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/126068
National Ri Coo k Neilson (31)!Reg Prid more make a sweep o f Turn Six. Order was reversed at finish . Roberts runs, Baker loseshide By Lane Campbell RIVERSIDE, CAL., ocr. 2 There was . no holding Kenny Roberts today. Steve Baker said he wasn't getting close , even before he crashed. Roberts pocketed th e 250cc Exp ert Ligh tweight Final wit h a 3 3 seco nd cushio n over runnerup Dave Emde, It was eviden t from th e start of the firs t qu alifi er heat that Emde had been doin g so me practicing at Riverside ; and that tu ner Mac k Kambay ashi had bee n d oin g so m e homework on Dave 's T Z250. Baker and Emde sho t off the lin e togeth er wi th Wes Cooley ,Jr. try ing to find a lin e ' up th e middl e. Phil McDonald , who h ad crashed in turn nine du rin g the tire warmup' lap, was alread y ou t. Cooley wo u ld crash on lap two in turn six , as would Mike Clark . It was still a b it slippery up th ere fro m so me bo dy 's oil. Meanwhil e, o n th at same second lap, Emde slin gsh ot Ba ker, and was visib ly m akin g m ore steam in th e straigh t bits. Baker would push h im t hro ugh turn one with an unc ertain "J know I can take him , but on wh ich side? " waver to his line. This co n tinue d as Sk ip Aksl and and Yvon Duhamel c ircu la ted in an other tigh t twosome. Yvon fin ally won th at du el ; and Baker looked to be sha do wing Emde for a last-l ap m ove. But in stead, co m ing off the tu m nin e banking, Bake r and his bik e ex p lo de a dozen haybales on th e ou tside wall and Em de is h ome fre e. • S tcve had com e abou t two bal es sho rt of runnin out of ha , throwin g th e trac k crew in to a bri ef panic to re-arran ge things. Fo rt u nately , Baker was up and walking, wi th a gid dy head , seu ffed leathers an d trash ed boots the ex ternally visib le signs of his near disaster. He said -la ter th at he 'd gotten into Emde 's draft, an d wh ile dra gging d own to p ass inside "just - turned too quick fo r th e tire s." He spen t a n igh t in th e hospital under close o bservation; and th ough d octors rel eased him to watc h Sunday 's race, he was p hys ica lly pr et ty b ea t-up . The next heat was a Ro berts wal kaway over Kevin S tafford (Team Dah men Yamah a) , Mike Devlin (Yam) , and T ed Henter, who m oved a Harl ey 25 0 into f ourth, b riefly, before bei ng passe d by Mike Baeder and Tony Murphy on Mack-tu ne d TZs. . For the Fin al, Roberts an d Em de bro ke toge the r, bu t th at was abou t the last any body else saw of Kenny. Kevin S tafford, Yvon Duhamel and Skip Ak sland were going three way s for third ' after one lap whil e Mik e., Devlin and T ony Murphy wat ched from a dist an ce. Coming throu gh turn seven , Du hamel was do ing some masterful blockin g on Stafford, earnin g th e titl e of " maste r tac ticia n" from announc er Larry Hu ffm an (who -was covering the turn 6 /7 end of the track }. Aks lan d pitted afte r ' two lap s, and Mike Baeder moved in to fifth, with Devlin for comp an y an d Tony Murphy for 'a sha do w. Nex t were J ohn Lon g, Gary Nixo n, \\'es Cool ey (sans bub b le, hav ing starte d a t the rear du e to his cras h), Dou g -T eagu e (H-D). Greg Sassaman (on another Harley ), Bru ce Hammer and Bob Murra y. By lap five, Rob ert s was lon g gone, Ernde was all alone, Gary Nixon was st artin g to spout flu id fro m a duff wat erpump (whic h would sp ell h is re tirem en t' very soon ), and Stafford had slingshot Duhamel for th ird some where between turns one an d six. Dick Fuller (Ke rbs-sp onso red Yamah a) go t by Murray and was m oving up. Roberts is cli ckin g off I :3 2s meth odically by mi d-r ace, Stafford and Du hamel are. still at it fo r third/fourth, Yvon closing with late-b reakin g charges bu t n ot findin g roo m or horsep ow er to go by. Murph y, wh ose boots oug ht to be wedge- shaped from th e way he 's scrat chin g, moves in to fifth after p assin g Mike Devlin. Th e top five are n ow set J ohn Long, Mike Baeder and Ted Hen ter circulated in a tight group for seventh on down, until lap 14 when Henter cra sh ed in turn six and Baeder pitted with a loose ca rb o Ted Davidson is barely running, reportin g h andling problems; Alan Barbie is ou t with fouled p lugs; and S.a1 Peluso like wise, after circ u lating dead last on a 36 0 Husqvarna (th e one Pat Evans po sed with earlier this year) . St afford is deftly pu tt ing lap p ees be tween h imsel f and Du hamel - no w whos the tactician? Near the end , J oh n Long passed Mike Devlin to take over six th , Co ol ey cam e in eigh th a t a distance, and Dick Fuller had worked his way in to ni n th ahe ad of D oug T eague on the faster of tw o survivin g Harl eys (Sassam an had m ade it to 12 th ). Rober ts an d Emde ha d ju st had rides, eac h m akin g ou tstandin g unbelievable cornering mov es, each in his o wn wo rld as far as the rest o f the co mpetitio n was co ncerned. a pair of blurs 33 seconds paart. And th at 33 seconds, am oun tin g to b etter th an 1.5 seconds a lap , is abou t t he full measure of the sta te-of-the -art wh ich the c o m b ination of Roberts/Yamaha/ ' Dunlop represents at this point in time. • Results 25 0cc EXPERT LIGH TWE IGHT F INALS, K enny Roberts (Yam ) . 2. D ave Em de (Yam). 3. V von Duhamel ( Kaw) . 4. K ev in St af f o rd (Yam) . 5. William Mur phy (Ya m). 6 . John L on g ( Yam ). 7 . Mike D evli n (Va m). Wes Coo ley ( Y a m ) . 9 . D ic k Fuller ( Y am ) . 10. D ou g Teague (H~D ).ll. Robert Murray(Vam). 12. Greg sassaman (H aD). 13. D an McWhort er (vaml' 14. Ron Kirkham (Yam) . 15. No. 160 1. a. (Yam . 1'6. Richard Ch ambe rs (Y am) . 17. Hank Scott (Vam). 18. Greg McRae (Yarn), 19. A vru m Gudelsky ( Yam) . 2 0 . R ud y GaU ndo (Yam). 2 0 lap s/S O. 80 miles/81.74 kilometers. A v. speed 96.832 mp h. Play itagain, Reg . By Lane Campbe ll RIVERSIDE, CAL. , ocr. 2-3 Reg Pridmore rode his Laguna- . winning BMW to a closely contested Superbike Production victory over Cook Neilson and BIvIW teammate Steve MeLaughlin, as Steve rec overed nic ely from a heat race crash and an o il leak m ade a beli ever ou t of Cook latc in th e race. T he shrinking field of co mpe tit ive Su perbikes ( 15 an d coun ting) was a familiar cast o f ch arac ters, m inu s th e Baldwin Guzzi. The Yoshimura Kaw asakis (Wes Cool ey , J r.) and Mike Parriott) h ad h orsepower on eve ry body, as witn ess b oth hol eshots by Coole y ; bu t crew members were stilI bem oaning th eir lack of handling. A binding sw ingarm fu rt he r hampered Parriott 's effo rts. T h e m on o BMWs we re back. one each