Cycle News

..... ~ (Above) Ron Haslam (5) and Wayne Gardner battled for third in 500cc. (Below) Fast Freddie Spencer in 250cc; note shroud over rear wheel. (Above) Mike Baldwin (3 3) raced Didier de Radigu es. finished ninth. (Below) Randy Mamola had an off day. f in ishing fifth . -.... o 0.. there was water sprea d aro und. After the crash th e quest ion as to whether The ultra-competitive 250cc riders were not impressed by this intrusion into their domain by Spencer and while he shaved a 10th off hisrecord- braking time on -Friday, ex-World Champion La vado put in the big effort to stea l pole positi on. Local man Mario Rademeyer moved up to third ahead of Wimmer and Mang. Wimmer was not very confident about th eir chances of holding on to Spencer, the interloper from the 500cc class. "He was doing I:29 last week and we have only just got going th at fast. I timed him at I:28 in that last session even if the time keepers didn't get it. " Wimmer's fears turned out to be well-founded as Spencer was at the front of the field from the moment the lights turned to green. Lavado and Mang were right with him, though, and the Venezuelan took hi s turn to lead during the opening laps while Raderneyer had to make up for a poor start. By lap five, though, th e threa t to Spencer from Mang and Lavado was declining and Rademeyer had forced his way through to fourth ahea d of Wimmer. South African Raderneyer's year-old Yamaha lacked th e speed of the works machines ahead but he made up for that with course know- ledge and hard riding. By lap II in th e 28-lap race he was through to second pl ace with his sights set on Spencer. Over th e next eig ht laps he closed the gap to under three seconds, but in doing so he had cooked hi s tires and the engine lost 500 rpm. As Raderneyers pace dropped, Spen cer opened up th e gap to seven seconds and Man g repassed Rade- meyer , who was forced to settle for a safe third ahead of Lavad o and Wim- mer. Spe ncer's team protected him from th e press in th e bare half hour before th e sta rt of th e 500cc race, bu t on th e way back from th e shower he said, " I feel th at I've had a race but I still feel rea l good and read y to go. " On th e 500cc start line he looked fresh and composed as always, and when th e V-four fired up and he took the lead it looked set for a repeat per- formance and a chance to be th e fir st man to win a 25Occ/500cc GP double since T om Herron back in 1976. Lawson tucked in behind with Has- lam, Gardner, Sarron and Roche fol- lowing. Mamola hadn't gotten away well at a ll. "Sarron was right in f~ont of me o n th e grid." Mamola sa id lat er. " Before th e race Christian sa id th at he was too sore to push and would give me room on th e left to go pa st as he pushed from the right. T he trou- ble was when th e lights went to green he put in th e big effort but th e bike sta rted to go to th e left , right in fro nt of me. I a lmost had to stop, the engine bogged and that was it. " Mamol a had to ge t inspired if he was to recover from that and he did, improving on his practi ce lap times and working hi s way up to sevent h behind Roch e and Sa rro n, who had both made better sta rts tha n th e Ca li- fornian. Neither of th e two Frenchmen - Roch e and Sar ron - showed any signs of holding back aft er their cra shes in practi ce and were battling hammer-and-tongs for fifth , wh ile a simila r battle between Gardner and Haslam raged for third. Up fron t th e ga p that Spen cer opened up over Lawson was never secure, and once he had se tt led down the World Champion closed in o n Honda's number one man. On lap eig ht Law- son slipped past and it was Spe ncer's turn to hug the slipstream. The three separate battles con- tinued, but Mamola was closing on th e last pair and caught up to them on lap 21. Roche then crashed a twell over 100 mph but once more walked .a.way from it , and Mamola passed Sarron without too much trouble. Baldwin had become locked in a battle with Didier de Radigueson th e Elf-sponsored works Honda triple, Thierry Espie on th e ex-de Radigues Chevalli er Honda and Si to Pons on th e Gallin a Suzuki, who had ridden impressively if a li tt le on th e ragged edge aft er a bad sta rt . Pons' teammat e Franco Uncini defended a lonely 11th ahead of privateers headed by Dave Petersen on theKreepy Krauly Honda . T he dice for th e lead looked to be going down to th e wire but over th e last five laps i t became obvious that Spence r could not increase hi s speed to cha llenge Law son. When he tr ied to speed up, he lost gro und as the V-four Honda's front tire skittered across th e tarmac. T wice Spen cer ran wide go ing in to the difficult esses sec- tion. "The track has a lot of bumps and ripples," he said afterwards, "and whe n I tri ed to push it harder th e fro nt end would not take it. I was also feeling th e effects of th e 250cc race. It 's a lot to do at this altitude and temperature." Lawson crossed th e lin e with a was o ut to win races rather th~n just accumulat e points for th e champion- ship. and he sta rted the year perfectly. Spencer, as usual , was not o utspoken. " I'm still keen to rid e in both races," Spen cer sa id. " I think I can win, but the priori ty is still the 500cc and we will just take eac h event as i t comes." Lawson was looking forward to Spain. " I like it th ere and I think th at thi s bike will be good at Jarama." • Results 25Occ: 1. Freddie 5pe ncer (Han) 4 1:56.3; 2. Toni Mang (Han ) 42 :3 .4; 3. Mar io Rademeyer (Yam) 42:3.8; 4. Carlos Lavada (Yam) 42 .10.9: 5. Mart in Wimmer (Vam) 42 :29 .0; 6. Carlo s cereus (Cobas) 42 :37 .7; 7. J ean Francois Balde (PernodI 42:43.6; 8. Stephane Mertens (Yam) 42: 49.1; 9. Fausto Ricci (Han ) 42:49.1; 10. Ja cques Cornu (Paris) 42:56.6. TIME OF RACE: 41:56.3 AVERAGE SPEED: 102.15 mph. . RECORD LAP: Rademeyer 1:28.14. 101.85 mph; old record Balde (Chevallierll :31.45. 100.40 mph. 500cc:.1. Eddie Lawson (Yam)42;58.0; 2. Freddie Spencer (Hon) 43:02 .9; 3. Wayne Gardner (Han) 43:20.9; 4. Ron Haslam (Han) 43;23.4 ; 5. Randy Mamala (Hon) 43:41.8; 6. Christian Sarron (Yam) 43:49.6; 7. Didier de Radigues (Han) 43 :23.6 ; 8. Sito Pons (Suz) 43 :23.9; 9. Mike Baldwin (Han) 43:24.8: 10. Thierry Espie (Chev) 43:25.2. TIME OF RACE: 42:58.0 AVERAGE SPEED; 106 .82 mph. RECORD LAP: Spen cer 1:24.91 , 107.75 mph; old record Spencer 1:26.43 . 106 .21 mph. four-second lead a t th e flag, having lapped nearl y 0.5-second quicker than he had in pract ice. It was Spen cer who set th e new record, though. with a time 0.7-second slower than hi s pract ice effort. With a couple of laps to go Haslam made a mi stak e in hi s pursuit of Gardner and took a slight excursion into th e rough. That was a ll Australian Gardner needed to lead him over the line by three seconds. Lawson had sta ted that this "ear he 21

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