Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

is just the opposite. "Smartest thing Kenn y ever ' did," Ba ld w in said' matter-of-Iactly, Since this was one br idge that Baldwin hasn 't burned, Roberts' Team Manager Paul Butler recently arranged th e part-time ride Baldwin is now enjoying as part o f' th e movie " Ame rica n Built." . It was a t Da ytona, a fter hi s horrific heat rac e crash, that Baldwin was asked how he felt Rainey would fare :' His answer, lik e most things he says, was unique and would prove, at least partially, p ropheti c. . " Yo u watch . Rainey's going to score m o re p oints tha n a ny o ne thinks," he began. His skeptical ' inquisitors dr edged up th e fact that, a lt ho ug h Rainey won the Su perbike title the previous year o n th e Honda, he hadn 't won too many races, and th e last tim e he rod e a 500 was in 1986 wh en he su ffered th e ignominy o f being th e o nly factor y rider in mod ern tim es ( 0 be beaten out of a < titl e by a privateer, Randy Renfrow. Wha t the questioners had forgotten was that Rainey had broken hi s co llarbo ne a nd had chose n to concentra te on riding th e Su pe rbike, though th at stra tegy was a lso unsuc-> cessful. Rainey fini shed second a ' mere two points behind teammate Fred Merk el. 00 . 00 0') """"" Interview: Wayne Rainey_ Rookie sensation By Henny Ray Abrams Photos by Paul Carruthers and Abrams The settin g was the podium of the "Notthe-Portuguese G rand Prix." T he characters were the winner, Marlboro Yamaha Team Agos tin i's Eddie Law son, ru n n er-u p Wayne Rainey of Team Lucky Strike Roberts and, in third place, Rainey's teamm te Kevin a Magee. There was the usual cha m pagne sho wer, th e usual dis cu ssio n of the race - how one or the o the r had mad e some heroic save and - how th e o ther had seen it - and th e unusual ca ll ing o f names. Rainey, who 'd led for 27 laps befo re his front tire became th e co ns istency o f jell y, was, with a broad g ri n a nd gr eat humor, ca ll ing h is long-time fri end a nd former T ea m Ka wasaki partner Lawson th e sort o f names that used to get Bill y Ma rt in th ro wn o u t of ball ga mes. " Why co uldn' t you let me win m y first race," th e a t-o nce dis a p pointedyet-p leased Rainey asked . " Why'd you have to pass me?" The race a t J erez would stand o u t as Rainey's best in the first half of hi s rookie season o n th e L ucky Strike Yam aha. His worst would be a seventh in the Dutch TT a t Assen which wo u ld mark th e halfway point in the 16-race season . Still, when th e points were tallied , Rainey held a surprising seco nd to Law son in th e 500cc World Championship standings, 142 to 106. Bu t a fifth -pl ace finish a week la ter in the Belgian GP at Spa dropped him to third, 10 points behind World Ch ampion Wayne Gardner. "That's m or e wher e he belongs, " sa id a member o f th e Roberts camp. Some thought that the pressure of being second in the standings had gotten to Rainey, but the easygoing, blond-haired southern Ca lifornian 16 disagreed. :' No,~ody eXl?ected me to do a ~ y- thlO~, he said betwee~ pracuce ~.esslOns fo r th e Bel g ian ra ce, Nobody put pressure on me but myself. It's hard to say if I think about it too much or not. I strugg led at Assen. It was the wo rst weekend I had. I have to realize who I'm racing agains t. These guys, like Edd ie a nd Wayn e, have been over here for a cou p le of years. It's on ly my ninth race ." That Rainey has been so successfu l has been the maj or su rp rise of th e season to everyone in cluding team owner Kenny Rober ts. " It scares me how well he's getting on with the bike," Roberts said o ff- handed ly a fte r R a iney ca p tured the p ol e posit ion in J erez. . T he p re-season forecasters had Rainey racing in th e shadow of his m ore hi ghl y-touted tea m mate Magee, a nd although Magee has wo n a G rand Pri x, th e Sp anish ro u nd at J a rama, he's had to fo llow Rainey across the line mor e often than the reverse. And a lthough th is wo u ld ca use d issen sion on so me team s, the two gr een- and-red-targeted rid ers a re clo se friends a nd travel in tandem in th eir motor homes. Wh en th ey ge t to a GP, th ey park with th eir side doors facing eac h o the r a nd set up a pl a y area in betw een for Magee' s year-o ld son Jake. One of the few people not surprised by Rainey's su ccess is one of hi s predecessors on th e Rob ert s tea m, Mike Baldwin. R oberts dropped Baldwin and Randy Mamola in favor o f Rainey and Magee thi s year and, alt hough Mamol a ca rries a festering bitterness towards Roberts, Baldwin Team Lucky Strike Roberts' Wayne Rainey has proven doubters wrong in his first season of 500cc Grand Prix competition. He now holds third place in the points standings behind Eddie Lawson and Wayne Gardner.

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