Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

0') 00 0') Span iard Carlos Cardus (8 ) won his f irst-ever 250cc GP in France ; here he is followed by Sito Pons (1 I, Tos hihiko Honma (28 ) and J .P. Ruggia . World Superbike Champion Fred Merkel retired from the 500cc GP after on ly six laps. It was the Californian's seco nd 500cc Grand Prix . (From left to right) Kevin Sc hwantz, Edd ie Lawson and Wayne Rainey. The American Express aga in dominated the 500cc Grand Prix . cha m p io ns h ip lead , but n ob od y was su re by q uite how ma n y points . If the seco nd- leg Belgi an resu lts stand, h e is 8.5 points ahead . If th e rac e is scrubbed, it is II p oints. If the thirdleg is reins tated, it will be by 14 p oints. Whichever way , Lawson is sti ll seco nd, Sarron th ird; th en th e issue becomes more co m p lex still. Magee m ay be fourth, th en agai n it co u ld be Sch wa ntz; or th e pair co u ld be eq ua l. Onl y ti m e, an d th e FIM will tell. 250cc Race 12 Ruggia gave the Frenc h the ir on ly pol e p osit ion, but th e international hero o f practice was Hon m a , w ho pitch ed up with only one machine, su ffer ed so me engi n e trou bl e in practice, b ut was fas test of all until th e very last few m in utes o f th e fin al session. All th is w hi le lea rni ng a new circu it, and leaving mach in e ad justments until th e last sessio n so as not to interrupt th a t p rocess. The front row was fill ed by Ca rd us. Reinhol d Ro th - a p air o f H ondas - with Luca Cad al ora on th e fa r en d. T he 250 ri ders a lso criticized th e circuit. " It 's boring ," sai d R uggia , " An d not a test of ridin g ski ll. " Di u o Co rn u, whi le Ro th added , " T he two new co rners at the end of th e lap mak e it even m ore like a go- kart track." . Po ns led for four laps, with Cardus moving into seco n d, with H onma a n d R u gg ia going h amm er a n d tongs behind him. The crowd roa red every tim e R u ggia got a head, but didn ' t rea lize th at th e yo u ngs ter was ridin g hi s slower sp are b ike, ha ving b lown up his fa s t en g ine that morn in g. Up fro n t, Ca rd us was awaiti ng h is moment. It came on lap five, and from th en on , h e led unti l the end, u nder severe pressure th e.whole wa y, to win his first GP. " I thought I was going to have to wa it until I was ba ld lik e th ose o th er guys: ' he grinned aft erwards, a refere nce to Ro th a nd Cornu. Wh en he passed Pons, he was heading a p ack o f 10, but Wimmer, de Rad igues a nd Garriga wer e soon to drop off . the back of it. Garriga (victim of a first- lap sli de ) go t by th e two Aprilias soon a fterwards, bu t too la te to ca tch u p the leadin g seven , made up o n lap 10 of Card us, Pons, a ch argin g Corn u, H onrna , Ru ggia , Sh imizu an d Ro th. R uggia was th e next to cha lle n ge Po ns, diving inside Corn u then leaning hard on th e seco nd-placed Spa ni ard for severa l laps as th ey approa ched two -th irds dis tance. Surprisingly, there was ver y little overtaking go ing on .. . at Le Mans it a ll needs to be done under h ard br a kin g , and it ju st was n' t happening. No t un til la p 19, a nywa y, whe n Co rn u u pped h is pace, a nd got back in fron t of R uggi a. It took two more laps for h im to ge t past Pons, wi th the Swiss rider