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/126317
John Bettencourt ran the wheels off the Superbike Production class. By la p six Springsteen had a threesecond advan tage over Nix on . Behin d the front running quartet , J oh n Bettencourt was waging war with Beullac, in a battle for fifth . T hree laps lat er Bettencourt was down a nd out, but not hurt . Miles Baldwin was lookin g for a chance to make a move . but slid out on la p 12 en di ng his bid for a to p three spot. Nixon began to close the gap on Sp ringsteen as the pair pulled away from th e field and appeared to be re adying a challenge. Tuner Erv Ka nem oto flashed Nixon a " mi nus two seco nds' as he sped past the pits towa rd t he sta rt of lap 18. At that same insta nt the ra ce became a one rider affair. A huge roa r went u p fro m th e crow d as Springer ex p loded th e ha yba les ne a r the start/ fin ish line . " I guess it was a bump or some thi ng ," sai d th e defen d ing Nat ional Champ lat er. "T he fro nt end slid ou t. If I had had m y steel shoe on I might have saved it ," he jokingly said . The final 14 laps were unevent ful as Nixon ea sily cruised to victory with an over ·20 ·second ma rg in in ' hand . Nei ther Sass nor Beullac knew th at they were destined for th e winner's circle cha m pagne . Beullac found out abo u t his third place fin ish onl y a fte r running ou t of gas on th e cooling-off lap . • Results 32 LAPS : 1. Gary Nixon (Yaml ; 2. Bruce SasslYlIml ; 3. Pierre Beullac (Yam); 4. John long (Yam); 5. Dan Wa rren (Yaml ; 6. M ike 8aeder (Yam); 7. Don Mankie (Yam); 8. Bruce Maus (Yam); 9 . Van satt (Yam ); 10. Jerry W ood IH-D); 11. Jan Jolles (Y. m); 12. N .nk M cTaqgart (Yam): 13. James Woolsey (Yam); 14. Mark J ~ \Yam); 15. J im Arnold (Yam) 16. larry l egan a (Yam); 17. Jay Springst een (H·O); 18. M ike Baldw in (Yam); 19. John Ben encourt (Yam ); 20 . David GafOut ee (Yaml. Time: 37 min., 2 sec. Superbike Production: Bettencourt bags a big one By Gary Van Voorhis LOUDON . NH.JUNE 18 "I really haven't had any practice at this," said John Bettencourt as, he tried to open a champagne bottle after his Superbike Pro- 8 duction victory . " Bu t you can bet that I' m out to get as much practice as possible. " Bettencourt . in steady. relentless fashion , literally ran th e wh eels off his competition forcing them to drop out one by one and give the Yoshimura East-sponsored, Suzuki rider a comfort a b le victo ry . John Long continued to show that BMW is a superb ike to cont end with as he put th e Tod Schuest er /Udo Gietl / GS Performance Group-sponsored BMW into seco nd place. Reg Pr idmor e aboa rd th e Vetter Fairing/ Pierre des Roch ez Kaw asaki finished thi rd. In d istinct cont rast to the p arade of Yamahas that filled out the results sheets in ot he r races. the Su perbik e Production bash foun d five brands in the top five pla ces. Paul Ritt er rode his Aero-Union/Euromart Du cati to fourth with J ohn Fu chs. on a stro ng sounding Honda sponsored by Randy Crabelli, fif th . The eve nt was also Ms. Ca rt er Alsop 's first rid e in th e Su pe rb ike ranks. Alsop. aboard a Suzu ki GS I00 0 sponso red by U. S. Su zuk i/Castroll Dunl op a nd T oyot a , proved she could ge t th e gas on consistent ly. How ever , he r consistency was a good J 0 seco nds a lap off th e pace of being com petitive . T he lon g pa rade into tu rn one was led by Wes Cooley as he soug h t to mak e up for th e probl em - a flat tire - th at had m ade his heat race a one lap a ffair . T uc ked closely behind were Betten court , Ron Pierce, Paul Stephenson and H arry Klin zm ann with Reg Pridmore. Mik e Baldwin and John Long moving in . Pier ce was quickl y out with clu tc h problem s. Cool ey began to feel press u re from Betten cou rt . but held his position as Bald win moved th rough !O cha lle nge Klin zma nn . By lap six Betten court ha d swoo pe d past Cooley using lat e braking ta ct ics as Baldwin di d the sa me to' Klin zm ann. Baldwin the n moved past hound Cooley a nd bega n to Bett encou rt . Ba ldw in crashed spectacu la rly on lap 12 . ca rtwheeling b ike a nd bod in the d own hill sect ion . He was un hu rt . Two la ps later Cooley retired wit h un d isclosed engi ne problems lea vin g Bett en court with an a pproxim ate 14. second lea d over KJinzm a nn . Klinzmann appea red safe in second as did Bettencourt's lea d . But Long had other ideas and began to close th e ga p in the final five laps as Pridmore waited in fourth . One lap from the end Klinzmann pitted his BMW of San Jos e . CA . BMW. A cracked case was the culprit. Long continued to motor to second place - a simi la r problem with his BMW's . case had befallen him in Saturday's practice - as Pridmore settled for th ird. One interesting not e on the machinery was an anti-dive device on the front forks of Long's BMW whi ch improved th e handling "considerably," according to Long. • Gary Nixon visit ed t he w inner 's circle w ith a 250c c Expert triumph. Results 25 LAPS: t . John Ben encourt (Sull ; 2. John long (BM W) ; 3 . Reg Pridmore IKaw ); 4. Paul Ritter IDuc): 5. John Fuch s CHon) 6 . William Addington U(aw); 7. Rich ; Schlacht er lOuel; 8. Ed Powell (S U1): 9. Keith Code C Kaw} ; 10 . Art W ick s tHo n); 11. lan Day (M ·DI; 12. Harry Klinzmann (BM W); 13. David Salt lKaw); 1422; 15. Jo e Ze;gler lKawl; 16 . Nichol as Rich ichi ISuz); 17. Cart er Al sop (Suz); 18. Jerry Dean lDuel: 19. Paul St eph enson (Honl : 20. Hurley W ilvCft. J r. (Yam). Avere ge Speed: 78.346 mph. Time : 30 min.