Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126011
; Groovin' with Yvon, Cookin' with Nielson, & a Tip of the 01' McPartland to the Lightweight producers III • ~ E . 10 f" O"l ,...... ~ ,...... I-< V ..0 0 +-' u 0 • Truly heavy traffic in the early stages of He~vyweight Production. There were repeat pe rformances with a different actor in th e lead the first five laps. "Yvon's lines are so pure .. . .. Cook and Steve take a few lessons in the infield. .... Ten seconds back, To ny Murphy and Lance Wei! on SFC Laverdas led the second gaggle, p ulling away until they were riding formation almost by themselves. Jeff Steele was hanging in traffic with the first Honda, fourth 750 in the melee. Cook and the Duck 'con tinued to hold off Yvon for another two laps, then DuHamel grabbed . a handful and "went by me trailing two wh ite contrails," Cook added, "I tried to keep up in the infield and learn something . Yvon 's lines are so pure - he keeps the cases just so far off the pavement all the way around," DuHamel dismissed school early, pulling well ou t of drafting range. McLaughlin and then Wilvert worked their way by in succession using the ' front straight to neutralize the Duck's visibly superior infield handling. As the lead group settled down, pulling well away fro m Pridmore and Fishe r, Weil passed Murphy to lead the Laverda fo rmation un til his bike, on the last lap, fell victi m to what sounded like the old "crud in the carb syndrome" an d fin ished just barely able to take thro ttle. • Results By Lane Campbell ONTARIO, CAL. , OCT. 4- 5 38 Yvon DuHam el seems determined to wear a groove from th e trac k to .the winner's circle with his DaleS tarr Kawasaki Heavyweight Production ride . Before Saturday 's 750 and Open combined race, the announcers -were callin~ it a tossup between last year s Ontario Production win ner Reg Pridmore and Yvon in the Open class . In the 750s, the question was not who would win the class, but how heavily Cook (SuperDuck) Neilson would be mixing it . up with the Open bikes. At first, it was pretty he avy mixing, as Steve McLaughlin (Kaw) and Gary Fisher (BMW) got away together, Steve forcing himself inside turn one and the two swapping away th rough the infield. Out on the front straigh t it was a fearsome foursome of McLaughlin, Pridmore, Fisher and Neilson p laying "you pull me, 111 pull you," . By lap three the front four had become a front six with DuHamel and Hurley Wilvert (Yam) up from the pack. Fisher slipped to sixth in the shuffle (which got .pretty dicey at times); Yvon either blew his horn or bumped Pridmore in turns one-two, startling him long enough to duck by. Then it was duck under McLaughlin next tim e and put the charge on Cook, who had been leading this thing on that 750 Desmodromic (lmola replica) Ducati. OPEN PRODUCTION : 1. vvc n Du Ha mel ( Ka w ) . 2. S t eve McLa ug h li n ( Kaw). 3 . H urley Wll yer (V am) . 4. Reg Pr idmore (BMW) . S. G ary F i sher (BMW) . 6. Ku rt Le ntz (B M W) . 7. Arthur Kow it z (Kaw). 8 . D ic k KlIgr oe j Ka W). 9. ,D en n is Pegel ow ( Ka w). 10. Clit Carr (B MW) . 11 . Mike C larke (Vam) . 7 50ce P ROOUCTION : 1. Coo k Neil son 10uc) . 2. Willi am Murphy (L av) . 3 . Lan ce Well ( La y ). 4 . Jeff rey S t eele I H on ) . S. Mi ke Hishikl (H on ) . 6 . E d w ard U n ln (H o n). Sunday, October 5 Lightweight Production Tip McPartland ' (Kaw) kept looking over his sho ulder in the late stages of the race, . wondering whe re the opposition went. Riding a three-cylinder Kaw like a cork in a sea of Yamaha twins, he simply rode away fro m everyone except Laguna winner Dale McCreary. Behind them , however, was a wild scramble for the next four positions, as Bob TIgert, Larry Koop, Alan Gingerrelli, Mike Parriott, Quentin TIp McPartland had the opposition Kawed in the lightWeight race. Hogan, and Bill Hen ry d ove in and out of a four, five, sometimes six-bike pack. In b y force of will, out by mistake, so to speak. The survivors were TIger t, Parriott, Hogan and Henry in order. Barb ie's rear tire got some what skat ey ; he came ar ound several times loo king at it qu izzically . Harry Klin zm ann at one time waved at him , " Come on by, let's race;" b ut Harry was having his troubles, too, and was off the pace. McPartland finished about four seconds up on McCreary , over 20 seco nds up on Tigert. TIgert's sometime arch-rival Scott Clough, was also off the pace in this one, finishing out of the top 10. • Results L IGHT WEIGHT P R OOU CTION RA CE (11 lap,) : 1. T ip M c Partland (Ka w ). 2. Oal e Mc Cre ary (Y am) . 3. Ro bert Tigert, Jr. (Yam ). 4 . Mike Pa rr io tt (H on). 5. Q uentin Hogan Ka W \. 6 . B i ll Henry (Y am ) . 7. Larry Koo p Yam. 8. A l an Gl ngerelll (Yam ). 9. Da i n Ingerelll (Ya m ) . 1 0 . A l an Ba'blc (v am), Wl nner·s Spe ed : 81.12 8 mph Win ner 's Time : (lllaps x 2 .9 miles) 23m. 35.546'. . ~