Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Jorge Martinez looks over his shoulder to see Ezio Gianola in the 125cc GP; Martinez and his Derbis won both the 125 and aocc GPs . Juan Garriga leads Jacques Cornu in the 250cc GP; Garriga inherit ed the win and the lead in the championship when Pons/Sarron crashed. 12' The sam e couldn' t be said a bo u t fifth place back. Chili led Rainey, but Ma ckenzi e and Schwantz were pressing with McElnea holding off a determined Igoa. Rainey had his hands full after noticing a front tire problem in the first half of th e race. " It 's somethin~ in the wheels or tires," Rainey said, " It just started vibratin g rea l bad . I thought the tire was cha tteri ng and I looked up over th e front wh eel to see if the tir e was co ming apart." Mackenzie would drop Ra in ey to sevent h on th e 13th lap, th e same lap th at would see th e lead ers cha nge pl ace. With La wson's rear tire visibl y bouncing, Gardner went by down the back stra igh t, having kn ocked Lawson 's lead down from a second and a half to nothing in two laps. To Lawson the explanation was simple: " It was just a bad tire choice on my part. I had two or three to choose from a nd I went with one that was way too soft. I didn't even think I was going to finish. In th e early goi ng I saw Wayne catching me and I knew it wasn't good. Normally, th e rear never jumps around. Hopefully, next tim e we'll pick th e right tire." Once pa st Lawson, Gardn er quickl y showed hi s superiority as his rival 's tire troubles wor sened. At th e end of th e 16th .lap Lawson was alread y four seconds back and the gap would increase to 11 .31 seconds by th e fin ish of th e 76.23-mile race. Foll o win g a vi ct ory lap th at seeme d to last forever and a cha mpagne party on th e rostrum , Gardner held forth in th e press tent. " Fina lly th at cloud of bad lu ck that 's been hov ering abo ve us is away :' Gardner said. " It's just ni ce to get back on the ro strum. I kn ow it 's difficult to ca tch Edd ie now because ' he doesn 't cras h and he doesn 't break down." H e exp la ine d that th e Honda which he'd cra shed after seizing in Au stria had been sent back to J apan and th at he was using an " abso lu tely standard en gin e. I just sto p ped complaining and went for it. The suspension was jumping around and turning. It was th e usual wobbly Honda. The only real trouble I had was getting past Chi li a nd Didier." Seated n ext to Lawson a nd Gardner in th e press tent was Sarron , who'd finish ed third 19.73 seconds behind Gardner, but a safe four and a half in front o f fourth-placed Mag ee. " I had a ver y bad sta rt. Something was wron~ with m y clutch. On this circu it it's difficult to pass ," the polesitter said. " I thought third place was safe. I'm qu ite happy with it. I had th e same problem as Eddie. . Maybe it was a suspension setting that wasn't appropriate. The temperature was higher than in practice and ' the suspension is temperature sensitive." Fourth place finisher Magee's problems started before the race. In the morning practice session he had . problems with the gearbox on his race bik e and he was forced to race hi s spare. " Everyth ing is not quite as good," Mag ee ex p la ined. "We have th e upside-down forks o n it and we've only done ab out 10 or 12 laps with th em. The main thing is that we didn 't have tim e to ge t them the wa y we want them. I had a problem getting it down' from side to side. I ran into some lapped guys and lost the draft of front-runners and that was pretty much it. " With six laps to go Mack enzi e would supplant Chili for