Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

hard." He also had a new . stronger swingarm lO go with his new frame. But he wasn't finding it easy. He was suffering badly from "some kind of glandular fever," which made his throat so sore he could only manage water, and could hardly speak. " T he real problem is that Dr. Costa has me on antibiotics, and they make me dizzy and affect my reaction time. I'm gonna ask him for an injection before the race to co unteract that." (In the end, he had four injections.) Christian Sarron led row two , posting a time almost identical to his last-yea r's pole position and thus a lmost a second off th e pace. As well as a lack of power, he had re-injured his troubl esom e righ t. hand in a freak free-training cras h, not o nly break in g a fin ger but also bendin g a pl at e that had been in serted after his '8 7 Argentine GP cras h. For a man with a reputation for cras hi ng, it was o nly hi s second sp ill th is year. Alongside him, Freddi e Spen cer was again talking of how the team was "playing catch-up" after a lack of pre-season testing. H e was using the 16-inch from tire again , and for the first time had committed himself to it, but complained his developrnent was slowed by yet another crankshaft failure in practice. Disquietingly, another crank let go in the morning warm -up. " We had three fail this weekend," said crew chief Kel Carruthers. " In 10 years with Yamaha, I've never had this trouble." Pier-Franco Chili was next door, his Pirelli tires pretty good for the job. " I believe I am now at85 percent of the top level;" a remarkably honest assessment. Ro n Has lam was nimh, filling row two , and had a nother view. "I'm trying too hard, getting into the bends too fast ," th e second Pepsi-Suzuki rider said. "Then I can't get the power on. " H e al so suffered two scar y seizures in practice, and with Ra nd y going well found himself lower down the Michelin pecking order for handouts of good meso "They keep throwing fronts (tires ) at me, though ," he said. Michael Doohan led row three, having the same difficulty as Lawson in gelling his Honda turned, only more so, on worse tires . He was th ree- IOth s a head of Domi nique Sarrorr's Honda, with Rob McEInea's ex-Shobert '88 Honda next, ahead of Alex Valesi's '88 Yamaha. Between them sat Spencer 's teammat e Niall Mackenzi e, this lowly position accounted for by the fact that he sh ouldn 't reall y have been riding a t all , with a broken left knee, a broken right finger, a nd a cra cked left wrist bone. "T he pain of rid ing is less than the pain of wat ching," number-two Marlboro rider Mackenzie said, who admitted he was having grave trouble braking hard, and in gelling his knee down. He was also riding with three extra la yers of seat foam and ' a shortened gear lever, so he wouldn't have to bend his leg so much. Marco Gentile's Fior led row four, then came Massimo Broccoli on the second Cagiva, then Simon Buckmaster's top private Honda. In blazing heat, all riders were anxious about tire wear, and none more so than Rainey. " We're in trouble," he said. "But I don't want the others to know that." Thing was, they already did.( '5 0 0 cc Race Schwantz got the jump from the start, but Rainey forced inside him into the first bend, and quickly drew away. The gap was more than 2.5 seconds by lap four, a break of Spencer-like proportions on cold tires. But could he keep the cush io n? Not Iikely, Lawson and Schwantz Rob McElnea (10) replaced Bubba Shobert on the Cabin Honda. and finished 11 th behind Dominique Sarron (7) . had already pulled away from th e pack in pursuit, and the next tim e aro und the gap shrunk for the first time. The hounds were starting to ca tch th e hare, and th e Big Three were together by lap 10, by which time they were already lapping some of the very slow traffic. Rainey's lead was under severe threat at a ll times, but Lawson waited four more laps before he dived past into turn one. It had all .the hallmarks of a decisive mov e, but instead turned out lO be a rash one, and proved th at Lawson on the Honda can be pressured into making mistakes. On th e very next co rner, as Lawson put it: " I got in too hot, and the from started sliding. " His foot was trapped under the bike, but he managed to pick the NSR Honda back up onto its MicheIins with his knee. By now, he was heading for the stony ground and straw ba les on the outside of a third-gear righthander. " I had lo turn the bik e on the grass. I guess I was prett y lu cky." Lawson rejoined the race more than five seconds adrift, and never did narrow the ga p, hi s effort tapering off towards th e end to the ex tent of 16 seconds defi cit at the £lag. " I tried lo ca tch up , but th e from kept pushing, and I had to back off. " Rainey watched th e whole in cident, somewhat spellbound perhaps at what he laconically described later on as " a good save", Schwantz saw a n opportunity, and n ipped ahead. From then on, the dominant pair battled through the traffic, seldom more than a few feet apart, with Rainey nosing ahead once more, but only for half a lap. Then in th e closing stages, Schwamz got ' the better break pa st some back-markers, .and opened enough breathing space lo give him some peace of mind. "With half-a-Iap left, I looked over my shoulder, and then I kn ew I had the race won," said Schwantz. " We were both sliding around a lo t, but the Suzuki turns so well, and I think my Mic helins were better than his Dunl o ps. He also has the championship lo worry about, so he may have backed off at the end. " Schwantz was right about th e tires, but wrong abo u t backing off, " I tried to win all the wa y," said Rainey. " At first , I thought Eddie may.clos e up again, and at the end I was j ust trying Kevin Schwantz (center) ce lebrates his third Grand Prix victory of the year with runner-up Wayne Rainey (left) and Eddie Lawson (ri g ht ). get Kevin. But although th e wh eelspin didn 't worry me so much, because I still had forward drive, my ' Dunlops lacked side grip, and he was faster than me on th e second half of the la p . But I'm still happy - this is one of the worst race tracks for Dunlops. I stayed wi th Kevin, which proves how much better the tires hav e become." Magee 's ra ce was laced with drama. He started strongly and was running with th e lead ers on lap two wh en he piled off th e edge of turn o ne lo make a clean but costly recovery out in th e grass. H e blamed lo his farming exped itio n on a tailwind that increased his speed down the stra ig h t, plus a full tank of fuel that hurt th e Iroru suspension performance. " I got in too hot, but rather than scratch round, I slowed it as m uch as I could, then ran 01110 the grass. I saw a pack of guys go past, and real ized that I'd given myself a lot . of work to do ," said Magee. He rejoined in ninth, and took on ly four laps lo climb back to fifth. Then he had a long wa y lo go lo ca tch Christian Sarron , and h e alternated chasing hard with resting 19

• Cover