Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Takazumi Katayama leads Marco Lucchinelli in their battle for second . T he crowd cheered a ga in a n d it was o bvio u s th at Robert s. th e crowd favor i te, h a d passed " Lu ck y" a n d th e S pe n cer-Ro berts cha lle nge was set. Lu cc hi n elli was clea r o f th e batt le fo r fourth betwe en Ka ta ya m a and Roch e wh o were un cha llen ged by th e U ncin i- Law son spa t for si x th. O n th e fo u n h lap Spencer was pull- ing a way a t a rate o f h alf a seco nd a la p a nd h ad th ree o n Ro bert s wh o wa s tryi ng to sha ke Lu cch in ell i. With h is tir es h eati n g u p to opti m u m per- for ma nce, S pe nce r turn ed a n u n off i- cia l la p o f 2:08. 79, bett erin g hi s la p reco rd of last vea r bv .35 seco n d : H o wever , an error o n th e pa rt o f th e tim ekeepers den ied h im th is mar k a n d gave th e h ot la p to Ka ta ya m a at over 2: 10. Another error was made by o fficia ls w h en th ey a n no u nce d th at Ro bert s h ad c u t a 2:06 la p , but th ey soo n retra cted it. T he n ex t la p was slo wer for Spen cer a n d for good rea - so n : h is lo wer ex pa n sio n cha m ber had sp lit ca usin g h im to lose p ow er.. " I kn ew it as soo n as it h a ppen ed ," sa id Spen cer. " I co u ld h ear it a n d it sm ell ed a wfu l. It bl ew a hole in .th e pipe and then broke a t th e seam and melted a hol e in th e fairing. " Roberts sta rt ed to close the gap and o n th e eigh th lap g ot by Spencer with the Honda s o f Lucch in elli , R oche a n d Ka ta yama a hea d of th e Yamaha o f Foruan , a n d U nci ni a n d Mamola. A slightly d e-tuned L aw son wa s run- ning n inth a t th e ba ck of th e five man pa ck . " In th e fir st ch ica ne I lo st th e front en d wh en I push edit. I wa s ove r o n m y kn ee and th e fron t whee l was turned in and I hi t the cu r b a n d went ov er it o nto th e g ras s before g ett ing g o ing a ga in . I'd ca tc h the m a t top speed, bu t out o f th e co rners m y bike wa sn 't ca rb u re ting wel l. If we'd ha ve had bot tom en d we' d h a ve been a lot faster ," sa id La wson . Spencer co u ld st i ll h old o ff th e challenge of h is teammat es since his NS500F's performance d eterioration was gradual. Roberts o p ened up a fou r seco n d lead o n th e 11th la p w ith Spen cer holding a little more on Kata yam a wh o 'd gotten past Luc- ch i ne ll i. "I p assed Marco a fter th e fast right- hander a t th e end of the straightaw a y. I s lip strea m ed him and th en came out. On th e next lap h e tri ed to pass me in th e sa me co rner ," sa id Kata - ya m a . " My bike was a littl e s lower than hi s," Lu cchinelli exp la ined. " H is bike wa s better o n th e stra ig h t, but it wa s a good race." . The battl e for fifth was a five-man du el with th e Yamaha o f Fontan holding a sli g h t pow er adv a nta ge o ver th e Suzuk is of U nc i n i and Marn ol a, a n d th e H onda of wild - ridin g R a ym ond R o ch e wh o , a s alwa ys, used ever y in ch o f the race tra ck to h is ad vanta ge. Law son was tra iling th e pa ck . Mam ol a sa id. " I wa s trying to break a wa y from th ose gu ys, but we don 't h a ve th e h orsepo wer . I wasjust a b le to stay with them a n d h ad to run it harder into t he co rn ers. We don 't have an y more for Spain o r Aus tr ia, but hope to h a ve so me more power for Yugosl avia." U nc in i agreed. " T h e fram e is OK n ow , but not so much po wer. lf yo u li sten now yo u ca n h ear th e horse- power I left a ll o ver th e tra ck ." Spen cer co u ld n' t h o ld o ff hi s team - mates a n y longer a n d o n th e 13th lap, as the rain began to fall a ga in , th ey got by. T he battl e for fifth was sti ll up for g ra bs wi th o n ly Lawson lo s- in g th e dr aft o f th e four-m an pa ck a n d Mam ola o n top o f Ro ch e with Fontan a n d U nc in i foll owing. The rai n inte nsi fied o n th e 14th lap a n d o n th e 15th th ey wav ed th e chec kered flag a s it appeared that Roberts wa s tr yin g to do a victory kn ew tha t n o o ne else h ad th eir bik e read y but Fredd y. From th e minute th ev to ok it o ff th e truck it wa s fast, " Ro berts said . " I d on 't lik e go ing into a ra ce wi th th e bike a I 60%." " O u r bik e 's prett y go o d on top spee d," H onda 's Erv Kan em ot o sa id. " Wh ere we ge t hurt is co m i n g o ff real slo w; lik e 180 d egr ee co rners , because th ey ca n g et o n th e gas faster and ours doesn 't h a ve qu ite as mu ch low en d. We cha n ge little things from ra ce to race , but yo u don 't want to g et too many va ria bles." Most oftheriders hadd ifferent op in- io ns o n h o w th e race wo uld be won. " T h e most important thing is co m in g o u t o f th e chica nes ," Roberts sai d . " It's a seco n d gea r co rner co m - ing onto a sixth gea r