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The new Yamaha YZR500s
have two fairings t o choose
f ro m; the " bi g mouth" (left)
and the new . skinnier m odel
(above). A ll the Yamahas,
however. raced w ith the
bigger of the two in Japan.
(Right) The last t ime the
500s came to Laguna Seca,
M ike Baldwin (1) took the
w in. Here he leads Lawson
and Mamola.
a lo t of co nfi dence go ing into th e
U.s. G P a nd he figures to be some wh ere near th e fro nt.
Marlboro Yamaha 's Eddie Law son desperately wa nts to win hi s
home G rand Prix in front o f h is
fam ily and frie nds. Di tto for T ea m
Rob ert s' Wayn e Ra in ey a nd Cagiva 's
Ra ndy Ma mola. On the o ther hand,
Rothmans Honda 's Wayne Gardner
would dear ly love to stop a ny o f th e
Yanks from winning a t home and
ga in ing mom entum that co uld tak e
th em to his title. And fellow Auss ie
.Kevin Ma gee o n the seco nd T ea m
Roberts Yamaha co uld a lso p ro ve to
be a homecomin g spoiler for th e
Ameri ca ns.
. Throw in Ni a ll Mackenzi e, who
wi th th e re ti rem ent of Fr edd ie
Sp ence r now has the full a ttentio n
of tuner Erv Kan em ot o , Ch ri stian
Sarro n, Rob McElnea, a nd Did ier de
Radi gues, to name a few and you ca ll
see wha t Lawson means abo u t five
g u ys raci ng to the flag.
The exciteme nt at a G rand Pr ix
starts with p racti ce and this one
won't bean exce p tio n. On Thursday,
Apri l 7 untimed practi ce will feature
two sessio ns in each class beginning
a t 9:00 a. m. a nd winding up a t 5:30
p .m . The p ractice sessio ns alterna te
starti ng with th e 250s a nd fin ishing
with the 500s, and th ere will be a
break for lunch . The ope ning two
Americans Wayne Rainey (be low)
•and Kevin Schwantz (right) have
already had an im pact on the GPs .
16
Randy M amola (left) hopes t o ge t
the Cag iva ·going . (A bove) New
Marlboro m an D idier de Rad igues.
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