fifth. Chili would bn efly fall to seventh be hind Ra iney before recovering to finish sixth. "I'm a bit sore:' said Mackenzie as he hobbled up the pit la ne after th e race . " T he bike's coming on good now. We're still trying sus pe nsio n and engine parts. I just had a normal bad sta rt and co uld n' t get past some other riders. But once pa st I got into a good rhythm. It's just ni ce to get a good result.': Chili complained .of a pain in his thigh and right shoulder from an earlier accident. He went off th e grass on th e last lap, but managed to still hold off Rainey by close to three seco nds. Like most rid ers, he com plain ed that his rear tire went off a t ab out mid-race. Schwantz made a run at Rainey at th e end, coming up .67 seconds s hor t and still ,bo th ered by his in ability to handle th e transitions in th e double corners. " I had trouble getting through the two fast kinks - th e left to right," he said. " My feet affected my conce nt ra tio n. I'd flick it into th e corner and it wou ld want to go off the edge of th e tra ck. I went off once in th e fourth -gear right-hander on th e second lap and tha t's when Igoa got past me. Overall , I'm pretty happy." 250cc race Like his older brother Christi an , Dominique Sarron a lso qualified on th e pol e in his clas s, th e 250s. Also like hi s brother hi s time wa s a dramatic improvement, four seconds faster than his previous best. Clocked a t 2:16.46 (100.557 mph ), Sarron was exactly four-tenths faster than Ducado s Yamaha-mounted Garriga with Pons .11 seconds back. Filling out the front row were Cornu a nd Ro th. As soon as the 17-lap , 65-mile race was waved off two races withi n the race q uickly developed. Out front it was Sarron leading Pons with Garriga leading Cornu for third a nd a pack consisting of Mang, the rearmoving Manfred Herweh , Martin Wimmer, Loris Reggia ni and Ro th. Luca Cadalora wasted his second row starting position by getting away dead last, Sarron led until the seventh lap when Po ns took over. A lap earlier and Cornu had taken over third from Garriga. Ajinomoto's Masahiro Shimizu, the II th fastest qualifier, dropped out of the race on the fifth lap with severe back pain, th e ' byproduct of a practice injury. Pons and Sarron wer e able to pull away and it wasn't until the 13th lap when Garriga took back third over Cornu that they were able to appreciably close the gap on the frontrunners. Sarron took over the lead on the 13th lap ann led until Pons reclaimed the lead on lap 16. A charging Mang wo uld turn in the fastest la p of. the race on the 15th lap, a 2:16.75. Unnoticed was Cadalora's steady march to the fro nt. Lap-by- lap he moved forward, displacing Reggiani for seventh on the last lap. Three times on the last lap th e lead changed hands. Sarron's best corner was the fast left before the final rightleft -right chicane. Pons led going into the left with Sarron pulling even down the short chute to the chicane. Both went in far too fast and as Pons sa w Sarron pulling inside of him he appeared to move over from the middle of the track, his knee sticking o ut and bumping Sarron. There was no way that either co u ld stop and they ran straig ht off th e track, slo wly cartwheeling then coming to a stop unhurt. As they did a disbelieving Garriga sped by looking over his shoulder briefly to see Cornu just .23 seconds back. Mang was about 10 seconds behind with Cadalora .23 behind Mang and Reggian i just .32 behind Cadalora. As the dust from the accident cleared there was no lack of blame to go around. Pons claimed that he hadn't seen Sarron on his inside and that Sarron