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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127147
get over for the next turn. "The track's a little slower now because of the hot weather," he continued, "But you can still slide the bike off the corners. The-corner speeds are up. You can see everybody doing nice big controlled slides. It 's very slippery on new tires, but then it gets much better. It goes from one extreme to another. The start is critical. You could work your way up, but you'd work your butt off. I'd say Wayne Gardner, Wayne Rainey, Christian, and myself will definitely go fast. The others may be in there for a while. " After qualifying on the pole for the last five races , Sarron had his string broken at Donington, but still managed third fastest , 1:35.74 (94.OQ mph ), for a spot in the middle of the front row. Many had thought.the surface favored his style of riding righ t on th e edge of tra ction and not sliding, but by the time he found the best setup in the fourth session, there was th e oil and ceme nt dust in th e final corner whi ch fouled hi s drive onto the front straight and a lso put him down once. "There was a pat ch of cement dust out of th e left hairpin," Sarron said. "I dropped my bike there, but with no damage. I worked hard to set up my bikes, cha nging th e gearboxes on Saturda y. I kept my nest tire for th e last sessio n where I was th e fastest , but it was not possible to eq ual th e times se t o n Frida y. But I feel confident, my bike works well now ." N ext to Sarron w a s th e fir st member of th e United Kingdom, Scotsman Macken zie. Despite th e .cem en t du st in th e last co r ner, Mack enzi e was able to turn his best time of I:36.04 in th e final session. He said that he was using the revised fram e th at Gardner had go tten for Yugoslavia a nd found it sign ificantly different from hi s curre nt ' chassis. "The n ew o ne is much more stable," he said. " It do esn 't shake th e front. It's OK going into the corner, but pi cking it up and 's lo wing down a nd cha nging direction is a lot of hard work. I don 't slide as much as Wayne coming out of the corner. I slide more at the apex because I get a lot of lea n angle, and stop sliding by the end of the corner. After about six laps we'll be sliding and drifting around Coppice Comer (a fifth-gear arcing right) for sure." At th e far end of the front row would be Rainey just . 13 seconds behind Mackenzie at 1:36.17 (93.58 mph ) which he did in th e final second session on Friday. On Saturday morning he tried the new sintered carbon brakes and after the second session decided he'd use them in the race. He explains: " Yo u need heat in them to make them work. The fir st turn could be a problem. Everything's lighter and u makes the bike easier t~ maneuver. That helped solve some of th e chatter problem. There isn't as much gyro effect," The new solid discs are 289mm wide and weigh 900 grams. The steel discs he had been using, and th in Magee would use : are 320mm and weigh 1650 grams. Team owner Kenny Roberts said that they decided to use the discs after the second session. "Wayne likes th e way it works," Roberts said. " Magee tried it and thought it was spongy. He likes a solid brake. Wayne does n't like as so lid a brake. It 's a development. Some tracks it may work and some it won 't. If it does get cooler there is some question as to whether it would work." .. In spite of a sto mach viru s, Marnola was on th e second row, sixth fastest at 1:36.33 (93.42 mph ). " In peak condition I feel I could Rainey arid the Yamaha YZR500 dominated the British GP at Donington Park from start to fin ish, go faster , but it 's difficult to concen trate 100 percent. Donington is a difficult tra ck technicall y. With th e h igh grip levels of th e new surface you need to be in good sh ape to ride very fast." Lawson's Belgian teammate Did ier de Radigues wa s seventh fastest after so rt ing out a gearbox problem and next to him was Yam aha 's T adahiko Taira making one of hi s rare grand prix a ppearances. Filling out th e se co n d row wa s R oger Burnett riding th e injured Shunji Yatsushiro's Rothmans Honda to hi s best qualifying position ever. Back on th e third row were Haslam , Magee, Schwantz, McElnea , and Pi er-Francesco Chili. " Magee, still recovering from his con cussion a t Spa a month ag o, sa id th at he " wasn 't even close. It 's th e bike and me as well. I'm pushing th e front and you ca n only do it so much before you end up on your butt. I'm losing time driving out of th e turns-,The bike still doesn 't seem to be running quite where I'd like. " " I still co u ldn 't get the thing working right," Schwantz said. "T he grip on the rear is the problem. The Suzuki is now com ing on real hard a nd violent like the Honda. Rob's not sp in n in g , but maybe that's because he's hea vier. " 500cc GP Probably the biggest surprise of the weekend was th e weather. Averaging 86 degrees for the three days , it was the hottest week end of the year in England and guaranteed a long, physically demanding race. The green was flashed 3t3:00 p.m. and , although Rainey wasn't imrnediatedly into the lead, he drove around the pack in the right-hand Redgate Corner at the end of the downhill s tra ig h t. Trailing the Lucky Strike Yamaha were Gardner, Sarron, Ma ckenzie, Chili , de Radigues, Lawson, and Mamola. By the end of the fir st lap Schwantz's race was over after crashing with Haslam, who remounted. Ma~ee was just beh ind th e pair when the incident occurred and lost several pl aces trying to avoid them. " I triedto get a good start and pull away," Rainey said. "When I found myself in front I went for it. " Marnola's cha rge was muted on th e first lap, also, when his clutch plates splintered on the first lap. " Norm ally you have to adjust it Gardner (1 I. Sarron (7) and Mackenzie lead Chili (8 ) during the battle for second in the 500cc GP ; Gardner and Sarron were second and third , ab out half a turn after th e first lap," he exp lained. " I did that and it didn 't help so I just kept adjusting it and there was nothing there. My stomach was slightly better than yesterda y, but I still wasn't 100 percent." By the fourth lap Rainey had a 3.3 second lead with Gardner second in a trio ahead of Sarron and Mackenzie. Further back were Chili, de Radigues, Burnett, and Lawson a nd they would soon form together into a quartet. Behind them ca me McEInea , Taira, and Mamola. A lap later, Gardner, who 'd had micro-needle injections in both ankles to free th em up, o vercooked th e entrance to the esses, barely running off the track and losing two places. H e said that his front discs were starting to warp and he 'd had to adj ust his braking. ' " T he circuit is so short - yo u accelerate th en brake - that th e brak es don 't get a chance to cool off," he said. "It's the worst I'v e ever ridden with distorted 'd iscs. I had to take it easy on the entries and then I'd leav e big black marks co mi ng OU l. " On the 10th lap, Rainey had a six second lead with Gardner back up to th ird, having passed Mackenzi e a nd setting out for Sarron who he .wo u ld pass a lap later. De Radigues was alone in fifth ahead of a tri o composed of Chili, Lawson, and Burnett with Magee catching up. T aira led McElnea in lOth. Rainey increased his lead on the 11th lap while setting a new lap record of I:36.30, well under the old record of I:39.17 that Taira set last year. " I didn 't want to look back at all ," Rainey said. " I saw some plusses on my lap board and kept going. Coming out of the horseshoe I co uld see Wayne and Christian behind me, Toward the end I didn't see them at all." At the halfway point Rainey's lead was up to almost seven seconds with Gardner, Sarron , and Mackenzie holding their p laces. The order of the top four wouldn 't cha nge. Rainey would set his fastest lap (I :36.27) in th e second half of th e race, but the new lap record would go to " Sarron, I :36.2 1, in pursuit of Gardner. The positions aft er the top four were anything but settled. From lap 12 to 15 de Radigues led his teammate Lawson without letting him past, causing some to wonder why. Burnett and Chili were just behind, but by the 15th lap Magee had moved into seventh as 'part of a q uarte t with Chili dropping off. La p 16 showed th e order scram bled with Lawson fifth ahead of Magee, de Radigues