Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.DBA Super Nat'l. Vance, Bruso & Wills roll at Super Na60nal Drags By Tom Dalton LOUISVILLE, KY,jUNE8 The Srd Annual IDBA Super National Drags at Ohio Valley Raceway offered ideal weather and racing conditions for those Wes Cooley's Yoshimura Suzuki did it to the two-strokes at Mosport. Victoria Day Sprints Cooley hot in Canada By F. David Stone Photos by Bill Petro and Stone MOSPORT , CANADA , MAY 19 Wes Cooley traveled north to Mosport for the traditional Molson Victoria Day Sprints and won the Formula I feature in convincing style riding his Yoshimura Suzuki and giving Canadians a look at just how competitive a four-stroke racer can be against the best F750 twostroke Yamahas. 14 Shortened from 30 to 15 la ps d ue to d isast rou s wea ther which delayed the start of the Sunday p rogram until afte r 3 p .m ., th e Formula I event included Canada's top roa d racer , Steve Ger vais whose Ca strol Yamaha TZ750 had a lmo st won last yea r's F750 GP over Patrick Pons plus U.S. Road Ra cing Champion Richard Schlachter on his Microl on T Z750. Cooley gra b bed th e lead from th e start and even popped a wheel ie at th e end of th e first lap as he passed th e pits. Gervais increased t he pressur e an d took over on la p ,two. Schlacht er closed in on Coole y a nd it appea red tha t the two 750 Yamahas would bea t th e Su zuki fou r -st roke with no trouble. Schlachter took- second pla ce, bu t thi s did not suit Cooley and he not only recove red second place, but he kept the pressure on Gervais as well . On th e t ricky handling bits from the pits down to t he Moss Corner hairpin. Cooley was all over the Yamahas but up th e ba ck str a igh t th e cha insa ws had the legs on the four -stroke. T he n as th ey almost new ove r t he hump at th e top of th e back stra ight and entered th e esses befo re th e pits, th e Suzuk i had t he speed which made th e three leaders close to dead even, th e on ly differences being rider skill and ab ilit y to cope with traffic . In fact, Gervais' rear tire had been overh eating and as it got slippery an d lost tra ction, leading th e ra ce at th e pa ce dictated by his pursuers becam e more and more difficult. At th e end of the 13th lap. Gervais got it all wrong . In the last turn befor e the pit s. a bumpy one at tha t . th e rear wheel broke loose and he tumbled to the pavem ent as Cooley ret ook th e lead . In th e final two laps . Schl achter was unable to get past th e Suzuk i and he ca me hom e seco nd followed by Bru ce Patterson 's TZ7 50 . T o sho w how close it ha d been , the fast est laps for th e three leaders had been Cooley I m in .. 31.03 sec. ; Gervais I m in .. 3 1.2:L sec . a nd Sch lachter I m in . , 31.26 sec. Almost totally ignored because of th e inte rest in th e Suzuki /Yamaha battl e was th e outsta nd ing performance of Lang Hindle . fou rt h overa ll and first Superbike with his Hindle-Kawasaki . His best time on his hom e track was I m in. 35 .56 sec, faste r than third placed Patt erson 's I min .. 32.78 sec. and beaten only by Cooley. Gervais and Schl achter. Followin g Hindle wer e Yamaha rid er Frank McTaggart a nd th e Kawasak i's of Rubin McMurter a nd Frank Mraz ek . In th e Open Superbike event ca lled t he Casrrol Cup. three loca l hotshoes all rid ing Kawasak is. put on a good show. As expec ted , Lang Hindle too k a n ea rly lead on a dam p tr a ck, still wet from early morning rai n , with WERA North Am eri can Challenge defending cha mpion Bob Pr ice a nd Frank Mra zek right on his tail. Hindle. who Iikes to lead . set a pa ce fact enough to stay a head on th e d rying track until'h e. lost his visor with on ly two ta p~ to run , Pri ce too k over th e lead ,!, ith .old pro Mrazek right on his ta il light. On th e final lap at the Moss corner haI rPin : Mrazek's pr essure forced Pr ice to slip . a nd fall and they finished Mrazek , Hindle and th e ' Ducatis of David Fleming and Richard Schlachter. Schlachter had started from the front row with inte rmedi a te tir es but he was no match for th e slick shod Kawasakis and Flem ing . In fa ct. Mrazek had a slick rear and a full wet fro nt . Mr azek won th e Open Product-ion ra ce on his Honda CBX while another mulri -ra ce winn er, was . ~ra i~ Morris who took Formula III on hIS 250ce Yam ah a a nd Formul a IV a nd V known as th e Hon da 125cc Ch all enge . on his 125cc Yamaha . TIll' meet ing was sanctioned by W ERA a nd saw an unpn'cede nt ed ent ry of over 200 rid ers ma king over 500 act ua l race entries. • challenging the one-eighth mile facility. Records in most of the Pro classes toppled even though the wind stirred briskly on Saturday. Only one mishap marred the wekend as Top Fuel competitor Larry McBride had his Harley-Davidson blow a head gasket on the starting line and douse him with nitromethane, Fortunately, quick reactions by track officials prevented serious bums. Pro Stock Eliminator was, as usual, one of the most exciting divisions. Sid Pogue was top qualifier at this meet and also set a new world record in the one-eighth mile . Pogue peeled off a 5.66 ET and then a 5.64 ET on his second pass to back it up . Pogue later had air- shifter problems in the first round of eliminations Sunday. "My air-shifter stuck in second gear and by the time I shifted manually it was to late," said Pogue. Both "Superbike Mike " Keyte and Terry Vance had similar mechanical problems. Keyte had been running right on the old one-eighth mile record (5. 