And the Viffer got a relaunch too after I wrote this. Somewhere I have a screen grab of the 'crossed up' moment when Merkel and Schwantz had their off-track excursion - if I find it, I'll add it. -------------
In retrospect, the 1986 annual Trans-Atlantic match races were a watershed in motorcycle racing in this country. The 16th running of the Easter event showed many changes. Rather than switching circuits, the entire series of eight races was to be run at the newly extended Donington Park where the new Melbourne Loop had been created to bring the circuit to the minimum length for Grand Prix.
A brand new innovation was a micro-camera attached to Roger Burnett’s Honda. For the first time ever, TV viewers had a chance to get a rider’s eyeview of the circuit.
The series also introduced spectators to US-style Superbikes. These were tuned 750cc road bikes with strict rules to maintain the looks of the bike they were based on. They replaced the GP machines such as the Honda NS500 triples and Suzuki RG500s on which riders such as Wayne Gardner (an honorary Brit) and American Randy Mamola had fought it out in previous years.
- Merkel.jpg (39 KiB) Viewed 738 times
So who were the riders and what were the new bikes involved? Honda’s VF750 was already a proven race winner in the hands of US Superbike champion Fred Merkel, whilst Rob McElnea was equipped with the Yamaha FZ750 on which Eddie Lawson had won at Daytona. Many riders were mounted on the potent new GSX-R750 from Suzuki.
As for the riders, the UK team was packed with some of the best riding talent in the country. GP regular Rob McElnea was down to ride for Marlboro Yamaha, and backed up by experienced UK based riders Keith Huewen, Steve Parrish on the Loctite Yamaha and Roger Marshall on the Rothmans Honda VF750. The youngsters included the highly talented Kenny Irons who took pole position riding a rapid privateer FZ750, Roger Burnett on a second Rothmans Honda and Paul Iddon who made the front row on a Skoal Bandit GSX-R750.
By contrast the US and Canadian team didn’t look too strong. GP stars Kenny Roberts, Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson and Randy Mamola were all missing, and replacements like Gary Goodfellow, John Ashmead, Dan Chivington and Michel Mercier were all but unknown this side of the Atlantic. It didn’t help that many of them were riding borrowed machines. But two new names had surprised the UK team and fans with their speed in practice - Kevin Schwantz and Fred Merkel.
Just hours before the racing got underway, Honda UK stepped in to stop ‘Rocket’ Ron Haslam riding a race-prepped Suzuki because he was contracted to Elf-Honda in France. As a substitute they provided him with a brand new VFR750. The only problem was that it was a standard road bike, straight out of the showroom, complete with silenced exhaust system, mudguards, tax disc and horn.
On air, Barry Sheene who was in the ITV commentary box with Barry Nutley, called it in typically blunt fashion “a bloody disgrace” that Honda had presented Haslam with “a standard road bike that anybody can go and buy out of any shop”. Sheene expressed fears about ground clearance. After testing, Haslam decided only to race if it rained.
The opening leg confirmed the pre-race buzz. Haslam stayed in the pits. Schwantz was fast but crashed out whilst leading, having picking wet-weather tyres on a drying track. McElnea, Burnett, Irons, Parrish and Chris Martin cleared off at the front and only Merkel showed in the top six for the American team, a trouncing which left the score at 57-9 at the end of race one.
For race two, Haslam went out on a damp track but it wasn’t wet enough for him to be competitive and he trailed round at the back before pulling in. Up at the front, Schwantz and Merkel worked their way past Irons, Martin and Burnett.
In a scary incident, Skoal Bandit rider Martin went down hard and had to be treated in the middle of the track for the next two laps. The racers also had to avoid the course car carrying a doctor, which drove round in the middle of the pack and then parked at the hairpin for yet another lap.
Astonishingly the race was not stopped, probably to keep to the TV schedule. Nevertheless, Schwantz and Merkel were not distracted and came in one and two.
Between the legs of the Transatlantic races, the crowds were treated to a full supporting cast of races. A young Steve Webster won in the sidecars, at the start of a career that was to lead to a record ten world sidecar championships. Ken Dobson beat racing journalist Mat Oxley by a mile in the one-make Honda ‘Formula V’ challenge on identical VF500s. In the 3 round mixed 2- and 4-stroke Superbike race for up to 1300cc bikes, diminutive Aussie Paul ‘Loopy’ Lewis on the Skoal Bandit RG500 took on the two Rogers on the Honda Britain RS500s and Trevor Nation on another Suzuki.
Back in the match races, things continued to go well for the home team, and by the end of race four on the second day the lead was up to 177-87 to the UK team, despite the best efforts of Schwantz and Merkel.
