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/146674
Suzuki's Schwantz had tested the
rear tire ¥amola was using in the race,
but had a similar incident to Mamola
in the same place and opted for a
different compound.
But Gardner wasn't to be denied,
taking back the point on the brakes,
Schwantz holding second, Rainey
third, Lawson fourth, with Garriga
making it a five-rider train.
The battle became one for second,
Rainey holding it until lap 17, and
then Schwantz taking it back the next
lap after turning in his fastest tour of
the circuit. Garriga moved past Lawson on the 18th lap, with Mackenzie
moving past Kocinski; Fogarty was
eighth ahead of Chandler and
Goddard.
.
Mackenzie's day ended on the 19th
lap, his primary gear failing in the first
of the double right Coppice Corners
while in' sixth. Oil from the engin~
soiled the track and alert corner
workers immediately displayed the oil
flag.
"I had a job to get by John
(Kocinski), but once I had made it I
was pulling clear pretty easily," the 31year-old Scot said. "The new engine
was doing so well until then that I felt
confident that I was going to give a
good account of myself in front of my
home fans."
When Kocinski's engine let go on
the front straight the results were
considerably more dire. First Chandler
slid off in the ~hird-gear Redgate
Kevin Schwantz was incensed at the lack
of an oil flag at Redgate Comer.
Australian Wayne Gardner. (5) won his first Grand Prix of the season in England.
Corner, then, the following lap, was
joined in the gravel pit by Fogarty and
teammate Schwantz.
Gardner nearly went down in front
of Schwantz, then turned back to see
him crash.
"I can't say whether I could have
beaten Gardner, but I felt I'd be at least
second, and I was ahead of Rainey
which is what I needed for the championship," Schwantz said. "I was
taking a tighter line than the others
there, which must have been the same
line as Kocinski. Anyway, I was on the
brakes right on top of the oil, and the
bike just went straight down."
Schwantz noticed that the corner
worker wasn't displaying the oil flag
and crossed the track to alert him.
"When I looked, he had the flag
down' between his knees. He was kind
of raising it a little just as the bikes
arrived at the corner as if to say, 'Oh,
by the way, there's some oil right
here.' "
His tire having begun to go off after
Lawson's secoD:d straight v-:..-ole~
T
hey had an hour to get the job done, but
in the second timed qualifying session, none
of the other 29 riders could improve on the
time set by Cagiva's Eddie Lawson in Friday's
afternoon session, and the M-year-old four-time
World Champion had given the Italian marque
their second, pole evef'.
~'It's right up there;" Lawson said comparing
the const