1988 Gp Preview
1988 GP Preview
RACE WATCH
It’s Us against Them again. But for the first time in 14 years, we have the home-field advantage
CAMRON E. BUSSARD
RON LAWSON
BEFORE THE CHAMPAGNE HAD dried on the leathers of Wayne Gardner, the newly crowned 1987 500cc GP World Champion, eyes were on the 1988 season. Already, the individual racing teams were locked in negotiations for new riders, new equipment, new sponsors and more money, all fueled by hopes of replacing Gardner on the top of the champion's rostrum come the end of the year. So it is with racing: The end of one season only marks the beginning of the next.
For anyone wishing to displace Australian Gardner in 1988, part of the task will have to be accomplished in the U.S., when this country hosts a GP race for the first time in 24 years. The FIM, the sanctioning body for GP racing, has agreed to allow the second round of the 1988 250cc and 500cc GP season to be held on the weekend of April 10th at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California.
That sanction didn’t come cheaply, however, as the management of Laguna Seca had to make over a million dollars in improvements and changes to the track. First, the existing 1.9-mile circuit had to be made slightly longer to meet the FIM’s minimum track-length requirement of 2.2 miles. And it also had to be made safer. So, to meet both needs, high-speed Turn Two has been replaced by a slower, 180-degree hairpin, which leads to a new infield section that wraps around the small lake at the west end of the track. Also, Turn Four has been altered to reduce cornering speeds and give more run-off on the outside of the exit area.
Because Americans will be GP racing in front of a home crowd for the first time in decades, many people in this country—including the American riders—are touting the April event as the race of the year. Freddie Spencer, for one, claims that the USGP is one of his strongest motivations to come back after an abysmal year. And even at this early date, all of the GP competitors, not just the Americans, are looking forward to the upcoming week on the scenic Monterey peninsula.
Of course, the results of the 1987 GP season have forced the top Ameri-
cans to look ahead, because for the first time in five years, a Yank was not the 500cc world champion. Eddie Lawson rode his Marlboro Yamaha steadily throughout the season,
but three DNFs relegated him to a disappointing third place. Randy Mamola, also on a Yamaha, finished second, just a few points ahead of Lawson, but was fired from Kenny Roberts’ Lucky Strike team. He was replaced by Wayne Rainey, fresh from his hard-fought AMA Superbike championship.
One rider conspicuously absent from the GP wars most of last year was Freddie Spencer. He crashed just about every time he got on a racebike and had to sit out most of the season while recuperating from one injury or another. People began to speculate that he no longer had the desire to win and would simply walk away from racing. And some of his fellow racers think that Spencer will be surprised to find out how much faster they are going these days, and that he won’t be able to keep up.
Conversely, many other experts believe that Spencer is the most talented rider ever to saddle up a racebike, and that he’ll be back in full force in 1988. Spencer himself fully agrees. When asked whether he intends to make a serious run at the championship, Spencer calmly replied, “I’m going to be back. I know what has to be done.” He claims he has completely recovered from his various injuries of a year ago, and is ready for another season. He also feels that the smooth, tractable powerband of last year’s Honda VFour racer was better suited to Gardner’s riding style than to his. He thinks that his 1988 V-Four will have quicker power characteristics that will favor his riding style. “I like to get on the throttle earlier,” he says, “and I like the bike to respond.”
Still, Spencer acknowledges that a tough season lies ahead for him. He knows that Gardner will be hard to beat, and that Lawson isn’t going to be a pushover, either. What is surprising is that both Spencer and Lawson predict that another Aussie, Kevin Magee, riding this year for Team Roberts Lucky Strike, will be right in the hunt, even though he only finished 15th last year.
Lawson, though, knows that he'll again have to be gunning for the Hondas, no matter who’s riding them. “Last year we got caught with our pants down,” he says. “No one expected the Hondas to be so good.” By mid-season, the factory got his Yamaha competitive again, but it was too late to overtake Gardner. For this year, Yamaha is working on a whole new machine that should let Lawson keep pressure on the Hondas right out of the gate.
