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/126027
r ner Two for the GP wars. Dave Ernde (left) and Mike Baeder (right ): young, fa st. an d both rac ing with the benefit of 100% father-son rapport. T hey took full opportunity to exercise their equipment in Fasttrack's back section. Bikes, biscuits & a beagle By Lane Campbell PHOENIX, ARIZ.,JAN 17-1 8 If you should ever spend the night at W/ERA Western Coordinator and Fasttrack promoter Steve Riley's house, beware his final solution for rousing reluctant sleepers. He has wife Jeri toss four dog biscuits an d a beagle that will kill for a Milk-Bone into your . 8 sleeping bag simultaneously, of course. Rough, but effective. Ac tually, it 's we ll t hat Steve, Jeri and all the W/E RA crew kept their sense of humor, in view of the dismal turnout ' fo r their first two day event held under sanction of the newly-merged Western /E astern Roadracing Association. (Co uld all those people really have preferred watching a dumb football game to racing their • inoiorcycieS'? ·G awa.y Fo tilios wn oaid e co me , the general co nsen sus was , " H.;y , we came to race and race we will. even if t he prima donnas don 't show up." And they did. Saturday was totally devoted to practice, and Randy Gerber, a second-time racer on a virtua lly stock 500 Ho nda wi th '550 pisto ns (entered in both 410 Cafe and 750 Cafe, as the rules allow four strokers and two stroke singles to enter one class down from their actual displacement and earn points), wore a groove in the track practicing, as that Honda never quit running. It paid off when he won both his classes, taking 410 Cafe after early leaaer-Emnre Mulnc s Honda -ar rea -OII and metal ch ips on his left foot, then out-duelling sidehack racer Wayne Lougee in a 750/Open race that featured stunning horsepower displays by overall third-pla cer Art Chambers on a wobbly Rickman /812 Honda and Roger Swim on his ex-drag b ike Harley. What those two lacked in 'precise handling, they made up in sheer spectacle. Mike Baeder and his family , perennial supporters of the Phoenix races, trucked out once again, this time to do a bit of experimentation and testing on Mike's brace of Yamahas, Of particular note was the effective m uffl in g tried out on both the 750 and t he 250, which scored well on the W/ERA sound meter used during tech inspection, not to disqualify anybody b ut to show people where they stood in sound levels and to serve no t ice that everybody's under a grace period to get down to 1 10 dbA at 20 inches per AMA standards. Mike's 750 also featured moved-up shocks and better rear brake master cylinder location. Promised for next month, a possible first look at a new C & J -framed 210 (ma ybe 205) pound TZ 250 . Mike won 250 GP after a good swappy duel with Dave Emde dissolved when Dave 's rear brake anchor fractured entering Turn nine. The brake wrapped itself around the axle, naturally ; and Dave went screaming straight off into the infield dirt all locked up, still managing to keep it upright and save it. Emde came ba ck on his air-cooled 350 to win 500 GP after the Baeder 750 fractured a clu tch throwout cup as Mike was going ou t to warm his tires. Ope n GP was won by Phoenix racer Brian O'Neill on his backyard pip e dream Honda as he managed to stay close to Emde on sheer bravado. Ken Crist showed up with a brace of Ho ndas - an X L250 to run 250 Cafe and a super sano 125 Elsin ore fo r 200 GP. He nee ded , but couldn't find a _ bigge r t ha n 370 Mikuni je t; was ru nnin g second behind Chuck a strong Strohmenger's TA·125 when the Elsi seized, dropping him in tum ten. Strong little ex-M'Xer, It was that kind of day, when low-bucks folks with little to sustain them but enthusiasm came out to put on a race and /or ride in it. Chin up, W/ERA, things are bound to get better. Results in Results Section. •