shouldn't have made quite so aggressive a move. Sarron, on th e o ther han d, said , " He kne w I could pass him withou t a problem a nd he knew he'd put me in th e grass. " Sarron was off on th e grass on the inside of the tra ck before crossing the chicane a nd falling in th e sand and grass th ere. Mang was happy that he finally got his Ro th mans Honda working the way that he wanted and Cornu said he was hesitant in the early going and th at he was suffering from a stiff back and neck. Co rnu said he was hesitant about his tires in th e early la ps and tha t because Garriga hangs so far off the bike it makes it di fficult to pass. Garr iga was incredulous. " I never truly thought about winning and only after my cool-off lap did I understand that no one was ahead of me ," said Garriga. • Results 500cc: 1. Wayn e Gardn er (Han); 2. Eddie Lawson (Yam); 3. Christian Sarron (Yam); 4. Kevin Mag ee (Ya m~ 5. Niall Mackenzie (Hon~ 6. P.F. Chili (Han); 7. Wayne R a in~y (yam) ; 8. Kevin Schwantz ('( am); 9. Patr ick Igoa (Yam); 10 . Rob McElnea; 11. Shunji Yatsushiro (Han); 12. Didier de Radigues (Yam); 13. Ron Haslam (Elf); 14 . Marco Papa (Han); 15 . Marco Gentile (Fior). RACE DISTANCE: 20 laps, 76.2 miles. AVERAGE SPEED: 103.1 I mph. FASTEST LAP: Wayne Gardner 2:11.2 8 (104 .288 mph). 25Occ: 1. Juan Garriga (Yam); 2. Jacques Cornu (Han); 3. Anton Mang (Han); 4 . Luca Cadalora (Yam); 5. Loris Reggiani (Apr); 6. Sito Pons (Han); 7. Reinh old Roth (Han); 8. Bruno Casanova (Apr); 9. Man in W imm er (Yam); 10. Manfred Herweh (Yam); I 1. .Jeen-Paor Ruggia (Yam); 12. Carlos Cardus (Hon~ 13. Ivan Palazzesa (Yam~ 14. Donn ie Mcleod (EMC); 15. W. Zeelenberg (Yam). RACE DISTANCE: 17 laps. 64.77 mile s. AVERAGE SPEED: 99.421 mph . FASTEST LAP: N/ A. 125cc: 1. Jor ge Ma rtinez (Der~; 2. Ezio Gianol a (Han); 3. Hans Spaan (Han); 4. D. Br igaglia (Rot); 5. G. Waibel (Han); 6. S. Prien (Han); 7. H. Abo ld (Han); B. C. Catala no (Apr); 9. P.P Bianch i (Cag); 10. A . Stadl er (Han). RACE DISTANCE: 16 laps. 60 .96 mi les. AVERAGE SPEED: 91 .95 mph. FASTEST LAP: J. M an in ez 2:26.52. 93 .44 mph. 8Occ: 1. J orge Manin ez (Der); 2. P. Oen l (Kra)' 3. B. Smit .(Min); 4. J . Van Dongen (Cas); 5. H: Torrontequi (Au t); 6. J . Seel (See); 7. A. Nijenhuis (Cas); B. 8 . Nikolov ( Kra~ 9. K. Juhas v (Kra); 10. G. Ascarggi (Kra). RACE DISTANCE: 12 laps. 45 .72 mil es. AVERAGE SPEED: 87.279 mph. FASTEST LAP: P. Oen I 2:33.98. BB.91 mph. SIDECAR: 1. BilandlWaltisperg (LCR);2. Str eur/ Schn ieders (LCR); 3. Webster/ Hew in (LCR); 4 . Egloff / Egloff (LCR); 5. Jones/ Brown (LCR). RACE DISTANCE: I 6 laps. 60 .96 miles. AVERAG E SPEED: 60 .84 mph . FASTEST LAP: BilandlWaltisperg 2:17 .35. 99.66 mph. 500cc WORLD CHAM PIONSHIP POINT STAN DINGS: 1. Eddie Lawson (142); 2. Wayne Rainey (106); 3. Wayne Gardner (lOS); 4 . Kevin Magee (89); 5. Kevin SchwanlZ (85 ); 6. Christian Sarron (74); 7. Niall Mackenzie (71 ~ 8. Didier de Radigues (63); 9. P.F. Chile (52); 10. (TIE) S. Yatsushiro/ Rob McElnea (41). 25 0cc W ORLD CHAM PIONSHIP POINT STAN DINGS: I . Juan Garriga (118); 2. Sito Pons (109); 3. Jacques Cornu (95); 4 . Reinhold Roth (74~ 5. (TIE) Anton Mang /Luca Cadalora (72); 7. Dominique Sarr on (68); 8. Masahiro Shimizu (61); 9. J.P. Ruggia (56); 10. Donnie McLe od (30). 125cc WORLD CHAM PIONSHIP POINT STAND INGS: 1. J . Maninez (BO) 2. E. Gianola (69); 3. ; Spaan (57~ 4. S. Grasseni (40); 5. M iralles (39). BOcc WORLD CHAMPI ONSHIP POINT STAND INGS: 1. J . Man inez (97); 2. (TIE) A. Crivill e/M. Herr eros (60); 4. S. Doerf li nger (50); 5. Ottl (4 5~

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