Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Syu nji Yatsushiro alongside him , one unimaginable thousandth of a seco nd slower. The japanese Honda rider fell off in the final session, losing the front wheel . . . always a risk for those running radials on narrow front rims (almost all th e top runners except Lawson, Gardner and Mamola). He trapped h is hand, and his lit.tle fingernail had to be removed, pam-Iul but not crippling. Christi an Sarron was o nly two tenths slower on the seco nd row, al on g with both Cagivas, who were in turn sp lit by Mike Baldwin 's Yam aha. Riding in the Lucky Strike team for th e last GP, th e Connecti cut ace sa id he was about 90 percent fit afte r his long la yoff th ro ugh injury, and said,"! can even get aggres sive on a co up le of turns ... but m y layoH means 1 haven 't had tim e to build up confidence in the tires, and 1 can't p itch it in th e way I'd like to." There were only 17 en tra nts, a nd four rows of grid , with PierFrancesco Chili (H onda NS), Tadahiko Taira (Marlboro Yamaha) and Ron Haslam's EI£4 on the third row, the Briton still complaining of front . suspension that is a long wa y from being righ t , •Marco Gentile's Fior-Honda the o the r European weird o ....: was the best of th e private ers. The o n ly other regular was Wol£gang von Muralt on the ex-Pau l Lewis "cardboard box " Suzuki, next fastest , but o ut o f th e race afte r a spectacu lar 'h igh -sider that smashed the carbo nfiber frame - no easy task. The other non-starter was Lawso n's teammate Rob McElnea , who rode in pract ice o nl y to ge t h is quali fyin g m oney becau se h e 'd broken his hand in h is race crash in -Brazil a week before. The 500cc race was a dull parad e indeed, by comparison to the 250cc ra ce, enlivened mainly by th e antics of th o se involved in th e sad ly muffed start, wh ere th e imported Spanish Clerk of th e Course hit th e button for th e gr een ligh t while the flagman was still marshalling th e grid. He wa s lucky not to be hi t, and some riders were lucky to avoid crashes. , After 30 minutes of baying and slow clapping, th e crowd saw a second start - a real one lO a nowshorten ed race - with Lawson ahead of G ardner, and th e sparse field losing ground behind, led first by Roche, who wa s promptl y swal lowed up by Marnola. The Californian co u ld, however , ma ke no impression o n th e lead ers , and later com pla ine d that his gea rbox had been baulking on do wnchanges. " It meant 1 had lO brak e ear lier," he said. U p front, Lawson dr ew narrowly ahead , until he had -a big slide o n a slow bend, a nd, " Way ne ca me by me wh ile 1 had both feet o ff the p eg s. " Two la p s lat er, i t wa s Gardner 's turn for a narrow escape, and Law son ca ug h t ri gh t up again. " Even so" the America n sai d, " the H onda sti ll ra n aw a y up th e stra ig h t, a nd 1 had lO ou tbra ke him lO ge t by." From then o n, Law son drew away ste a d i ly , and th e m ain interest centered o n wh ether Mamol a could catch Ga rdner, for if he co uld no t he would lose seco nd pl ace in th e cha m p io ns hip . H e was more than 10 seco nds shy , but Gardner 's " ex perim ent" was going wrong. " I was usin g a d ifferent type of tire," he sai d later. "They were Mich elin Bs while th e o ther gu ys were o n As and th ey started slid ing reaJl y badl y early on in th e race ." Thus Mamo la was able lO reel him in gradually , and once he had the Honda in his sights, he closed the gap ra pidly, and moved into second pl ace wi th five laps left. " My gea rs £reed up, and though 1 was sliding a lot too, it meant 1 could be much more aggressive. " He caught up at a crucial point - just as they were lO lap th e obstru ctive Haslam (w h o had already cost Lawson over a seco nd ) - but " I knew 1 had to get by him -quick, and 1 forced in underneath him on th e wa y into a slow co rner. He had to lift h is bike up again but it was ei the r that or be stuc k for hal£ a hip or mor e." Behind them , de Rad igues ha d retired from eigh th with gea rshift