Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE 1992 World Championship Preview 'I tim e for sev er al years is actua lly 'g row ing. According to th e new ru les drafted by IRTA and Two Wh eel Promotions, casua l riders will not be tol era ted in the new-style G Ps, a lt ho ugh a small number of top-level nati on a l nominees will be a ble to race under th e so-call ed " wild ca rd" system. Thus th e ' ent ry lists already leak ed sh ould be almost the last word. Once th e norma l depredations of a racing seaso n thin th e field d own , and wit h rid er s like Kevin Magee anxiou s for an outing or two at the end of th e season , it remai ns to be seen wh ether th e excl usivity will be enforced. .For th e moment, however, it is back to the ra cing - a nd , once again , thoughts can turn from cab a ls and putsch es a nd juntas and robber barons and ba ck 10 tir es, motorcycles, and the .rnen wh o rid e th em . The bigg est shakeup over th e winter co ncerned tires - and has left last year's SOOcc class title winners Dunlop si tting neglected and a lmost all alone , a nd sure ly wondering what had hit " them . . Last season, a ll th e top teams excep t Honda sw i tch ed to Dunl op a fte r Mich elin a n no unce d wha t tu rn ed o ut ' to be on ly a partial withdrawal. After earl y quality cont ro l prob lems , th e Anglo-Japanese firm outstripped the half-hearted Fren ch effort s, and by the end o f the seaso n Du nlop was definitely produ cing better tires than Miche lin , as well as sh owing a faster resp onse tim e to rider demands. When Mich elin a n no u nced a full scal e return for 1992, with a constant stream of development tires, it seemed By Michael Scott Photos by David Goldman and courtesy Lucky Strike Suzuki hen the dust sett les after th e ex traordinary upheaval s of th e win ter, it will again be bu siness as usual in th e Grand Prix road race worl d. In fact, from many viewpoints, it will be business better than usual. In sp ite ofthe lin gering feeling in some quarters th at the IRTA-led Bernie Ecclestone tak eover has th e taint of the , , robber baron, despite the loss of a t least two G Ps (U. S. a nd Au stri a ), a n d des p ite sha ttered good will far and wide, it is certa in th at ra cing tak es a g ia nt step in 1992 towards what those now in control regard as a n inevitably p ro sp erous future. It is necessar y, or a t least advis abl e, to ta ke this bright view, if only to offset th e certa in kn owledge th at GP racing has certai n ly lost bo th tangible and intangible assets in th e IRTA-backed Ecclestone tak eover from the FIM. O ne o f ' th e cas ua lties has been the p roven ance of a rel iabl e race ca lendar. Usually thi s is settled in ,October of th e p revi ous year , but protracted negot iat ions (or, if you prefer, bitter ar guments) with Ecclestone, both with so me circ u i t o w ne rs relu ctant to meet the $ I-m i ll io n fee to run a GP , and wi th th e' FIM tryin g to hang on to so me last vestiges of power, delayed th e 1992 dat es fro m two sid es. Finally, it a ll ca me toge ther at the end of Februar y, with th e FIM sign ing up with Ecclesto ne's Two Wh eel Promotions a nd Dorna, th e Spanish TV promot ions com pa ny. At th e tim e of wri tin g, t he official ca lenda r was expected within da ys, with 13 or 14 GPs. The most notable absentees a re th e U.S. G P at Laguna W (Left) Wayne Rainey will try to defend his 500cc title, an d he's likely to be cha llenged by Kevin Schwan tz (below). (Below) Randy Ma mola apparen tl y will make his GP return a board a ' Budweiser-backed Yamaha in 1992_ 16 Seca, and th e Au strian GP at th e Salzburgring, mainly because a suita ble date cou ld not be found. There is no Belgi an GP at Sp a aga in , b ut th at was missing a lready; whil e the Czechoslovakia n rou nd, at Brn o is a bse nt from th e first dr aft of the ca lend ar, al tho ug h m ig ht return . The sideca rs may a lso have gon e. That is also no t clear a t pr esent, wi th the chance o n o ne hand th at th ere ma y be a limi ted number of promot ers who wa nt the u n loved sid eh acks; and on the o ther that th ey might just be quietl y forg o tten, Wh at we have tha t we did not hav e before is a com m itment to giv e racing th e interna tion a l hard sell as a maj or TV spo rt , a nd - ra th er mo re to th e point - a SOOcc class that for the first they were sta rt ing fro m a second-best posi tion. Meanwh il e, H onda ri der Mi ch ael Do oh an req uest ed to tes t Dunlops and Cagiva's Eddie Law son actu all y persuaded th e Ita lian team to switch to th em. Both were in search of m or e' front -wh eel grip. T he ca use is sti ll not clear - but t h e bomb sh ell ca me fr o m Kevin S chwantz and T ea m Lucky St ri ke Su zuki, wh en they decided abruptly to switch back to Michelin , even befor e running back-to-back tests. T h is left' Kenny Rob ert s in a dil emma as to wh at to fit to hi s Marlboro Yam ahas. If he stu ck with Dunlops a nd go t beat en , he would be seri ously em ba rra ssed. But if he swi tch ed to Mich elin, even if the tires were not so good, at least his rid ers Wayne Rainey and John Kocinski

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