Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127139
much better he is riding this year than last, when he fell off so often. The other works teams had all been testing: Suzuki at R ijeka, and Honda at Donington Park. Suzuki had the most visible change: modified exhausts with the lower pair now both exiting o n th e right side of th e machine beneath an ar ched swingarrn, al a Yamaha and Ca~i va . Th is we n t a lo ng wi th modified cyli nders a nd pi stons, and worked well , Sch wantz describing improved midrange a nd top end, with th e rev ceiling up from aro und 12,000 rpm to 12,700. For Honda, th e tests had been th e fir st se r io us dry tim e with th e modified frame, a nd th e fastest of the m here was Mackenzie's. " It ga ve us tim e to sort out which of o ur co m po nents - especiall y brakes and suspension - . were th e .best, so we co uld get on with setting gearin g a nd ca rburetio n strai g h t . away when we got here," he said. Mack enzi e was here for the first tim e last year, fini shing third, bu t attri buted hi s position as top Honda in pract ice m ore to 'Ka nem o to 's engine work. Gardner, meantime, was rob bed of the cha nce to p ut in his usual last-session scorcher by an engine seizure that mea nt he wasted most of the last session ridi ng his slower bike. He pronounced h im self u nconcer ned , and his foot now almost better, though it was still bandaged and he was still limping. Did he agree the race was a pivotal point in the cham p ionsh ip? "I'm not looking at it lik e that. It's j ust a no ther race and I hope to win," sai d Gardner. Seizures were alread y a H onda problem. Mackenzie and Chili had both nipped up, a nd it was at first suspected that Shunji Yatsushiro's crash at the fast right-hander (he was lucky to escape unhurt). was the result of another locked-up engine, th ough he lat er blam ed a fro nt wh eel lock-up instead. The nex t morning, in pre-ra ce warmup, Ga rdner was reported to hav e su ffered a gea rbox seizure (mo re worry, because declutch in g does not release th e locked rear wheel), but he said it had just been a failure of gear selection. All the Honda riders were talking more freely here -: in the past, Honda has never adm itted to seizures - because race boss Yoichi Ogu ma has returned to J apan, a nd not been replaced , thus th ere was no stern J apanese figure insisting on th e usual silence. De Radi gu es led th e second ra nk, cla imi ng h is team ha d clocked h im faster than had th e time-keepers, and th at he should be up fro nt. Chili was nex t to h im , with Yatsushiro on the far side, the H onda pair sp li t by Rainey's Yamaha, a lowly position for th e U.S. Superbike Champion, compared with hi s recent good form. All but one of the practice sessio ns were dry, and in Friday afternoon's wet sessio n Rain ey a nd Magee had been th e quickest: but th e Luck y Strik e pair were out of luck in the dry, wit h Rainey's best bi ke mysteriously lac ki ng power, and Magee crashi ng on Saturday morning, bru ising h imself pretty co mp rehensi vely, a n d brea ki n g a f i n~e r. Onlook ers bl am ed th e Dunlo p u res, the riders bla med a lack of power, tuner Mi ke Sinclair bl amed th e riders. Fu ll circle. Magee's cras h came o n the exi t from the last ch ica ne, wh ere the track .ru ns back o nto the pi t straight. " I' d done two laps on a new rear tire, but I hadn 't tak en enough care to warm up th e left side. Wh en I p u t th e power on, it got away fro m me." The bro ken litt le fi n g er a n d bruised heels were not seri ous, but a banged elbow swelled up enor- 00 00 O"l Ig~BX-6 * Worn By Leading Pros: Jeff Leisk, Rodney Smith, Heinz Kinigadner, John Van den Berk * Lightweight Kevlar Mix Shell * Snell '85 and DOT Approved * Suggested Retail $129.95 USA, INC. ..... P.O . Box 10 17 8 San Jose. CA 95 157 .......! 21