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To Highway 68
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OLD TRACK
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TRACK ADDITION
Australian 500cc World Champion Wayne
Gardner will be out to stop t he Yanks in
. their home Grand Prix .
The World comes to Laguna Seca
Prepa e for a thriller!
By Pa ul Carruthers
If the' opening round of the 250 and 500cc
World Championship at Japan 's Suzuka
Circuit can offer any indication of things
to come, Laguna Seca's round in the ch ase
riders baul ed up to the fin a l corn er:
It would be a sa fe bet to double th a t
num ber for the fina l lap at Laguna.
It 's quite easy to pictu re six guys wi th
a cha nce of win ni ng' as they exit the
corkscrew and head towards the turn
nine (o ld turn seven ).
The co m pe titiveness of Ya ma ha 's
producti on TZ250s a lso adds a new
dim ens ion to the race. In J apan , four
o f the to p 10 qualifiers were mounted
on the TZs, in cluding po le - si tter
Tosh ihi ko H omna. T his has to mak e
T Zites like AMA 250cc Grand Prix
regulars Alan Carter, Rich Oliver
and Don n ie Greene a ll smile as they
realize th eir bikes sho uld be co m petitiv e; seeing th em run with th e
for the most prestigious titles
in motorcycl e racing sho u ld be
a .thri IIer.
Wi th its relatively tigh t, 11 -
14
tu m layout. Lagu na Seca shou ld
prove to offer closer raci ng than even
the th r ill in g ope ning ro u nd in
J a pan. " I can see five guys racing
for th e lead a t La gun a ," Eddi e
La wson , two -rim e World Champio n
and th ird p lace fin ish er a t Suzuka,
sai d. " Who ever wi ns there wi ll ha ve
worked h is bu tt off."
Wh y will it be so close? Ma inl y
beca use a tighter track offers slo wer
speeds a nd slo wer speeds tra ns la te
into mor e of the T op Gun s bunch ed
toge the r. H orsepow er won 't be as
much of a factor a t La guna, meaning
th e guys th at don't have as much can
race with th e guys who have it in
a b u n d a nce . H onda, Yam ah a ,
Suzuki, Cagiva . th ey sho uld a ll
p rov e to be rel ativel y eq ua l. Wh at
it shou ld do is make th e 500cc GP
as exi ting as th e 250cc GP.
The 250cc G rand Prix. At Suzu ka
with its hi gh-spe ed config uration ,
si x-r iders a ll had a shot at lead in g
for the majority of the race, a nd three
~.
Roth mans
HOI DA
(Left) Five-time World Champion
Ton i Mang won t he open ing
250cc G P in J apan . Carlos Lavado
(above) was champ in ' 8 6 .
