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/126468
/ Ron Pierce leans the overall-winning works Honda through an Ontario right hander. Honda Ontario Six-Hour Classic Pierce, Spencer, Honda victory under protest By Charles Morey Photos by Karl Okamoto and Morey ONTARIO , CA, APR. 26 ·27 Red-flagged to a halt , the AFM /Honda Ontario Six-Hour Classic endurance race ended with a terrifying crash as two 600cc class riders, David McClanahan and Bill Silver , tangled on the fast front straightaway of Ontario Motor Speed way, Me Cla nahan, bruised , battered and dazed , was checked on the spot , 12 a nd he walk ed away in relatively good co nd ition . Silver, however , was taken to the nearest Tra uma Center by helicopter. No word.was available on Silver's cond ition before the track closed th at nig ht.- . •• Ron Pier ce and Fr eddie Spencer rider favorites with their 'on ly unknown fa ctor being th e new works Honda held the lead at the time of the accident and were p ronounced winners whe n the race was sto pped 15 minutes sho rt of th e fu ll six -hour length . T he pa ir esta blished, nonetheless, a new record for th e event of 158 laps. That 's one la p more than th e previous dist ance. trav elled for a full six-hour race. T eam Honda rid ers were promised whatever power was needed to win , and it appears now tha t the factory has delivered exac tly that. No one outpulled the high-rpm four -cylinders a t O nta ri o, and no ot he r machine produced tha t velvet shriek of a ro ad racing Honda at fu ll throttle on Ontario's back ch ute. The Honda d id n't qualify fastest. In fact . th e Wes Cool ey/ R ich Schlachter Yoshimura Suzuki a nd the Eddie Lawson /Dave Aldana works Kawasak i bot h edged th e Pier ce/Spencer H onda in q ua lifying times. Law son was fir st to break t he tr a ck record of 2:06 du r o ing Saturday's q ua lifying tria ls wit h a resoundin g 2:03 la p time. But Cooley ca me ba ck with an unbelievable 2 :01 to clin ch th e pol e posi tion on the start jng griq. Next came the Pierce/ Spence r mach in e at 2:05 , and they were followed by the Chuck Parme/Whitney Blak eslee Kawasaki (2 :07) and the Dennis Sm ith/ Reg Pridm ore Suzuki (2:08). Completing the top 10 qualifiers were the Harry Klinzmann/Dave Erode Racecrafte rs Kawasaki (2:09). the Steve McLaughlin/Rob erto Piet ri Honda (2: 10), th e Lee Flemin g/M ike Spencer 750cc Kawasak i (2 : 12), the Jeff Little/ Gordon Seim Kawasaki (2 :13 ) and the Wendell Ph illips/Kerry Brya nt Kaw a sak i (2 : 13). Several protests are pending. Per ha ps the most cri tica l is the on.e registered by Team Kawasaki 's seco nd pla ce entry , Eddie La wson and Da ve Ald ana . The p rot ests involve sco ring of th e complex six- ho u r event a lmost as much a test of end u ra nce for th e sco rekee pers as it is for the riders and m ach inery. Both the Open class