problems, while Sarron had passed Roche on the fifth lap, bringing Yatsushiro with him. Five laps lat er, th e japanese rider was ahead, and th en Sarron had yet another crash, breaking three bones in his ha nd. Yatsushiro hung on to fourth, enough to lift him lO ninth overall, one point ahead of th e nonco rnba tive McElnea. The boredom of the procession beh ind him was re lieved b y an excelle nt three-way scrap for fifth , between R o ch e, Mack enzie a n d Baldwin. The Scotsman on Spencer 's NSR shou ld have got away, but sa id, " I had a bad slide after a bo u t 10 laps, and after that 1 cou ld n 't trust m y front tire. " Baldwin was a p pa ren tly hi s o ld sel£ again, charging ver y ag gressively, a nd riding the Yam aha righ t up th e exi t curb o nto the ba ck stra ig h t to with in a n inc h o f th e to p , a nd certai n serio us injury. But he'd mad e a perverse tire ch oi ce, deciding to sti ck with th e famil iar choice, th e familiar japanese rear Dunlop rather than th e better new British tir e. " T ha t ma y ha ve been a mistak e," he acknowl edged afterwards. " I was getting real bad wh eelspin toward th e end." As a result, an equally aggressive Ro che beat him acros s th e line by a quarter of a second,with Macken zie less than a second behind th em. T aira trailed in an unexci ting and quite so lita ry eig h th behind. Chili was as lonely in ninth, but for being pa ssed by Lawson in th e final lap. H aslam took 10th , a nd th e fin al point, through he didn 't need it lO retain fourth in th e cha m p io ns hip . L awson was, " H a p p y to wi n , because it mak es a good end to th e sea son, and at contract-time too, b ut sad to lose second in the cha m p io nsh ip. 1 wasn 't worried wh en Wayn e passed me a t the beginning," he added. " I kn ew we had him cove red." The 250cc World Champion Mang was angered by th e wh ol e farce o f th e meeting, a nd then mo re so b y Wimmer 's approval o f the sho~ter ci rcui t suggested as a co m prorruse. " O f co u rse he p refers a trac k wi th a shorter stra ig h t," he said. " It favor s his Yama ha . We shou ld race o n th e first track suggested, a pproved by th e FIM . If it is not safe we shou ld go home." He rode eno ug h laps in th e fir st sessio n to qualify a n even tua l 19th , th en left th e circu it in disgu st. It apparen tly left po le posi tion to GP part-tim er a nd new All-japa n 250 Ch ampion Masahiro Sch im izu, o n pole in th e first GP o f th e season in J apan , a nd on eq ual term here at a circ ui t th at was new lO everybody. AJI the more p leas ing lO Kenny Rob ert s, who d id no t fail lO point ou t th a t h is own protege, john Koci nski, ha d beat en Shimi zu twice o n t he j a p an ese rid er ' s h orn e ci rcuits. Ho wever, Wi mmer di sp laced Sh imi zu a t the end of the fin al session, Mamola fin ished behind Lawson in the GP, but held him off in t heir battle for second in the championship chase. although his Yamaha V-twi~ mi sfired for all but two laps 10 the closin g minutes. All the Yarnahas were going well ba ck a t sea level , and Wimmer .was getting an ex tra 400 rpm a lo ng th e stra ig h t, wh ich may have been the problem. " T he extra revs ma y have found a n ignition g litc h that hasn 't sho wn until now," h is mechan ic sa id. . These two were joined on th e front row by Carlos La vad o 's Yamaha , Si to Po ns (Ho nda) , a nd Juan Gar. riga (Yama ha), a nd times up front we re close, with the top 10 aJl but wi thi n th e sa me seco nd. A galaxy of sta rs packed the seco nd ro w Reinh old Roth , Loris Regg iani, Luca Cadal ora , a nd Ca rlos Card us, wi th NSR man Dominique Sa rron a nd Patri ck Igoa (Yama ha ) co n signed to the th ird ra n k. Fifteen Latin Am eri can riders on a selectio n o f agei ng TZs and Rotaxs fill ed th e last 13 places o n th e grid, and pa cked th e entry o u t to 33. After Mang pitted in protest after o ne lap in last positi on, th e 60,000stro ng cro wd packing the grandstands were rewarded by one of the very best 250cc races of th e year. It was quite lik e th e o