Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

It was a shaming GP that everyone would like to forget. Unfortunately, it is likely 10 be remembered for a long time. 500cc Practice The third leg of the 500 GP gets started with Rainey (3) leading Lawson (1). Schwantz (34) and Chili (9). World Championship Road Race Series: Round 10 Confusion reigns at Belgian GP By Michael Scott Photos by Patrick Gosling SPA-FRAN CO RCH AMPS, BELGIUM, jULY 2 Somebody, somehow, must have won the Belgian 500cc Grand Prix. It could be Wayne Rainey, who crossed the line first and consumed the least time' whe n all th ree heats of th e twice-interrupted ra ce were ' d ta IIIe up. . It would have been KeVIn Schwantz, had the th ird leg been o ne lap shorte r. It may still turn out 10 be Eddie Lawson, who cu rrently h eads the list of provision al wi n ners. T he n agai n, it really may be nob ody, for after the issue o f two different sets o f results, th e matter remained under protest , awai ting adjudicatio n by the FIM. They ma y yet declare th e who le 500cc race null a nd void. In the season's second display of muddle-headedness, this time from th e organizers, the 500cc race twice start ed on a dry tra ck, and twice ' sudden rain showers made conditions too slippery. Riders and offidais between th em cut eac h race short . At th is sta ge , eight laps had been run - less th an half the 18lap distance. , T he n it started raining in earnest, . and a th ird nine-lapper was run o.n wet tires - a race which Schwantz do minated before cras hing his ~epsi SUZUkI on th e last lap, handin g . a seco nd lucky win in succession to Luck y Stri ke Yamaha-moun ted Way ne .Ra iney. The lo n g, fast and perilous Spa circuit, m ade all the more daunting by th e ra in, also showcased the as to nishing talents o f 500cc class de b u ta nt j ohn Kocinsk i, ri ding Magee's spare Yama ha after wrec king h is own '88/'89 works mongrel in a collision with Mich ael Doohan 's Ro thmans H onda. Once h e got the feel of th e '89 bike, Kocinski ou trode almost everybod y in th e third lap, including Eddie Lawson o n th e fast but clumsy Rothmans H onda, to finish second on th e road, alth ou gh 10 seconds behind L aw son on aggregate. Almost three hours later , th e bomb · dropped (see sidebar on pagel 6). The . FIM jury declared th e th ird leg null and void - th e race th at neve r was - ta ki ng fin al resul ts instead fro m the aggregate of th e first two legs . At less than 75-percent of race di stance, this automatically carried o n ly half points. Thus Lawso n was decla red th e winner, with Schwantz seco nd an d Rain ey th ird, as well as sh u ffling all th e ot he r positions. In stead o f Ra iney's cha mpions h ip lead over Lawson ex tendi ng to 19 points, it sh run k to 13.5. . No w the fat was in th e fire, an d protests were im mediate: n ot o n ly fro m Rai ney's Kenny Roberts-owned tea m, bu t also from Chri stian Sarron 's Sonauto-Gauloise team an d HB 's Pi er -Fran cesco Ch il i. The m a tter n ow res ts with th e FIM in Geneva, a nd we sim pl y don't know wh o wo n th e main event o f th e day . The 250cc ra ce was also shorten ed , bu t o n ly by a lap, after a fal se sta rt at th e fir st a tte m pt. j acques Cornu gambled th at th e damp tra ck would dry , a nd wo n on slic k tires, a lt hough World Champion elec t Sito Pons was on ly half- a-second down, with Carlos Cardus th ird in an a ll -Honda ro strum. The top Yamaha was L uca Cadalora i n fift h , a fte r R u ggia crashed early o n w hi le vigorous ly dis pu ting th e lead. An excitin g but da mp l 25cc race was won by H ans Spaan, his third in a row, with Ezio G ianol a seco n d and Alex Cr iv ille .n o n -Iin ish in g . Spaan a nd G ianol a both m o ved ahead of him 10 sha re th e lead o f a tense champions hi p struggle. .T h e much-dela yed Sidecar ra ce, h eld o n a strea m ing track , gave Egb ert Streue