Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Christian Sarron. Niall Mackenzie and Wayne Garner all crashed in the same corner during the 500cc race. Sito Pons (3) leads Jaques Cornu (behind). Manfred Herweh (14) and Reinhold Rot!, (2) at the 250cc start. , 22 mously as h e circulated re latively slowly in the fina l session (h is first session time was bes t, accounting for his lowly third-row grid position). In fac t, h e was comp leting a crash he h ad nearl y h ad the da y before, wh ic h co u ld h ave h a d far more serio us co nse q ue nces . He had ca u gh t th e slide, but G ardner was abo ut to co me p ast ou tside him, a nd had to swe rve across th e gr a ss an d on to th e adjace nt pi t road to avo id bein g brough t down. H e rejoined th e track at barel y abated spee d , but it was p u re lu ck th at the pi t lan e was n ot occupied by a slow bike freewheeling back into th e pits af ter a plug chop. This lon g pit la ne - which 'cu ts ou t the whole of th e chicane - was intended as a safe ty fea tu re, but is h orribly vu lnerab le to cras hers on , th is la st bend. Ma gee, the m o st volu ble critic o f th e dangers h ere, said, " I was a lwa ys terrified wh en I went al ong there. That a nd th e h ighspee d Armco tunnel make the track a joke, wh en yo u th ink of th e sa fety precautions th ey're taking for n ext year 's Australian GP, and al so th e tracks th ey rejected th ere on sa fety grounds. I lik e going fast , but . . ." McE ln ea led th e th ird ro w, di sappointed th at elusive engine p roblem s with h is modified Suzuki had ro bbed h im o f th e chance o f a return to form o n a tra ck he enjoys. Plaslam was on th e far side of Magee an d th e Englishman now own ed up to a different so rt of problem - a ll season h e has been pl agued by a stomach ailment, and ha s lost much weight. He pl anned to take inedical tests after th e race. The th ird row was co m pl eted by th e la st J apanese works b ik e, an '8 7 Yamaha ridden by Patrick Igoa . Randy Mamol a managed to lead th e fourth row, avo id ing the ernba r- : rass me nt of being behind any three- cylinder H ondas. The Pirell i tires were n ot the maj or problem here, but the Ca giva engines were . " T he tires h a ve stab ility n o w, which is th e hardest thing. Now we're just working on co mpou n ds," said Mamola. " Bu t we're not only eig h t horsepower down, we've al so been su ffering from seizu res (in cl udin g one broken cra n ksha ft an d a , number of piston failures)." "T he p roblem s aren ' t co ns is tent ei ther, so it 's not as th ough th ere's one problem we ca n fix," added crew ch ief George Vu kmanovich. Marco Papa 's H onda was a lo ngside, best o f the pri va teers. With on ly 32 entries, th is mean t that a ll wo ul d start th e race. Si nce the slowest was fu lly 10 seco nds down o n Sarron 's time, this meant a worrying speed differential a nd lo ts of slow tra ffic to a dd to the existing o bjective danger s of a beautiful but n asty circu it. There must h ave been m any sleep less nights in th e mot orhomes before th e race. 500cc race G ardner led th e 29-lap race off th e lin e, an d by the time th ey cres ted th e hill beh in d the p its was pulling two others with h im - Lawson a n d Ra iney, th e latter frantically h an gin g in th e draft to compensate for h is lack of speed. A short distance beh ind a pack was close u p beh in d H a sl am : d e R ad igu es, Sa rron , Magee, Chili an d Sch wantz in sh ort orde r, with Mackenz ie' ca tchi ng up fast. First time into th e final ch ica ne, a nd Sarron was dow n in a sh ower of d ust and much waving of arms and legs. H e'd got into the first lefth ander too h ot , h it th e curb, and was tossed o ff. Back to h is o ld way s an d out of th e race. At the en d o f lap one , de Radigues had broken free and wa s ca tch in g the leaders, a nd Magee wa s al so p ast H aslam , w ho had Schwantz, Chili a nd Ma ckenz ie piling up behind. The n ext group com p ri sed of Yatsus h iro ahead of th e H onda triples o f Reiner , Fab io Biliotti and All esa ndro Val esi. McElnea wa s three p laces furth er back , a bad sta rt h a vin g b een co m p o u n d ed b y a m ysteri ous unwillingness to rev in th e opening laps, an d Marn ola's Cagiva was further back still. De Radi gues was p ast Rainey by lap four, an d the American started to lose touc h . " I knew I had to start we ll a n d stay up there as long as I cou ld," said Ra in ey. " O nce I lo st the to w up th e