 positions in the 250cc GP, p ractice was hectic, especially when it looked li ke sessio n three o n Saturday wou ld be the o nly dry o ne. Th is was whe n all the crashes took place. Reinho ld Ro th secured pole befo re breaking hi s co lla rbo ne , a t 2: 12. 33; wi th Man g's identical NSR Honda 0.13 slower. The now almost full y fit . Carlos Lavad o' s YZR Yam ah a was third, but over a seco nd down; th en came Dom in ique Sarron 's NSR, th e mi sfortun at e Wimm e r' s YZR, J acques Cornu ' s NSR, a n d th e impressive 125cc Champion Luca Cad al ora' s Marlb o ro- sponsored YZR. The top non-Japan ese bike was Ital ia n Lo ris Reggian i's Aprili a , sho wing as ever a good turn of speed fro m its modified Rotax engine , a nd placed eig h tho Gardner took off a t a cracki ng pace in th e 500cc GP, a nd a t o nce started to pull away at abo ut 1.5-seconds a lap fr om L aw son a n d H a sl am. Behind him, Mamola was havin g br ak e troubl e, a n d soon h ad to co ncede fourth to th e ch a rging Sarro n, while McElnea was abo ut to come under a ttac k from T aira. At thi s stage , Raymond Ro ch e's Cagiva was also in the running, but not for l on ~ , a bri ef last flowering for th e Italian Yamaha-l ike V4's last race. Yatsushiro, meantime, had gas sed up on th e line, and got away 18th -. By lap seve n , G ardn er h ad a massive lead of almost n in e seconds, whil e H aslam a n d Sarron wer e trad ing bl ows behind L aw son. Behind th em , Mam ola was beginnin g to ca tch up. " I brake wit h my first two fin gers, and th e lever was co m ing back to pinch my third fin ger. But the brak e pow er was all there, so when I figu red o ut where to adj ust m y brak in g p oints, I speeded u p aga in." Suddenl y, th e tide turned. Lawson made two seconds on lap eig ht, was o n Gardner's tai l next time arou nd , a nd then po wered past h im. " As I went by, he was wavi ng a nd po inting a t hi s bike, bu t I wasn 't going to stop a nd fix it for him . I had a gr in fro m ear to ear - he was ridi ng brilliantly, a nd h is bike was so fast, th ere was no ot he r way I was going to catc h him." For th e Australian , it was th e start of a steady drop back to 10th. " My m otor su dde n ly lo st p ower. It wouldn't rev past 10,000 rpm , a nd I could giv e it full throttl e o n th e bends without spinning the whee l. I nearl y pulled in , a nd th en I nearly cras hed. I was tryin g to mak e up time in the bends, but I had lost interest a n d co nce ntra tio n." There's n o point in getting upset," Gardner added. "T hat 's racing." Gardner 's chief engi nee r J erry Burgess said lat er: " We do n 't kn ow wha t went wro ng. T he bike's fine now. We'll ha ve to have th e elec- the problem , we wo n 't be able to have co nf idence in th e bike again." T he next to go was Sarro n, wh o toured in a t half-distan ce with clu tch probl ems. Alm ost a t o nce, Mamola pounced o n H aslam , and th ey kept close co m pany until th e closi ng stages. " I made a cou p le of mistakes," said H aslam , "and lost the tow , so I had to sett le for th ird." Meanwhi le, the flyin g Yatsushiro had carved through the field, a nd passed T aira and McElnea to ta ke over fourth, only to cras h heavily at the sta rt of th e pit straight . McElnea had by then given best to his J apanese tea mma te. " My bike was rea lly fast, but whe n things got ho t, the handling went a bit wo bb ly, a nd it wo uldn 't turn in well. He was also q uicker th an me around the fast East Cur ve: he rode well. I'm just p leased to hav e opened my po ints score," said McElnea. Some wa y beh ind, Ch ili a n d Mackenzie were fighting it out. In th e end, th e It al ian took si x th. Mackenzi e said, " I' m a bit em barrassed to be seven th on a factory bike, but it 's my first time at this track. And Chili rod e well , a nd safely. I was faster on th e straigh ts, but he could draft me, a nd ge t past under braking for the chi canes." There was a fierce fight for a n eve ntua l eigh th between Briton Roger Burnett's '86 NSR Rothmans H onda a nd Reiner's NS. Burnett said, " I was slowed a t th e start by Yatsu shiro, then Rein er