Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

; c la ~ C'(") - 00 O'l ....... ~ l!"l C'I >- C'j >- ~ ..... (A bov e left) Wi nner Kenn y Roberts sp ra ys the champag ne. (A bo v e right) As tuner Erv Kanemoto watches. Freddie Spencer wheels his bike out. World ChamRionshiR Road Race Series: Round 4 Roberts wins German G P, Spencer fourth with " L uc ky" third with 25. Although the ra ce wa s ended with the ch ecke red £l ag on the 15th lap, a techni calit y in th e rul es for ced o ffi- cia ls to score th e ra ce from the lap before. According to F1M ru les, if th e chec ke re d £l ag is to be u sed to en d the ra ce, a white and yellow fla g must be sh own th e lap before 10 in d ica te on e la p rem aining. Sin ce th e o ffic ia ls chose to e n d th e ra ce wit h th e chec k- ere d in st ead o f th e red fla g , th ey were for ced 10 cha nge the sco ring wh en a p ro test wa s fi led . As a result o f the p rot est , HB S uzu- ki's Worl d C l\a mp io n Fran co Unci ni was mo ved from six th to fifth , So na u to- Ca uloises ' Yam ah a rid er Mar c Fori - 16 By Hanny Ray Abrams HOCKENHEIM, W. GERMANY , MAY 8 In a n exac t re vers e o f th ei r r esu lts i n last m o nth' s French Grand P r ix , Yamaha 's three- time W o r ld Champion Kenny Rober ts w o n his firs t GP o f th e seaso n w h en race leade r Freddie Spencer of Honda was slowed by exhaust problems to finish fourth i n th e rain -short- ened West German round at H ockenheim, • Roberts took ov er the lea d on th e eig h th la p , aft er Spencer had h ol ed hi s exp a ns io n cha m ber on th e number tw o cy lin de r, and won easily by four seco nds wh en th e ra ce wa s stopped by rain o n th e 15th of the sch edul ed 19 laps. H onda ' s T ak azum i Kat a ya m a put in h is best finish since break in g h is ribs in So u th Afr ica a n d tea m - m at e Marco Lu cchinell i m oved into thi rd in th e point sta n d i ngs with h is th ird pl a ce fin ish . Spencer n ow leads R obert s 53-35 tan wa s m ov ed from eig h th to six th, a n d fir st p riv at eer Fr en ch H onda- m ounted Ra ym ond Roche from fifth io sevent h . Eighth we nt 10 HB Suzu - ki 's Randy Mam ol a a nd ninth to Marl- bo ro Yam ah a 's Eddie Law son wh o, a lo n g with R o bert s a n d m o st o the rs , su ffere d frorn insuffici ent pra cti ce tim e when th e final tw o qualifyin g sessions were hit with rain. The 250cc cl a ss sa w it s fir st rep eat winn er when It alian GP winner Car- los Lavado rode his Venernotos Yam - aha to a 20-second win , and fir st in the point s ta n d i n g s, ov er Bartol- mounted Fr enchman Patrick Fernan- dez. Third went 10 Belgi an Didier d e Radigu es o n th e Ch evalier. . Aft er a DNF in Fr an ce, World Champi on Angel Ni eto h as won the next two 125-cc Grand Prixs 10 place himself firml y in command o f hi s qu est for hi s 14th titl e. H e best ed G arell i teamm at e Eugenio Lazza r ini by four seco n ds h er e in th e 14 lap, 59 mil e ra ce, a veragi ng 101.56 mph o n th e 4.22 m il e long , thumb-sh ap ed Motodrorn Hockenheim . Third went 10 Ital y's Pier Paolo Bianchi on the San venera. Also getting back on the right track was 50cc World Champion Stefan Doerfl inger. The Krauser Racing Team Kreid ler pilot was fast quali - fier by almost a second and a half, but at the checkered £lag on race day he only nipped second p lace Eugenio Lazzarini by 0.4 second. Third went 10 West German Ger hard Ba u er who posted the best finis h by a German . rider of the race weekend. Lazza rini holds a 39-30 edge over Doerfl in ger in points. Like the competition in the 250cc class, the race weeke nd weather was tota lly unpredictable. Frida y's practice sessions were run in the dry, but Saturday 's were , for the m ost part, run in th e wet, so Jacques Cornu 's best 250cc tim e o n Frida y wa s good e n o u g h to g ive him the pol e p o siti on. H ow ever, a ch ec k of th e tim es i n th e rain s h o wed tha t Ven ezu elan Carlos Lavadowas fast - es t a n d th at would p rov e d eci siv e.

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