Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Thierry Crine teamed w ith Herve Moineau to win the Spa -Francorchamps 24:Hour. Moineau cl inched his fourth Endurance World Championship. Christophe Bouheben teamed with Alex Vieira to f inish second on a .works Honda. Their third teammate was pulled from the race early on. The w inning team sprays champagne at the end of the race. Their m argin of victory was just 44 seconds. World Championship Endurance Road Race Series: Final round . Suzuki's Moineau wi'ns race, title in Belgium By Julian Ryder Photos by Kel Edge . , SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, BELGIUM, AUG. 13-14 Herve Moineau secured h is fourth World Championship -Endu ran ce Road Race title at the Spa-Francorchamps 24:-Hours in Belgium after an epic race during which his 18 works Suzuki and the works H onda were n ever more than a lap ~part. At the flag, Moi- neau and partner Thierry Crine were just 44 seconds ahead. Suzuki's third man, Bruno Le Bihan, had been pulled off the bike at the dawn of the final day because he co uldn' t stay on the pace. The Honda had similar personnel problems. The usual front men, Alex Vieira and Chris tophe Bouheben, were on duty but the third man JeanMari e Mattioli was otherwise engaged with a 250cc GP bike in Sweden . Honda's problem arose fro m the fact that they hadn't intended to contest Spa, but when it became apparent that the y could win the ti tle, last year 's R VF was dusted down and a fair ly low -rent (by HRC standards) effort sent to try and sneak the title back from Suzuki. Jean-Louis Guignabodet was drafted in but only rode a couple of sessions before being sent back to the bench. Team managers Do minique MeIliand of Suzuki and J ean -Louis Guillou were in no mood to compromise. Whoever won this race would take the title. Public sym pathy was definitely wi th Suzuki, who has supported the En d urance Championshi p through thick and thin - a fact demonstrated by the enth usiasm with which the 40,000 crowd greeted Moi neau 's holeshot, H e was chased by th e surprise package of the race, young English. man Terry Rymer making his first visit to a foreign race track on a very rapid Honda RC30. Just before the first set of rider changes, the Suzuki held an 11second lead with Rymer a further 30 seconds back, followed by the semiofficial Belgian Johnson-sponsored Kawasaki of Hubin/Simu l/Steven. The second Johnson Kawasaki 01 1987 series second place riders De Doncker/Van Vaerenbergh/Delaby bl ew its motor in the biggest possible way very early on . Despite th e fac t th at th e race quickl y sett led into a pat tern and stayed that way, it was o ne of th e most exci ting Spa 24-H ours ever. The two works bik es pulled away steadily, leavin g the Belgi an Kawasak i in a lon ely third pl ace in fro nt of a gaggle of end urance raci ng's top privateers. At the end of the second hour, th e Suzuki led by six seconds, th en by 28 at th e end of th e third (Gu ignabode t's downfall ), then 12, 25, 30 and seven seconds at the end of th e follow ing hours. Rymer 's RC30 had been sen t way down the order when on e of the two green twins he was sharing with slid orr on a slow right-hander and the crew took an inordinately long time to fix the damage. However, Rymer would lead a splendid fight back from way down th e field. Honda uncharacteristicall y helped Suzuki out w hen their legendary pit crew bo tched a routine stop, and in a preview of the final act of the drama Bouheberi went straight on at the bus-stop ch icane, one of those artificial slow-down devices that diverts the riders off the race track for 40 yards before bringing them back onto th e track. Going into the night, things were so close that the lead was changing with pit stops. The official classification has the Honda all of 2.32 seconds ahead at 1:00 a.m.! About this time, the Dutch Van der Waal Bimo ta Yamaha team of previous LeMans 24-Hours winners H enk van der Mark and Dirk Bra nd teamed with Dick Bem elman , moved up to third ahead of the Belgian Kawasaki. In fifth was the consistently fast T ea m MCN Harris Yamaha FZ of Mat Oxley, Steve Manl ey and Eric McFar lane on the same lap as the

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