Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Lawson (center). Gardner (left) and Mamola (right) celebrate on the rostrum; the Dutch win was Lawson's second in 1987. dia te o n the front a nd full wet rear tire. Marnola's choice was a cu t slick Dunlop in th e rear and full wet o n front . The th ird holeshot of the da y wen t to Lawson with Gardner by in tum o ne follo wed by Lawson, Mam ola, Haslam, and Burnett. Ri chard Scott, ridi ng th e injured Mike Baldwin 's Lu ck y Strike Yamahas in h is absence, overshot turn one, slowly cra shing unhurt in the muddy grass. Having fini shed over 13 seconds behind Gardner in the ear lier fivelap race , Mamola knew that he would hav e to win the second race by a t least that to claim th e .overa ll victory and by th e end of lap six overa ll (the firs t lap of the second part of the race) he was leading. Lawson was seco nd foll owed by Gardner, Burnett, de Rad igues, Haslam, and McElnea. Magee and Sarron rounded out th e top 10. After the eighth lap, Mamola .held a 3.51 second lead, over Lawson with Gardner, looking tenative, 11.01 seconds back just ahead of Haslam, who was losing power. One lap later and Haslam was in 12th, having taken the slip road in turn one. " The power valve linkage broke and it sh ut th e exhaust valv e. It lost all its power. When it shut I started riding harder and braking lat er a nd th at's when I went straigh t a t th e end," H aslam said. De Rad igues was suffering a similar problem wi th the exhaust valve o n th e Cagi va in sixth pl ace. By th e halfwa y poin t, Marnola's ad vantage over Laws on was mo re th an six seconds a nd over Gardner more than 17. McElnea was over 20 back. As the ra in pi cked u p at th is p oi nt it a p peared . G ardn er was ca tching Lawson , but Lawson was j ust the la test victi m of turn one, getting in too ho t and havin g to a lmos t sto p befo r e conti n ui ng. McEl nea was fou rth at this point, a position he wo u ld n't relinq uis h. " I had a full wet in th e back and the rear was mo ving around a bit in .' the fast sections," McElnea said. When Lawson dropped back, Mamola's advantage over him was close to 19 seconds with Gardner yet another 4.66 in arrears. McElnea was a lonely fourth with Burnett being hounded by de Radigues in h is best showing yet on th e Cagiva. H aslam had worked his wa y back up to seven th just past Kenny Irons on the Suzuki and Gauloises Blondes' Christian Sarron. Go ing down through th e kinks ori the start of the 15th lap, Mamola was forced wide by a backmarker and when he got to the first tum his speed was too high to stop . The 2o-odd second advantage he'd built up had evapora ted along with his chances ofa win. " Com ing into th e first turn I lost contro l momentarily. I missed by brake marker. I knew I cou ld n 't catch up to Eddie on tim e, but time over Wayne was critical so I went for it," Mamola would later say. . "When he made that mistake, I kn ew that was it ," Lawson said. With six laps to the end, Lawson crossed th e line first a nd as long as he held that position and fin ished more than the 0.23-second ga p th at Gardner beat him by in th e first leg, he'd have hi s second victory of the seaso n. On that 15th lap the mar s-in to Gardner was 6.44 seconds WIth Mamola right on Lawson'srear. The . order for th e top 10 wou ld change little in th e final five laps. Sarron 's Yamaha was forced out b y water in th e igni ti on whil e runnin g 10th with ·two laps to go. That mo ved Ma gee up to 10th behind Chi li in ' n in th , Iro ns in eig h th, and H aslam in sevent h. De Radi gu es and Burnett were fifth a nd sixth, respectively. In a fina l dash to the flag, Mamol a went past Lawson -in the chicane abo ut 100 yards before the finis h line to win th e second leg. It wouldn 't, however , affect the final outcome. Lawson saw it com ing. " Go ahea d, I said. Just don 't tou ch me." The fin al order of th e second leg was Marn ol a , Lawson, G ardner, McElnea, de Radigu es, Burnett , and H aslam. Irons was eig h th o n the Suzuki ahead of HB Honda's Pier C h il i a nd Magee finished 10th. When th e tim es were added up there were a few cha nges, notably Lawson who was at the top of th e podium. Gardner