Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

by riders and team personnel, but the quality of th e race was a far bett er argument for resurrecting th e 80cc cla ss. . 500cc Practice "T he a ma zing thi ng about Kevin . is tha t he can fall down, th en go righ t ou t and go faster. " Wa yne Rainey talking, after hi s lon g-time U.S. rival Sch wan tz d id just tha t in the first session. Fas t enoug h, indeed, to put himself on pole posit io n wi th a tim e that nobody co u ld better , givi ng him the luxury o f spending th e rem ain in g. tim e mas tering th e many intricac res of th is super la tive circu i t . . . Assen offers a fine mix of bends, but its character com es fro m the sets of hi gh-gea r kinks runni ng o ne into the next, run a t speeds whe re the narrow , bik es-onl y trac k dwindl es to a thread . Accelerating through 150 mph , an y mot or cycle wants to keep on running straigh t a nd true, a nd it is always ed uca tio na l to observe how many different ways th ere ar e of guiding the mi ssiles through th e fast flip-flo ps. O ld-time Assen masters Lawson and Sarron thread ed through like arrows; Rainey swung through in hi s usual relaxed on-the-limit wobble; Mag ee muscled it through on the steadiest of paths; Haslam was always busy; Doohan clung on to the back of th e bucking beast; whi le Mamola concentrated on wheelieing the approach . Amazingly, Schwantz dealt with these kinks with the same f1ickable ease as every other corner - a twitch on the handlebar setting th e Suzuki diving in towards th e apex, then a q u ick mid-corner body-out ex tra lean getting the bike turned, pow er on hard a ll th e time, a nd any wobbles or slides dealt with at o nce. An accomplished perf orman ce. His reason for not speeding up after sessio n one was co m mon to a ll : steady winds wh istling th rough ga ps in th e banks surrou nd ing the course mad e th e steering lines unpredi ctable, and: " the track 's too na rro w to get away with tha t." R ain e y wa s se co n d o ve ra ll throu ghout, a big improveme nt in hi s second Assen year. Seventh o n th e grid in '88, he now opined : " Expe rien ce co u n ts here. If yo u battle it, yo u run o u t of room real fast. I'm not tryin g so hard, a nd I'm starti ng to like it." But he did crash , for th e third time in two years of racing, a t one of th e slower bends. "I los t the front wh eel - but I w.as leaned so far over I didn 't have far to fall ," he grinned. Schwantz was mor e th an a seco nd faster th an Sarrorr' s p ol e o f '88, Rainey half-a-second down . .. not that much , with a 2:10 lap time. Behind the m, th ere was a fin e battle to get on th e front row, with fourlOths between Ch ili, Sarron a nd Mag ee. Chili 's best-ever practice performance was achieved again after so me canny follow ing acts with th e fastest men - b ut he sure is riding fast, and his Pirell i tires ar e cha llenging th e Michelin/ Dunlop duopoly. Sarron is an Assen expe rt, a nd his smooth but aggressive riding suits it very well. Bo th were delighted to qualify up fro nt. O n ly Magee was downhearted, in sp ite of having knock ed Eddie Lawson o ff the fro nt ro w. H e'd expected more of hi m self at the track where he qualified seco nd (to Lawson) in his European debut, b ut had tro ubl e getting go ing, tha t wasn't help ed when he tried th e 16-inch fro nt wh eel for the first time. At first he liked it , but hi s tim es fail ed to improve until th e last session, a fter switching back to the 17-in ch front " beca use at least 1 know wh at I'm doing with Ron Haslam (8) leads Wayne Gardner (2) ; Gardner m ade a successful return to racing. finish ing sixth. it. " H e lapped on e-and-a-half seconds off his previous best , and knocked Eddie Lawson o ff the front row. La wson looked good - he a lways does a t Assen - but so me th ing was still wrong with his ultra-fast H onda' s handling, even a fter spec ia l tests at Rij eka , a nd he must have been a wo rr ied man in sp ite of hi s exp ressio ns o f qui et co nfidence o n race eve. "T he re 's a few people going fas t here, but not all o f th em ca n do