Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

. year is not going to be a Derbi benefit, either, unless the Barcelona factory does something very clever very qUickly. Martinez started his red bike from pole, and took off in time-honored fashion, with Krauser's Stefan Doerflinger in hot pursuit. But before the second of 18 laps, Herri Torrontegui's Krasner was in second, and charging. By the third lap he was past Doerflinger, then as he attacked Martinez the Derbi started to sound flat, and Torrentegui was drawing away. From that point, the young Spaniard galloped ahead to win from Doerflinger by 17 seconds, while Martinez, suffering from a spli t exhaust, pulled intO the pits after four laps. Champi Herreros on the second Derbi was third, but was pegged back by Peter Oetti and Bogdah Nikolov so that Krausers filled first to fourth. 125cc The 250cc race featured a fierce battle early on; here Luca Cadalora leads Sito Pons and company. Cadalora earned his first 250cc win of the season in Spain, moving him to within two points of the championship lead, held by Sito Pons. 24 - this one on cold tires at the first bend on the first practice session. Then came two Hondas to fill the front row, Jacques Cornu and Loris Reggiani - the latter delighted at having carved almost a second off hIS previous best in the final session. "I feel the rhythm coming back," he said. This consigned home hero Sito Pons to the second row, by one-looth, not usually enough to trouble this clever rider, except that he was complaining of serious rear suspension setting problems, as he had at Laguna. Far from happy, he spem practice fiddling with the rear end, finally resorting in despera':ion t? the ettings they'd used here m wmter tests. Car}os Cardus was alongside him, having switched from the regular 18inch rear to the new Dunlop 17-inch first used in John Kocinski's winning ride at Laguna ~ca. ~artin Wimmer had pushed his Apnha up among the works Japanese bikes, qualifying eighth, and consigning ninth-place Reinhold Roth's Honda to the far end of the second row. The track is a great leveler of fast bikes, however, and three TZ Yamahas led row three: Alberto Puig, August Auinger; and up-andcoming Irish rider Gary Cowan, pushing practice crasher Helmut Bradl's NSR to thefarend of the row. Better than Shimizu, however, way down in 20th, and again making people wonder why it is that gooo Japanese riders come to Europe only to get worse. Non-qualifiers included Virginia Ferrari, on the Gazzaniga-RS, and the m.isfortunate young American Andy Leisner. This frequent crasher was running around in untimed practice when a water-main burst and suddenly flooded the track. The first to hit the puddle, he fell off. 250cc Race Garriga stalled, and was moved off the front tow to push-start from the side of the grid. It left Ruggia to take a flyer of a start at the beginning of the 25-lap, 65.48-mile race, leading from Pons, and the Barcelona charger way down at the back an.d panting, after having to deploy hIS half-forgotten push-start skills. By the second lap, six were breaking away ... Ruggia, Pons, Cadal-ora, Cardus, Cornu and Reggiani, and by the third, Pons was in the lead. But it lasted only two laps, before Cadalora slipped by, and from then he was in control, with Pons breathing down his neck. By half-distance, the leacf!.ng pa;U had gained themselves a httle au, and they raced on alone, never more than a few feet apart, and with the crowd on edge for a last-lap battle. But Cadalora had other ideas, and with three laps to go he upped the pace, and inched away to win by some three seconds. "It was a hard race, I just couldn't lose Sito," he said afterwards - rather kindly, because that was just what he had done; adding, "The championship is down to two points now, but we just have to take it race by race." The Spaniard replied: "I tried everything to get past him, but he was too fast for me. We've had a lot of chassis trouble in practice, and the bike was still not righ t. I hope I can regain the advantage after Misano, when we get back to the faster circuits. " Behind this battle, Cardus and Ruggia were slugging it out, neither leading the other for long, with Cornu and Reggiani only a few feet in arrears. Luckless Loris was the first to go, his number 13 HB Honda pulling off the track on lap 12 at the furtherest hairpin, ending his bestever Honda race for the most trivial and frustrating of reasons, explained in picturesque terms. "An animal went on my visor, and I couldn't see," he