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/126338
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Rick Maki was second 125cc Pro. behind Jeff Ward. at Saddleback.
Dennis Smith 1791 and Kirk Mitchell 14751 lead the AFM Open Production pack.
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(Continued from page 26)
Williams gladly took the lead back
. and did only what was necessary to
keep it the rest of the moto.
Behind him . Randy Rodriguez
(WSM) had roared by both Da vid
Gerig (OP Suz) and Walker who now
sat in fifth . The order remained th e
same until near the end of the mota .
Blevins , apparently slowed by a flat
front tire. had no chance of holding
onto second. Rodriguez and Gerig got
him a lap from the end with Walker
forcing his way by a couple of comers
from the checkered .
Williams repeated his first rnoto
performance in the second with the
exception being that he was passed by
nobody during the race. After getting
a lead he felt was comfortable enough,
he just played in front. .
Rodriguez held down second the
entire moto. Gerig and Walker traded
spots for several laps before Gerig went
by for good . Blevins ran fifth as the
first five duplicated their first moto
finishes.
The 250cc Pro class has cons istently
been the most crowded of late. In
moto one, David Taylor (Yam) beat
the other 51 riders out of turn one with
Scott Gillman glued to him astride
Dave "Works" Miller's Honda . Bob
Elliott (Suz) , Mike Brown (Suz) and
Jennings followed .
Jennings jumped into third on lap
three . but lost it shortly thereafter and
dropped way back.
Gillman. though not used to his
borrowed mount , pushed into the lead
on lap six and kept it for the moto win .
Jennings came back to put himself
in a sandwich between Elliott and
Yamaha's Jeff Ward on lap seven .
Elliott soon faded back to fifth while
Jennings continued his march forward
to grab second from Taylor. Ward
followed Jennings and displaced
Taylor to fourth.
Taylor seemed to have the start
wired as he holeshot the second moto
also : _Elliott , Gillman and Jennings
waited anxiously behind for their shots
at the lead.
Jennings decided to wait no more on
lap two. As Gillman tried to get by
Elliott in a left , Jennings went high
and zoomed down from the outside,
with all three riders locking bars. It
was reminiscent ofJimmy We inert and
Tony DiStefano a few years ago when
they tangled, but again nobody went
down .
In all the commotion, Jennings had
gassed his way into second. A lap later,
he took the lead from Taylor and was
gone for the moto and overall wins .
Gillman finished second with Taylor
a short distance behind. Tim Lunde
(Mai) picked up th e fourth spot ,
despite Ward's continual harassment
the last four laps . Elliott got sixth .
Ward got a slight jump on th e othe r
125cc Pros in th eir first rnoto , but
Mike Brown scr eamed by him on the
downhill after the first turn . Ward
would ha ve non e of that , however, and
got him back before th e end of th e lap.
From there on , he led the pa rade and
saw the checkered first.
Gary Denton of Suzuki W est
claimed second after Brown d ropped
out of the hunt. Coming up fast
though , was Rick Johnson (Yam) .
When Johnson challenged Denton " his
bike disappointed him by bogging to a
stop with a bad mag.
Denton still didn't hav e time to
breathe as Cole Brothers ac e Tony
Gomez (Suz) moved into the third slot.
Gomez got around Denton easily on
lap 10 when Denton went out with a ,
balky carb. ·
.
Lunde on the Franks managed to
wrestle third away from Scott Meyer
(Suz) who lost fourth on the last lap to
Craig Dale (Suz) .
Denton shot into the lead of moto
two with Gomez , Ward and Brown in
tow. Gomez snuck by on lap two with
Ward doing likewise the next tour and
setting out after Gomez. Brown was
the last man to slip by Denton, doing it
on lap six.
. After that , the lead trio tightened
until Ward made his move through
some jumps on lap seven . Gomez
began experiencing troubles with his
clutch lever which left him without the
use of his clutch, a necessity on a
I25cc.
There was no way he could hold off
Brown after that and he slipped to .
third , but Brown was unable to catch
Ward . Lunde finished back in eighth,
but it was good enough to ensure him
of third overall.
Results
MINI JR: 1. Tony Tetone (Sull; 2 . Too Campbell
•
!Yaml; 3 . Jeff Perlow ISul).
MINIINT: 1. David Crigler ISUlI.
100 JR: 1. Jeff Camarigg (Varni; 2. Robert Gonzalez
CSuz); 3, Ernie Becker ISuz).
500 PRO: .1. David Williams IMail: 2. Randy
RodriguellWSMI; 3. David Gerig (OP).
500 INT: 1. Jim Williams (Yam); 2. Joe Pens (Vam);
3. Brad Thompson IMail.
500 JR : 1. Phil Davy IMai); 2. Kevin Dully IVam); 3.
Mike Guerra (Mail .
250 PRO: 1. Jeff Jennings (Mail: 2. Soon Gillman
IHon); 3. Dalrid Tayt", (Varni.
250 INT: 1. Brad Brown (TNT); 2. Scan Johnson
(Han); 3. David Clement (Yam) .
250 JR : 1. Mont e Ray ISul) ; 2. Greg Foster IVam); 3.
Robert Sp ielman iSull.
