Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

00 00 O"l ........ Lawson's shock move nota first -, ;I By Alan Cathcart j,.. -~ Photos by Paul Carruthers and Jack Mangus , World Champion Eddie L awson 's drama tic switch from Yamaha to H onda (or should that be from Marlboro to Ro th m an s, seeing .who pulls the purse strings?) has been hailed by many as th e most dramatic p ost-sea son happening in modern ro ad race GP times. Well , I agree it was pretty stunni ng, and has certain ly th ro wn the bike world 's wi nter part y game of musical seats wide o pen, not to mention a t th e same tim e prese nting us with th e tantalizin g p ro spect o f a 500cc GP cla ss struggle between alleged teammat es o n su p posedly ide ntical equ ip me nt, painted precisely th e sa me -co lor th a t will ri val th e Pons an d G arr iga roa d race show in term s o f nak ed aggression a nd a figh t to th e fin ish in 1989. But I can th in k of qu ite a few maj or rid er changes in G P road raci ng's past h istory that not on ly riva l, even exceed Eddie's wal ko u t o n Ago an d Kel in terms of dr am a and surprise , if o n ly because th ey were a bett er kept secre t u ntil th e crucia l last moment wh en a ll was revealed. So me how it's h ighl y ironic th at wh a t was surely th e shock h orro r team' switch of postwar GP racing a lso involved Ago, but that ti me as protagon ist, rath er than on t he receiving en d as he is now . H is a n nou nce me nt - almost 15 years to th e day before Eddie pulled th e same tri ck on him - tha t he wo u ld be leaving th e MV Agusta team on b ecome semi w h ic h h e 'd ins tit u tiona lized , n ot to m ention 13 times a World Champion, in order to ride for Yamaha in th e 1974 season was even more dramatic th an th e Lawson/ Hon da link, for the sim p le reason that in th ose days it a p peared tha t peo p le were better able to keep a secre t. Word on ly leaked ou t th at Ago stini was abou t to sign for Yamaha just before th e p ress co n feren ce called to a n nou nce th e fact : m ore peop le sus pec ted that a H onda con nec tio n was likel y, as indeed it h ad been u ntil Yamaha step ped in . T he thou ght o f Ag ostini rid i ng a ny th ing exce p t a n MV, after almost a decad e on th e red a nd silver " fire engines," seemed literally in credible, as was the fact th at for th e first tim e in his life he'd be racing a two-str ok e, and a no n -Ital ia n m ot orcycle. Wh en he went ou t an d won hi s very fir st race on such a mach in e, agains t stiff opposi tio n in ih e grueli ng Daytona 200 in March '74, it seemed too good to be true. Doubtless Eddie Lawson will be h opin g for a sim ila r fairy tal e debut to life as a H onda rider o n th e co mpany's h om e base in the J apanese G P a t Su zu ka on March 26 next year. Ago wa nted to leave MV because of hi s we ll- p u b licized d iffer en ces with hi s unwanted teammate Phil . Read (no t to m ention that Read won th e '73 500 titl e on th e MVs th at Ago had by th en become to rega rd as h is perso nal p roper ty), but a lmost as dra ma tic a move in the p ast decade came a bo ut as a p ure pi ece o f chec kbook team m anm a gem ent, ot he rw ise kn own as " buyi ng th e Number One pl at e." Even now, wi th th e ben efit of h indsight, it's h ard to fath om H onda 's rea sons for spend ing untold billions of lire in order to sig n new Iycrowned World Champ ion Marco Lucc hi ne ll i aw ay fro m Suzu ki in orde r to spearhead the ir retu rn to GP racing for th e 1982 season, bui tha t's exactly wh at th ey did a nd n o doubt th ey'll be hoping th at th ey'll en joy much better fortune a fter h aving done th e same th ing with Mr . Lawso n in 1989. Marco 's p a th eti c showin g ' in '82, wh en he never o nce managed to finish in th e top fo