it for th e wh ol e race," he predicted , correc tly eno ug h. With Rainey dr a wing a head .in th e titl e agai n, Law son kn ew he needed a win a t Assen, a nd a practice tim e 1.5 seconds o ff th e pace was a bad pl ace to start fro m . H asl am was a lo ngside , talkin g o nce aga in ab out hi s diffi culty in 'ada p ting to th e Suzu ki's li ght fronte n d fee l; w i th Fr ed di e Spe nc er eigh th, hi s last prac tice ham pered.by a no the r of th e Yam ah a 's cra nks ha ft failures th at seem to single him o ut (or is it th at he revs the Yam aha harder than anybody else?). The fin al occ upant of ro w two was Wa yn e Gardner , mak ing a brave effort while o bvio us ly unable to devote his usu al p hys ica l feroci ty to h urling hi s H onda a bo ut, and saying: "For Doct or Costa to ha ve me back on a bike aft er this injury is a bit o f a m edical record." H e indul ged in some doubts about whe the r he would race, but once th e flag dropped, nothing co uld have sto p ped him. Row three was headed by Mamala 's fa ilu re- p ro ne Cagi va. " T he bike kept breaking;" he sa id , but it didn 't stop him ent ertain ing th e vast legi on of banner-wielding Assen fans with his usual wheelies. Then Dominiqu e Sarrons Elf-Honda was qu icker th an Mackenzi e's Yama ha, the Scotsman's injured kn ee st ill req uir ing extra seat p a dd i n g to s traighten his leg as much as possible . Michael Doo ha n 's ha rd- to- steer Hond a wa s 13 th , th e la id -ba ck Aussi e stating: " It seems q uite a hard track to learn." Doohan a lso had a low- speed ge t-o ff, and a lso nearly tan gled wi th Lawson after the fellow Rothmans rider passed him on th e ba ck stra ig h t, th en ran straight o n a t the next bend. Randy Mamola crashed the Cag iva on the warm -up lap -w h ile doing wheelies. After the bi ke was repaired. Mamola f in ished 1 1th. O nce again , Sch wantz wa s the fastest o f a ll. Given h is reputation, ho wever, man y peop le th ought th at the tri cky tra ck wo u ld o ffer him too many op po rt u nities to fall o ff, a nd th at he wou ld han d victo ry to o ne of th e o thers . T im e wo uld p rove th em half-righ t. But th ere was drama a nd come dy to follow before th e ra ce. First Dominique Sarron, slo w to get going o n the works NSR Honda, cra shed it for th e first tim e, in race -morn ing wa~m-up , and suffered a dislocated sh oulder that put him out of the race. Then Mamola, wh o went a bit too far in his mono-wheeling displays to the crowd, and looped the Cagiva on the sigh ting lap, bringing it ba ck to the p its severely battered for some frantic rebuilding. A sill y mistake, and th e Dutch TT was a very senous race. 500cc GP Schwantz too k a flier from po le, and led for the first tim e al ong th e Veenslang behind the pits. But Rainey div ed in side and was in front th e first time they flipped through th e ch ica ne. Chili was third, Lawson fourth , th en Magee a n d Sar- ro n . . . the fast gro u p a lready pulling away from a pack o f th e halt a n d lam e, led b y Spe ncer fro m Mackenzie, Doohan , McElnea a nd Gardner. A lap later , Ra in ey had even wo rked up a sma ll gap, but it didn 't la st. Sch wantz was r iding well within him self , a nd fourth tim e round he outbraked Rainey cleanl y a t th e fateful Stekkenwal , wh ere he 'd crashed in practic e, and took control .of the race from in front. Chili was with them all a long, and even nosed in front of Ra iney when the American had his only prob lem o f th e race. It was an odd one. " O ne o f Kevin's tear-off visors got caught on m y right ha nd at th e end of the front straightaway. I was worried it might interfere with th e brake, or jam the throttle, and I had to take my han d off the controls to mo ve it. then Chil i came by, and I real ized I had to get going." This was on la p eight, when the gap was 1.5 seconds, and now Rainey start ed looking serious. Schwantz ma y have been able to ho ld him off , but on la p II th ey ran into some slow traffic before one of Assert 's long oneline bends, and R a in ey got the

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