70) all weekend but encountered a big problem in his Pro Stock semi . Keyte , who is sponsored by CM Performance and MTC , squared off against Vance's Vance-Hines Racing/US Suzuki GSIIOO. Vance caught Keyte on the line with a holeshot. but got crossed up 200 feet down the lane. Keyte's shifter hung in second gear and he went the distance without making third gear. Vance gained control of his machine and defeated Keyte. Mike had the better time , 5.77 ET/1I5 .68 mph to Terry's 5.80 /122.11 . Vance's lightening fast reaction time held off "Superbike Mike 's" challenge. The other Pro Stock Semi saw Ralph Pitlock, sponsored by The Paint Works against Bob Carpenter's RC Engineering Suzuki. Carpenter. with the slower ET, pulled a holeshot on Pitlock, edging him out of a berth to the final , Carpenter's ET 5 .75 at 122.00 mph to Pitlock's 5.71 ET at 120.00 mph . This produced a record in itself as two Suzukis entered the final for the first time in IDBA racing history. Ya nce proved the victor in a close run . , Ca ~nter's 5.82/121.45 fell short of Vance's 5.69 /123 .28 to close out Pro Stock action . The old cliche never a .dull moment could be used to describe ( Top Fuel action . Roy " Frog" Thacker said to Tony Lee , IDBA Director, "W ell hoss, I finally set a record ; didn't hold but three hours but I set a record. " Racers know records are only made to-be broken. Thacker's new record of was broken by 151.51. mph independent Danny johnson just three short hours later at 15~1.06 mph. In the first round of Top Fuel eliminations Bo O'Brochta tied the ET record set v last year at Ohio Valley Raceway with a 4.96 ET at 150+ mph . The first Top Fuel semi brought Thacker to the line against Sam Wills. Thacker, th e number one qualifier and sponsored by Lynchburg Kawasaki , turned a 5.30 1111.94 having apparent mechanical problems in a losing effort to Wills. Wills gained a ride int o the final with a 5.131145.63. The surprises weren't finished yet. sponsored by Chris . Hand , Hand/Hickman, defeated number two qualifier O 'Brochta in a fast run. It seemed things were really going Hand's way as he had already set down popular favorite Kenny Blackburn on the Wiseco/Klotz/Sikora Brothers Kawasaki who lost fire on the starting line in the first round of Top Fuel eliminations. This was the first time a Honda Top Fueler has ever made it to an IDBA final. Wills , on a Kawasaki sponsored by Motorcycles Unlimited proved the importance of a quicker reaction tim ein the one-eighth mile as he sidelined the Honda with a 5.1!l/145 .63 run. Hand's time was 5.08 1146 .81. The very competitive Super Eliminator division was as exciting as ever . Fans believed the final would be Mike Bruso versus Terry Kizer , but Mike Murdock had plans of his own . Murdock, sponsored by Murdock Racing Ent.lMRE Airshifters ambushed Kizer with a holeshot in their semi and won with a slower time , 5.36/131.38 , to Kizer's losing effort of 5.30/13!l .72 . Mike Bruso, sponsored by Power Enterprises on a Kawasaki 1000, pocketed the other semi final defeating Sam Osk in . The Super Eliminator final saw Bruso dispatch Murdock for the division win . Terry Kizer led off the Pro Comp Eliminator (turbo powered) semis with a win against Isaac Malone. john Baugh took his Orient Express sponsored Kawasaki to the win in the other semi with a record breaking run at 5 .28 /141, shutting out Bob Lacey . Lacey had red-lighted . but Baugh wasn't taking any chances. Kizer gaye Baugh a win in the final when he got a bit anxious and saw the red light come on in his lane to put his MTC sponsored Kawasaki on the trailer. In the normally asp irated div ision of Pro Comp, jeff Masters took his Klotz /Wiseco /Krol Racing Kawasaki to the final win over Bruce Tweedell with a time of 5.73/121.95 to TweedeU's losing 5.82/122 .78 . The Pro Eliminator battle staged between Baugh and Masters , with Baugh getting a .41 second handicap which did little to compensate for the fact that turbo charged mounts need to be in the higher rpm range before they come on strong. Baugh laid down a 5.!l5/141.28 to dust off Masters' losing 5.70/122.11 . The Sportsman Eliminator and ET brackets kept everyone busy with a record entry. Stock Eliminator fell to jim Dodich who pushed his Kawasaki to a winning 7.33/86 .04 ride over the Suzuki of Roger Landers which turned in a 6.47 /106 . Modified Eliminator action saw Wi! Kenning take his Trick Shift/Dick's Porting Honda to the division win over the Marty's Custom Cycle Sponsored Kawasaki of Martin Blades. Darlington International Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, is the site of the July 19·20 Sunshine Nationals. The event replaces the canceled date at Lakeland , Tennessee. •

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