Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

IAbove left) Eddie U1wson leeds the 250cc Ughtwelght Expert field. Pursuing . . Keith Klyotll 1&3) end Bruce M_ 11&81. (Above right) DevIcI Emde.) stopped Jimmy Ademo's (26) domination of the BettIe of the Twins, winning Roed America on e BMW. . Lawson belts lightweights By Gary Van Voorhis ELKHART LAKE, WI, MAY 31 Eddie Lawson, riding his belt' drive KR250 Kawasaki overcame a slow stan in the final and grabbed the lead halfway 12 through the third lap of the 14-lap/ 56-mile race over Road America's undulating 14-turn/four-mile pure road course and went on to post a commanding margin of victory. Jeff Umrysz led off the line with Craig Morris, Lawson, Dave Busby and Keith Kiyota following. Umrysz held onto the lead for another lap and a half with Lawson moving past Morris for second. The next lap saw Lawson move to the front and crank the throttle up, leaving the rest of the field behind. By the end of lap four, Lawson had opened a seven-second lead and would expand upon that throughout the remaining laps. Meanwhile, the battle for all spots behind raged as Morris and Umrysz disputed second while Boonie Knott inched his way closer from founh. Doug Brauneck and Gary Collins had their own fight going, and Bruce Maus, recently returned from the 250cc GP wan in Europe as has Lawson, was on the move. The five lap average speed was 92.19 mph. Another rider on the move was Kevin Braunson who was riding a Britishbuilt Armstrong powered by a watercooled Rotax engine. By the halfway flags, Lawson had opened up a 13-second gap on the Morris/Umrysz duel while Knott continued to move clOler. Brauneck was doing his bit to keep knott looking over his shoulder as Collins, Kiyota and Brunson trailed. Lawson opened the leading margin at will. clutching 21 seconds with five laps to go. The only close battle at this time was the Morris/Umrysz clash, and they were going at it for all they were wonh. Morris' Rampy Chevroletsponsored Yamaha held sway on the Central Sports-sponsored Yamaha of Umrysz, but neither had the power to reel in or make a de.nt in the blistering pace Lawson was setting on his factory Kawaslti. On lap II, Collins slipped ahead of Knott with Brunson closing. Maus lit his fire on lap 12 to move into fIfth behind Kiyota, but Kiyota held a good margin and Maus could only hope for something to happen by the flag. Lawson took the checkered flag easily with Morris holding off Umrysz by about three lengths at the finish. Collins and Maus rounded out the top five with Brauneck and the Armstrong in sixth. Nobuhiro Nakamura edged Kiyota for seventh. "The long houn of work paid off," said Lawson in winner's circle referring to the time put in to make the belt drive system workabale in racing situations. "We have the combinations to run now," said Kawasaki's Steve Johnson. "We're looking forward to Loudon." "Eddie sure knows how to ride that bike," siad Morris. "After he passed me it was all over. I concentrated on keeping Umrysz behind me." "I tried to hang with Morris," said Umrysz. "He had motor on me so I had to run into the cornen harder. I got sideways more than once." Unofficial results EXPERT LlWT (14 . , 56 mi.): 1. Eddy lAwoon (Kaw); 2. Craig Moms (Yom); 3. Jfflf Umrysz (Yom); 4. Gory ColN.. (Yom); 5. Bruce Moue (Yom); 6. Kovin BNnoon (Yom); 7. Nobuhiro Naka'nunI (Yom); 8. Koilh Kiyolo (Yom); 9. William Knott (Yom); 10. DlMI 8uoby (Yom). TIME: 36 min., 36.952 ...... WINNER'S AVG: 91.68 mph. Emde on top in Battle of the Twins By Gary Van Voorhis ELKHART LAKE, WI, MAY 31 Unlike previous editions of the Battle of the Twins where Jimmy Adamo and his Reno Leoni Ducati left everyone fighting for scraps, the Road America edition featured a masterful battle betWeen Adamo and the San Jose BMW-sponsored BMW of David Emde. "I'm going to win and show everybody what this Beemer will do," Emde had said prior to the race. Adamo led the fint two laps with Emde shadowing, then Emde took over, with Adamo coming right back on lap four. John Minono, on a Triumph, had held third early until Ducati-mounted Bobby Goodwin rolled past pulling Ducati rider Roben Lill with him as Minono slipped to fifth .. Using slower traffic to his advantage, Emde went to the front again on lap five with Adamo less than two