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/126511
nil IClockwlM from top '-ftI RIch ScHKt,llii rode to • eoId tI*d. fftddI8 Sp8l1C81' rW1 . . . , from th8 . . . . . . . . Ilk motor ...... Th8d Wolff . . . . . th8 cIrt out of Ilk RCBIO. etw18d8i, S8non tMII ..... 1bdh .,... K'" • •ffunI. and ran off into the sandy lOiI before going down and injuring two vertebrae in his back. Kicid spectated at the 200, saying he would be out three weeks with the injury. Dale Singleton. the second fastest ~ualifier, a1IO had lOme interesting tunes out on the track. "The rear tire began to go 10ft on my seco~~..' said Singleton. "( ran four alt er and then came in to change it. We fmished with enough time for me to cut two more laps, but the officials wouldn't let me out again." Last year only one four-stroke qualified on the front row - Wes Cooley's Yoshimura Suzuki. This year there were three: Freddie Spencer's factory Honda and the Yoahimura Suzultis of Cooley and teammate Graeme Cra.by. "The wind was 10 bad," said Spencer. "we had to take off the lower part of the fairing. With it on, ( was being blown up into the wall on the banki ." "W:tad lOme problems early in the week becaUle they (Yoshimura) chanJled to new frames and they didn't handle as well as our frames from last year," said Cooley. "We made the change to the old ones and were back in businesa. " Q.ualifying for the nearly 140 entries was done through timed practice Iessions rather than by the flying lap. Each rider was given Iix laps - one to warm up - and timed on his next five with the fastest lap recorded as his qualifying run. The l!O fastest were gridded in the front four rows. Riders in the Friday session could bump anyone from 21st position on down. The 200 Coo1ey and Spencer fired their retrorockets and left the rest of the field in the dust when the green flag dropped on the start of the 200. The pair quick- CAbo". 18ft) 0 .... Chhtn"lgtDn took fifth. CAbo". right) Sup8rblk. I'IICe winner W.. Cooley euff8recI c:.rb probIemL lhlowl l8ft to right 0 . . ChMngton. 0... SIngleton. K8nnY Roberta. M8rC Font8n 8nd W8YM 08rdn8r 110 for It on 18pon., 8 1y stretched out a lead in the infield with Spencer ahead as the field hit the banking and where they fired another rocket-like blast to literally leap away from their punuren. Schlachter was the last rider away in the fint wave. "( burned up the clutch last year and didn't want to this time 10 ( just eased it out. ( did it so good l killed the engine. Tbat made me mad." Spencer and Cooley led at the end of the fant lap with Roberts. David Aldana. Cra.by. Boet Van Dulman, Schlaeter and Singleton trailing. There was a bit of position shuffling as Roberts tried to make a move and found he had more throtde than he cared for in lOme situations. He held in as Singleton moved to founh with Fontan right on his rear tire and Aldana leading Schlachter. Cooley retained second on the third lap behind Spencer, but was slipping off the pace set by "Fast Freddie." "( began to have a lot of litde problems, " said Cooley. "The arb slides were sticking and I had to keep playing with the throtde to get them to work right. Then I had lOme minor engine probletns that eventually led to the engine quitting altogether on about lap 25. I hung in as long as ( could." The attrition factor was beginning to take hold. Of the 80 starten - two never made it off the grid - only 40 finished. By lap five, Schlachter had sliced his way to second while Spencer breezed around like an instant replay of his blistering track attack of last year only this time it was a Formula One Honda four-stroke he was aboard and not a two-stroke 750. Fontan and Singleton was giving Cooley fits in a duel for third while