Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

B tj ~ Swiss veteran Jaques Cornu drafted past Reinhold Roth and Juan Garriga on the final lap to take his first Grand Prix victory in 11 years of trying . 24 concern. since h e has a lways been crash -pron e even wh en well. and a ra th er vacant expression and sometimes slow co n versa tional responses sugges ted h e wa s n ot ye t full y reco vered from h is head inj uries. His retu rn m eant that h is p ro misi n g tea m mate Alb erto Puig was ba ck on th e stoc k RS H onda. a nd was havin g trou b le readjustin g. to the ext ent th a t h e failed even to q ua li fy in a fie ld swo llen by hot local s fro m Au stria and German y. He was in quit e good co mpany: Thierry Rapicaul t, o n pole a t th e N u rb urg ring, was also O U I of th e race; a lso PIer Casoli o n th e works G ar elli ... p recipitatin g a sha me faced ea rly withdrawl by th e .en tire di sgr aced team (Re yes an d Gresin i a lso fa iled to qual ify in th e 125 ra ce). Thirteenth a nd next came Bruno Casanova on th e V-twin Ap rilia , still limping h ea vil y, but th e fittest ma n in th e Ital ian sq ua d, which th ose with cru el senses of humor were now ca ll in g Team Cripple; for Lori s Reggi ani , back for the first tim e a fter h is Im ol a cras h. was a lso on cru tches a nd had to be lifted o n and off ' th e bike. H e qua lifi ed 26t h on the strength of h is first-session tim e. but withdrew because he was in no way fit enough to take part in what would m ost certainl y be a hard race . Of th e fancied TZ runners , J ea nPhillipe Ruggi a p laced 15th and Marti n Wimmer ISth , proving th a t there co u ld be no foregone con clu sio ns . a nd th a t those not well -p laced to tak e a to w up th e hill su ffered as a res u lt. T his aspect of th e track, however, does m ean th a t bikes ten d to travel in large groups. signa lli ng so meth ing o f a reviv al of interest in a class once th e closest. bu t recentl y so me wh a t p rocessional. Sure enou gh . th e fan s were n ot disappointed , Although th ere were o n ly four up front with a chance of winning . th eir jousting was sp lend id in every way. and the outcome was in doubt until th e last bend. Cornu sped away from th e start. with Pons, Garriga.' amd Sarron in his wake. Then H erweh, Palazzese, Lavado and Roth. Mang h ad been left trailing., and was barel y in th e top 20, while Cardus co m p leted one slow lap and retired . saying he had burned out his clutch (no t unlikely, con siderin g th e tall gearing used .here). Pons started losinl? ground at once, latercomplainmg that his engine had been deteriorating throughout the race. and as Garriaga slipped into second this allowed Cornu to start buildin g up a lead that gr ew to two seco nds by la p 12. It d id n ' t seem likel y to last, however. Roth h ad been held u p by Pal azesse, but h e broke free a nd ca ught the fro ntru n ne rs "rapidly, passmg Pons o n lap five, th en joini ng in a fierce scra p with G ar ri ga and Sarron that saw th em excha nge places lap after lap. at first o ne wou ld ma ke a successfu l sli pstreaming p ass a nd th en a not her. T he y were of cou rse slo wing o ne an other up, gi vi ng Cornu temporary respite. bu t as th e ra ce passed h alf-di st an ce Sarro n a p peared to be th e stro n gest, and staye d in fro nt as h e set to work on catch ing Cornu again . H e did so with six la ps left , bu t th e o ther p ai r h ad co me with him. a nd on th e 20th lap a ll three piled past th e Swi ss rider . with Ro th tak ing th e op portun ity to seize th e lead. Now th e tus sle redoubled . and the a tmosphere was electric. With the large crowd ra nged o n th e hill side abo ve th e track. th e roars of approval tra velled arou nd th e circuit with th e lead ers. Fi rst it was Sarron back in front, th en G arr iga . then Roth again. wit h Corn u see-sawing ba ck a n d for th in this vol a ti le group. With on e lap to go. Ro th was in fro n t, a nd Garriga seco nd. ' Bu t Cornu had p la n ned it a ll out. " Now I had th e benefit of two slipst rea ms up the h ill, " h e sa id later, and he used them to best effect to be leadin g as th ey went into the fin a l ben ds. Garriga wa sn 't fini sh ed yet either. In a last. daring move, h e ran wide ro u n d the o utside of Ro th in th e final fast right before the ch ica ne . but th er e wa sn 't qui te th e roo m h e needed . a n d he a nd Roth coll ided several tim es. lea vin g rubber m arks on th e Spaniard's fairing, an d p u ttin g him o ff line. a llo wing Ro th to h ang o n to seco nd by the slen derest o f margins. Sarron in fourth was just three-tenths behind Garriga across th e lin e. There wa s simi la r ac tio n b ehind, with Herweh , Palazesse, Shimizu a nd Lavado jousting for positio n . Shimizu eme rged after si x laps, bringing H erw eh with him , a nd the Japan ese rider went on to challenge Pons for fifth . H e led him more th an once, but couldn't make it st ick. H erweh th en seemed relatively safe in seventh, bu t Cadalora h ad reco vered from a poor sta rt and wa s tied up with Lavado no grea