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/126259
Western hotline (Above) Pat Eagan (49) rode his Mr. Jags Triumph around Te rry Waugh's Yoshimura 845cc GS750 to temporarily take the Open Production lead on the first lap at Ontario. (Be low) Harry Klinzmann took off and left the 250 GP class. Here, on the first lap. Eddie Lawson trails. Rod Sexton won the 250 Expert race at Elsinore Raceway April 23. :I: U a: -' ::J Z :I: o .., >a: v- C ... C / Klinzmann mops up GP at Manning Racing road race By John Ul rich O NTA R IO . CA. MA Y I Harrv Klin zm a nn won th e fast est GP classes at ' the Ma nn ing Racing ro ad race held a t Ontario Mot or Speedway Sunday on th e 3 . 19-mile lo ng co u rse . 18 Ri d ing a Stewart Toomey-tu ned TZ250. Klin zm ann took the 250 G P lead o n th e second lap when Ro b Murra y ra n off the track on his T Z350 ( he was rac in g for practi ce ) at th e end of t he back st ra ight. Dav id Ernd e's bik e brok e o n th a t lap . The su r prising th in g was that Eddie Lawson . th e Da yt on a Nov ic e ra ce winn er . wa s runn in g second 10 Kl inzmann . Just tha t m orn in g . Law son had said " I don't kn ow how to road race" when asked how he thought he 'd d o. But in a fine ride . Law son hung on 10 second and put in respectab le lap times . Murray got back on the course and passed Lawson. but parked his oversize bike before th e finish . Riding Pa ul Mcl.ach lan's TZ750D (OW31 Replica) . Kl inz m a n n annihilated the Open GP class. It wasn 't even close. Bill Henry won th e 500 GP class on his Specialist s II RD 350 after a racelong duel with a fast er-bur-less-n imble 500cc Honda CB400F fro m Yoshima Ra cin g Servi ce . H enry led o ff th e ~ sta n . b u t qui ckl y found h im sel f behind . I n a n in te nse bat t le t ha t broug ht lap times down fro m 2 : 19s to 2 : 18s to 2: 17s . t he lead c ha nged seve ral t imes. wit h H e n ry us ua lly ha ving t he advan tage in tig hte r sections of t he infield a nd the Ho nd a passing on the banking . Hen ry repassed for the first time in turn 16 . a tig ht right -hand ho rseshoe . when the Ho nd a got fu ll lock sideways exiting the turn a bo u t t he t hi rd lap . t he rider's feet in t he air a nd an al mos t -highside in progress. Passed again o n th e ban king . Henry sec u red first for good when t he Ho nd a ag ain slid in turn six o f th e n e x t la p . demonstrating the Yam ah a 's advantages of lig hter weight and a fear slic k tire . versus t lu - h e a vie r Ho nd a's i n -adc d tir e. Henry's hi ke was close enough in acc e le ra t io n a nd lOp speed to the Ho nd a th a t his ah ili tv to ni ck the Yam ah a back a nd forti. cas ilv in t he esses a nd ,l{3S it ea r lier t'x iti ll~ tu rn s m a de up for t he ho rse po wer d ifferent ia I. T he little Yoshima Il o n d a ha d better results in the Four Stroke G I' ra ce , in wh ich it ca in e Iro rn a lm ost la st at the sta rt to first overa ll. Reaching t hird pla ce o ve ra ll behind hol eshot art ist Terry W augh ( Yoshi m u ra 845cc GS 750 ) a nd C a rry Keoshgc r ia n (ext rem ely fast C B750 ) was re larivelv eas y. despi te t he Ka wasa ki Zis i ~ between , Gelling past W augh (who had bee n passed by Keoshg erian ) into second took th ree la ps of hard di cing. a nd reeling in and stuffing it under Keosh gerian too k u ntil th e rh ird -from last turn of t he last la p . Bot h W a ugh 's a nd Keoshgcri ari 's b ikes were m uch fas ter o n th e st raights . b ut neit he r rid er ro d" hard eno ug h in the infiel d 10 stay in fro nt o f the 500cc C B400 F. Ph ilippe deLespin a ry ran aw a y with 12:i GP o n his Hatch Ac cessories-, spo nsored water-cooled TAl 25·based " Ga r bage Can Speci al ." turning 2:33 lap times . David Emde , riding a Hond a MTI25 R in 350 Prod uction (to a cc o rnm od a re ph OIO taking fo r an upcoming Cy cle N ew s test report ) got the slower -than-severa l-TAs Honda to 2 :33 lap times . ta king eighth ove ra ll in 350 Produ cti on a nd