Rainey Tunes Up For Europe
RAINEY TUNES UP FOR EUROPE
Wayne Rainey is a modest man and surely would be the first to say that his Formula Two win at Daytona doesn't mean he'll do the same when he goes to Europe to race for the 250cc world championship.
But it was an encouraging way to introduce Rainey to the Europeans and vice versa.
Encouragement is something Rainey deserves. He’s the reigning Superbike champion, except that Kawasaki’s withdrawal from road racing left him without a job. In the nick of time, up stepped Ken Roberts, with a team, Marlboro sponsorship, an invitation to contest the world series, oops, make that class, and a good Yamaha TZ250L.
The Daytona Formula Two race isn't of course, a world round. But there were some familiar foreign names, like Martin Wimmer and Graeme McGregor, as well as American contenders like Dave Aldana and Dave Busby.
And there was an emotional issue, in the form of the Spanish Cobas team.
We must allow here for culture. Spanish is a wonderfully expressive language; poetic, dramatic and flowery. So it follows that the Spanish tend to express themselves with flair. Or maybe it was the translation.
Whichever, the leader of the Cobas team was Angel Nieto, 12 times world champion in the 125cc class. By looks, the Cobas should be named Cobbies; the
engines were dusty and the fuel tanks had been hastily enlarged (by a local boatyard) to hold the fuel the 100-mi. race requires.
But the engines are by Rotax. Nieto
won his heat by such a margin that he sat up and coasted across the finish line.
He then said, or so it came out in translation, that the race was his, and that the competition was what we here would call turkeys. Nieto’s teammates Alfonso Pons and Carlos Carris finished 1-2 in their heat, which made the boast sound not entirely boastful.
The Spanish had been following some good advice, the old saw about not looking back because something might be gaining on you.
Rainey had trouble in practice and got a poor start in the heat that saw him finish third, behind Pons and Carris. But he gained on them every lap. His best lap was a 2:12.8, making him the fastest man in the field.
His advantage was further masked by the system used for assigning places on the grid. Heat winners go to the front, regardless of times. Thus, three of the five on the front line were Cobas riders, the other two were McGregor, on a Rotax-powered Erhlich, and Chris Stewart, winner of still another heat, on his TZ250J.
Knowing he had gained in his heat race, Rainey found himself unconcerned with his second-row start, unbothered by Nieto’s analysis. “This is gonna be fun,” said Rainey just before the start. “I don’t know where I’ll be but I know I’ll be having fun.”
After half a lap Rainey was in front. Pons powered past on the front straight, just after the finish line, but Rainey retook the lead entering Turn Two, hard on the brakes and stuffing underneath Pons. That same scenario replayed itself for five laps, Rainey making up time in the infield. Pons gaining on the banking. When Pons went tight into Turn Two one lap, Rainey simply went around the outside.
Then Pons crashed in the chicane, and Rainey was alone in front: Nieto’s Cobas seized, as did Carris’.
Rainey won by 12.155 sec. McGregor finished second: he was challenged twice by Martin Wimmer, one challenge ending with Wimmer running off the track, the other when Wimmer’s bike seized. Wimmer nursed his Yamaha along to finish third.
David Aldana finished fourth on a Spondon chassis with an experimental powervalve Rotax engine. It was his first ride on a 250. Dave Busby was fifth, the first privateer, riding a bike be bought himself, a TZ250L.
