Wayne Gardner:

WAYNE GARDNER:

Riding on the razor's edge

AUSTRALIA'S WAYNE GARDNER, the current 500cc World Champion, strolls through the pits just like any other racer, stopping here and there to talk about the track or to share a humorous story. But once aboard his NSR 500 Honda, Gardner transforms into rolling, high-speed violence. At least, that's the way it appeared at Laguna Seca as he and his Honda bucked, swapped and slid through almost every turn. Gardner was aware that his riding style looked scary. "I knew there was something wrong when people started moving away from the fences." he joked. "But it's hard to be smooth and fast, so you have to be aggressive."

Gardner is nothing if not aggressive, but, in spite of appearances, he is almost always under control. After all, you don’t get to be world cham-

pion by crashing. In fact, Gardner showed his concern with rider safety at Laguna Seca by being one of the loudest voices complaining about the track's roughness and lack of run-off

areas. “This is a tight and twisty track that is very bumpy and dangerous. If it were in Europe, we wouldn't race here.” he said.

Kenny Roberts, on the other hand, while agreeing that the older portions of the track were in need of new asphalt, said that Laguna was no more dangerous than several European tracks. “We bitch about their tracks when we’re over there,” he said, “so it’s only fair that they complain a bit over here.”

Even though Gardner finished in second place, he was never at ease with the circuit. “1 couldn’t come to grips with the track,” he said. Gardner’s difficulty was obvious in nearly every turn as he fought, wrestled and

bullied his Honda through the corners. And after passing Niall Mackenzie to move into second place, he eased up. “I slowed the pace a little because the bike scared the shit out of me. With its abrupt power, it just didn’t get along well here.” Another reason Gardner backed off was that toward the end of the race, he was out of brake pads. ”1 was down to metal against metal,” he said, “so I just tried to be consistent.”

Last season, Gardner won the championship in large part because of his consistently high finishes. Al-

ready this year, that trend continues and is paying off, because although Gardner has not yet won a GP, his two second-place finishes have put him second in the point standings, just one point adrift of leader Eddie Lawson.

After the race, Gardner was exhausted, and held up blistered hands as evidence of how hard he had to work just to stay close to winner Lawson. Overall, he liked the event but strongly urged that the old sections of track be repaved before next season’s race. If, for some reason,

that doesn’t happen, Gardner’s competitors already know how he will deal with the bumps: He told them, only half-jokingly, “Next year, we’re bringing a motocross bike.”

Camron E. Bussard