Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

a tJ .~ Kevin Schwantz (center) won the Japanese GP; Rainey (left) and Lawson (right) finished second and third. Wayne Rainey (3) gave Schwantz a battle royale for the entire 22-lap Grand Prix. Schwantz. however. held Rainey off in the final go-around. World Championship Road Race Series: Round 1 Schwantz tops Rainey in Japanese thriller By Henny Ray Abrams SUZUKA CITY, JAPAN, MAR. 26 In what was easily the most furious battle of their young Grand Prix careers, Team Pepsi Suzuki's Kevin Schwantz passed perennial rival Wayne Rainey of. ~eam Lucky Strike Roberts on the last lap and held on to win his " second consecutIve.500cc lapanese Grand Pnx' opener 6 before a crowd of 84,000 at the Suzuka Circuit. Schwantz, who capllahzed on a rare menta! error by Yamahamounted Rainey on me last lap to take the lead and eventual1y me win by .422 seconds, wasn't sure he'd be able to get Rainey, who led from me start. "I didn't mink I was going to be able to catch him at first," me 24year-old Texan said at the post-race press conference. "I was going after him, but I kept making little mistakes and I wasn't getting any closer. I real1y had to push it to me edge." Rainey, who bolted from me start and led 17 of me 22 laps on the 3.64mile Suzuka Circuit, was confused by the official lap countdown sign and made no effort to repass Schwantz on me final lap thinking there was one more to go. "Wim a lap to go he passed me and I made a mental error," me 28year-old Rainey admitted. "I was reading my pit signal and me lap countdown sign. When we came across wi m one lap to go it read '2', but as soon as we crossed the line it changed to a '1'." In his debut ride on a Rothmans Honda, World Champion Eddie Lawson came from 12th on the first lap to finish 30 seconds back in third in the 80.I-mile race, despite nagging wrist and back injuries. Lawson's Rothmans Honda teammate, Wayne Gardner, survived three separate harrowing incidents to take fourth, but at a LOll. With four laps to go he ran off the track and into the sand in a medium speed left-hand comer and was nearly thrown from the bike before making a bril1iant, and lucky, save. Unfortunately, when he landed back in the saddle he sustained testicular damage which required a trip to me ho pitaL In fifth was Rainey's teammate, Australian Kevin Magee. Magee, who started from oulSide the front row, was slowed by engine problems early on and, later, tire problems. As good as me 500cc race was, me 250cc event was nearly its equal. And when it was over, Team Roberts John Kocinski, in only his fifm Grand Prix start, had beaten Carnpsa Honda's World Cha!"pion SiLO Pons by 1.022 seconds, to wm his first-ever GP. "I wasn't going LO give up," Kocinski would later say. "I didn't care what I had to do to win, I wasn't going LO give up." . Marlboro Agostini Yamaha's Luca Cadalora nipped uec Greenfield Yamaha's Toshiko Honma by .00l seconds for fourth with JeanPhillippe Ruggia fifth on the Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Despi te seizing his one factory Yamaha YZR250 in two of the four qualifying sessions, Kocinski. still managed to qualify on me pole wim a new lap record of 2:17.042 minutes. When me flag dropped, his engine bogged and he was away sixm. By the fifth of 20 laps he was leading a sextet, giving up me lead briefly on me 11m lap before regaining it. Gradually, he and Pons separated from me pack and mough Pons was never more than a few lengms back, he couldn't pass me AMA 250cc National Champion. "It was beginning to slide very much at the end," the World Champion Spaniard said. "I know John doesn't go LO the other races, so second is good." The Schwantz-Rainey-Lawson American sweep of me top three was the ninth time that's happened. But there were a few omer Americans entered. Camel Pro Champion Bubba Shobert piloted his 1988 Honda NSR500, sponsored by the Japanese cigareue company, Cabin, to a creditable II th place finish after wearing out the from tire. Stil1, his fastest race lap of 2: 14.979 was nearly half a second faster than bis qualifying time of 2:l5.336 and he was happy to have a GP under his belt. Three spots behind Shobert was former World Champion Freddie Spencer in his inaugural appearance in the orange and white colors of Marlboro Yamaha A~ostini. Spe:ncer, who made no secret of his dislike for the track, got away second and was running fifm on the seventh lap when his Yamaha's ignition began to misfire. The first rime it happened it caused him to run off the track before saving it and falling to 19m place. He would make up five spots by me end of the race. Team Cagiva's Randy Mamola finished l6th with a badly overheating engine. A post-race check revealed a pinched radiator hose was constricting water flow and causing me engine to run 15 degrees centigrade houer than normal. . The only American non-finisher was Suzuki's Doug Polen. Riding a factory 500 for the first time, the Texan had qualified in 20th place. Getting a good start, he was up to 12th on the third lap before dropping back, then out, wlth fading front brakes. He would return later in me day to win the Japanese Formula Three support 'race on a Suzuki GSXR400. In the 250cc race, Californian Jimmy Filice finished lim on a facLOry Honda NSR250 sponsored by Edwin, the largest Japanese jeans company. Filice will have the NSR for the U.S. GP at Laguna Seca and will be sponsored on a production Honda for the American 250cc series. Andy Leisner, riding a Honda R 250 for Racing Team Katayama, suffered a series of mechanical problems and crashes and failed to qualify for the race. The only non-eompetitive race of the day was the 125cc GP. Team Pileri Corse's Ezio Gianola, runnerup in last year's World Championship, jetted from the pole position to win by over 21 seconds on a factory Honda. Second was decided at the line with Team UnemolO's Hisashi Unemoto topping Kohji Takado by 14 seconds with Masayuki Hirose just six-tenths back. Derbi's World Champion Jorge Martinez began his defense of the title wlth a DNF, dropping out on the second lap with gearbox troubles. 500 Qualifying With all of the developments of the o((-season, qualifying was anxiously anticipated. And with the

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