Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127207
.... v ..0 8 v ..... 0.. v Cf'J Defending World Champion Eddie Lawson (1 ) and Kevin Schwantz battle early in the 500cc GP in Czechoslovakia. Kevin Schwantz took the victory, his fifth of the season on the Pepsi Suzuki, by averaging 95.67 mph at the circuit in Brno. Schwantz wins his fifth in Czecho GP By Michael Scott Photos by Patrick Gosling BR NO . CZECH OS LO VAKIA Dren ching summer storms came ju st too late to help Way ne Rain ey hold on to his dwindling hopes of h is first Worl d Champ ionsh ip; an d the window of dry weather gave Eddie Law son the chance to tak e one more step on th e hi f h i C h . way t? : IS ourt In zec oslovakia last weekend. 18 Kevin Sch wantz won the dry race, hi s Pep si Suzuki lead ing for 14 of the 23 laps in front of a large Iron Curtain cro wd pa cking the vast natural grands tands o f th e specta cu lar modern Brn o circuit, a Cornmuni st sho wp iece in stark contrast 10 the bleak ranks of 'cro wded concrete tower blocks just visible in the distance. Lawson and hi s Rothmans Honda sett led for second after blaming a too soft rear Michelin for at least one d r ~m a t ic sl ide. R ain ey's Lu ck y Strike y amah a, stric ken thro~ghout with ure problem s from his su bsta nda rd Dun lops _ was a distant thi rd , a lm ost side-b y-side wi th a dutiful Christi an Sarron , a lt hough the Frenchman later denied he had helped his fellow Yam ah a rid er. Once early leader Rainey had been ov erpower ed, and Schwantz ha d esta blished ascendancy over Lawson, the best battle of the race was forfift h. It was won by P ier -Fra ncesco Chili's Pirelli-shod HB Honda, from Niall Mack enzi e's Marlboro Yamaha , with Kevin Mag ee on the Lucky Strike Yamaha and Ron Haslam on th e Pepsi Suzuki dropping ba ck. Wa yne Gardner conti n ued his run o f bad lu ck , wh en the new H onda chassis he was testing sp it him o ff, aggra vati ng hi s convalescent broken left leg, a nd putting him ou t of th e race. " If I'd been fighting for the titl e, I p ro babl y would ha ve raced ," he said. T he 250cc class saw 1989 Ch ampion Sito Pons th warted in hi s a im to win th e last three races of th e year; a nd ga ve th e narrowest o f victo ries ins tea d 10 HB H onda rider Reinhold Rot h , wh o had been passed o n th e last la p by a cha rg ing Ma rashiro Shi mi zu o n an Aj ino mo to H onda. Never say di e, Roth for ced o u tside o f the j a pan ese rider o n the last bend, a nd led across th e lin e by o netho usa nd th o f a seco nd ! Three more World titl es wer e decided a t Brno, with Sp ain co ntro llin g th e bal an ce of pow er. First , Peter Oettl of West Germany gave th e lasteve r 80cc Wor ld Ch ampion ship a way with a last-lap cras h - the g ra tefu l recipient was Manuel Herreros, helped a lo ng by number-one Derbi teammat e j orge Martin ez. T he n teen ager Alex Criville took a conv inc ing a nd ice-cool race and cha m p io n sh ip win in th e hotly contes ted I25cc class. At 19, he is the yo u ng est-ever World Champi on , days you nger than was Ven ezuelan j oh nn y Cecouo wh en he cli nche d the 350cc title in 1975. Finally, m inutes befor e the sto rm b rok e, St eve Web st er a nd T on y Hewitt steered th eir sideca r to third in th e race, a nd their third success ive World Ch ampionship in the class. 