lengths behind. Emde continued his hold on fint as" the laps rolled on, but could not shake Adamo. "We blew up the good engine," said Adamo, "so we basically horrowed another bike for this event to give us time to put the good engine back together. Goodwin continued in third a long distance back from the leaden with Lill and Minono equally distant in founh and fifth. Emde inched his way ahead of Adamo in the fmal three laJlll and was holding a three-second lead when the checkered flag fell. Of note was the fact that Mioono was using a brand new Triumph engine that "ran 1ike a charm." Hal Coleman picked up $1000 for being the fmt Harley-Davidson ride a~ the finish line. "We had a battle all the way. It was a fun ride," said Emde. "I got off the track once and into the din, but other than that, I didn't ~ any problems." "Watch out at Loudon," warned Adamo. Unofficial results BATTlE OF TIE 1WWS no ..... 40 miJ: 1. 0... Emdo (BMW!; 2. Jim Adorno (Dud; 3. Bobby ~ (Duel; 4. _ UI lDud; 5. Jan - . . . ITriI; 8. Winfried Hopp tKM; 7. Ed _ _ lDud; 8. VIC F_IUvl; 9. Ely ~ IT,,; 10. Joe Brunio ltH)1. TIME: 26 min.,49.189-=a. SPEED: 89. • mph. Novice squeaker to Simmons By Gary Van Voorhis ELKHART LAKE, WI, MAY 31 The Experts of the future were given a lesson on how to advance to the head of the class by Don Greene as he scorched the Road America track to come from 52nd on the grid to the lead on the third lap. Greene, who took third in the Daytona Novice event, was not about to wait for anyone. David Howes led the lint two laJlll on the four-mile coune and diAppear' ed just as 'iuickly as Greene took ofti' the lead WIth Steve SimJDOllll staying within five to tm bike Imstha. Rod Crosby moved up to third spot with pole sitter Mark IngaIJa fishting his way to founh from a badly botched stan. The halfway flags AW Greene lose the lead to Simmom in a draft-andpass situation.' IngaIIs kept up his relentless chipping away of the leadrn' margin and moved into third with Crosby now in founh and Bryan Paquette moving to fifth. Paquette was just as quickly out of it going down unhun in tum six. The battles began to shape up for the finish: Simmons/Greene and Ingalls/Crosby - less than a length separated each pair as they t:ra.ed the finish line on lap eight. On lap nine, the Simmons/Greene duel was as close as ever. Croeby had broken away from Ingalls. The battle for the win would go to the flag. Simmons won the uphill drag race to the flag and flashed the "thumbs up" sign to his pit crew as he stormed to the checkered flag. Greene, Crosby, and Godon Hedemark Ingalls followed. AIl rode Yamahas. "I wasn't Rare where Greene was on the last lap," said Simmons. "I was 100king for him." "Bernie had the faster bike so I had to really go harder in the comers," saidGreme. Unofficial results NOVICE RACE no ..... 40 _ 1 . S_ Simmona lYom; 2. Don Go-. lYernI: 3. Rod Craoby (YomI; 4_ ..... (YomI; 5. GanIon _ l Y o m I ; 8. DIn Hwc lYom: 7. C8rI ~ lYomI; 8. Ran e-tiv lYomI; 9. Ted la.lYorrI;10. GIon a..RodllYomI. TIME: Xl min.. 04-=a. SPEED: 89.I2Ii mph. Lind/Hart streak to sidecar win By Gary Van Voorhis ELKHART LAKE, WI, MAY 31 A smaIl field of enthusiastic sidecar teams staged quite a show for the fans at Road America in their Castrol S Challenge Series eight-lap final. The team of Ian Ytllery and Steve Quinn led the opening lap with the Larry Coleman/Mark BevlUll chair taking the point for lap two. Fred Hopp and William Alston thea took their turn as the five-car waft kept dose formation. Coleman and Bevans broke the string and grabbed the lead again on lap four. On the fifth lap, the Kawasakipowered rig of Hopp/Alston retired with a flat tire, cutting the flight formation to a u,tu-running four rip. The final three laJlll were reserved for racing with the Bruce Lind/Jack Han Yamaha streaking away from the Paul Knoll/Tim Mooney Yamaha and the Yillery/Q.uinn chair. Coleman! BevinI_ out with a _ing problem on the coune. A jubilant Lind/Han toolt the checkered flag easily, but the ra:r!' wasn't ofti' as Yl1lery/ uinn ni Knoll/Mooney at the by our Imgtha. "We really gave it all we could," said Bruce Lind with the smile of Raccesa allover his face. "Those turkeys did it to me again. That makes me mad," said Knoll of his being nipped at the finish by Ytllery. •

• Cover