Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Jacques Cornu leads the 2S0cc pack early including Honma (47) , Mang (behind Honma) and KO ,cinski (44) . Kevin Schwantz turned in a flawless ride to top Wayne Gardner in the SOOcc GP; it was Schwantz' first GP w in in only his seventh GP . 8 no-show was Masahiro Shimizu wh o also broke a wrist during Honda tests at Suzuka; Shimizu finished third in th e fin a l round of the 1987 cha mpionship in Arg entina, and is sche dul ed to run a full G P schedule in 1988. Practi ce cras hers in the 250cc class included Kocinski, Cadalora, Ba lde, Harald Eck l, Kobayashi, Reggiani , and Herweh. The skies broke su n ny on Su nday , although a fair am ount of wind bl ew through the Suzuka area, for th e start of the 500cc Grand Prix. Crowds, however, were down from last year 's GP turnout of 98,800 lO this year's 74,000. . Surprise number o ne ca me in th e form of holeshoter Rainey, who charged fro m the second row to lead the formidab le pa ck into turn one. " I figured I'd get out th ere a nd hold everyo ne up; it worked for a la p ," Rainey said later. At th e end of th e first lap it was Schwantz and th e red , white and blue Suzuki lead ing th e way with Rainey, Gardner , Sarron , and Law son following. By th e ex it of th e esses, Gardner was past Rainey and giving chase lO th e flying T exan: Ito was on th e move and into third pl ace by th e end of the second lap. Sarron held fourth with R a in ey holding off Lawson , Hikaru Mi yagi and Magee; Mackenzi e was up lO ninth aft er a poor start, leading Ron H aslam o n the El f 5, Yat su shiro , McEln ea a nd Pi er-Fran cesco Chil i, on hi s fir st ou tingon the NSR 500 aft er spending last season o n a three- cy li n de r H onda. By th e end of lap three, Schwantz sti ll led Gardn er, wh o in tu rn led Ito a nd Sarron. La wson was up to fift h , but. was 5.7 seconds behi nd Schwaruz, Magee a nd Mackenzie were past Ra iney, with H asla m , Yatsush iro , McElnea a nd a slowstarting de Radigues baul in g for 10th. By the seventh lap Sch wantz a nd Gar dn er had esta blished a lead o ver . the threesome of Ito, Lawson a nd Sarron. Mackenzi e and Magee were in vol ved in a duel o f th eir own followed by Rainey and Mi yagi. One lap la ter, Lawson was clear of Ito and Sarron, bu t had lost tou ch with th e leaders. By the halfway mark, Lawson was being ca ught fro m behind by Mack enzie; Magee had his hands full wi th Sarron; Ito was .a lonely seventh; Ra iney wa s a tte m p ting lo hold off a hard- charging Taira; de Radig ues was through to 10th and McElnea pulled the broken Suzuki into th e pits. Gardner led for the fir st time on lap eigh t a nd held that lead until lap 12 wh en Schwa ntz agai n took over. It was a lead he would hold lo th e finish . On lap 13, Ito cras hed unhurt in turn' o ne, a fast right-h ander. On th e 19th o f 22 laps, Mackenzi e sho t past Lawson do wn th e front stra ig h t, adding fu el to the a lready flam in g Law son by jumping up a nd down on the sea t as he passed. " I was just messing abo u t, but he got serio us ' a fter that," Mackenzie sa id. . Ser ious eno ug h lo stu ff it under th e Scot half a dozen turns later through th e right -hand Degner Curve. That was that as Lawson qui ckl y left th e HB Honda rider behind. Up front the actio n was intensifying as the last laps approached. The th ought th at Gardn er was holding some th ing in reserve and would split in th e lat e stages of th e race, wasn 't holding water. Schwantz seem ed to have things under contro l. On th e last go-around, the T exan open ed up a slight advantage aft er turnin g th e fastest lap of the race, -a 2: 15. 225. It was an ad va nta ge Gardn er tri ed to mak e up in th e fast right-hander pri or to th e Spoon (a long seri es o f left-h and turns that leads lo the back straight and then to th e ch ica ne). Instead of making tim e, Gardner a lmos t cra shed, runn ing o ff the track a nd fortunatel y o nto a tarmac helicopter landing pad. H e regained con tro l to hold off Law son b y four seco n d s, but Schwantz was clear, chec king over hi s sh oulder exiting th e ch ica ne before s ta rt i ng hi s o n - t he - pegs celebra tio n. " I was trying lo win," Gardner sa id. " I th ought I co uld pass him going into th e chica ne because I was a bit bett er th ere a ll day . I gav e -it a bit too much throttle and decided to play mot ocrosser on -the wa y home. H e (Sch wa ntz) rod e fantasti c; he's definitely a threat this year. " Mack enzi e cro ssed th e line fourth, another three seco nds behind Lawson with T aira, aft er di sposing of first Rainey a nd then Magee, next. The Team Lucky Strike Roberts' battl e went lo th e ch ica ne with . Magee on the in sid e and Rainey on the outside for the first part, a righthander. Ra iney held tough and his o u tside line in th e right- ha nder became the insid e lin e for th e lefthander a nd he pushed teammate Magee wide to tak e sixth place. " I kn ew I was stu ffed up com ing o u t o f th e fast left , but I figured we'd have a bit o f fun a nd mak e su re we both mad e it lo th e finish line," Magee sa id lat er. " We'd been close a ll week a nd I go t a good lap in yesterda y and gai ne d a lo t of co n fid en ce," Schwa ntz said. " I made two big mistakes, but he may have been held up in traffic. I was lackin g a little bi t o ff the corners, but th a t was th e on ly d ifference in th e bikes. The bike is good a n d with a little more development it could win th e World Cha m pions h ip." Although he was relatively ca lm foll owing th e cool-off lap, Schwantz lat er showed emotion a t the victo ry party thrown by th e race organizers , as he fought back tears during th e ' playing o f th e Am erican national a nt he m. Lawson was disappointed in finish ing third bu t left with 15 points, 15 more than he left J apan with last " year, "T he thing wasn' t worki ng too we ll ," Lawson said. " We're way down on pow er , but ho pefull y we' ll get it going. I thin k nex t year we' ll come earl y and get some serious practice in. I think if I would have gotten a · good start with them, I might have been able to make it a three-way race."

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