Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

trackside, said: "We're losing a lot of time between the apex of the corner and the 's tart of th e ex it proper." In the end, this team raced on a production rear cover; discarding all the new experimen tal stuff, The new tires had in any case arr iv ed o n ly 10 min u tes before p ractice began: Magee had an more di fficu lt jo urney, spending almost four da ys travellin g after e ngine tro uble turned his aircraft back to Sydney, and he missed his connections. Upon arrivalin Rio, he discovered a time problem, and he arrived at Coiania, dog-tired and dehydrated, the nigh t before practice, after the rest had alread y had an untimed hour on the track . " I' ve never felt so knackered , even in an eigh t-hour race, " he said, after the first two sessions. " I even stopped halfway through the last session just to have a rest." Mamola was 'next to him o n the grid, an d th e star of the sideshow wherever he was placed. By now, he had perfected hi s Cagiva 's rearwhee l slides to th e extent that smok e was pouring off the Pirelli, and he was hanging the rear out like a flat tracker on dirt. After a particu lar ly lurid slide, he would wave at the ecst at ic photograp h ers, or lo o k behind to see if anyone following had appreciated hi s efforts. Comp leting the second row, de Ra digu es was by now spea ki ng mo re freely abo u t hi s di ssat isfactio n wi th his number two ro le in the Marl boro team. " My bik e is put together ou t of old par ts as usual," he complained. " O nce I rode Eddie Law' son 's second bike, and I was amazed at how much faster it was th an my best bike. " One contract th at did not look lik e being ren ewed. -A stra ngely poor performance, at con tr a ct tim e, from Mack en zi e, heading ro w three, and o ne-and-a-. half seconds off th e pace. " I can 't see where I'm losing time," he sai d. " I feel good, and when I follow any body, I seem to be as fast ro und any section. " 'H aslam was next , givi ng the Elf 5 a last outing before the Frenc h sponsors p ull the p lu g. H e was earl ier credited wi th the fastest time in th e firs t session , but his was readj u sted befor e th e last , which seemed to define the Elf 's level more clearly. With th e second Cagiva rider Raym ond Roche absent, the remaining ' V-Iour s: completed row three: McElnea's Suzuki, Burnett on Yatsus hiro's NSR , Igoa 's '87 Yamaha, each of th ese having probably their last rid e on th ese bi kes. T here were only 20 starters, and Barchitta was ~op NS on row fou r. even 500cc GP Lawson went into the lead from the star t, with Rai ney and Sch wantz in his wa ke. Sarro n was fourth and Gardner seventh. , Rainey was soon fadi ng, with a tir e , th at was alrea dy spinni ng. T hat gave Lawson and Schwantz some breathing space, and th ey drew ahead slig htly, with th e Suzuki seeming to match th e Yam ah a . Meantim e, Gardner was pi cking up two places a lap, and passed Sar ron and Rainey in one ou tbr aki ng sweep to move in to ,th ird on la p four, to set a bout closi ng a two -second gap. Lawso n set his fastest lap the fift h tim e around, but the n Schwantz out braked him at th e en d of lap five, wit h his Texas ride-tern cowboy style well in evide nce, th e Suzuki snaking wildly under acceleration . T h is may have he lped Gardner in his pursui t, for he was clos ing fast ; and by the time Law son pas sed Schwantz (again at th e en d of th e straigh t), the Aus tra lia n was almost on them. 00 00 0') ...... ... l!") ~ Q,) ..0 o ... u o After Lawson pulled away, Wayne Gardner (1) was left to fend off the advances of Schwantz (34). G ardner took three laps to get by Sch want z, and this tim e it was to Lawson 's benefit, and he was oneand-a-half seconds clear by th e tim e the H onda moved up to second. H ead down and riding flaw lessly, th e American con tin ued to stretc h hi s lead , wh ile Gardner was held up twice more wh en Sch wan tz go t by br iefly. ' By half di stance, the gap was better than four seconds, and It just kept on gett i ng bi gger. By the end, Lawson was 13 seconds in the clear, an d had co nfirmed his su periority . "That was a hard on e," he said afterwards, drenched in sweat but ecstatic after hi s 26th GP win, and sevent h of the season. Even Gardner broke his silence aft er th e race to congratulate th e man wh o beat him ' in 1988. , The Australian also complained that his rear tire had gone off, and (Left to right) Gardner, Lawson and Schwantz celebrate on the Brazilian that he couldn 't put the power down rostrum. The Brazilian GP was the final race of the 15-event season. right, wh ile Schwantz had some words to say abou t Gardner's hard drop back to make them think I was riding. " H e barged right across me back, but still well clear of a fouralready tryi ng my hardest " , more than once." th e T exan said. bike group behind h im. T hi s comH e go t bored with thi s with eight Rainey had been fading steadily, prised of de Radi gu es, Chili, Mam. laps to go , and: " I deci ded to make and had lost fourth to Sarron o n th e ola and Magee; having a regul ar a bolt, but just aft er I go t in front ding-do ng with Mamola still smoksixth lap. Meantime, Mackenzie - all I got into a corner too hot. I turned ing his rear tire and demonstrating too aware of the H o nda top brass on it as much as I co uld, th en picked his accompl is hm ent as a 'slider. hand, and anxious to secure a 1989 it up and ra n across th e dirt. " contract - was charging through Magee then drew ahead sligh tly, wit h Mamola in p ursuit, bu t lap 12; H e man aged to stay , on board, from a poor start, 12th after lap one. however, and this time made no He passed de Radig ues, Chili and then they closed back up agai n, and mistakes as he pass ed his two rivals Mamola dro p ped to the back of the Mamola all in one lap to move up tosecure what was now sixth p lace. _ group. " I was adj us ting my front to sixth, and steadily closed on He was som e four seconds ah ead of Sarron and Rainey. By lap II he was brake lever, th en when I go t back o n Chi li at the fin ish , and about 45 th e gas to catch up again, th e back past th e American, and took two more laps to get past th e Fren ch man , ' wh eel came round and it. spat me behind Sarron , bu t the official results off," he said. ' flatt ered by putting him fourthwhereupon th e pair of th em p ulled In deed yes, with the bike a nd rider away. tenths behind Sarron. In the absence cart wheeling h igh in the air af ter Sa rron sh adowed t h e ye llo w of offici al protest, th e erroneo us time ' wha t amo un ted to a virtual. 100H onda for th e rest of the race, stood. T he promoti on had co me abo ut pulling back yards under brakin g, degree spin o u t. after the demi se of Rain ey on lap 25, Shortly afterth is, Magee dro pped but losing them again on the corner bac k beh ind de Radigues and Chili, who pi tted wi th air esca pi ng fro m exi ts, alt hough 'he la ter said his the start of some erra tic riding tha t h is front tire, th ro ugh a porous Yama ha was probab lyfaster o nce it sidewa ll. " I don 't know how long was not with ou t reaso n . Anxious not go t wo und up . it had been go ing down," he said. to over -wor k hi s p roduction tir e afte r His final attempt to get back in " But suddenly wh en I put the brake a 10th placed ge ta way, he'd also , front took p lace as they accele rated accepted that he had no hope of on; th e bike wanted to sta nd up . I towards the line, a nd he actua lly got ca tch ing the leaders, so instead he knew wh a t it was , beca use I had a almost alongside Mackenzie, but the p layed games wit h the group. " I tire do tha t to me, in the morning Sco tsman too k fourth by just over warm-up . planned to make a run for it at the a tenth of a second. Mean time, de Ra digues, battling end, but I'd go ahead of them then Rainey was. gradually dropping It 11

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