Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1978 09 13

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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IAbovel National winner Singleton in a gleeful moment. (Belowl Jay Springsteen 11 1raced the V-twin H-D. but did not restart after the red flag. . Harry Klinzmann (871and Dave Emde diced fiercely. with Klinzmann taking his first Superbike win and Emde ta king another second for the weekend. W"ren (Yam ); 4 . Bruce Paterson (Yaml: 5. Jim Arnold !Yam ); 6. Pierre Buellac !Yam); 7. Scott Settino IVaml; B. 'J an JoIl.. (Vaml; 9 . Bruce Mau s !Yaml; 10. Gary Collins !Yaml. 11. Frank McTaggert IVam); 12. E,,01 Tenpaw !Yam); 13. Rich Chambers !Yaml; 14 . John Long !Yaml; 15. John Bettenco urt !Yaml; 16. Jerry Wood !Yaml; 17. Mar k J ones IVaml. Time: 39 min., 33 sec. Speed : n .673 mph . Klinzmann edges Emde in Superbike duel By Peter Magoon LOUDON . NH . SEPT. 5 Harry Klinzmann and Dave Emde both des perately wanted t heir first Su perbike win but, after slugging it out in the middle laps. it was Klinzmann tak ing a well earned victory on the Loudon course. Third place finisher J oh n Long was penalized one lap for an infraction of the start procedure rules and official third place was awarded to Joh n Bettencou rt . 8 Superb ike aces Reg Pridmore a nd Wes Coo ley did not a p pea r on th e starting grid for this one. Pridmore is still recove ring fro m a shoulder injury he sustained in Japan . and Cooley sat out the race as his Yoshimura sponsors prepared his bike for the upcoming ' race a t Laguna Seca . . Emde had pushed ' his Mel Dinisen sponsored Kawasaki to ~ n early lead !is Klinzmann and MIk e Ba ld w in swa p ped th ird for th e first six laps. Klinzmann pulled away from Baldwin on lap seven on his San Jose BMW/ Ron Lang/Dean Lear/Chris Wrenchsponsored BMW and began closing on Emde. Soon af ter. Baldwin , who had been ' favored to win and Rich ard Schlachter. another local favorite . dropped out. Baldwin suffered a piston seizure and Schlachter ha d a broken shift linkage. On lap nine, Kurt Lentz. who had been making a good showing on his Ducati in fifth , also left the race with undetermined ignition problems. Ernde was leading with Klin zmann now close behind. Twenty seconds back. in third . was New Englander John Bett encou rt who had won this event in June. Right behind him came th e Suzuki of Steve Epstein , the brother of up-and -corning lady racer Wendy, followed by the BMW ofJohn Long. However. Long was really not in fifth at all . His BMW was slow to start and he returned to the grid after his warmup lap while the one m inute sign was up. The rules state the rider must start from ihe back of the grid in this case. but Long refused. He was penalized one lap for his negative actions. He moved into third on lap 14 and held it un til the end of the race at which time he filed an immedia te protes t on the penalty. As Long moved inro third. Klinzmann a nd Emde battled fiercely and the lead changed ha nds several times between la ps 15 a nd 18. By lap 20. Klinzmann held a com fortable lead and Bettencourt was a solid fourth as Steve Epst e in sl owed dramatically . Steve was soon out of it and Arthur Rob inson moved hi s Kawa sak i int o fifth . In th e closing la ps Emde mad" another strong bid for first . but fell short. " I'm tired of second place," he said later. Klinz mann was more jovial. " I've had too much failure and I didn't wa nt any more B.S." he said . " I wa tch ed Dave for awhile to size him up and then prayed that the engine wou ld ho ld a nd went for it. " In the winner's circle. Long stepped onto the third place platform. but offi cia ls soon displaced him with John Bettencou rt . " It was a long way up through the pack. " said the Yoshimura East / Bettencourr's Suzuki / Spectre Oils-sponsored Bett encou rt . who had started in last place after not finishing his heat race . " I really tried to catch Long in the last laps , but my rear tire was slipping away and my knee was getting' hot because it held me up in a couple of turns ." . Results SUPERBIKE PROO: 1. Harry Klinzmann (BMW) ; 2. Oavid Emd. (Kawt 3. John Bettencourt ISuz); 4. Arthu' Roberts (Kawl; 5. John Fuchs (HonI; 6. Kurt Liebmann 10ua, 7. Richard Chambers IM-G); B. Keith Code (Kawl; 9. Go

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