t di stance ' behind. Then Lavado threw it away under braking for th e first ch ica n e on lap 17 and Cadalora, now unhindered. rapidly closed on Herweh. Dominique Sarron (4), Reinhold Roth (2) and Juan Garriga (11) used an interesting line during their race-Ionq battle for second position . The G erman privateer proved no easy nu t to crack. h owever , a nd th ei r tu ssl e slowed th em eno u g h fo r Palazesse . to ca tch th em in th e closing laps. Cadalora took seventh by th ree-tenths o f a seco n d , with Pal azesse a sim ilar di stance beh ind H erweh, Mang h ad been ch ip p in g awa y at th e priva teers from th e sta rt , bu t cou ld get n o hi gher than tenth , a gra ve disap pointment to him self , his German fans, an d his ch a nce of regaining hi s title. Beh ind , eig h t riders had been scrap p in g throughout th e race. and a ma zingly amon~ the pushing and 'ba n gin g o f fairings , nobody had .fallen off. JUSt 2.5 secon ds covered a ll eight, with Au stria's Eberhard N eumair's Aprili a 11th , th en Wimm e r , Rugg i a, Harald Eck l (Ap rilia) a nd Maurizio Vitasli (Gazzan iga Honda) tak in g th e last p oint. It h ad been the best 250cc race of th e year . Poris retain s his cha m pio n ship lea d , but o n ly by one point from Garri ga; Cornu Improves his th ird p lace ahead of Sarro n. ~ 125cc race The tiddl ers were even closer than the 250s - at least until " Cham p i" H err ero s o n the seco nd Derbi cras hed whil e trying to join hi s teamma te Jorge Martinez up fro nt. After th at. Martinez stop ped waiting for him, a nd drew away until h e h ad a 4.32seco nd lea d, pulling a way eas ily u p th e hill wi th th e su perior po wer of hi s Derbi , so th at no t even th e most ' daring drafter had a ho pe of stay ing wi th h im . Gi anol a an d his Honda fit th is description, a nd a lso h ad reserves of skill to . p revail over a seven-s tro ng group with in wh ich fortunes varied lap by lap. H ans Spaan , for in stance. had h eaded Gianola several times, but en ded up six th in the las t scram b le to th e line. G erman rider Stefan Prein wa s third, Au strian Manfred Fischer fourth w i t h countryman M ik e . Leitner fifth. Neither Cagiva finished, with Ian McConnachie retiring after 14 laps, and Pier-Paola Bianchi, who had been with the leaders, crashing and breaking his collarbone on the third lap. Martinez now leads Gianola by 60 points to 52, with Spaan next with 42. Sidecar race After the Zurbruegg brothers dropped away at half-distance, and with Dutchman Egbert Streu er Ialling back as far as 15th a fter cookin g h is cl utch at th e start, th ere were only th ree p ossible winners in th e sidecar ra ce, but again th e issue wa s in doubt an d th e crowd on their feet as Rolf Biland, Steve Webster an d Allain Michel ch arged up to th e chicanes a nd even to the fastest bends side by side for lap after lap. Biland had been fu lly two seco n ds fa st er in pra ctice, and every o ne _exp ected him to ch arge aw ay at the end after making it look good for T V - and while h e did so, his lead was . les s than two seconds 'o ver Mi chel, who was only two-tenths ahead of Webster. An excelle n t race. Streu er h ad meantime waited until hi s clutch cooled down, an d then go ne cha rgi n g back into fifth , . behind th e Zurbrueggs. Their third vict ory in three races gives Biland/Waltisberg a healthy lead of 60 p oints to 47 over reigning cha m p ions Webster/Hewitt: • Results 50Qec: 1. Eddie Lawson (Vam); 2. Didier de Radigues (Vam); 3. Wayn e Rainey (Vam); 4 . Kevin Schwantz (Suz); 5. P.F. Chil i (Han); 6. Kevin Magee (Vam); 7. Shunji Vatsush iro (Han); B. Ron Haslam j Elf); 9. Rob McElnea (Suz); 10 . Patrick Igoa (Vam); , 1. Gustav Reiner (Han); 12. Bruno Kneubuhler (Han); 13. F. Bilioti (Han); 14. M . Broccoli ICag); 15. Manfred Fischer (Han). . 250ce : 1. J acques Cornu IHon); 2. Reinhold Roth (Han); 3 . Juan Garriga (Yam); 4 . Dominique Sarron (Han); 5. Sito Pons (Han); 6. Masahiro Shimizu (Han); 7. Luca Cadalora (yam); B. Manfred Herweh (Vam); 9. Ivan Petezeeee (Yam); 10. Anton Mang (Han); 11. E. Neumai r (Apr); 12. Manin Wi mmer ' (Yam); 13. J.P. Ruggia (Vam); 14. Harald Eckl (Apr); 15. M . Vital i (Gaz). , 25cc: 1. Jorge Martinez (Der); 2. E. Gianola (Han); 3. S. Prein (Han); 4. M . Fischer (Rot); 5. M. Leitner (Rot). SIDECAR; 1. R. Biland /K. Waltisperg (LCR) 2. ; A. M iche llJ .M Fresc (LCR); 3. S. WebsterlT. Hew itt (LCR); 4. A & M Zurbruegg (LCR) 5. E ; Streuer/ B. Schnieders (LCR). 500cc WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1. Eddie Lawson (125); 2. Wayne Rainey (97); 3. Wayne Gardner (B5); 4 . Kevin Schwantz (77); 5. Kevin Magee (76); 6. Niall Mackenz ie (60); 7. Christian Sarron /Didier de Radigues (59); 9. P.F. Chili (42); 10. S. Vatsushiro (56). 250cc WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1. Sito Pons (99); 2. 'J uan Garriga (9B); 3. Jacques Cornu (7B); 4 . Dominique Sarron (6B); 5. Reinhold Roth (65); 6. Lues Cadalora (59); 7. Anton Mong (57); B. J.P. Ruggia/M . Shimizu (51); 10. Donnie McLaod (30).

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