500cc Practice Now three years o ld, th e su pe rb Brn o circu it has ga ined a few bumps, wh ich furth er co m p l ica te th e dem ands o f a lon g lap with a string o f second- o r thi rd-gear bends witho u t mu ch cam ber, with well o ver half o f th em running downh ill. ' (T he payoff is a n uphi ll spurt a t the end o f the la p th at mak es a far bett er measure o f horsepower than an y sta ted output figures.) The downhill bends throw th e weig ht forward , emphasizing th e ro le of the fro nt whe el, with fro nt tires taking a bea ting, an d litt le op port u n ity to slide by spinning the rear . One co m mo n modification was to lower th e rear ride height to co m pen sa te . .. which then overloaded th e ba ck wheel on th e short but important uphill section . A matter of co m p ro mise. Once again, the Schwantz/Suzuki combination proved equal 10 the per culariries , and he dominated practice, selling his ninth po le position o u t of 14 races , again putting i t down to th e Suzuki 's nimble steering. " It doesn 't seem to wear th e front tir e too much ," he said. "T ha t' s real important here. I ca n see th e o the r guys are having p rob lem s." Nor was he at any d isadv an tag e up the punishing hill , usually clear Honda terri to ry. T eam speed guns sh owed the Su zuki was very little slo wer a t that point, made up for by its strong jump o u t o f th e previous corner. The so le su rv ivi ng full-w orks H onda was La wso n's, which qualified seco nd by j us t over two-t enths. H is pe rfectly timed return to top form meant he looked good all th e way ro u nd in sp ite of his Honda's poor steering. Ca lm but deadl y, he p romised he would not choose th e easy o p tio n o f just foll owing Rainey round. " It's as hard trying to finish third as first. I' ll forg et about the points, and try and wi n, like I have been a ll year," he co nfirmed. Lawson and Gardner had tested here th e week before the race, and Lawson said: " I still haven't match ed the tim e I set at th e start of that practi ce." A sta teme nt that cou ld not be verified , but a no the r valuable piece of p sychologi ca l oneupmanship over titl e rival Ra iney. Wh at was certain was th at th e Honda 's su pe rior speed would serve him well here. " No w I kn ow wh y Wa yne (Gard ne r) won here for th e last two years;" he gri n ned. Gardner 's phased return to racing was yet again abru p tly interrupted, a nd a ny co nfide nce he ma y have rega in ed with h is lu cky rostrum th ird place in Sweden was sha ttered whe n he fell hea vil y o n the first da y o f practi ce. Lu ckil y, hi s leg was not al so smas hed agai n , but it took a heavy kn ock, a nd was both painfu l a nd badly swo lle n. He decided 10 opt o u t. Ra in ey, swi tched from top dog to underdog by hi s Swed ish sp ill , found lillie com fort a t Brn o. As las t year, the Dunlops j us t didn't really work here, co m pa red with th e Michelins and even Chili's Pirellis; and thoug h co nsiderable efforts had him third through most o f practice, in the end he co uld n ' t even hang on to tha t, dropping to fourth, more than seventenths . behind Chri sti an Sarron 's Yamah a, a nd mor e th an 1.8 seconds behind Sc h wa n tz. " We' ve tested everyt hing we have. Basicall y, we' re stuc k," Rainey admi tted, Final denizen of ro w o ne wa s Mack enzi e, who believed he had found th e ri ght front Mich elin 10 solve th e per sistent front-end sliding p roblems that his hard-l eading style ca uses. He kn ock ed fell ow-Briton Haslam to ro w two , the number-two Suzu ki rider a t last sho wing so me o f hi s former spee d, a lt ho ugh he ad m itted th at the thumb injuries sustained at Sp a were still o n ly good for 10 laps. " I hope it 'll be a close race, then I won't hav e time 10 feel th e pain," he grinned. Magee was caugh t in th e. same tire bind as Rai ney, and further hampered by eng ine trouble ea rly in practi ce. H e qua lifi ed sev enth , alongside Haslam, and like Rai ney was hoping for ra in. Chili and Taira finished 0(( row two; row three saw Rob McE lnea in h is apparent ly pre-destined ' 10th place; ahead of the ret urned Randy Marnola 's Cagiva, wh ich a t las t seemed to lack nothing except horsepower. Then a pair of 500cc class rookies: Frenchman Adrien Morillas, who has been ma king a good job of riding the in jured Dominique