Eddie Lawson (3) and Wayne Gardner (1) had a great GP battle in 1988, with Lawson winning back the World Championship from the Aussie. (Henny Abrams photo)
From an American perspective at least, the 1988 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was one of the greatest in the history of the championship. The consistently excellent Eddie Lawson won back the world championship from the gritty Australian charger Wayne Gardner. Their battle ensued with the backdrop of an intense 1980s Honda versus Yamaha battle.
Just at the moment that American riders Freddie Spencer, Randy Mamola and Mike Baldwin were drawing closer to the end of their GP careers, suddenly appeared a duo from a new generation of young and exciting Americans in the form of Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz. Their red-hot AMA Superbike and Match Race battles of 1987 brought new heat to the GP circus for the first time.
The industry was healthy. Motorcycle sales were gaining steam once again after a decade long slump. And sportbikes were beginning to mature and evolve into machines that were truly racetrack ready. That, and the demographics of the baby boomer generation coming of age and having expendable income, meant that the grassroots of the sport was booming with hundreds of riders showing up nearly every weekend at an increasing number of road courses across the country.
Competition for the attention of Grand Prix racing was not yet fully developed. World Superbike was up and running, but the challenge to Grand Prix in terms of factory racing dollars, rider talent and sponsorship dollars was, at that point, minimal.
Also, Hollywood began to recognize Motorcycle Grand Prix. For part of the season a movie crew filmed at the races for a movie that turned out to be Race for Glory.
The stars were aligned for an epic GP racing season.
The biggest story going into ‘88 was the sudden retirement of Honda’s Freddie Spencer. The three-time world champion trained hard in the off-season and was seemingly ready to get back to being a championship contender after being largely absent for the previous two seasons. But towards the end of his training a right wrist problem cropped up. The wrist got worse during pre-season testing. He had tendentious and his physicians said nothing could solve it short term and Spencer announced his retirement just a couple of weeks before the start of the season.
Another huge story was Randy Mamola, who’d finished runner up to Gardner in ’87 riding for Lucky Strike-Yamaha, was canned by the squad. Team owner Kenny Roberts decided instead to go with a youthful team of Rainey and Kevin Magee. The best-paying option for Mamola turned out to be with Cagiva. While a rider of Mamola’s experience would be a valuable asset for Cagiva, the ride with the underdog team, using unproven Pirelli tires, likely meant that he would no longer be a serious title contender, so strike off another leading American.
Mike Baldwin was scrambling to find a ride in ‘88 after a season of tough injuries meant he came into the ’88 season lacking race time and confidence. He would race a black Honda three-cylinder Honda for much of the season doing the riding scenes in the role of a black-leather-clad antagonist in filming of Race for Glory.
Most GP pundits were scratching their heads about Roberts’ hire of AMA Superbike Champion Rainey. Of all the moves Kenny Roberts made as a team owner, his vision of seeing Rainey as a championship contender when almost no one else did, surely has to be one of his all-time great decisions.
The arrival of Kevin Schwantz and Wayne Rainey in 1988 brought a breath of fresh air to GP racing. (Henny Abrams photo)
It’s interesting to think about in retrospect, with the knowledge we now have of Rainey’s three world championships, but at the beginning of 1988, Roberts’ hire of Kevin Magee was thought to make more sense. In 1987 Magee came almost out of nowhere to finish on the podium in a wildcard ride with Roberts Yamaha at Jerez. With a stunning performance like that, many experts at the time were calling Magee an almost certain future world champ.
The season kicked off with a stunner at Suzuka.
The new generation of Americans proved from the drop of the first green flag that they deserved to be there. Rainey got the lead early and it was him and Schwantz renewing their personal battle, this time on the world stage. In the end the race came down to defending champ Gardner and Schwantz and it was the more experienced Gardner who blinked first, running off the track on the final lap leaving Schwantz clear to score his first GP victory.
March of 1988 will be a month that Schwantz and his fans will always remember, starting off the month with a victory in the Daytona 200 and then the surprising Japanese Grand Prix win.
Another reason 1988 will forever be a memorable racing season for GP fans is that it marked the return of Grand Prix racing to America. It was early April, round two of the series at Laguna Seca Raceway. Rainey continued to impress, scoring the pole. Lawson got a poor start, but rallied to take a runaway victory bringing joy to the massive crowd that lined the hills of the track.
Roberts’ faith in Magee seemed well founded after Magee took his first (and ultimately his only) GP win at round three in Jarama, Spain.
Lawson then went on a spurt, winning three of the next four rounds, opening up his lead in the standings. But Gardner responded, with the defending champ winning three straight. Perhaps one of the most impactful races in terms of the championship was Lawson gutting it out and riding the Yugoslavian Grand Prix, going against doctor’s advice after he’d dislocated his shoulder in practice. Lawson managed to finish 10th gaining a valuable six points, keeping Gardner from gaining a full 20 points over Lawson with his win.
Shoulder still tender, Lawson took a riveting victory in the French GP at the Paul Ricard Circuit, just ahead of local favorite Christian Sarron and Schwantz (all three separated by just 4-10ths of a second). It was an outstanding podium for Schwantz, whose Suzuki was clearly down on power to the Yamahas on the endless straights of the Paul Ricard long circuit.
In August at Donington Park, Rainey earned his first GP victory, meaning both he and Schwantz took wins in their first full season of premier-class racing.
There was a bit of intra-squad drama in the penultimate round at Brno. Gardner, doing all he could to keep his title hopes alive, won the race handily on his Rothmans Honda. Lawson took second to clinch the championship, but was reportedly upset for Rainey making it so hard for him to get past early in the race.
“It seemed like I had to beat Team Yamaha out there,” Lawson said after the race. Rainey responded, “I count Eddie as a friend, but I ride for Lucky Strike and Wayne Rainey, not Marlboro. I would have won the race if I could.”
Lawson went out on a high note, ending he season with a victory over Gardner and Schwantz in the Brazilian Grand Prix. The season was a great battle between two great champions in Lawson and Gardner. Yamaha had beaten Honda, but Honda ultimately had the last laugh by hiring away Lawson for the ’89 season. American fans also breathed a sigh of relief safe in the knowledge that the future of Americans in Grand Prix was secure in the hands of Rainey and Schwantz.