r hi s fir st win of th e seaso n, by an imposing margin over Steve Webster and Rolf Biland. The first GP organized by car Formula One svengali Bernie Ecclestom: wa s al so marred by worse-thanusual clashes between rowdy fans an d th e police in th e little village of Francorchamps , wh ere buildings. a n d cars were damaged, a policeman badl y hurt and 150 fans arrested after water-cannons were used. Fear of a race-day rio t wa s a maj or factor in running th e disputed third leg of th e 500cc rac e. Both Lawson an d Spen cer ' had been hoping for a chan ge in fortunes at Spa; th e former because at last hi s Honda 's top-speed adva n tage might be enough to co m pe nsa te for its reluctance to turn co rners; th e latter because: " Sp a has al ways been kind to m e in th e p ast. " Ma ybe so, but neither Schwantz n or Rainey were feeling in any wa y benevolent, and th ey seized co ntro l of p ra cti ce from sessio n o ne . Rainey was fas test soonest, setting a first-session tim e not on ly three seconds in side th e two-year- old lap record (last year's race was wet ), but a lso two seco n ds fa ster than Christian Sarron's '88 pole tim e. A big im proveme nt, composed he th ought of better tires; a faster bike and a better rider. Also , th ough Rainey didn 't say so a t o nce, helped by yet a no ther modified frame for hi s YZR . Yamaha, a nothe r a tte m p t to make the bike m o r e agi le to match Schwantz's Suzuki. " Mi ke Sin clair an d Warr en Willing (crew chief a nd technical coordi na tor for Team Rob erts ) ~orked o ut some modificatio ns to th e stoc k. frame ," sai d Rainey. " We've shifted th e engine posi tio n, a nd made some geometry changes. It 's 10 get th e b ik e to steer better - going in to the co rners, a nd holdi ng a tight lin e." P recisely the area where arch-ri val Sch wantz's Suzu ki excels. It was success fu l enough for Rainey 10 decid e to race it, but n ot 10 m ake hi m q uicker th an Sch wantz, who produced h is usual sci ntillating performance , th ro wing th e Suzuki round as th ough he were a fearless (a n d brillian t) teen ager a nd it was a 125. Schwantz moved fra cti onally ahead in sessio n two , th en ca rved another seco nd off th at in th e last, just 10 m ak e su re of h is sixth pole posi tion in succession. Schwantz's usu al self-con fide nc e wa s b oo sted b y a Michelin tire variatio n th a t ga ve him the abili ty to challenge Rainey's cold, tire fast starts. " I tried th em from cold - one lap, . th en go for it. They work, so 1 sh ou ld be ab le 10 go with Rainey from the start," said Schwantz, Alongside him, Doohan was classi fied third- fa stest, a nd happy 10 take advan tage of what h e knew to be a timing error, " th ough I don't think it's as fa r ou t as th e other teams say." His m arvelous m ental eq ui libri u m quite su rviv ed this most beautiful a nd da u n ti ng o f tr a ck s, a n d h e co n ti nued to trail La wson in th e di fficult matter of tryin g to ge t th e NSR H onda to tu rn in a nd hold a tight line in Spa's fearsome fast bends, while enjoying th e ride up the hill. So me extensive earth-wo rks had ta ken place, m aking a large new runo ff area at the Radillon, the sudden uphill ' ri ght-hander following th e famous left-han d Eau Rouge flick after th e pit straigh t, and similarly prot ecting th e widow-ma kin g sixthgear Blanchimont double-lefts, on the public ro ad s section before the bus-stop ch ica ne and La Source hairpin at th e end of the long 4.31mile course. The run-off there is 'im p ro ved , but still not enough for comfort, while the effect of improving visibilit y round the second part (fifth-gear) was 10 speed everyo ne up. Other danger spots remain - like th e bottom o f th e pit rail , where a for est of pit boards occu p ies the last few feet of an ideal racing line that has bik es brushing th e Armco in fifth gear as the y peel off into Eau Rouge.

• Cover