Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The 250cc race saw Reinhold Roth (5) taking the win over Sito Pons (1); Luca Cadalora (hi dden) DNF while Jacques Cornu (3) fin ished third. Lawson 's response to the question of why he couldn't stay w ith the leader s was simple : " They were riding too fast." advantage. Now he was almost within attacking distance, and the bailie began again. , With the pair weaving through the back markers, Schwantz began to draw away again, and with three and then two lap s to go, he looked unbeatable. On lap 17, he set his best lap o f the race, more than two seconds inside Gardner's year-old lap record. Victory seemed assured. No such luck. His Suzuki suddenly gave a violent rattle, "Like a tractor when you haven't put any oil in it," and he slowed at Stekkenwal , he put hi s hand up, and pulled in to the side, coasting back into th e pits with a face of thunder at the end of th e ra ce. Although official information wa s limited to a .cu rt: " Ign itio n failure," th e real exp la na tio n seems to have been a broken con-rod. Rainey asked no questions, and didn 't look back. He onl y had to keep go ing for two more laps for hi s third GP win o f th e sea son, for hi s pursuit of th e. Suzuki had ca rr ie d him co m fon a bly clear of th e rest. By this time, hi s pursuer was Eddie Lawson, The defending cha m p io n had been obliged 10 foll ow Chili for eig h t laps, unable to find a way past th e leading H onda. What did he think o f th e young Itali an 's riding, he was ask ed later. " I was scar ed ." Wh en h e did get by, he settled in to ca tch th e lead ers , but a ga p that was less than two seconds o n lap 10 had doub led two laps la ter wh en Lawson ran into th e tail-ender s. Simultaneously, Sarron started crawling all over him , and from then o n Edd ie wa s full y occ up ied defen d ing h is . own pos it io n, a nd q u ite unabl e 10 close o n th e leaders. "They were rid in g 100 fast," was h is su ccinc t co m me n t, "a nd he was almos t seven seconds down when he crossed the lin e for his lucky second pl ace. Sarron wasequa lly appreciative of hi s lu ck , although he automatically assumed that Schwantz had crashed. " Yo u have to cross th e line," he said. ' 'I'm very happy, because o nce again I have proved I can run with the fast group without crashing." Magee had been unab le to keep in touch with the leaders for more than eigh t laps. " It 's no t j ust my injured knee, it's my whole physical condition. When I tried 10 stay with Christian, I wasn 't holding a ti~ht en ough line because I couldn 't flick it in hard eno ugh." But he p assed th e fading Chili, whose rear Pirelli was slid ing badly, o n th e 13th lap. Chili didn't fad e fast enough for G ardner, who was doing exac tly th e o p posite behind him. He'd been I l th a t th e sta rt, but graduall y moved to th e head of th e pack o f the pack o f th e lame. Hasl am foll ow ed h im up, a nd went past him a t half-distance, ap pa rently lik el y to pull away. But Wa yne was having more o f th at , a nd harried hi s one-time teammat e witho u t mercy, finall y for cing hi s wa y past with two laps to go , By now, th e Au stralian was fired u p to th e p oint of lapping three-quarters o f a seco nd inside his p revious record. With Haslam doing hi s best 10 hang on behind, Gardner pounded a fter Chili, just fai ling to ca tch him by three-l Oths of a second. Some ride, with a broken leg, Then cam e th e stragglers - Mackenzie eighth, having beat en Dooh an back ; McElnea IOrh , Mamol a l l th a fter a n up-and-down race. Some of hi s looped Cag iva' s damaged bod ywork had been replaced , the ben t upper ex ha usts ha d been ki cked straight, the damaged radiator had been hast i ly fill ed with p at e nt .sea la n t. In th is sad co ndit ion , and with Ra n dy in pain . ~t seized twi ce. but sti ll finis hed th e race, th e last bike not 10 be lapped. Val esi 's '88 Yamaha was lZth, a nd lu ck y, for he'd been defeat ed by Bel gi an Superbike rid er S tep ha ne Mert en s, in a o ne-off three-cylinder