driving a t least o ne RD 350 pilot to fits of rag e by I pa ssin g him in th e in fiel d turns t im e a fter tim e . Pat Eagan too k th e M r. J ags 1.000cc T rium ph Trid ent fro m 11th off t ill' g rid into firs t overa ll o n t he first lap o f t he Open Produ ct ion race . leading T erry W au gh (845cc GS75 0 ) a nd Jim H a berl in ( I .OOOcc La verd a ). Eagan stayed o ut fro nt un til the fast Tri u m ph broke . W au g h inherited the lead bu t soon was passed by H aberl in . who too k off and new to a com fo rt a ble .victo rv m a rgin . \\' aug h was lau-r disqu alified for ru nn ing a header vx ha u st svstvm . Denni s Smith won t he 750 Prod uct ion cla ss wit h his Del Amo Suzu ki GS5 50 - ;\Ianni ng Ra cing ru ns 500 Prod uct io n . and e,""ryt hi ng la rge r must ent er the 750 class. Eri c H ed g er was third in t h a t class . ru nning a he a d e r syste m. but wasn ' td isq ua lified . • Resu lts in Res u lts Section . Hickerson flies in Canyon winds By Lesley Crawford PHO ENIX . AZ. APR . 24 A fierce wind and much dust greet ed the rid ers o n ra ce da y at the Canyon NIX. It cre a ted a few ' problems - th e wat er truck tried to ta me the d us t a nd the wind ga ve spectato rs a shower! The first race of the da y was a co mbi ned 125 /0pen P r~ with staggere d sta rts wit h 125s taking th e first d ro p of th e ga te. J imm y Wright ( Ya m ). a co mpet ito r fro m Yuma . blas ted off with the start in t he first ro und . close ly fo llowed by And y Frola ( Hon) . By lap fo u r Trac y Adams Andy Fro la fl ies in the desert w ind to a 125 Pro victory at Phoenix. (H on) had moved into third only 10 lose out 10 a rut. Steve Yarborough (Yam) quickly took over. Wright and Frola were wheel -to -wheel for the entire moto, moving imo a comfortable lead for a ra ce all their own . Wright . ridin g solid ly in first position . caught t he c hec ke rs fi rs t with Frol a close behind him as Yarborough took third with ease . Frola m oved ou t fro m a t the sta rt of moto two with Wright hot on his rear wheel. Aga in they totally dom inated th e cl ass with no one else in a position 10 cha lle nge them . Frola seemed to have th e tra ck under control as he began pull ing a way fro m Wright . Coming in a distant third . which was secure in its own right . wa s Steve Yarborough. The second moto win earned Frola fir st ove ra ll. Second wem 10 Wright and third to Yarborough . As th e gate dropped for the Open Pros it was Tom Pu lver ( Mai) and Dav e Crawford (Mai ) side by side into th e fir st turn . with Crawford edging into a slig ht lead . Pu lver . a veteran Open ra cer . was not about to be undone by a newcomer 10 th e class. and stuc k himself 10 C ra wfo rd 's fender look ing for tha t o ne mistake . They had a su per race goi ng unt il th a t m istake occ u rred b ut it was Pulver's n ot Cra wfo rds . Pulver di d a spectac u la r endo be fore su icide hill . and he was stunned enough to be out of th e rac e . But fo rt u na te ly he wasn't seriously inj ured . This left . Crawford with a wid " o pen le ad and un challenged . Fin ishing ba ck in seco nd was Brett Hannah (Ma i). third was Gary Sheppard (H us) . Sec ond moto was Crawford's from hol eshot to checkers. It almost looked like he forgot which class he was racing . as th e 125s had the first start of the mix ed cl a ss and he cha rged through the pack of little bikes passing all except the two leaders. Robert Brazil ( KT M) rode a consistent second place race . followed by Gary Sheppard . Overall wins went 10 Crawford . Brazil . Sheppard . After the dust set tl ed fro m the charge of the 250 Pros. it was Roger J on es aboard a new Ya maha in his us ua l dia l-it -on -b erserko sty le . Ga ry Hickerson (Hus) and Dave Crawford (Ma i) came around in second and t hird . As Jones charged on, Crawford edged around Hickerson and put 'a litt le d istan ce betw een them for a few laps. Then. in true Hi ck erson style.. he slipped right back behind C rawford .