Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~------- - --- enoug h to keep th e Pepsi Suzu ki rider on the sidel ines. The battle for th e 250cc World Championship between Spaniards Sito Pons and Juan Garriga resumed at Rijeka with th e two battling for th e majority of the 26-lap race. In th e end it was Pons a nd th e Campsa Honda taking cha rge, leaving Garri ga a nd the Du cad os Yamaha to fight it o u t with Rothmans H onda's Dominique Sarron. At th e flag it was Garriga taking th e runnerup spot with Sarron third. HB H onda 's Reinhold Roth and Marlboro Yamaha 's Luca Cadal o ra fini shed fourth and fifth , respectivel y. Defending World Champi on Anton Mang, a lo ng with 7-Up EMC 's Donnie McLeod , crash ed in the first corn er on th e opening lap, breaking hi s left co lla rbo ne. Pons now leads Garriga by four points, 149-145. Jorge Martinez and hi s factory Derbis again pulled off a double in th e tiddler ranks, topping th e Team Servisco H onda of Ezio Gianola in the I25cc G P a nd th e Kra user o f Peter Oe ttl in the 80cc class. 00 00 0") .........l 500cc Qualifying Wayne Gardner celebrates his third successive 500cc Grand Prix win on the victory lap at Rijeka. Yugoslavia. Wayne Rainey 11 7) leads the 500cc start. as Wayne Gard ner (1). Christian Sa rron (7 ). Kevin Magee (1 6) and Niall Mackenzie IS) give chase. World Championship Road Race Series: Round 10 Gardner takes third straight in Yugoslavia By Paul Carruthers Photos by Patrick Gosling RIJ EKA, YUGOSLAVIA, JULY 17 D efending World Champion W a yn e Gardner held off a determined challen ge from Christian Sarron to win th e Yugoslavian G ran d Pri x at the twisty Rijeka circui ~ 14 n estl ed comfortably i.n the hills above th e Adriatic Sea. More imp ortantl y for Gardner was the m iserab le weekend suffered by his primary rival and current cha m pi o nship lead er Eddie La wson. The Marlboro Yamaha rider gri tted hi s teeth a nd finished 10th a fte r dislocatin g h is left sho ulder in the final p racti ce session o n Sa tu rday a ftern oon. Lawson was in jec ted w ith 6cc o f Cortisone/ Zylacaine to help ease the pa in , a nd th en rod e bravel y to pi ck up six valuable points. Gard ner, with hi s th ird successive win , has tak en a 40-po int deficit of th ree races ago and closed to wi thin 20 poi nts o f La wson, 165-145, wi th six rounds rem a ining. Gardner a nd hi s Ro thman s H onda avera ged 10 I. 702 mph fo r the 30-la p . 77.7-m ile race, to p p ing th e Gaulo ises Yama ha of Sarron by 7.42 seco nds . T h ird p lace -went to T eam Lucky Strike Rob ert s' Wa yne Rai ney, h is fifth ros tru m pos itio n in 10 races. Arg ua bly, th e hero of th e day was Randy Mamola. T he Ca lifornian thrilled the large crowd by slidi ng hi s rej uvenated Cagiva to a fourthpl a ce finis h, narrow ly n i pp in g T eam Lucky Strike Roberts' Kevin Magee at th e flag. T he result was possibly more impressive tha n h is third-place fini sh in the Belg ian GP because this one was held o n a dr y circu it. Following. Magee in si xth was Lawson's Marlbo ro Yamaha tea m mate Didi er de Radi gues. The Belgian rode a rather un eventful a nd lo nel y race topp in g th e bau le be hi nd co ns is t ing o f Rothmans Honda 's Shunji Yatsu shiro, Pepsi Suzuki 's Rob McE ln ea and Ell's Ro n Haslam. HB Honda 's Pier-Francesco Chili wa s a part of th e sa me battle befor e crash ing two laps from th e end. He remounted to fini sh II tho Double G P winn er Kevin Schwantz was forced to play th e rol e o f spec ta tor and British Broadcasting Compan y (BBC) broadcaster after brea king hi s kn eecap o n ly two weeks p revious in Bel g ium. Sc h wa n tz, wh ile feeling no pain , was told that a sim p le blow to th e kn ee co uld resu lt in furth er dam a ge to th e pi n ned a nd wired a rea , and th a t another ope ra tio n wo u ld th en be necessa ry. These words were stro ng Savi ng his best for the last o f the four timed practice sessions, Fren chman Christian Sarron kept his slides to a minimum while others around him left black marks out of every corner to garb hi s fourth successive pole position, 'Sarro n and th e Gauloises Yamaha circulated the 2.48mile circuit in one minute, 30.176 seconds for an average speed of 103.164 mph , but was at a loss to tell abou t it. : " I can't exp la in it," Sarron said. " I just feel very confident. The bike is very good and th e tires are very good. I don't beli eve sliding is the fast wa y. I think wh en yo u slide yo u lose time, so I try to slide o n ly the minimum am ount." More than one of Sarron's competitors sai d th e no- slide theory is fine unti l th e tires go off. It is then that Sarron has hi s problems . Sarron was als o using third gear in places wh ere o the rs were using second; whe n th e ti res go o ff, th e slides . become mor e abrupt in th e higher gear. Second quickest was Gardner a t I:30.511, onl y .335 of a second behind Sar ron. The Austra lian was evasive wh en asked if h is qu ick laps had been turned wi th th e modified , m ore sta b le c h as sis. M o st, h owev er , bel ieved tha t he did indeed use th e new fra me fea tu ring increased rake. " It ma kes it more sta ble, but we need somet hi ng i n the middl e (between the o ld a nd th e new )," Gardner said. " I'd lik e to have th e pol e; it's ni ce, but this year I'v e won twi ce without being on the pole. Last year I cou ld do it (la nd th e pole po sition ) all the tim e. I had more confidence in th e machine." Third fast est , eq ua ling the previo us best qual ifying effort o f Laguna Seca a nd the Salzburgring, wa s . N iall Mackenzi e o n th e HB H onda. Mack enzie, u sin g th e old fram e because Gardner received th e only new one, turned a I :30.602 lap in 'the third session, and didn't better th e effort in the final outing. Next came the first of the Lucky Strike Yamahas with Wayne Rainey at the h elm. R a in ey, using the upside -down Ohlins forks that he used in the rain a t Spa, turned the four th -q uickest lap, a 1:30.730. Ra in ey a lso tried a new batch of tires that were flown in from Japan on Saturda y. Bringing in th e tires was Rainey's idea after using th em while testin g the four-stroke Yamaha that he and Kevin Magee will ride in th e Su zuk a Eight-H our. The tir es, however, were not th e hot setup o n th e YZR500.

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