straigh t a n d if the en g ine bogs for just five feet yo u ' re dead." " Co m in g o u t of th e ch ican es, " Lawson concurred. "And if it 's a last la p battle yo u 'd want to befirst go ing int o the sta di u m sectio n of th e co u rse. . They're going to hav e a hard tim e getting around you and the l ast stra ig h ta wa y isn't long en ough to draft at the en d of th e race." " Everybo dy was p rett y cl ose in the ch ica n e, " Spen cer said. " It 's just a fli ck-it-through right-left-right. The gu y with th e m o st spee d is going to win." ." It 's g oing to be speed and rider a bility," Mamola a greed. " It seems sh ort - o n ly 19 laps-but you 'r e run- n ing two m inute lap tim es. The co m pe ti tion and rid er s are so cl ose tha t th e fastest bike is wh at yo u need. H onda 's got it a n d Fr eddie 's a g ood rider. They h ardl y cha nge a ny th ing from week to week . If we d on 't get so meth i n g soon, we ' re in troubl e. " A hard, but brief, sh o wer swe p t th e tra ck on the second warm-up lap and th e riders pulled into th e g ar age area to wa it it o u t. Wh en the starter ca lle d th em back to th e g r id th ey were a ll sli ck-mounted and th e tra ck was rapidl y drying. Pr ed ict abl y, th e fast-start ing Hon- da s took o ff fir st with Lucchinelli leading Spen cer , Roberts third, then Kata yama a n d Ro ch e. Bo et Van Dulm en was a hea d o f Law son in , si x th and th e HB Suzuki tandem o f U nc in i a n d Mam ol a were n ext. Judging by the sound of th e esti- ma ted 135,000 stro n g crowd , it was easy to tell th at th e lead h ad ch a n ged hands a n d o n th e seco n d la p it was Spe nce r from Lu cchinell i wi th littl e cha nge beh ind th em , but U nci n i m oving to si x th. - Honda 's R on H aslam brok e a n ex h a us t pipe on the seco n d lap a n d dropped out of co ntent io n . poi nts beh in d L a vad o. Like th e 250's , th e 500 's wo u ld o n ly ge t in two h a lf-h ou r pra ctice sessio ns in dry co n d i ti o ns o n Frida y a n d so rt o ut th e ra in tires o n Sa tu r- da y. So me o f th e team s had expressed - in ter est in renting th e track for p ri- va te tes ti ng ea rl ier in th e week. b ut the price tag o f $8 ,000 a da y proved a det err en t. Fr id a y's tim es wo uld set th e gri d a n d H onda 's Spen cer was o n th e p ol e wi th a 2:08.66 at 118 mph. Seco n d fastest was d ie OW-70 of R o berts, ba ck a second a n d a half a t 2: 10.25 . with teammate La wson thi rd in with 2: 10.45. T h e Hondas of Lucch in ell i, Roche a n d Jack Middelburg followed, with the horsepower-deficient Suzukis of World Champion U ncini n ext and teammat e Mam ola c he cki n g in with ' th e 11th best tim e. "We h a ven 't tried the front fork or th e rear shock in th e d ry. We 'r e going to h ave to g o for th e h ardest tire co m - pound we'v e got. Ever ybody' s in the sa me boat. Our biggest problem is th at i n the first pra ct ice session we broke in p istons. In th e seco n d ses- sio n we had troubl e with o n e bike a n d had to br eak the ch ai ri to ch a nge th e sprock ets. Wh at you're try in g to do is make them both feel th e sa me . I didn't even try the new chassis (with a more vertical rear shock) because we didn't have enough time in practice. I T he sun d isappear ed freq uentl y dur in g th e co urse o f th e morni ng a n d afte rnoon, a nd w he n th e250 's gridded it went a way, seemi ng ly, for good . Dark, bill ow in g rain cl ouds mo ved in a n d th e ra ce was push ed o ff in a light dri zzle with West German Mar - tin Wimmer leadin g La vad o and P at - ri ck Fernand ez. By th e fou rth la p th e dr izzle had grow n to a d ownpou r a nd th e -race was halted so th a t the riders co u ld exch a nge th eir s lic k tires for eith er rai n ti res o r intermedi ates, a n d to g ive the a bras ive a n d well-drain in g track surface a ch a n ce to d ry. Wh en it wa s re-sta rt ed, th e ra ce wa s led by Lav ado, Fernandez, Manfred H erw eh , Ivan Pal azzese, a n d farth er ba ck , Chr is tia n Sarron a n d Alfo ns o Pons. As th e tra ck dr ied L a vad o pull ed aw a y a n d th e po sition s behi nd co n - sta nt ly cha n ged. H erw eh d ropped o u t a n d Bel g ian Didi er d e Radi gues brok e loo se from a p ack co nt estin g fourth to tak e so le p o ssession o f th ird. La vad o was wid ening hi s gap a n d a t th e tw o-th irds m ark it wa s n in e seco nds o n Fern andez wh o had 16 o n de Radi gues. A t th e en d Lav ado cr uised in a ver - a g in g 102.8 m ph fo r th e 54 mil e race. Ferna n dez's best fin ish of th e seas o n , in second, p u t him in thi rd in th e cha m p io ns hi p point tabl es with thi rd pl a ce fin ish er d e Radizues seco n d in Roberts leans his OW70 to the hilt through a Hockenheim turn . 18

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