When questioned about Laguna, Lawson said it was about time there was an American GR “We ought to get about a million people out there,” he laughed, “that is, if everyone who has called me buys a ticket.”
The other top American, Randy Mamola, made perhaps the most important and risky move of his career. Although he finished second last year, he was cut from Roberts’ team, then signed a contract with Cagiva for as much as $7.5 million for two seasons, according to some reports. But when asked to confirm the figure, Mamola said flatly, “It’s nobody’s business how much money I make.” On top of that, he has been promised a Ferrari Testarossa as a bonus for winning his first GP on the Cagiva. Mamola said he can’t remember being quite so excited about a ride, and insiders expect him to be competitive—as much on sheer talent as on the abilities of the bike, however, which reportedly still needs more development to be on par with the Japanese machines.
Mamola isn’t sure that Cagiva is ready to win the championship, but he claims that the fans “sure as hell are going to see a European bike on the rostrum.” Ele already is one of the European fans’ favorite riders; and according to Eddie Lawson, if Mamola does win a GP on a European machine, “He’ll be a hero for life.”
Riding a not-quite-competitive machine might also prove a hindrance for Kevin Schwantz, who rode a Suzuki in selected GP events last year and ended up in a tie for 15th place, despite being on a bike that was at least 20 mph slower than the Hondas and Yamahas. He’ll ride Suzuki’s new and faster V-Four 500 in all of the GPs this year. Suzuki also has signed highly regarded Rob McElnea in hopes that his GP experience will aid the development of the new machine—and speed Schwantz’s GP learning curve, as well. If the bike proves competitive, both riders should be in the hunt. Schwantz clearly was the fastest rider in America last year while finishing a close second to Honda’s Wayne Rainey in the Superbike championship; he finally learned to ride with his head rather than just with his right wrist.
Schwantz will get the chance to compete with Rainey once again, since the ’87 Superbike champ has joined Kevin Magee as the newest members of Team Roberts Lucky Strike. Rainey has a bit of experience in both the 250cc and 500cc GP classes, but this will be his first full season on a 500. He will certainly have a machine advantage over Schwantz, but these two still should continue to be close competitors throughout the year.
Most oddsmakers believe, however, that the quest for the 500cc world title will end up being a threeway chase, with Americans Lawson and Spencer dicing with Australian Gardner all the way. The rest of the American contingent should certainly make their presence known, but the likelihood of them finishing the season in the top five will be made very difficult by a handful of European racers—in particular, Honda’s Niall MacKenzie, Didier de Radigues (Lawson’s Yamaha teammate) and Magee, all of whom are just a tick of the stopwatch behind the Lawson/Spencer/Gardner trio. By the time the GP circus pitches its tents at Laguna Seca, the participants will have completed the first round of the series in Tokyo, and some of the important questions will begin to get answered. We should have some indication, for example, of whether Mamola’s Cagiva is competitive enough to keep him near the front of the pack. And if Kevin Schwantz and his new Suzuki are anything for the top runners to worry about.
And what of Freddie Spencer and his supposed lack of desire? Well, when asked the question pointblank, he was ready with a direct and succinct reply: “When the flag drops, we'll all see.’’
MX Mix And Match
It isn’t often that a national champ has to look for a job. But 125cc National Motocross Champion Micky Dymond was no longer eligible to run in the 125 class after winning the title twice, per AMA rules. So, needing a 125 rider,
Honda replaced Dymond with former Suzuki rider George Holland.
Dymond didn’t have any trouble finding gainful employment, though; Yamaha signed him to ride the 250 class. “I’m really happy with the bike so far,’’ he reported. But when asked what he thought of the stock ’88 YZ250, he simply replied, “I don’t know . . . Fve never ridden * 99 It.