H onda rid e, until th e bike bl ew up two laps from h ome. Spence r wa s unlucky 13th. After a fair stan, he'd run on at th e end o f th e back straight with a dead eng ine . He restarted , at diminished pa ce, and gradually pi cked off th e ba ck markers, although unab le 10 prevent himself from being lapped by o ld rival Lawson. " T he eng ine tightened up," he said later. " T he on ly reason I carried on with my bike running rea l badly was because we ne eded more test in g on a fro nt geometry change I m ade in practice." Sti ll , at least he passed Marco Gent i le's F ior, w hi ch h a d been defeated in a race -long di ce with Bu ckmaster's Honda , until th e Briton tried too hard at th e final ch ica ne, and fell in th e sa nd-trap . He rem ounted to fini sh 19th , leaving the last of th e points to Dutchman Kees Doorakers (H o nda). 250cc GP • The Honda-Yamaha co n fro nta tion resumed at a track th at favours tid y rid in g a bove scra tch ing, skill a bove bravery, handling above horsepower - and yet requires pl enty o f a ll th ose qualities. Step forward Siro Pons, who co nt in ued his a berration a nd qualified on pol e yet aga in, more than a second faster than Dominique Sarron's pole time of '88. This ca me in th e last practi ce sessio n, for th ere is plenty of brilliance in th e 250cc class, a nd every sessio n sa w th e best times tumbl e, a nd a different leader: jacques Cornu and Reinhold Roth eq ua l in th e first , j ean-Phillipe R uggia th e seco n d, Roth a lo ne in th e th ird, and then Pons, endi n g up narrow ly a head o f Roth a nd Ruggi a, th e tim es ge ll ing fas ter all the wa y. All wer e o n Ho nda s excep t fo r Yamaha-m ounted R ugg ia. A somewhat despera te last session saw Carlos Cardus ( H o n da) a n d Lu ca Cadalora (Ya ma ha) el bow their way mHO th e fro nt row, pushing Cornu to the head of row th ree , a lo ngs ide Wimmer 's very fast Aprilia , th e gracefu lly smooth a nd th ankfull y recovering RegS"iani's Honda, a n d Alb ert o Pu i gs fa ctorysu p po rte d TZ. A goo d mix ' o f machines a nd riding styles. Pons led th e pack off th e line, losing th e lead to Roth before they wer e halfwa y round . Ruggia, a forceful blue presence among th e leaders, didn 't last th e lap, tumbling off on th e Strubben horseshoe bend, and taking Shimizu's H RC Honda into th e grass with him. The japanese rider didn't fall , but he lost a lot of ground. By the time th e pack streamed across th e lin e for the first time R o t h , Card u s, Pons, Cada lora, Co rnu and Wimmer - Regg ia n i a n d Brazilia n TZ rider Alessa n dro Barr os had also had a co rnin g togeth er, and were o ut of the race. Rot h led until lap five, with Cadalora heading Po ns and Cornu in the pursuit. There followed a fascinating bailie - Ro th , a seasoned 36-year-o ld, was riding superb ly, a nd his Honda had a noticeable speed advan tage. But Cadalora was inspired , and his Yamaha was fast er in the sweeping bends, an d most particularl y o u t of them , when he was cl osin~ right up. Us in g th ese slingshot tacucs, Cadalora arrived at o ne o f th e kinks fast enoug h 10 slither past th e su rp rised Germ an o n th e in sid e. For th e first o f man y times, Roth wa s obliged 10 overta ke Cadalora aga in at the en d • of th e front straight. In this way, Cadalora led laps six a nd eig h t and 13, with Roth in co ntro l for th e rest o f th e time, and back in front on lap 14. A liule di stance in a rre ars, Cornu a nd Pons were wat chin g, waitin g a nd battling eac h other , whil e Wimm er and Cardus were o u t of touch and locked in their own fierce di spute. Cada lora's pa ssing point la y tow ards the en d o f th e la p ; but too cl ose to th e stra ig h t, wh ere Roth co u ld pass him back. On la p 15 h e cha nged hi s tacti cs, slip p ing pa st in stead a t th e end o f the back stra ig h t (a t .the fa tef u l Stek ken wa l), th en ex p lo iting hi s po tic co rner flow for the last th ird of th e track. T he lap was hi s. So was lap 16. j ust two left. and th o ugh Ro th was right the re,

• Cover