hill, th ere was nothing I co u ld do to stay wi th th em ." To hi s surprise, h e wasn 't ca ugh t up from behind, a n d while the leaders scrapped up ahead, he con tinued alone and unmolested. Up front , th e ac tio n was fast and furi ous, a n d centered on a late resu m p tio n o f last yea r' s hostilities betw een G ardner and Lawson, with de Radigues h anging on but n ever with th em. They put on a fan tastic di splay. Lawson had th e advantage o f better torque a n d his skill a t ge tti ng th e dnve o ut o f th e co rners; . C ardn er had his gritty determination 'a n d so me sma ll adva n tage at the very top end , and time a fter time they wo u ld enter th e frightening top bend side by sid e in sixth gear. Later, both men would say that th ey felt co n fide nt of the victory: La wson th at he h ad eno u gh in hand to seize a permanent advantage in th e cl osing laps - because h e wa s p u shin g his ti res less; the eve r spectacular G ardner sim p ly beca use he felt he had hi s opponent weigh ed ' up. Of course they couldn't both win, but the final battle would surely have been something special. We wer e denied this spectacle by a sudden reverse of fortunes . It look ed as though Gardner had , simply over cooked it, but he told it differently - that he felt his en gi ne •dra g as he braked for the final righthander , a nd promptly pulled in the cl u tch. On th e way into the following ch icane , h e fooled himself that m ayb e it was dragging brakes, and as he lifted th e bike to switch to the right, h e th ought h e would have another go at sta rtin g th e en gine. " It was locked solid, and it threw me over the h andlebar s." T he ra ce of th e year was over, an d ' Lawson ro de on secure in the knowl edge that the ma n beh ind h im wa s his teammate de Radigues, and if he was so undisciplined as to overtake, he could easily pass h im back. Ra in ey was still all alone, but there had been some good rcin g in the group beh in d h im, with Mac ken zie, Schwantz and Chili m aking m ost of th e running, Magee an d Haslam droppin g back behind Yatsushiro, wh o had m ade up gr ound ea rly on. It was pretty desperat e st u ff, but it came to an en d two laps before Gard ner's fa ll. wh en Ma ck enzie crashe d in the same spot. " I' d chosen a h ard fro nt tire, and i t n ever di d stan working well , though I was h oping it wo u ld be better towards the end, " the Sco tsm an said. " I had a lo t of narr ow esca pes." , T he n h e pus hedit once too often an d tasted th e gr avel. By now, Sch wa n tz's Suzuki had woken up. , " At first, it wouldn't pull properly on th e main straight," he exp lained, " b u t th en it got better. " It a llowed him to open up a small gap on Chili, and from th en on the seco n d h alf of th e rac e was a rather tedious procession, en li ven ed only by th e interp osi tion of slow traffic a mon g the leaders, wi th th e a tten dant risk of cras hi ng o r getting serious ly slowed down . T owards th e end, Chili caught Schwantz again, and even got ahead on lap 25. It was only temporary , and th e co m b in ed effects of an awkwardly-placed backrn arker and th e fu sill ade ' o f trackside sto n es dropped th e Italian ou t of touch again. There was one final drama. Sch wantz wa s now going full tilt, while Rainey was slowing, troubled b y h is Yamaha weaving in a straight line, gi ving him th e im pressio n that h is back tire was going fla t. " T he th o ugh t o f going down th rough th e top gear sweepers was prett y scary," h e said, and he backed off, but th e problem didn 't get any wo r se, and he regained enough con fidence to maintain a one-second gap over Schwantz at th e flag. "I guess he knew where I was, " said Schwantz, "And he knew what he had to do." Chili was a lonely fifth , and Ma~ee sixth, after passing Yatsushiro with 10 laps to go. One effect of electroth erapy is to sa p one's energy. " I wa s tir ed," Magee said. " I put everything I had into getting away from Yatsush iro, because I co uldn't face a battle at th a t stage." . Haslam was eighth , McElnea ninth - able to pass the privateers and stay ahead of Igoa, also a victim of a bad start, but n ot to catch those ahe ad. One lap down, Reiner narrowly defeated veteran Bruno Kneubuhler, with Biliotti some way behind. Brocolli 's Cagiva was 14th , while Mamola 's had quit on lap 12 with ye t a no ther crankshaft failure . Manfred Fischer took the final title point.

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