Suzuka Eight-Hour: Roberts Romps But Honda Wins
SUZUKA EIGHT-HOUR: ROBERTS ROMPS BUT HONDA WINS
RACE WATCH
Seas of people cover the bleachers and grounds of Suzuka Circuit like an explosion of brightly colored confetti. There are more than a quarter-million of them altogether, more than you'd find at any American football or baseball game. a multitude that dwarfs the numbers that flock to Laguna Seca or Daytona. But for the Suzuka Eight-Hour Endurance Race, crowds of this size are almost normal.
Suzuka Circuit is Honda's very own racetrack, on which the coinpani' hosts 1/xe ixiost popular-and perhaps the i;xost important-motorcycle race in Japan. Honda first held the Eight Hour after its return to European endurance racing in the mid-Seventies, intending to use the race as a forum to show off its prowess to a home crowd. Initially, the race was simply a Honda benefit, with the Honda Endurance Race Team taking a week from the European schedule to demonstrate its superiority. But that changed in 1978 when Yoshimura combined a US. -style hot-rod Suzuki Superbike with hot U.S. racers (Mike Baldwin and Wes Cooley) to thrash the Honda team,i. which used the European, nofaster-than-necessary approach to endurance racing. This turn of events transformed the Eight-Hour into a vir tual sprint race. And ever since, the event has been a real race, one that any company would love to win. And Honda `S competitors take special de light at the prospect of being victorious on Honda's track.
More than anyone else, Yamaha wanted to win this year. It had its five valves-per-c vlinder FZ750 technology to show off and it had the strongest two-rider team: Japanese roadrace champion Tadahiko Taira, and the recentl~' unretired Kennr Roberts.
"The golden combinction `.` is what the Japanese press cal/ed Taira and Roberts. Obvously much was expected of them, and Roberts fueled the expectations: A week before the race, he announced he wouldn `t have come to compete f he didn `t intend to win.
Then he backed up that claim by qualifying for the pole position. Thus the stage was set for a classic race.
Raceday
Roberts arrives early, and retires immediately to his trailer. Outside, reporters swarm about like ants on a sugar pile, waiting for him to emerge. They wait for hours while Roberts receives a pre-race massage to loosen up. Afterwards, the camera crews follow him to the opening ceremony and back to the trailer again. They even follow him to the toilet, so focused is the interest in Roberts.
11:05 a.m.
Roberts appears in his leathers and takes his place on the grid. The riders are in a line on one side of the track, with pole-sitter Roberts in front. On the opposite side of the track is a line of bikes, Roberts' No. 21 FZR at the head. It's held by co rider Taira, dressed suitably for the humid heat of Suzuka in a poio shin and shorts.
11:29:30 a.m.
Roberts is the furthest from the starter, and his view is blocked by the other riders creeping forward. He tries to wave them back into line, but they're concentrating on the sig nal and fail to notice.
The five-second sign lights up. All the riders count in rhythm with their bodies-"three, two, one, zero"and the race is on across the track. Mike Baldwin, fifth-place qualifier, wins the footrace and is first off the grid.
Roberts is less fortunate. The FZR's engine fails to start on the first try, and as Taira pushes his breath away, the engine still shows no sign of starting. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Almost all the other machines are around the first corner. When Roberts' bike finally burbies to life, the lead group is already entering the second corner.
The first hour
Yamaha's strategy for this race was an aggressive one. The blueprint of Yamaha's TECH 21 team was "to jump out at the start and turn 2:24.25 laps." As one of the staff confided, "Kenny is not one content to stay in second place."
Now that blueprint has been shot by the slow start, and Roberts is simply charging. turning 2:23 laps. After the second lap, Roberts is 28th. By the fifth he is up to 12th. By the 13th, he is in fourth, and gaining on the leader. When he turns the machine over to Taira on the 2 1st lap, he has put No. 2! in second place.
1:04 p.m.
For 17 laps. Taira has been gain ing on the first-place Honda, No. 3. the Wayne Gardner/Masaki Tokuno team. Tokuno is on the bike now, and Taira has him in his sights. On the last corner, Taira slips by. He extends the lead, and by the time he hands the machine over eight laps later, the FZR is 26 seconds ahead. The effort and heat have told on Taira, who is drenched with sweat. Roberts puts his arm around Taira's shoulder as the bike is refueled and has its tires changed. its lead evaporating all the while. Then Roberts disappears out onto the track, and Taira disappears into the the air-conditioned trailer.
2:24 p.m.
Roberts completes his hour on the bike, having spent it dicing with Wayne Gardner on the No. 3 Honda, and building4i lead on the rest of the field. Like Taira had been, Roberts is sweat-drenched and flushed red. A brief, eight-second pit stop sees the FZR back on the track, and Roberts in the air-conditioning.
3:36 p.m.
Roberts is back on the No. 21, and he picks up the pace. He turns some 2:23 laps. which is more than a second faster than Taira had gone.
XOn this day, only five riders can lap Suzuka at 2:25: Roberts, Taira, Gardner, Baldwin and Coudray. Only two of them can turn 2:24s: Roberts and Gardner. Now Roberts is demonstrating that he is clearly the fastest. When he hands the FZR back over to Taira, it is more than 1:35 ahead of the Gardner/Tokuno Honda.
6:30 p.m.
Roberts turns the No~ 21 over to Taira for the last scheduled rider change and pit stop. Gardner has been on the No. 3 Honda for an hour, and will ride the last hour, as well, without a break. Riding with the inspiration that grows out of despair, Gardner is much faster than Tokuno, and is the only hope for the Honda team. Even so, he is more than a minute-and-a-half behind as Taira leaves the pits. The Yamaha crew can almost taste victory. Taira turns laps in the 2:25-to-2:26 range, losing ground; but then, he has plenty of ground to lose.
`Ihen, at the beginning of the 1 8 1 St lap, disaster strikes. Taira feels the FZR lose power, and white smoke billows from its exhaust. The crowd is stunned. Taira coaxes the Yamaha around the circuit to the front of the grandstand, and there it stalls and stops. He leans it up against the wall. The Yamaha mechanics come running, and excit edly consult with Taira. In despera tion, Taira restarts the engine and continues a little further. But it's no use. He parks the bike and removes his helmet. Some of the mechanics have tears in their eyes.
7:02 p.m.
For the No. 21 FZR and its two superhero pilots, Kenny Roberts and Tadahiko Taira, the curtain closes on the Suzuka Eight-Hour race for 1985. Had they been able to continue just 28 minutes more, vic tory would have been theirs.
Koichi Hirose