125 PRO: 1. Jeff Ward IVam}; 2. To ny Gomez ISull;
3. Tim Lunde IFral.
1251NT: 1. Mike Toycen { rni; 2. Stuart Prior ISul};
Va
3. BillGilleran IVaml.
125 JR : 1. Chuck Gunter (S UlI; 2. Ron Hume IS ull: 3.
Pete R,naldi (Sull.
Liubimsky wins a
thriller at AFM
OntarioRR
By Jim Lester
ONTARIO , CA , OCT. 15
The American Federation of
Motorcyclists pla yed host Sunday
to over 300 racers during their
fourth annual "Backwa rds On tario" road race. Today's challenging
course u tilized an ultra high-speed
straightaway that funnels down into a
narrow gO-degree left -hander . It 's
fortunate that th ere's plenty of run -off
area , because a number of riders
failed to negotiate that tum.
Ron Pierce (1000 Suz ) got a holeshot
in Open GP, but Harry Klinzmann
(TZ750) caught and passed him after
three laps. Harry's bike had seized
briefly at the first turn, and as soon as
he took the lead it seized again ,
putting him oui for the duration. This
left Pierce (I ;55 laps) with a sizable
lead over the second place battle
between Steve Mallonee (102 5 Kaw)
and Mike Parriott (1000 Kaw) .
Mallonee got the decision by two bike
lengths.
Steve Mallonee (1000 Kaw ) grabbed
the lead in Open Superstreet, with Pat
Eagan (845 Suz) nipping at his heels .
On the first two laps Pat tried to pass
Steve coming out of the horseshoe onto
the back straight, only to get into
horrendous speed wobbles. Mallonee
began to pull away and had a six- _
second lead by the sixth Iapc Mike
Parriott (Kaw), meanwhile. had been
gradually closing on Eagan. and he
took over second place for good on the
back straight one lap from the finish .
The 250cc GP race proved to be the
most exciting race of the day for the
third straight week . Glen Shopher led
a tight pack of racers through the
infield on the first lap but went out on
the second lap with a seized crank. It
was then John Glover leading Dave
Garoutte. Rudy Galindo , and Mike
Ba~der down the back straight on lap two . Baeder led the pack through th e
infield on the third lap , but had fallen
a few feet back into sixth place by the
next lap , as Glover led Garoutte ,
Galindo, Doug Draper, and Gennady
Liubimsky . A very small blanket
would have covered the first six bikes!
Galindo moved into the lead on lap
six, ahead of Garoutte and Liubimsky.
Liubimsky took the lead on the
seventh lap , ahead of Galindo. Glover,
and Draper, while Baeder coasted out
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of the race into the pits. Galindo
challenged Liubimsky on the final lap ,
but went off into th e din in the fast
sweeper and dropped back three
positions. Draper, meanwhile, edged
past Glover and Garoutte to finish
second.
,
Box Stock was th e $500 money rac e. '
Dennis Smith (Suz) led from the start ,
but crashes in turns one and nine on
the first lap brought out th e red flag , ~
halting the rac e. Whitney Blakeslee
( Ka w)
led Sm ith
and
Kurt
Knollenberg through th e infield on the
restart . as th ree more riders went off
the track in turn nine (a fast riglit·
hand sweeper facing directly into the t
setting sun). Blakeslee and Sm ith led '
the race on alternating laps , with
Smith ahead when it counted. Pat
Eagan, aboard a Honda Hawk, blewYl
off the 4IOcc Box Stock class for hlS 1
I I rh straight victory. Normally he
handicaps himself up to 15 seconds ilia},
the start of a race , but today with B
money at stake he started with the restfl
of the pack, and built up an eventual
one- minute lead over second place t
John Ulrich (Suz).
Results
50cc GRAND PRX: 1. Jewel Hendricks (Krel; .
Whitney Blakeslee ITom); 3. Franco Garavoglia ISull .
100ce GP; 1. Greg Goodman IKaw); 2. Aaron
GarfinkellVaml; 3. Mike McAvoy IKaw}.
125cc GP: 1. Fred Winters IHon); 2. Fred Merkel
(Honl; 3. Steve ShefteIIHon).
200cc GP: 1. Bill McGrilf (Va m); 2. Terry Nelson I
!Yam};3. Jon Slobom (SUlI.
250cc GP: 1. Gennady Liubimsky !Yam); 2. Doug
Draper (Vam); 3. John Glover !Yam).
3501500cc GP: 1. Doug Hehnke (Vam); 2. Thad WOlffJ!'
(Vam ); 3. Craig Tarwater !Yaml.
OPEN GP: 1. Ro~ Pierce ISUl); 2. Steve Mallonee Ii
IKaw): 3. Mike Parriott IKaw ),
SIDECARS: 1. Breese/Monis (Kawl; 2. lougeelHough V
IKawI: 3. BuddenbeumiBroeder ISUl),
125cc PROD: 1. Richard McClanahan (Vaml: 2. Mel
Rdlins IC·Al: 3. WaYne Kiba !Yern ).
•
. 200cc PROD: 1. John Chermak !Yam); 2. .John
McClellan iC·Al; 3. Terry Nelson !Yaml .
0
250cc PROD: 1. GO