was slowi ng m e o n the stra ig h ts b y sl ipstr ea mi ng. I just co u ld n' t break free." There was less than half-asecond between th em a t th e finish. Afterwa rds, Lawson was naturally deli ghted to have go tten back in the championshi p hunt, bu t not optimist ic abo ut rep eating hi s success at the fast circuits tha t foll o w. " As long as Wayne car ries o n ridin g as well as he is, a nd un less we get a lo t more horsepow er, we have a hard year ahead," he said. Equa lly th r ill ed was Marn ol a , back in th e cha mp io ns hi p lead. " O ur Dunlop fro nt is now as good as the Mich elin, a nd the rear almos t as good, excep t whe n you're leaned ri ght over on the edge." T he resu lt l=loses th e cham pio nsh ip up again. Randy ha s 32 points, Gardn er 28, Law son 27 and Haslam 26. It must be a relief to Freddi e Spence r. An ton Mang led from th e 250cc GP start to fini sh , with Cornu second th rough out. The Swiss rider was lu cky, however, for a tight grou p of ri d ing wo u nded was clos ing fas t behind h im a t the end, a nd it was on ly becau se th ey slo wed each o ther u p th at he mi ssed bein g swa llowed u p by Reinhold Roth by less than a second. T ha t was Cornu 's second esca pe: earlier he had been under pres sure fr om tr emendous Dominque Sarron, wh o obligingl y crashed out of co ntent io n on lap 13. The pursuing grou p com prised th e NSR H ondas of Roth (broken collarbo ne), Carl os Card us (recent 'knee opera tio n; wi th seven screws), a nd Sito Pons (two freshl y sp rai ned wr ists); and the YZR Yam ahas of Carl os La vad o (recoveri n g fr om early -seaso n injuri es) a n d Lu ca Cadal ora (co mp letelyfit). As they fought, La vad o set the fastes t la p - a new reco rd - and a ppeared to ha ve tak en co ntrol. Then on the pe nultimate lap, Cardus dived through o n the ru n into the sta di u m, only to be overtaken back in the forests by Ro th . It was not over. As th e pack entered th e stadium for th e last time, Cadalora first di ved under Pons, th en in th e las t bend cut inside Lavado. A thrill in g finis h , wi th just over a second co veri ng fourth to seven th places. Span iard Juan Garriga brought hi s YZR to a lonely eigh th ; Patrick Igoa on a YZR was a soli tary ninth, and Maruizio Vitali 's Garelli V-twin was IOth , just ahead of another fierce five-bike scra p. It was Man g's 34th GP win, but Roth was as much th e local 'hero, racing in a stiff cast on his collarbone. " I th ink my fans ca n see that I would hav e won if I'd been fit," he said, pleased eno ugh to hav e mo ved into th e World Championship points lead a hea d of th e injured Wimmer. • Results . 500: 1. Eddie Law son (Yem"); 2. Randy Mamola (yam); 3 . Ron Has lam (Han); 4. Tadahiko Taira (Yam); 5 . Rob McE lnea (Yam); 6. Pier Francesco Chil i (Han); 7. Niall Mac kenz ie (Han); 8 . Roger Burnett (Hon); 9 . Gustav Reiner (Han); 10 . Wayne Gardner (Han). 500 PT SlOGS: 1. Randy Mamola (32); 2. Wayn e Gardner (28 ); 3. Eddie Lawson (27 ); 4. Ron Haslam (26). _ 250: 1. Anton Mang (Ha n); 2. Jacques Cornu (Hon ~ 3 . Reinho ld Roth (Han); 4. Corlos Cordus (Han); 5. Luco Cadalora (Yam ); 6. Corlos Lavado (Yam); 7 . Sito Pons (Han); 8 . J .E. Garr iga (yam); , 9 . Patr tek Igoa (Yam); 10 . M au r iuio Vit ali (Gar). 125: 1. Fausto Gresin i (Gar); 2. August Au inger (MBA~ 3. Bruno Cosanov a (Gar); 4. Gerhard Waibel (Kra); 5. Jo rg e Ma rt ine z (Der); 6 . Stefan Doerfl inger (Kra ). S/CAR : 1. Steved W ebst erlTony Hewitt (Kra); 2. Egbert Str euer / Ber nhard Schnieders (Yam). WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS 500: 1. Randy Mamola (321 2. Wa yne Gardner : (28); 3. Eddie Lawson (2 7); 4. Ron Haslam (261; 5 . Tadahiko Taira ( 17); 6 . Pier Francesco Chil i (13); 7 . Niall Mackenzie (12); 8.lto(1 0); 9 . Roger Burnett 18) 10 . Kevin Schwantz (6). ; 250: 1. Reinhold Roth (23); 2. Martin W immer (21); 3. Luca Cadalora (181; 4. Sito Pons (18); 5. Jacques Cornu (17) ; 5 . (TIE) Juan Garriga / ; Kobayas hi /Anton Mang (15); 8 . Patr ick Igoa (101 9 . (TIEl Dominque Sarron /Carlos Cardus (8). • .

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