Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Sarron 's Elf-Honda NS R; a nd firstti mer Alberto Rota , a n Ita lian 250 privateer having a n o u ting o n th e spare Marlboro Yamaha lef t b y Sp en cer 's departure, a nd ending up 14th o vera ll. j ean-Philli pe Ru ggia rode a YZR500 in un offi cial tra in ing too , but hi s planned debut was cu t short wh en he crashed in the first 250 sessio n. Mor e privat eers th an ever packed ' the grid with H onda tripl es and o ld Suzukis - something to do with th e old bikes dropping aw a y to th e bottom end o f Eu rope, perhaps? But the usual dismal procession was replaced with a fierce battle for pl aces o n the gr id , a nd j us t over two seco nd s separ ated juan Lopez Mella in 15th place and Cees Doo ra kkers in 26th. Simon Bu ckmast er a nd Mi cha el Rudroff for once found th ems elves in the middle o f a promising m idfield race. , Wet wea ther wou ld turn Ra iney's a nd Magee's Dunl op drawbac k into a n ass et. Sure eno ugh , race da y dawned ra in y, a nd fresh showers kept th e track we t well into th e morn in g. By lu nch time, how ever, it was dry ; and th e floods held o ff u n til m in utes after the end of the sidecar race . Two hou rs migh t have made a ll the di fferen ce. ' Wayne Rainey (3) and Christian Sarron (4) battled throughout for th ird p lace w ith Rainey getting the nod . 500cc Race Ra iney flew away as usua l, bu t there was desperation ra ther tha n con fidence in his first-lap lead , and he had Law son a nd Schwantz close behind. On lap three, Schwantz lea pt from third to first; o ne lap later Lawson had push ed Rainey to third; th en a br ief sli p from Schwantz saw both o f them p ile past him again , with La wso n now o pe ning up a ga p o f j us t over 1.5 seco nds. At th is stage, th e fifth o u t o f 23 la ps, Law son looked as th ough th e H onda power mi gh t do for h im wha t it had done for Gardn er the previo us two years .. . g ive him a com fortable runaw a y win. But while Sarron was tagging on in fourth place, Schwantz fo u nd his way past Ra iney on the sixt h la p , a nd re morselessly closed u p on La wson 's whooping NSR . On la p 10, they were together as th ey close d up on the' backmarkers, a n d Sc hwa ntz ' f1ick abl e Su zu ki easily too k advantage of th em to take th e lea d ye t aga in. T his tim e, Sc h wa ntz ' wa s unb eat a ble, a nd th ough Lawson h ung on grimly for th ree mor e la ps, a peri lous slide o f his own on the entry to the u ph ill straigh t convinced him not to p us h his luck, and he sett led for second. Rainey was ridi ng his heart o ut, but unable to stop his two seasonlong rivals from gr adua lly drawing ahead. Sarron was with him , and could clearly see th e sort of trouble he was having. Yet aga in , th e French veteran was left to decid e wh ether to help a fell ow Yamaha rider or to fight his own battle. If Lawson won and Rainey was fourth, that would clinch the title (su bjec t to th e still- disp u ted Belgian results stand ing). But wh en Lawson lo st the lead, that cleared Sarron to go a head, which he did briefly; th en ma y have tho ug h t bett er of it , a nd dropped back aga in. At th is stage, a trackside vid eo ca ugh t Rainey franticall y gesturing Sa rron to stay behind; and he did so until th e end, event uall y cros sing th e line a lm ost side by side , but half a h u ndred th behind. After th e race, he denied that he'd giv en th ird pl ace away . " I tri ed to get ahead, but I cou ld n ' t," was a ll he would ad m it. But few bel ieved him , and Michel in were especially a ngry , as king rhetorica lly: " Wo u ld he have do ne the same for you?" Ro n Haslam (8) . P.F. Chili (9) and Kevin Magee were t hi s close for most of the race; Chili f in ished fifth . (Answer, p rob ab ly not - Lawson was di sgruntled here last year at hav ing h ad to fight Ra in ey fo r seco nd p lace in his ow n championship title.) If thi s mea nt a procession for the la tter part of th e race , the ba ttle for fifth was fascinating. Magee had got