setting hi s best lap wh en he went by. T he n h e closed o n Cardus, bu t jok ed a fterwa rds: " I'd already o u tbra ked one Span iard, a nd I decid ed it wo u ld be foo lish to try it again." Thus he was seco nd, just o ver three ten ths 'down. Pons did hi s damnest to get ba ck, but cited stab ility prob lems u nd er braking. Pro blem s or no t, he set a new record on the fina l la p , and was less than a second behind Cardus. This strugg le o utdis ta nc ed th e pursuit so m ewhat , whi le H onma was was no w starti ng his fin a l sprint. H e go t past Ru ggi a with four laps left, the pair o f th em leavin g Sh im izu, h imse lf to fa ll victim to Roth o n th e last la p. T h is fina l charge had stretched th e race-long gro up so mew ha t, but even so th e first seven crossed th e line wi thin seven seco nds . T h ere hadn ' t been much overta ki ng, bu t it wa s a race of remorseless ten sion. G arriga. was 'a lone eigh th , de Rad igues n inth, with Brad l 10t h a nd Cad alora u nab le to cl imb h igher th an II th oWi m mer dropped to 12th with brake problem s. Spaniard Dan iel Amatriain was 13th on his NS R by less than haI fa-seco nd a fter a race -long dice wi th Alberto Pu ig 's TZ. Irish TZ rider G arry Cowan had to work hard to get l Sth. Pons los t two poi nts fro m hi s massive cha m pions h ip lead over Cornu, bUI vowed to tak e th em back at Doningt on Park an d th e rema in in g faster circuits . H e is now 59 ahead. Card us m oved up to third , o n 130 points, di spl acing Ro th wh o ha s 126. 125cc Race J orge Martinez won a sp len did 125 race after ea rly leader 'Ha ns Sp aa n p u lle d h is H onda into th e pits with a crac ked cylin der h ead. Spaa n went o u t again unti l the mach in e overhea ted once mo re, but the battle u p fro nt sa w Cr ivi ll e a n d G ian o la working hard at ca tch in g the Derbi. Only Cri vill e managed to do it , as th e still-painfu l Martinez slac kene d o ff to wards the end . " I felt ready to retire: ' h e sai d, " Bu t I for ced m yself to speed up again ." He led across th e li ne by less than n ine-ten ths of a seco n d, Gi anola now a distan t th ird . _T h e n ca me a battling tri o Fausto G resinis's Ap rilia versu s th e two J ap a n ese H o n da s o f Ko ichi T a kada a nd H isashi Un em oto h eading for last lap drama wh ich began three laps fro m the en d. U ne moto h ad a b ig slide a nd a lmost h igh-sided. He regained h is seat, only to be hi t by G res in i, sen di ng hi m ou t o f co ntrol again an d into the d irt. On th e n ext be nd, h e m issed T -boning G resin i by inc hes . Off into the dirt again, he recovered to fi n ish sixth ! Gresi n i was fif th a nd Takada fourth . Sidecar Race Rol f Biland a nd Ku rt Wa ltisperg had domi nated pract ice, and a lso the race, bu t not before seco nd qual ifiers and title leaders Steve Webster and Tony H ewitt h ad ma de the better start, and led [or severa l la ps. Bu t Biland was faster, and wh en they gOI a mong la p ped traffic he left th em trailin g. _ More importan t [or the Britons was to fen d o ff Egber t Streuer a n d Geral de H aas, 20 seco nds adrift in third. Second place exten ded Webster 's ti tle lead to n ine points o ver th e Flying Dutch men . Alain Mich el/J ea n -Ma rc Fresc were fourth, six seco nds cl