• 38 sec. Novice: Freddie was ready, but it wasn't easy By Gary Van V oorhis LOUDO N , NH .JUNE 18 Louisiana 's Freddie Spencer need ed a touch of good luck in addi tion to his talent on two wheels to pull off th e win in the Novice even t. Spencer , in th e m iddle la ps , suddenly encountered a dog on on e of th e fa stest portion s of the tra ck whil e lea d ing. Someh ow Spencer managed to stay upright as he literally rode over the ca nine . The expe rie nce shook him up. but he didn't back off th e gas. Spencer's Lubri -Lori /Vivian Cycle / Arnzoil -sponsored Yamaha led Dan .Chivington aboard th e Ch ivington Honda of Marion , Of-l-sponsored Yam aha and Glen Shopher on a Farm House Restaurant -spon sored Yamaha to victory. Rounding out th e top five were Rusty Sharp and his Flower Company/ Marquardt Engineering Yamaha a nd the self-sponsor ed Yamaha of Joe Osowski . Shopher was the m an to wa tc h for the openi ng three la ps of the 25-lap final as he led heat race winners Chivingt on a nd Spen cer wit h Steve Epstei n a nd Mike Call a ha n in tow . Spen cer took ove r seco nd on lap two a nd th en put t he pressu re on Sh opher. O n lap four Shopher to uc he d a spot of oil in turn two . " I touch ed that oil , ' went sidew ays a nd t ho ug ht it was all over ," sai d Shopher. " L uckily 1 saved it. " Chivington took over only to quickly lose th e lea d on th e sta r t/ finish line . Spencer then began to open up a lead , but was finding it much harder to run away from everyone as he had at Daytona. Chivington was not about to give up . but he was also not about to try any heroics that might cost him his second placing. Shopher rega ined his com posure and began pushing for all he was worth . " I ran out of time." said Shopher who was rapidly closing on Chivington in the final laps. Embarrassment reigned 10 the winner's circle as Spencer, Chivington and Shopher treated the cha m pagne bottle like a hot potato. Spencer, 16. respectfully refrained from taking a swig . lea ving th e guzzling duties to the place and show men . • .Results 25 LAPS: 1. Freddie Spencat' (Yaml: 2. Dan Chivin gto n (Yam): 3. Glen Shopher (Yaml : 4. Rusty Sharp (Yam); 5. J oe Oso wsk i (Ya ml; 6. Stev e Biga ns ki (H·D): 7. Dave Bearden (Varni; 8. Nicholas Richichi (Ya m};9 . S teve Epst ein (Yaml : 10 . 7; 1,. Mike Callahan (Yam l: 12. Ken W est (Yam); 13. M art in MOffison (Vaml; 14. Gary Penf ;"Jd (Yam ) 15. Alan Lane (V.ml ; 16. 1; 17. . M ike Herz;ng (Y. m); 18 . Edw.rd Pow ell (Y. m); 19 . M i ~ PastormeJioCYaml . Aver.ge S peed: 76.3 11 mph Time : 31 min., 27 sec. Gipe/Estaff top three-wheel action By Gary Van Voorhis LO UDON . NH ,JUNE 18 Sidecar racing returned to Laconia with Kawasaki-powered rigs sweeping the top three spots. Gary Gipe and Pet e Estaff pi lot ed th eir Pet e's Machine Shopsponsored chair int o th e winner's circle ahead of the Greg Cox /Bill Davidson chai r sponsored by R .C. Engineering and th e Selby Motors rig of Wayne Lou gee and Randall Hough. The lfi -lap event provided th e fans wit h a n open ing eig ht laps of dynamite swap-fest ra cin g wh ich det eriorated int o a follow the leader a ffa ir in th e fin al eight laps as attrition and su perior machinery made th eir for ces known . Reg Pridmore a nd Ken Gr eene brough t thei r Don Vesco -sponsored , Yamaha TZ750 ' powered rig int o ac tion at Loudon . It was a sha ke-down run for th e rece ntly ac q uire d English bui lt rig a nd it proved to be a well runn ing m ach ine a lt ho ugh coo ling p roblem s sto ppe d t he team 's cha rge halfwa y through th e race . T he leading com b ina tion changed consta nt ly as Pridmore diced with Cipe , Cox and Lou gee for th e opening fou r laps. The Lougee rig then began to smoke a nd. rather than risk a blown engine. the pa ir slowed ' th eir pace . The three -way show became a two chair play with the pitting of Pridmore . on lap eight. In the closing laps . the Gipe/Estaff chair drew awa y from Cox / Davidson to easi ly take the win. • Resu lts 16 LAPS : 1. Garv GipeiPete Est.ff IK.wl; 2. Greg CoxIBiII Davidson l Kaw); 3. Wayn e Lougee /Randv Hough (Kaw); 4. Oliv er/Brsndsisk: 5. Ian FillerylStephen McQuinn (Kawl; 6 . Allen Stap les/Gary De810ck IK. w); 7. Nell Mumomm Munro IKaw l: 8. John Dailey /Art Dailey IMazl; 9. Mik e Lenon /Mark Bevans IHonl ; 10. Reg PridmorefKen Greene (Vam l.