MOTOR RACING : Lawson Appears to Be Unshaken by Shaky Start to 1990

The 1990 season has gotten off to a shaky start for Eddie Lawson, the four-time world motorcycle road racing champion.

On Feb. 28, Lawson was standing in the garage of his year-old $1-million home in the highlands above Upland when the earth started shaking.

“I ran outside to the driveway and watched the house rock and roll,” Lawson recalled. “I had the radio on and when I heard an announcer say that the epicenter was three miles north of Upland, I said to myself, ‘Hey, that’s right where I am.’ ”

The quake shattered the Italian marble floor in his home’s entryway, knocked plaster and pictures off the walls and did about $20,000 worth of damage.

“It shook it up pretty good, but the house didn’t fall down, which is something,” he said.

Then last Sunday, on a 140-m.p.h. left-handed curve on the Suzuka track in Japan, Lawson was racing for second place in the 1990 season opener when the rear wheel of his Yamaha was nipped by a Honda ridden by Mike Doohan of Australia. The high-speed impact on the fourth lap sent both riders sprawling. Neither was seriously injured, but it knocked them both out of the 22-lap race.

Doohan was Lawson’s house guest last year at this time and is one of the California rider’s best friends.

“It was one of those unfortunate things that happens sometimes in racing,” Lawson said. “Mike apparently lost his brakes and couldn’t stop when we were going through the corner. He sure didn’t want it to happen, but it did. I was setting up Kevin Schwantz to move into second place when suddenly I was down.

“It’s going to make it tough to defend my championship, not scoring any points at all and having Wayne (Rainey) getting 20 and the other Wayne (Gardner) getting 17,” Lawson said. “You can’t count on the other guys dropping out, and it’s tough to pick up points one at a time, but I won’t quit trying.”

Lawson, 31, won his fourth world championship last year, riding a Honda, when he overcame an early lead by Rainey, a Yamaha team rider from Downey. During the off-season, Lawson quit Honda to join Rainey on Kenny Roberts’ Marlboro team.

Rainey won the Japanese Grand Prix by three seconds, after having led by more than 10 seconds. Gardner, the 1987 champion from Australia, finished second on a Honda, with Schwantz, a Suzuki rider from Houston, third.

“I slowed down a little after I saw Eddie’s bike laying in the grass,” Rainey said. “I didn’t know what happened. I thought maybe he’d slid out on a slick spot, so I got a little cautious and made sure I finished. I knew where he went down was a heck of a place to crash, and I didn’t want any part of it.”

This weekend, Rainey, Lawson and the rest of the world road racing circus will be at the 2.196-mile Laguna Seca Raceway, near Monterey, for the second round of the 16-country championship season.

Rainey won last year’s Laguna Seca race with a wire-to-wire performance that was marred by a postrace accident involving former U.S. champion Bubba Shobert of Carmel Valley and Australian Kevin Magee.

Shobert was riding beside Lawson after the race ended when Magee stopped in the middle of the track and was hit by Shobert. The crash sent Shobert to the hospital with head injuries from which he is still recovering. Magee had a broken ankle.

“I’d rather win Laguna Seca again than any other race during the year,” Rainey said. “All my friends will be there, and it’s the only race in America, so it’s doubly important for me.”

Lawson, who won at Laguna Seca in 1988 and finished third last year, is also looking forward to returning there.

“I like the track,” he said. “I’ve always ridden well there, and I’m anxious to see how my ankle will hold up Sunday.”

Lawson’s ankle was twisted and bruised in the fall in Japan.

Neither Lawson nor Rainey sees any problems with the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 riders being teammates. Both, in fact, say they welcome the unusual partnership put together by Roberts, a former world champion from Modesto.

“Wayne and I go back a long way,” Lawson said. “We were teammates when we were dirt trackers here in the States, and we both rode for Kawasaki in the early ‘80s. We always got along real good. Of course, once the race starts, it’s every man for himself.”

The two test together and race together, but between races they take different paths. Once the season reaches Europe next month, Rainey and his wife will remain there. Lawson will fly back and forth to Southern California whenever the testing schedule permits.

“We really enjoy living and traveling around Europe,” Rainey said. “We love to browse around and enjoy the food in different countries. It’s a great opportunity and we’re taking advantage of it.”

Lawson has other ideas.

“I don’t enjoy Europe except when I’m racing,” he said. “My idea of taking some time off is to come home and head out to Lake Havasu (where he owns a resort home) or enjoy my new place in Upland. I can’t wait to get home as often as I can.”

The toughest part for Lawson in making the switch from Honda to Yamaha was leaving Erv Kamemoto, his former team owner and bike tuner from San Jose.

“Erv and I had a good rapport and I would like to have kept working with him, but things just didn’t work out with Honda,” Lawson said. “I feel much better being back with Yamaha again.”

Lawson won the 1984, ’86 and ’88 world championships riding a Yamaha.

Practice and qualifying for the Budweiser U.S. International Grand Prix, which includes 250cc and sidecar races as well as the 500cc main event, will be held Friday and Saturday.

SPRINTS & MIDGETS--United States Auto Club full midgets and three-quarter midgets will share the billing Friday night at Ascot Park. The bigger cars will run a qualifying program for the opening of their Saturday night ESPN TV series and the TQs will run a complete show.

On Saturday, in addition to the midget races--featuring defending western states champion Robby Flock, 1990 leader Sleepy Tripp and former national champions Rich Vogler and Kevin Olson--on the quarter-mile track, there will be a complete California Racing Assn. sprint car program on the half-mile oval.

The midget races will start at 6 p.m., with the show airing on ESPN at 7. The sprint cars will start at 8:30.

INDY CARS--The 1990 PPG Indy Car World Series will have a new look when the season opens Sunday with the Autoworks 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. Porsche has expanded its team to two cars, with John Andretti joining Teo Fabi. And Chevrolet, which furnished the power for 13 of 15 race winners last year, will have 10 drivers this year, up from six in 1989. Bobby Rahal, A.J. Foyt, Arie Luyendyk and former Formula One driver Eddie Cheever have been added to the group that includes CART champion Emerson Fittipaldi, Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan, Mario and Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr.

STOCK CARS--Saugus Speedway will open its regular season Saturday night with main events for NASCAR sportsman, street stock and Figure 8s. . . . Sportsman cars will also make their Cajon Speedway season debut Saturday night. . . . Street stocks will race Friday night at Ventura Raceway and Saturday night at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino.

Dan Press, winner of the NASCAR Southwest Tour last season, opened 1990 on a winning note last week at Cajon Speedway when he won the Budweiser 100 before a standing-room-only crowd. Press will try for two in a row Saturday night when the Southwest Tour visits the high banks of Mesa Marin Raceway for the Bakersfield 100. Hometown favorite Mike Chase, who won three of four races at Mesa Marin last year, is expected to be Press’ main challenger.

MOTORCYCLES--An American Trials Assn.-observed trials competition will be held Sunday in San Gabriel Canyon by the Valley Observed Trials Enthusiasts. . . . Second round of the CMC Spring Classic motocross series is scheduled for Sunday at Sunrise Cycle Park in Adelanto. . . . Speedway USA in Victorville will open its weekly speedway racing season Sunday night. Racing will continue Friday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

MISCELLANY--The Cal Club will hold a Sports Car Club of America national championship series of races Saturday and Sunday at Willow Springs Raceway. . . . The second race of the Miller High Life off-road series will be held Sunday at Glen Helen Park in San Bernardino.