was safely seco nd ahead of Mam ola a n d McElnea . H aslam would finish fifth with de Radi gues gain ing his first Grand Prix points in sixth foll owed by Burnett. The order for eig h th th rough 10th was the same as for th e second leg ; Irons, Chili, Magee. " I shou ld have gone with a full wet," Lawson lat er lamented. " Bu t Wayne was sitting there with an intermediate. It was really hairy out there. Wayne had the same problems I had. Randy's tires seemed to be working a little better. They had a deeper cut. With five laps to go I kn ew he couldn't make up 13seconds on me. My main concern was to hold him back. Wh en th e rain really came down I had some hairy moments out th ere; feet off th e pegs." Gardner 's story was nearly iden tica l. " I had a few momen ts and I though t, 'Why throw it away?' I'd ra ther finish second and collec t th e points. The front was perfect, but the rear wasn 't hook ing up at all. It was spin ning in six th gear and I was getti ng sideways. I was dirt tracking every w here. H ad i t been dry i t wouldn't have been a problem to win." • Results 500cc: 1. Eddi e Lawson (Yam); 2. Wayne Gardner (Han); 3. Randy Mamola (Y.m); 4. Rob McE lne. (Yam); 5. Ron Haslam (Han); 6. Didier de Radigues (Cag); 7. Roger Burnett (Han); B. Kenny Irons (Suz); 9. Pier -Francesco Chili (Han); 10. Keyjn Mage e (Yam). • RACE DISTANCE: 20 laps. 76 .23 miles AVERAGE SPEED: 91 .09 mph . 250: 1. Anton Mang (Han); 2. Reinhold Roth (Han); 3. Sito Pons (Hon~ 4. Carlos Cardus (Hon~ 5. Martin W immer (Yam); 6. Ivan Palazzese (Yam); 7 . Jacques Cornu (Hon); 8. Juan Garri9~ (yam); 9. Patrick Igoa (Yam); 10. Carlos Lavado (Yam). RACE OISTANCE: l Blaps. 68.61 miles . AVERAGE SPEED: 9B.51 mph . 125 : 1. FauSlo Gresini (Gar); 2. Burna Casanova (Gar t 3. Paolo Casali (MBA) ; 4. AuguSl Auinger (MBAt 5. Pier Paolo Bianchi (MBAt 6. Mika Leitner (MBA) ; 7. Corrado Catalano (MBA) ; B. Andres Sanchez (MBA) ; 9. Jean-Claude Selin i (MBA); 10. Thierry Feuz (MBA) . RACE DISTANCE: 16 laps, 60 .99 miles. AVERAGE SPEED: 93 .79 mph . 80 : 1. Jorge Martinez (Oer); 2. Manuel Harreros (Oer); 3. Stefan Doerfl inger (Kra); 4. Luis Reyes (Aut); 5. Julian Miralles (Der); 6. Karoly Juhasz (Han); 7. Hubert Abold (Kra); B. Ian McConnachie (Kra); 9. Peter Onl (Kra); 10 . Gunter Schirnhoffer (Kra). RACE DISTANCE: 12 laps. 45 .74 miles. AVERAGE SPEED: BB.4 mph . SIDECAR : 1. Streuer/ Schni eders (Yam); 2 . Webster/ Hew itl (Kra); 3. Michel/Frese (Kra); 4 . BilandlWaltisperg (Kra); 5. Steinhausen/Hiller (Yamt 6. Zurbruegg/Birchall (Yam); 7. Abboll/ Smith (Yam); B. Scherer/Gess (Yam); 9. Brindley/ Rose (Yam); 10. Van Kempen/De Haas (Yam). RACE DISTANCE: 16 laps. 60.99 miles. 500cc WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STAND. INGS: 1. Wayne Gardner (B5); 2. Randy Mamola (66); 3. Eddie Lawson (64); 4. Ran Haslam (54); , 5. (TIE) Rob McElnealTadahiko Taira (2B); 7. Pier Francesco Chili (25); B. Niall Mackenzie (23); 9. ChriSlian Sarron (15); 10. Roger Burnett (10). 250cc WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. (TIE) Anton Mang /Reinhold Roth (67); 3. Sito Pons (45); 4. Jacques Cornu (42); 5. Manin Wimmer (34); 6. Carlos Lavado (30); 7. Dominque Sarron (27); B. Carlos Cardus(26); 9. Loris Reggiani (24); 10. Juan Garriga (23). 125cc WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. FauSlo Gresin ; (75); 2. Bruno Casanova (64 ); 3. AuguSl Auinger (42); 4. Domenico Brigaglia (32 t 5. Paolo Casali (30); 6. Pier Paolo Bianchi (26); 7. Andres Sanchez (1B); B. Thierry Feuz (11 ); 9. Jussi HaUlaniemi (7t 10. Ad i Stadler (6). 8Dcc WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Jorge Maninez (B7); 2. (TIE) Manuel HerreroslGerhard Waibel (51 t 4 . Stefan Doerflin ger (4 2t 5. Ian McConnachie (31 ); 6. Hubert Abold (22); 7. Luis Reyes (IB); B. Julian M iralles (16); 9. Jorg SeeI (15); 10. A lex Criv ill e (12 ). SIDECAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Webster/Hewitt (SOt 2. Michell Frese (421 3. Streuer/ Schnieders (39); 4. BHand/ ; Waltisperg (23); 5. Zurbrugg /B irchall (19); 6. Abbott/Smith (16); 7. (TIE) Kumani /FahrnilVan Kempen /De Haas (1 O~ 9. (TIE) Baylen /Nixon l Jones/Ayres (B).

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