Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Left) Edd ie Lawson leads defending World Champion Wayne Gardner through the chicane during t he 500cc GP o (A bove) The 250cc GP gets underway with Dominique Sarron (4) lead ing John Kocinski (80). Sito Pons (3 )•.Car los Cardus (5 ). Anton Mang (1) and winner ~ i m my Filice (6 5). World Championship Road Race Series: Round 2 Lawson, Filice star .in U.S. Grand Prix By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams MO NT EREY,.CA, APRIL 10 Marlboro Yamaha's Eddie Lawson turned in a masterful come-from-behind win to beat Rothmans Honda 's defending World Champion Wayne G ardner in the first Uni ted States Grand Prix since 1965, held at Laguna Seca I IR nternatIona aceway. The two-time World Cham0 o pion from U p l a n d, Cal if ornia, starte d slowly when hi s Yamaha YZR500 bogged o n th e line, but the det erm ined 30-yea r -o ld battled through to beat Gardner by 6.447 seconds in the 40-lap, 87.84-mile race. Third place went to early leader Niall Mack enzi e o n th e HB Honda. Law son 's w i n i n fron t of a n estimated 80,000 race fans also gave him a one- point lead , 35-34, over Gardner in th e titl e chase, and hi s 20th victory p u t him in a tie for six th with th e now retired Freddi e Spe ncer on the all-time win list. Pole sitter Wayn e Rainey rode the T eam Roberts Yamaha YZR500 to a fourth pl ace fin ish with Japanese Grand Prix winner Kevin Schwantz . finishin g fifth o n the T eam Pepsi Suzuki. Fren chman Christian Sar ron , Brit R on Hasl am , Belgian Did ier de Radigues, England's Rob McElnea and Dari en, Connecticut's Mike Baldwin rou nded ou t th e top 10 in a rytc.e that saw onl y 18 starters a nd II finish ers, For th e second GP in a ro w an Am eri can shocked th e established stars of Grand Prix racing in th e 250cc class, but thi s tim e that di stincti on wen t to J immy Filice. The dirt tracker turned road racer took adva ntage of a o nce -in -a-lifetime op po rt u ni ty a nd won a GP in o nly hi s first attempt. Fili ce inherited th e factory H onda NSR 250 of inj ured Masahiro Shi mi zu, who brok e hi s wrist testing for th e J apanese GP, a nd promptl y dest ro yed th e co m pe ti tio n . Th e d im inutive northern Californ ia n stor med to the front of th e pa ck a nd event ua lly beat Spaniard Sito Pons by 9.843 seconds. Third p lace wen t to Dominique Sarron, givi ng Honda an NSR250 sweep of th e top three pl aces. Pons' second p lace finish moved him past T oni Man g and in to th e cha mpio ns hi p lead with 34 po ints. Tea m R o berts Joh n Kocinsk i impro ved upon hi s fifth place fin ish in J apan with a fourth a t La guna while fifth pl ace went to AMA Grand National Ch ampion Bubba Shobert in his first-ever Grand Prix. Sh obert rod e a Camel-sponsored 1987 H onda NSR250. " Do yo u think I'm o n m y wa y?" Filice asked after the race. "Someone em p loy me please. I'm un employed. " That may not be th e case for much longer , howev er, after hi s stunning pe rforma nce at La guna. The last tim e Filice won a race was in 1983, a nd th a t was th e San Jose Mil e; it hid been six years since Fili ce had sat o n the seat of a 250cc road race r. Luca Cadalora, J acques Cornu, defending World Champion Anton Mang, Reinhold Roth a nd Juan Garri ga rounded out th e top 10 in th e 250cc GP. Thirty-six 250s started th e race with 26 fini shing the 31-la p affai r. Mu ch like the America ns have don e for years in the rest of th e world, th e fo reign rid ers complai ned bi tterl y ab out the n ew ly-enlarged , 2.196-m ile Laguna Seca track a nd its pa ddock faciliti es. T he bi g gest gripes were in rega rd to tracksafety, na mely the ro ug hness a nd .lack of ru noff areas on th e old po rt io n of the track. The paddock, luxurious by American sta ndards, was th ough t to be ma keshift by th e foreign ers wi th its tents in stead of ga ra ges. a nd its general lack of quality faci lities. Five-time World Ch ampi on Mang was the most critical. " If we would have a GP like this in Czechoslovakia it would be understandabl e because of their financial background, but Am eri ca is su p posed to be su pe rior," he said. " I can't beli eve th ey found the moon. I think th ey showed us . a tri ck film ." After th e first da y of practi ce o n Thursda y, th e rid ers demanded th e removal of th e ha y bale-lined co ncrete retaining wall lin in g the exi t of turn II , th e last turn o n th e co urse, a slow left-hander. That night th e wall was rem oved a nd two row s of bal es. two hi gh, were used in stead. Although most remained critica l, th e foreign riders were impressed with th e or ga nizers' desire to meet th e requirements needed to mak e th em happier next year. . All four tim ed sessio ns were held in near -perfect weather conditions, a fac t that helped calm the ot herwise upset foreign riders. R ain ey surpri sed the field by taking the 500cc pole posi tio n o n hi s Dunlop-clad Yam ah a YZR500. The so u thern Californian turned in a I:29.2 14 lap during th e th ird timed sessio n for an average speed of 88.613 mph. "I tried some different th ings, but 7

• Cover