As race five started, Merkel took the lead from the flag, followed by Schwantz, but half way round the first lap the damp track caught out both riders. The resulting incident was the standout memory of this action packed weekend. It’s as thrilling to watch my ancient recorded-off-the-telly VHS now as it was to watch live then.
Merkel got the back end crossed up and ran off the track on to the wet grass whilst Schwantz was nearly thrown off the bike taking avoiding action, hanging on to the bars with one leg dangling as he tried to climb back in the seat. This allowed McElnea to slip into first. Yet, and to McElnea’s evident astonishment, within moments Schwantz was back in the seat and had retaken the lead.
Merkel survived his off-track excursion, got back on track and settled down to chase and pass McElnea into second a couple of laps later. McElnea managed to stay more or less in touch and with both Americans slithering and sliding to stay ahead of him, Merkel took it a bit too far. He low-sided on the very last corner before the chequered flag, although he remounted to finish.
With race six starting wet, Ron Haslam was out on the underpowered VFR and the crowd standing in the icy showers at Donington and the thousands more watching on TV were treated to one of the most astonishing rides of all time.
The genuine race bikes pulled out huge distances on the straights only to be reeled in by Haslam’s mastery of the conditions on the VFR. He passed rider after rider from both teams on the brakes and in the corners and topped his ride by catching team mates Parrish and Irons in the closing laps to finish in an astonishing fourth. But even Ron couldn’t catch Merkel, Schwantz and Burnett.
By the start of race seven, the points tally stood at 256-140 in the British team’s favour and the match race was all over. The only question left was could anyone stay with Schwantz and Merkel? Apparently not, as they were in first and second at the end of the first lap and it stayed that way to the flag. Burnett fell and only McElnea got vaguely close, coming home in a distant third.
Going into the final race eight the competition for individual highest points scorer for the £5000 prize was still up for grabs. Schwantz led on 72 points, Roger Burnett’s consistency had put him in second with 65, with Merkel one point back on 64. Haslam was back out on the VFR in pouring rain on the warm up lap, but by the start the sun was out.
Merkel opened up a first lap lead which by the end of lap two was most of the length of the Dunlop straight, followed by Burnett and Schwantz. Once more, incredibly, Haslam was up in fourth and closing in on the two riders ahead. On lap four Haslam slipped past Burnett at the Melbourne loop to claim third and set off after Schwantz. The Texan took a few nervous looks over his shoulder but maintained the gap to come home in third. It was enough for Schwantz to claim the individual points-scoring prize from leg winner Merkel. With fourth in the race, Burnett took third overall.
What was the longer-term legacy of this weekend? The main one was to cement the switch away from the two stroke grand prix bikes to road bike-based four-stroke racing at home. In 1985, MCN had already run the highly successful ‘Superstock’ series that pitted top-class riders against each other on modified roadbikes. The series continued to attract riders and fans, and eventually developed into the British Superbike series. Within a couple of years, world class four stroke racing would be with us in the form of the brand new World Superbike series.
Two strokes survived in GPs for a while longer, and Kevin Schwantz went on to win the 500cc World Championship in 1993 on an RGV500 Suzuki. Fred Merkel stuck with the 4-strokes and won the inaugural 1988 World Superbike championship on an RC30, a development of that VFR750 ridden by Ron Haslam, and defended his championship in 1989.
Of the British riders, Burnett went on to get a works Honda ride in 500 GPs without really quite doing himself justice, whilst Kenny Irons was tragically killed in a warm up lap accident at Cadwell Park, just as a Grand Prix career seemed to be opening up for him. Huewen and Parrish both ended up commentating on TV.
The bikes featured in the races became definitive models. The Suzuki GSXR750 continues to be a race and sports rider’s favourite, and in its various oil- and water-cooled incarnations has won hundreds of races and its distant descendant is still a popular choice today. The FZ750 only had a couple of years on the tracks before it was replaced on the track by the far more focused (and expensive!) OW01 which had reasonable success. The innovative 20-valve motor with its distinctive forward canted block lived on for years in the YZF750 and the later R7, both of which enjoyed considerable World Superbike success in the hands of Nori Haga.
The VFR750 went on to become one of Honda’s most successful models of all time, and its final derivative, the VFR800, has only just been discontinued. It was a stunning comeback from the engine problems that plagued Honda’s first V4 range; the VF750 might have been successful on track, but it was known to be unreliable on road.
Giving a VFR to Haslam in a major televised international event was a huge gamble. The plain black VFR with its distinctive yellow race plate (everyone else was using the FIM standard black numbers on white) stood out amongst the colourful race bikes, and Haslam’s performance on the bike was outstanding.
Was it a shrewd marketing strategy by Honda UK? I suspect we’ll never know. But when the phone lines opened on Tuesday morning, virtually the entire batch of 800 VFR750s sold out within hours.
