Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127128
Kev in Schwantz (34) leads Wayne Rainey (17 ), Wayne Gardner (1 ), Christian Sarron (7 ), Shinichi !t o (46) and Edd ie Lawson (3) after one lap. ' World Championship Road Race Series: Round 1 Schwantz 'shocks 'em in Japanese opener By Paul Carruthers Photos by Carruthers and Patrick Gosling SU ZU KA CITY, JAPAN , MAR CH 27 Team P ep si Suzuki's Kevin Schwantz sent shock waves. through the Grand Prix road racin g world with his stunning win over defending .W o r ld Champion Wayne Gardner in the openi ng round of the 500cc World Cham pi onshi p , h eld a t th e Suzuka Circ u i t in Japan. 6 T he 23-yea r-old T exan turn ed in a flawl ess ride as he battl ed th e entire distance wi th th e World Ch ampi on. Sur pr is ing ly, it wa s th e ' m o reexperienced Gardner who mad e the critical error, runn in g o ff th e track and nearl y crashi ng throug h a fift hgear righ t-ha nder o n the fin al lap o f th e 22-lap war. Third place in the action- packed 500cc GP went to Marlboro Yarnaha 's two- tim e Wo rl d Cha m pio n Edd ie Law son / wh o battl ~d up fr?m a 10th place start ~ut despite turning com pa rable lap umes was unabl e to catch the f1 yirig Schwantz/Gardner du el. Fourth place fell 10 a T.H B H onda .NS R5 00 -mo u nted NI all Macken zie of Sco tla nd, who al so p us hed th rough fro m a poor sta rt. Pol e-si tter T ad ah iko Taira rode the Yama ha Motor Corp. YZR500 to a fifth place fin ish with Californian Way ne Ra in ey pi lo ting the Lu cky Strike Rob ert s Yam aha to a sixth place finish in h is first-ever 500cc G P . R a i n ey's teamm a te Kevin Magee, Gauloi ses Blondes Ya maha 's Ch ristia n Sarron, Marlboro Yamaha 's Didi er de· Radigues a nd Rothmans H onda 's Shunji Yat shushi ro ro u nded o u t the top 10 fin ish ers. Schwantz's first-ever Grand Prix win a lso marked th e first win for Suzuki in th e 500cc class since Randy Mamola won the 1982 West German G ra nd Pr ix in H ockenheirn . The Texa n was a lso th e on ly rider in th e field 10 use a bias-pl y front tire. Hi s wi n a lso marked th e first ti me a G P wi nner was awarded 20 points based on the FIM's new 20-17-15-13-11-109-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-po in t payout. What of the Cagiva and Ran dy Marno la? Th e Cagiva tea m had problems a ll week, stemming mai nly from mysterio us prob lems blamed mos tly o n th e pow er valv e; a problem sim ilar to th ose expe rienced last year. T he bik e was never in the hunt a nd Mamo la , after comp leting o n ly 31 la ps o f practice, was mired in 16th place o n th e grid of 29 starters , In th e race, Mam ol a co mpeted eigh t la ps before retiring. The Ferrari Tes tarossa prom ised to him b y Cagiva for win ning hi s first GP wo u ld be safe on th e showroom floor for a t least a no the r two weeks. Old age a n d g ui le n a rro wl y bru sh ed away youth a nd en th us ias m again in the 250cc GP as 38-year-old, five-t im e World Ch a mpi on T oni Mang held off the cha lle nges o f th e younger Sito Pons a nd last year' s J apan ese GP winn e r Masaru Koba ya shi . It wa s Mang 's 42n d career G P win and it came after the West German qualified a lowly 15th , posi tioning him o n 'the fourth row of th e grid. Arguably, th e star of th e 250cc GP, however, was AMA 250cc Grand Prix Ch ampion J ohn Kocin ski. The 20year-o ld ro used attention from Mang a nd th e rest of th e GP reg ula rs by qual ifyin g third a nd finishin g fifth in his Grand Prix debut. That fifth p lace finish cou ld easi ly have been a wi n if not for an electrical problem at about the halfway mark that forced him to g ive up the battle for the lead that he fought for so ad mi ra bly. T he Lu cky Strike Robert s' rider took his Yamaha YZR250 to the front o f the pa ck a nd showed th at he has a rrived as a legitimate GP contender by battling for th e lead with Mang and Company. The weather for Sunday's action was clear, albei t cold a nd windy, but th e maj ority of p racti ce was held in dr eadful co nditio ns. In fact, all four of th e 500cc sessio ns were held in wet cond itio ns with three o f the four running in a downpour.