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/126323
__ _ .- __ ""'It""'J (I III • .- -; ~ t . 00 l' O'l ~ co CN -., e-, ;:l IA bovel lnt o the first turn of the Sears Point 250cc Expert final. winner Dave Emde (56)already has the lead. lBelow) Paul Ritter topped the Superbike class. Ernde excels in 250cc Expert bash By Charles M orey SO NOMA , CA ,jULY 16 "I was planning on closing, then making a last lap charge," Dave Emde described mid-race tactics following his win in the Sonoma 8 Motorcycle Classic 250cc Expert race . He was talking about his plans to overtake leader Randy Mamola , but Mamola solved Emde's problem for him by running off the course only two laps from the end of the 20 -rap , 50 mile ra ce . "T he gas tank was leaking at the beginning of the race - it's cracked OT something - and it leaked out on the footpegs , but I figured I could still make it OK. Then , when I came out of the Carousel , it got on the rear wheel . .. " a d isappointed Rand y Mamola shrugged it off following a trip int o th e Sears Point International Racewa y weeds. The j im Doyle-owned Yama h a go t sideways and Ma m ola went dow n , breaking th e fai ring loose from its mount on the lefth a nd side. "It's luck y I sto ppe d. " Mamola con tinued, describing his withdrawal from the event on the next to last lap . " I found when I pulled off that th e fairing hit against the fork tubes and locked them upl" Emde believes h e 'd ha ve won anyway: "He (Ma m ola) kept looking back , and that's a good indica tion you 're going to beat h im when someone does that. If he's that worri ed about you .. ." john Long feels he could ha ve won . Dust spread on the track to absorb spilled oil drifted across the ci rcui t, and Long, even though he went wide to a void it , felt the front wh eel wash out, and he fell . "It was a slow 50 mph corner," Long elaborated, " I never let go of the clutch or throttle. Sissy fall . I was challenging for the lead , and I bailed." He remounted quickly , losing only two spots , and finished an eventual fourth place. . Emde led at the start ' when " Bou ncing .Bob" Malley dropped the green flag and the 250cc Experts stormed turn one. Following Emde's Yamaha - owned and prepared by father Floyd Emde with a Mack Kamabayashi-built motor - was Mike Ba eder on the Fr it z Ba ed er Construction Yamaha and Mamola. By the end of t he lap on e, Long was riding fourth and looking. for a cha nce to mo ve u p . Mamola sq ueezed into the m iddle of a tight to p trio - Emde, Mamola , Baeder - by the end of lap two . Long closed on them . then got past Baeder int o thi rd on the next lap . Two laps later one -quarter of the wa y through the 20 -lap event - Long was in second and Mamola had taken the lead. Then Long fell . He was up quickl y, but Emde a nd Baeder go t by into second and third places. Long restarted in fourth . Erode moved to within two to three seconds of Mamola and maintained th a t distance as th e laps rolled on. Miles Baldwin, sixth at the end of the opening lap, was charging up . through the ranks. On lap seven, he moved h is SKF/Diamond Chain Yamaha round Baeder into third place. Baeder didn't let Baldwin out of range, and he re turned the pass in the second half of the race, making it stick for an eventual second place finish. Emde kept steady pressure on Mamola - who did keep looking over his shoulder - and when Randy fell , David .ha d it won by a very secure margin : over 15 seconds at the checkered flag . Baeder held second with Baldwin taking third. Rounding out the top fi ve were Long and Guennad y Liubimsky. Sixth through 10th went to Bruce Sass , Peter Chancey, Harry Cone, La rry Legarra and Darrell Lee. allYamaha-mounted, Floyd Emde , asked to list his son's spo nsors , inclu ded N D Spark Plugs, Dunlop Tires , Bel-R a y O il,. .Bar es, Bell, D.LD. and of course Mack Kamabayash i. Results 20 LAP FINAL: 1. David Emde (Yom): 2. Mike Boeder (Yaml:3 . Miles Beldwin (Yom); 4. John long (Vom); 5. ; Guennedy liubimsky (Vam l; 6. Bruce Sees (Yom) 7. Peter Chancey (Voml; 8. Harry Cone (Yom): 9. larry logerro (Yam); 10. Darroll lee (Yoml; 11. James Woolsey (Yom); 12. Randy MomoIo (Yom); 13. Greg Andrus (Yom); 14. L.ence Jones IH-DI; 15. Hugh Humble (Yom) 16. Keith Code (Yom) ; . AVERAGE SPEEO: 79.684 mph. Ritter repeats as Superbike • winner J ,j By Dale Br own SONOMA , CA .jULY 16 Paul Ritter followed Wes Cooley for 13 laps in the Superbike Production final , and when Cooley broke, Ritter took the win easily on his Dale Newton-owned and tuned Aero Un ion/Euromart Ducati. He'd won this cla ss at Sears Point a year ago. Cooley and Ritter had finished 1-2 in th eir Saturday heat race. When the green flag dropped , Cooley got going first , aboard a Yoshimura R&D GSI 000 Su zuki . Reg Pridmore (Vetter Kaw ), Dennis Smi th (Del Amo Suzuki/ ND /Derate , Suz), , H a rry