explained. He was Lucky it wasn't a giraffe. By lap 17, Cardus started losing his edge, suffering again from the old complaim of racer's wrist, This gave Cornu the chance to get his Honda by, and to start to lean on Ruggia. The effort cost him dear, for he crashed with six laps left. But Cardus was not out of the woods. Garriga had been riding like a man possessed, and though a. Cardus on full strength may have been 'able to stay in front, now he couldn't do so. Garriga flew past at the end of the straight with two laps to go, at last giving th~ ~rowd somet!;J.ing to cheer, even If It was one Spaniard passing another. This left Ruggia on the rostrum for a second time this year, Garriga a valiant fourth, and Cardus fifth. Reinhold Roth had a lonely race to sixth, then Shimizu's fellowHonda was seventh. Wimmer's works-backed Aprilia was eigh'th, after a race-long battle with Irishman Cowan's Yamaha, the top privateer. He'd been harrying the German until a few laps from the end, when he chose safety to make sure of ninth, his first top-10 GP finish. Wileo Zeelenberg's Honda RS was 10th· Palazzese's works Aprilla eased away from a hard battle in ~he closing stages to take 11 th, leavmg his erstwhile rivals Danny Amatrian and Jochen Schmid (Hondas) to dispute 12th and 13th. Alberto Rota held off Stefano Caracchi for an allItalian Honda battle for the last points. Among the non-finishers, three were victims of a spectacular but not seriously injurious crash. Puig slid off his TZ on lap four, taking Bruno Bonhuil with him. Bonhuil's Honda bounced back into the track, to be hit hard by Bradl's NSR, which somersaulted high then slammed into the bales. Luckily, none of the three were hurt. 80cc The 80cc class season opened with a full en try, and few signs that it is to die without a fight. And the last The crowd expected Derbi's revenge in the I25cc race, which was so heavily oversubscribed that they had to split practice into two lots odd and even numbers. Martinez was again on pole, 'but it was his new nemesis Alex Criville who took off in the lead, which by three-quarter distance of the 22-lap race was more than 20 seconds, although he let it shrink to six by the fimsh. Martinez was harried by Gianola, until the Italian on the works-backed Honda went off the track briefly, rejoining to fight his way back to fourth. Thus Martinez was second, with Japan's Kohji Takada third. . Fausto Gresini was fifth, while early fourth-place runner Alan Scott dropped to sixth after losing first gear, finishin~ less than a second ahead of Juhan Miralles on the second Derbi. A great victory for 11 Cobas and Criville, but a disaster for Derbi. "I want to tell my countrymen that this is the worst day of my life," said a tearful Martinez. • Results 500: 1. Eddie Lawson (Hon); 2. Wevne Reiney (Vem); 3. Niell Meckenzie (Yem); 4. Chrietien Serron (Yem); 5. Freddie Spencer (Yem): 6. Pier· Frenco Chili (Hon); 7. Ron Hes'en (Suz); 8. Tedeh'ko Taira (Yam); 9. Dominique Serron (Hon); 10. Alessandro Velesi (Yam); 11. Me..imo 8roccoli (Ceg); 12. Merco Genlile (Fio); 13. Simon !luck· master; 14. Juen Lopez Melle (Hon); 15. EddIe Laycock. 250: 1. Luca Cadalora (Yam); 2. SilO Pons (Hon): 3. J-P Ruggie (Vam); 4. Juen Garriga (Vam~ 5. Carlos Cardus (Hon); 6. Reinhold Roth (Hon); 7. Masahiro Shimizu (Hon); 8. !lIenin Wimmer (Apr); 9. 8arry Cohan (Yam); 10. Wilco Zeelenberg (Hon); 11. Ivan Palazz8S8 (Apr); 12. Daniel Arnatri.;" (Hon); 13. Jochen Schmid (Hon); 14. Albano Rote . (Apr); 15. Stefano Care""hi (Hon). 125: 1. Alex Criville (Cob); 2. Jorge Man,n8Z (Der); 3. Kohji Takade (Hon); 4. Ezio Gianola (Hon); 5. Fausto Grasini (Apr); 6. Allan SCOll (Hon~ 7. Julian Hirallas (Der); 8. Hibesaki UkemOlO (Hon); 9. Herri Torronlegui (Hon); 10. Luis·Miguel Reyes (Hon). 80: 1. Herri Torronlegui (Kra); 2. Slelen Doer· flinger (Kra); 3. Peter Oenl (Kra); 4. Bogden Nikolov (Kra); 5. Manuel Herreros (Der~ 6. Jose Seaz (KnI); 7. Anlonio Senchez (Cob~ 8. Ralf Weidmann (Seal); 9. Jaime Kariano (Casal); 10. S. Gebriele Gheni. 500 WORLD C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Rainey (71); 2. Lawson (61): 3. C. Serron (47~ 4. mE) M_/Sch..entz (37~ 6. Mackenzie (36~ 7. Gardner (33); 8. Taira (26~ 9. Hulem (22); 10. mE) Chili/D. Sarron (191. 250 WORLD C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Pons (67); 2. Cadelore (85); 3. Ruggia (52~ 4. Kocilllki (40); 5. Cardus (39); 8. Gerriga (32); 7.Roth (29~ 8. Cornu (27); 9. Filice (22); 10. Shimizu (20).

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