past Chili on the second la p , then Haslam moved through .to threate n him. Mackenzi e, mea ntime, was on th e march back towards th e front, once he'd recovered from a nearterm in al front -wh eel s l ide that dropped him to 10th o n th e fir st lap. With th e Australian already in tir e trouble, Haslam took fifth pl ace o n lap six, a nd held it until lap 10, exac tly the tim e he predi cted hi s h an d s would s ta rt pla yin g up. Instead , he blamed a slid ing fron t tire for the fact tha t he gr ad ua lly dro pped to th e back of th e group, wh ich no w had a cha rgi ng Mackenzie in its midst. In th e e n d, th e i n cr ea s in gl y impressi ve Ch ili preva iled over the Sco tsm an , with Ma gee u nab le to keep to uc h, and H aslam a no ther two seco nds down. T a ira held a lon ely ninth a lmost through out ; some wa y be h i n d , Mori llas' sElf-H onda p reva iled over a ges tic u lating Ma m ol a a nd the fa di ng Mc El n ea ; R o ta won hi s private ba tt le with Valesi by five seco nds; while Swedish ai r for ce pi lot Peter Linden narro wl y p revai led over Lo pez Mella a fter a n exce llent race- long battle for the last remain- ing poin t. Irela nd 's T'T'-w in ni ng Eddie La ycock was less th an two seconds beh ind in one o f 'the best privateer scraps o f a th in year. Ra iney's third to Lawson 's second gives the Ya ma ha rider one last cha nce - b ut he needs a miracle, lik e him winning in Brazil o n September 17, a nd Lawson finishing no higher than 15th . Stranger things have ha p pened, ' but not very o ften. 250cc Race Ruggia put himself o u t fo r th e rest o f th e season with a heavy fall in the first practice th at brok e hi s wrist. T his left it to the H ondas, a nd th e HB var ie ty led pract ice from th e start, first H elmut Bradl th en h is senio r team mate Roth, o n ly th e 36-yea ro ld's second pole in his long career. Pons was third. bu t an other H onda to u r-de- fo rce was p revented b y Luca Ca da lo ra , wh o p u t his Yam ah a fourt h a fter a slow start, an d pushed Brad l to the far end o f ro w one. Ea rlier, th e ra p id Aprili as had look ed stro ng, but Martin Wim mer fell hea vil y o n da y two , lu cky to escape wit h a ban ged hand; . a nd Didi er de Radi gu es co uld do no bett er th an 10th in th e en d; hi s works hikes barel y faster than th e ,privat e ma chine of Carlos La vado , who is ra pid ly findi ng h is feet o n t he it a l ian -b u ilt , Ro ra x- p o wered Vtwill. Cadalora, however, made h is usua l lousy start, an d wh ile he and fellow Yama ha man juan Ga rriga were left 10 a sometimes insp iring du el as they p icked their way up th ro ugh th e field , the H ondas wen t on wi th th e raci ng . Cornu set off fastest, a nd led for five laps, by which time there 'd been so me co ns ide ra b le reshuffling behind as some fast sta rters sett led to th eir normal level, and vice versa. Cornu first succ u m bed to Po ns, wh o was reso lved to win this o ne with no prison ers taken . How ever , h is interpretation o f how to mak e th e H onda handle was no t as good as it might have been , a nd he was ove rpo wered a t o nce by Roth. The German led from lap six, a nd seeme d able to mainta in hi s position ' a hea d of th e brawl , which soo n had Shi mi zu passing Pon s a nd Cornu, o bvio us ly in very determ in ed mood. Pons had o ne mote crack a t th e lead, but his suspens io n problems had both hi s riva ls a hea d o f h im agai n o ne lap lat er, with Co rn u un abl e to d o a ny t hi ng a bo u t Shimi zu. T he n, o n the last la p , th e japan ese rider d ived pas t Rot h wi th a piece of daring ou tb raking, a nd held th e adv antag e to th e very last corne r. T he j a pan ese rider held a ti ght lin e, to p rotect hi mself from an y lastd itch ou tb rakin g bid , a nd thi s gave Ro th enough of a cha nce. '.'He was better tha n me on the brakes, then he'd spo il my li ne. Now he was slow into the last bend, a nd I saw a way ro u nd the o u tside ." 19

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