ld pre-w orks bikes da ys, as up to nine bikes cond uc ted a frenzied battle for first, th e issu e still in doubt until th e ex it from th e fina l bend. There were five different lead ers, a nd th e fir st lO disappear was Reggia ni, who led for four laps, a nd had ac tua lly ope ned up a meager cushio n before he fell a fter II laps. Then th ere was Wimmer , wh o was in th e group but never qu ite o n terms. He su rvived bein g nerfed from behind by teammate Cadalora, only to cruise in on la p 19 with a return o f hi s troublesome m isfire. As for th e rest , Dom in iq ue Sarron took the lio n 's sh are of the leading, bu t was th reat en ed througho u t, most persis tent ly by Shimizue, who se la tebraki ng tacti cs a nd lean -on-th em style th ro ugh the hairpin mean t he was def ini tely the wi ld card. H o wever , most of th ose wa tching give the mora l victory lO Ca da lo ra, beca use a lt ho ug h his Yama.ha was visab ly slow er down th e stra igh t, he was taking it a ll ba ck a nd with in terest th rou gh the twi sts. T he Ital ian former 125cc cha mp ion a ttem p ted a break in th e closing stages. " I knew I cou ld wi n, bu t o nly if 1 ha d some breat hi ng sp ace o n the Hondas a t th e start of the last TU n down th e back stra igh t." H e dam n nearl y mad e it , 10 0 , u nti l on the thi rd -from-last lap he came u pon a tri o o f slower riders th ree abrea st, enga ge d in th e ir ow n race-lo ng struggle for 13th place. Held up under braking, Shimizu, Sarron and Pons ca ugh t him again , and lappers and lapped aJl scram bled round the hairpin in a flail of elbows a nd a crunching o f fairings. This allowed the Hondas o f Shim izu, Sarron and Pons to ca tch right up a nd ex plo it th ei r speed adv antage on the su bsequent stra igh t. Sarron led o n th e penultimate lap, but it was Pons a hea d o n th e last run down th e stra igh t, wi th Ca da lora heavily . . o utgu n ned in fourth. As they dived into th e last haITp~n , Shimizu passed both o f the m WIth a fin al hero ic piece o f late braking. H owever, it spoi led hi s lin e, an d he was back in th ird again as th ey left th e bend. While a ll this was happening, th e quartet's earlier co m pan io ns had been left a little behind to a less dramatic rac e; and th ey fini sh ed with Ca rdus a little ah ead of R oth , G arriga and Igoa e ig h th . The Frenchman had ac tua lly caugh t up from a slow start, shaking off ninthpl aced Lavado as he did so, and had bri efly overtaken Garriga too . . With Reggiani and Wimmer fail ing to score, Card us and Cadalora eac h moved up a place in th e cha mpi onship (to fifth and seventh); while Pons' first win of th e season'put him o n equal po ints to Roth, eac h with 108. Second place in the cham pion ship was decid ed by Roth's tally o f four third pl ace fin ishes to Pons" two. • Results 500cc : 1. Eddie lawson (Yam); 2. Randy Mam ola (Yam); 3. Wa yne Gardner (Hon); 4. Syun ji Yat~u shiro (Hon); 5. Raymond Roche (Cag); 6. Mike Ba ldwin (Yam) ; 7 . Ni a ll M ackenzie (Ho n); 8 . Tadahiko Taira (Yam); 9. P-F Chili (Hon); 10. Ron Haslam (Elf). 25Occ: 1. Sito Pons (Hon); 2 . Dom intque Sarron (Hon); 3 . Masah iro Sh im izu (Hon); 4. l U.C8 Cadalora (Yaml; 5. Corlos Cordu s lHon); 6. Reinhold Roth (Hon ); 7. Juan Gar riga (Yam); 8 . Patr ick Igoa.(Yam); 9 Carlos Lavada (Yam); 10 . Stefan Caracc hl tHon). . FINAL SODa: WORLO CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Wayn e Gardn er (1781 2. Randy ; Ma mola (1 681 3. Eddie lawson (1671 4. Ron ; ; Haslam (72); 5. Niall Ma ckenzie (61); 6. Tadahiko Tair a (56); 7. Christian Sarron (52); 8. P·F ChIIt (47); 9. Syun ji Yatsushiro (401; 10. Rob McElnea (39). FINA L 250cc WORLO CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANOINGS: 1. Anton Mang (1361; 2. Reinhold Rot h (108); 3 . Sito Pons (108) ; 4. O?miniqu,e S,arron (97); 5. Carles Cardus (70); 6. Lori s .Reggla", (68 ); 7. Luca Cadalor a (63); 8. Martin W Imm er (61); 9. J acqu es Corn u (50); 10. Corlos Lavado (461.

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