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/126328
Yoshimura topsSuzuka Race ByJim Ryan SUZUKA,J APAN ,JULY 29·30 Over 70,000 spectators witnessed Wes Cooley, J r. and Mike Baldaboard their Yoshimura R&D of America-tuned Suzuki GSIOOO decimate the heavily favored Honda RCB World , Championship Endurance ' T eam. Not since the Grand Prix races of 1963 through 1965 had Honda's Suzuka tr ack been the scene of an inte rnational motorc ycling event. The American effort , consisting of Cooley, Baldwin, Erode, Pierce and . Pridmore: made qu ite an impression on the hea vily European influenced Japa nese mo torcycle pub lic. Promo ted by Hon da , the race would be one way for Honda to flex the ir muscles at home with their two-tim e World Cha mpionship RCB Endu ran ce Team of Ch ristia n Leon and Jean Ch armarin and also int roduce the CBX int o the competitive ranks with Reggie Pridmore " and Ron Pierce at the controls. T he J ap anese populace had never seen the Honda RCB T eam before because the bikes had been set up strictly for the European endurance circuit. The Yoshimura GS1000 was basically the same type of machine they used to campaign the Superbike Production class in the U.S. The only changes were the addition of a fairing, a headlight and a Compagnolo mag rea~ wheel. The Compagnolo addition was the result of an event that occurred at the Sears Point National earlier in the year, where Cooley sheared off the rear sprocket while leading the Superbike Production class. Practice Pops Yoshimura arrived in Japan two months early to put the bike together. The rest of the team arrived a week prior to' the race. Practice started Monday. The promoter allowed the Yoshimura Team private practice sessions of about 90 minutes each day before the race . This enabled everyone to be totally familiarized with the track, and therefore would result in a better contest . Baldwin and Cooley quickly adapted to the 3.75 mile long track, During practice laps they shaved five seconds off the Honda Team's best time . Unfortunately, during practice, Pridmore was involved in a crash that put him out of the race. Ron Pierce would ride with Japanese rider Fujimoto. Qualifying Saturday's qualifying consisted of three 45·ininute sessions; two in the morning and one during the afternoon. The best time between the two-team riders would determine their place on the starting grid. America's Dave Emde proved to be the fastest aboard a TZ750 with an untouchable 2:19:23 , good enough to put him and his co-rider, Isoyo Sugimoto in the pole position. (Continued to page 19) SUBAR U INTERNATIONAL MOTORCYCLE OLYMPIAD II . SUNDAY, SEPT. 17 SADDLEBACK PARK And h e 's bringing with h im all of t he racing knowledge he's picked up racing in Europe wi t h guys like Mikkola and DeC oster. "Bad" Brad is ready to take on H annah in this special day of racing known as the Subaru International Motorcycle Olympiad II. It's " going to be a tough battle with all of these riders using all of their in credible racing abil ity in a five race go round to determine who really is the best rider in the world. Hurricane Hannah thought he h ad i t in the bag ... until he found out that Lackey was going to be sitting at the s tartin g gate with him. Now he knows that the Olympiad is going to turn in to a battle ground with tough com pe titi on from not on ly Lackey, but, Marty Tripes, A lex J orgensen, Mike Ba st, Brent Wall ingsford , La rry Roesel er, Da ve Aldana , Rick Burge tt , J im m y We in ert , J im F ishback, a nd m any more of you r favorite ri de rs. Racing action blasts off at 11:30 a.m. wi t h t he G O O DY E A R SHORT T RAC K , followe d by' t he Y AMAHA T T , the KAWASAK I C R O S S COUNT RY /T RI A LS, the YAMAHA DRA G HI L L CLIM B an d e n di ng with the YAM A HA MOTO CRO SS. Obviously this vast cross section of r a cing events will give no one ri de r the edge in this unique competition . Consistency is the name of t he ga me along with ri di ng to t he m ax in all five even ts . Th e SUBAR U INTERNATIO NAL MOTORCYCLE OL YMPIAD II only t a kes place on ce a year. Th is is th e on ly ti me that you' ll get to see a ll of you r fa vorite riders r a cing in a ll types of e vents. Don't be left ou t in the cold ! Photo Courtesy of Modern Cycle SCOTT USA WENDY'S OLD-FA SHIONED HAMB URGERS SAVE 20 0/ 0 ON ADVANCE T ICKETS MAIL BEFORE SEPTEMBER 7. 1978 Tickets availableat participating Subaru and Yamaha Dealers No Tick et s Amoun t s NAME Reg . ADULT TICK ETS CHILD"S TICKET NOW! $ 10 $8 $3 C,ty _ _ _ PHO NE _ ADDRESS $5 _ 'UN DE R 12 1 HANDUNG CH ARGE _ -- _ -,..:.. 5 0=- _ S tate _ _- -- _ Please send selt -addr esse d en velo pe and your check to receive tic kets and inlormallon . Make checks paya ble to : Saddleback Pr omotIOns. P ,O . Box 2422. OJange . Calola,",a 92669 . 1714) 558 ·15 8 4 TOTAL ZIP