ur on a bike - th e NS500 triple :- th at was good ' enough to a llow team mat es Spe nce r a nd Katayama to score th ree G P victories for H onda not o n ly dama ged hi s own stand ing irrevocab ly, but a lso cos t Honda pl enty in th e days before Ro thmans wh en th ey had to 'pay riders o u t o f th eir own pockets. Still, it d id m ean they carried th e Number One pl at e o n th eir return to GP rac ing, th ough the wily Rob ert o G allina , Marco 's employer the seaso n befo re, ha d th e last laugh: he sig ned Fra nco U nci ni to rep lace Lucchi ne lliand p romp tly won the titie for th e seco nd year in a ro w. Ago will doubtless deriv e some co m fort fro m that slice o f h istory: i . Looking further back in time and th ere h ave been so me eq ua lly dra ma tic swaps, th e o n ly. d ifferen ce really being th at th ey p reda te th e sort of motorcycle journa lis m th at inisists o n three-inch h eadlin es to tell us tha t Edgar J essop is leavin g -, th e Spagfort h team to ride for th e Doodah fac tory, and two-in ch cap- . ita ls to in form us th at h is ' n ew teammate Gary Ocker is p issed off about it. Geoff Duke wa s a national folk hero in th e Britain o f the early fiftie s ' in much th e same wa y as Barry Sh een e was lat er , yet wh en he left th e works No rton team to rid e for th eir keen Gilera rivals in 1953, it was p racti call y ignored by th e th en weekl y magazi nes even th ough whe n th e fact leaked out in early November it was front p age n ews on Fleet Street. H ow 's tha t for a sw itc h ? Duke " desert ing" Bri tain to ride for th e Ital ians sold a lot o f papers that week but it was rea lly in evitable a fact which th e m ot orcycle press seemed to accept with resignat ion, rather th an eu p horia. One wonders how th ey might have reacted to th e big switch th at never was o f 1957, whe n aft er two seaso ns I an d on e World Championship with ' MV Agusta , J ohn Su rtees was on the point o f join ing Moto Guzzi for 1958 .. to ride th e fabu lo us V-8 500. Fortu- . natel y for him (since Count Agu sta: would n ever h ave co u ntenanced even th e very though t of a rider leaving r MV voluntaril y - he had to be sac ked!) he go t wo rd th at G u zzi was co ns idering pull in g ou t of rac ing a ltogether a t th e en d of the seaso n th e day before he was due to ride one o f th ei r b ikes for th e ' fir st time in a test sessio n a t Monza. But for tha t, he m ight never have had th e cha nce to go on to win six more World Championship titles on MVs after Gilera a nd Guzzi re tired from the GP scene. It is a fact th a t once a rid er o f Surtees' or Lawson's ca liber leaves a m ajor team , th ey've burnt th eir bridges irrevocably and ca n gen erally speaking never go back . Just in case Eddie finds th e '89 NSR500 to be notl quite wh at h e'd h oped for , th ere have been a co u p le of excep tio ns to this ru le, th ough o n ly a very few, most n o tabl e o f which was, o f course, Barry Sheen e's sen time n ta l return to Su zu ki for hi s fina l G P seaso n in 1984 after th ree years sp ent riding Yamahas. T he re tu rn ca me after Sh eene ca used quite a bit o f shoc k/ horro r when h e traded makes in th e first pl ace; a fter seven years an d two World Champi onship titl es with Su zu ki: Then , o f co urse, Mike Hailwood enjoyed a n ea rly spe ll in 1961 as a works H onda rider in th e 125 and 250cc classes before signing u p to ride th e MVs in 1962. The fact th at the two m arques clashed in th e 350cc class in th ose day s precluded him from co n tin u in g to ride th e sma ller ' Japanese bikes in favor of so me sp irited races and not a little success on Joe Ehrlich 's 125cc EMC singles, but wh en ' it be~me apparent th at l 10 :

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