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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127132
Eddie Lawson ' (3) leads Raymond Roche (21), P.F . Chili (hidde n), Wayne Gardner (1 ), Christian Sarron (7), Kevin Magee (16), Ron Haslam (4) and Didier de Radigues (12) at the start of the Spanish 500cc GP. Lawson (3) and Magee (16) battled for the entire distance in the GP; Magee eventually won by half a second for h is first-career GP vi~ory. World Championship Road Race series: Round 3 Magee edges Lawson in Spani~h GP . By Henny Ray Abrams ยท JARAMA, SPAIN, APR. 24 Team Lucky Strike Roberts' Kevin Magee ran a perfect race to narrowl y beat Team Marlboro Agostini's Eddie Lawson in the Spanish G rand Prix at Jarama. It was the 8 25-year-old Australian 's first I came the third different winner Grand Prix victory an d he beof the you ng, 16-race season. World Champion Wayn e Gardner, bothered by brake problems on his Ro th mans Honda all weekend, was a distant third ahead of Gauloises Blondes Yamaha's Christian Sarron and Niall Mack enzie on th e ' HB Honda. "I 'd lik e to tell you som ething was wron g with th e bike or tires, " Lawson said. "But the fact is I got beat. I got outrode and it pi ssed me off. If som eone other than myself had to win it I' m glad it was him." " No worries," was the Australian cliche th at the soft-spoken Magee responded with when asked about hi s finish. " It was the best result I co uld' ve hoped for." Lawson 's second place finish moves him three points ahead of Gardner, 52-49, in the Wor ld Championship 500cc point standings with Mackenzie third at 39, Magee's teammate Wayne Rainey - sixth today with ignition trouble - fourth with 33, and Sarron tied for fifth at 31 with non-finisher Kevin Schwantz on the T eam Pepsi Suzuki. Schwantz entered the race after _fouling a spark plug on the start li ne, hoping that it would clear out. Bu t it didn't and he retired on the 12th lap while running 15th. Mike Baldwin, on Italian Fabio Barchitta's Team Katayama Honda R S500 spare, was another non-finisher. Having qualified lIth, first privateer, and ahead of the factory bikes of Yatsushiro, Has lam, McElnea, and Roche, Baldwin was in 12th and on the move on the ninth lap when hi s front brake failed without warning going \into a third-gear righthander and he barreled off the track, unhurt but for a cut on the ch in. A non-starter at Jarama was Cagiva 's fading factory star Ra n d y Mamola. After arriving in Madrid for the meeting, Mamola decided not to pr actice and on Saturday eveni ng left the track for Ita ly where he was to meet with his Cagiva bosses. A press release was circu lated which said that . he wasn 't " fully recovered" from his crash at Lagu na Seca and that he would " certain ly need to be in perfect shape for the Italian Grand Prix at Imola on May 22." It failed to mention whether he wou ld be at the Port ugese Grand Prix in a week's time at Jerez, in southern Spain. His spokesperson, Andrea Coleman, said it was a "co mbination of his head, the bike, and the tires ." Spaniard Sito Pons was engulfed in a cloud of smoke from fireworks set off by the 100,000 strong crow d in celebration of his runaway 250cc GP win on the Campsa Honda. H e led at mi drace by over 12 seconds, but backed off to beat fellow Spaniard Juan Garriga on the Ducados Yamaha by 7.5 seconds. Frenchman Jean-Paul Ruggia took third in his third outing on the Sonauto Gauloises Blondes TZ250U Yama ha. The Parisienne-Elf Honda of Jacques Cornu was fourth and Masahiro Sh imizu was fifth on the Ajinomoto Honda in his firs t race since crashing in practice for the Japanese GP. Pons stretches his lead in the 250cc title chase to 19 points - 54 to 35 - over Cornu with Garriga moving into third with 33. World Champion Toni Mang, who fell in the first tum on the eighth la p today and failed to score a point, is fourth with 28, one ahead of Ruggi a. Pons' countryman Jorge Martinez decimated th e 125cc G P, racing his Derbi across the finish line close to 18 seconds ahead of Honda-mounted J ulian Miralles at the end of the 28lap, 57.63-mi le race. Honda Italy's Gastone Grasseui was third ahead of World Champion Fausto Gresini on the Garelli. With today's race being the first 125cc Grand Prix of the seaso n , Martinez leads the chase with 20 points followed by Miralles' 17, Grasseui's 15, an d Gresini's 13. Martinez wasn't as lucky in the 80cc GP where he holds the World Championship. Krauser-mounted form er World Cha mp io n Stefan Dorflinger averaged 73.46 mph in beating Martinez by over five seconds aft er 45.28 mil es (22 laps) of racing. Martinez's Derbi teammate Alex Criville was third , two seco n ds beh ind, and 15 secon ds ahead of Derbi-mounted Manuel Herreros. Since, like the 125cc class, this is the opening round for the 80s, the winners go to the top of the points table. At the top of the qualifying table after the four timed practice sessions was the surprising Magee with a lap of 1:27.148 minutes, averaging 86.261 mph .over the 2.06 mi le Circui to Permanente del Jarama. Lawson was .204 seconds back in second, folfowed by Sarron, Gardner on th e first Honda, an d at the other end of the five-man fro nt row of the ~rid, Rainey. In all, th e top seven n ders were on the same second. Magee did his fast lap in the third session, on his 59th of 78 to tal q ualifying laps. They tried to improve for the fourth session, but were over a second slower. "We had some chatter right in mid-corner just before you get the th r o tt le o n," Magee b ega n in explaining what he was trying to work out in the final session. "It's in the uphill left before the bridge and the downhill left before the double right. We played around with the front suspension and almost got it out. We'd make it right for those places then it woul d be wrong for a different area." After the" session he said they "learned the old stuff was better, " adding, "It doesn' t matter what side of the front row you're on." Fro nt end troubles claimed a number of riders wit h several losing theirs and cras hi ng during practice. Ron Haslam grou nd the front swingarm on the Elf 5 and was p itched