ear of Masat o Kum ano , with Derek J ones a sim ilar di stance behind. T here were few close dices, with British crews Abb ot/ Smith a n d Brin dl ey/Rose taking seventh 'a n d eig h th; wh ile van Kempen /Birch all h ad to co nce de ninth to th e German Stoe lzle brothers aft er Bircha ll wa s a lmost overco me by exha us t fum es co llecting in h is helmet. • Results 500: 1. Eddie Lawson (Hon); 2. Kevin Schwan tz (Suz); 3. Wayne Rainey (Yam); 4. Christ ia n Sarr on (Yam); 5. Kevi n Ma gee (Yam); 6 . Pier -Fr ancesco Chili (Hon); 7 . Niall M ackenz ie (Yam); 8. Michael Doohan (Hon): 9 . Rob M cEln ea IHon); 10 . Ad rien M orilla s (Hon); 11. Rand y M amo la tCag); 12 . esi (Yam ); Thierry Crin e (Suz); 13 . A lessandro Va J , 4 . Simon Buckmaster (Han); 15 . Fabio Bibl iott i (Hon). RACE DISTANCE: 29 laps. 79 .65 miles. FASTEST LAP: Kevin Schwenn . 1:4 2.9 7. 96 .0 2 5 mph. WINN ER'S AVERAGE: 9 5.044 mph. 25 0 : 1. Carlos Cardus (Han); 2. Jacque s Corn u (Han); 3 . Sito Pons IHo n); 4 . Tosh ihiko Hon ma (Yam); 5. .Jean -Philippe Ruggia IYam); 6 . Rein hold Rot h (Han ); 7. M asahiro Shimizu (Han); 8 . J uan Garr iga (Yam); 9 . Did ier de Radigu es (A pr); 10 . Helmut 8 radl (Hon); 11. Luca Cadalor a (Yam ); 12. Martin W imme r (Apr ); 13. Dan iel A matr iain (Han) ; 14 . Al berto Puig IYaml; 15 . Gar y Cowa n (Yam] . RACE DISTAN CE: 24 Laps. 65 .9 1 miles. FASTEST LAP: Sito Pons. 1:47. 30. 92. I 5 m ph. W INNER'S AVE RAGE: 9 1.23 mph. SIOECAR: 1. R. Biland/ K. Walt isberg ; 2. S. W ebster /ToHew itt ; 3. E. Streuer / G. Dehaas (Yam); 4. A. Michel/J .M . Frese; 5 . M . Kumano/ M . Fah rn i; 6. D. Jo nes/ P. 8row n (Yam); 7. S. A bbott / S. Sm it h: 8 . B. 8 rindley/ G. Rose (Yaml ; 9 . F. St oel zle/H . Sto elzle; 10 . r. Van Kempen / S. 8 irchall; 1 1. T. W yssen/ K. Wy ssen; 12 . M . Egloff/ U. Egloff (Yam); 13. R. Progin/ Y. Hun ziker; 14. 8 . Sm ith/D. Sm it h; 15. B. Gaellros/H . Olsson. RA CE DISTA NCE: 22 laps. 60 .42 m il es. FAST EST LAP: Rolf 8 iland. 1:50. 28. 89 .66 m ph . WINNER 'S AV ERAGE: 88.453 mp h. 125: 1. J orge Ma rt inez (oe r); 2. A lex Criv ill e (Cob); 3 . Ezio Gianol a (Hon); 4. K. Takada (Hon); 5. Fausto Gresin i (A pr); 6 . Hisashi Unemo to (Han); 7. Flem m ing Kistrup (Hon); 8. Luis M iguel Ir eyes • (Hon); 9 . Dom en ico 8 r igagl ia (Gar); 10 . Alfred Wa ibel (Hon): 11. Ad olf Stadler (Hon); 12 . J ean Cla ude Selini (Han); 13 . J ean Pierre J eanda t (Hon); 14 . Corrado Cata lano (Gaz); 15. Herve ouffard (Hon). RACE DISTANCE: 22 laps. 60.42 mi les. FASTEST LA P: Jorge Ma rt in ez. 1:55 .24 . 8 5 .80 mph . WINNER 'S AVERAG E: 85 .04 I mph. 500cc W ORLO CHAM PIONSHIP POINT STA NDINGS: 1. Wa yne Rainey (165.51 2. Eddie Lawson ; ( 157 ); 3 . Christ ian Sarron (1 16 .51 4 . Ke v in ; Schw an tz (102.5); 5 . Kevin Mage e (98.5); 6. Pi erFrancesco Chili (951 7. M icha el Doohan (68); 8 . ; Niall M ackenzie (60); 9 . Ron Haslam (48); 10 . Way ne Gardn er (431. 25 0c c W ORLD CHA MP IONSHIP POINT STAND · INGS: 1. Sito Pons (19 6); 2. Jacqu es Corn u (1 3 7); 3. Car los Cardus (I 30 ); 4. Reinhold Roth (1 26) ; 5 . J .P. Ruggia (110); 6. Luca Cada lora 1 ); 7. Juan 86 Garr iga 168 ); 8 . M asahir o Shi m izu (67); 9 . Helmut Bradl (601; 10 . M art in W imm er (48).

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