Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1982 04 28

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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..... ..... l-o 0.. < Young Russ Nyberg (top) edged John Mafaro for the Pro Stock win. Jim Dodich (above) checks his burnout before his Pro/Comp win. IDBA National Champ'ionship' Drag Race Series: Round one Nyberg, Hayes blast Spring Nationals By Tony Lee Photos by Tom Riles G ULFPORT, MS, APR. 3-4 Sixteen-year-old Kawasaki-mounted Russ Nyberg and Larry Hayes, aboard a Honda, topped the Pro Stock and Top Fuel classes, respectively, in the IDBA Spring Nationals at Gulfport International Dragway, the opening round of th e associ a tio n 's five ra ce series. In oth er a ction, Jim Dodi ch 16 p icked up the Pro/ Camp win wh ile Cr aig Burns look the win in th e Fu n ny Bike cla ss. j oe Thronson was the winner in th e newly instituted T op Fuel/Pushrod clas s. A record spec ta tor crowd wa s on hand both Saturday and Sunday depile rain each n ight before the races. There were cro wds in the pits a lso as a strong entry in both pro and sportsman divisions showed up. In the Pro Stock class, one would have 10 ass u me th ai Sid Pogue and "S u pe rbi ke Mike" Keyte, ra n ked one and two in I DBA, would be the favorill'S. Neither mad e it p asI th e seco nd round o f elirnina rio ns. The opening round o f elim in alions cu t th e the 16 rider field to eig h t with lap qual ifier Randy Mason leadin g the winners. "Pizza j ohn" Mafaro , Keyte, Ron Turner (in the on ly Suzuki in an otherwise all Kawasaki field), Don PIesser, Barry Kogut, Pogue, and Nyberg a lso ad va nced. The second round o f elim ina tion s in Pro Stock sa w Mafaro CUi th e green as Mason overreacted an d pulled a red Iig h t, T u rn er th en pUI Keyte o n th e trailer by gelling off th e line Quicker by one-tenth o f a seco nd. Pl esser ca me OUI o n to p o f hi s run aga ins t Kogut wh en Kogut experien ced mech an ical probl em s. Pogue becam e a spec ta to r wh en hi s ca rbs un seat ed on his burnout and dum ped gas a ll over th e staging pad. Nyberg too k a free p a ss a t 9.24 seco nds / 143.41 mph. T ha t made [or an unusual Pro Stock sem i-fi na l with Mafaro an d Pl esser, n eith er o f wh om had mad e a n IDBA National for so me tim e, p lus Ron T urner, a 37-year -old " teen ager," a nd Russ N yberg, a rea l teen. N yberg laid a 9. 16/ 143.54 o n Pl esser's 9.20/ 143.08 whi le Ron T u rner's Suzu ki backfi red a nd blew th e carbs o rr to give Mafaro a free pass at 8.95/ 146.57. Earlier, a rid er veered orr th e track and cras hed th rough the timing lights a t th e Cin ish line. T he re were on ly eno ug h spare bulbs a t th e track to provide C r ET and win lights. o The fina l p itt ed Ny berg , on th e C&W Cyclewor ks/ MR E/ Wisecosponso red Kawasak i. aga ins t Mafaro 's P.j . PerCo rm an ce/Webb Cam/ An gelo 's Pi zza/ Nat al e-backed Kawa saki . Bo th left th e line clean a nd by mid-tr ack it appea red Mafaro had th e edge. Suddenl y the cro wd went cra zy. Ny berg had to p -ende d MaCa ro for th e wi n. It was close as N yberg turned a 9.025 to Mafar o 's 9.035. j oe T hronson, runnin g a H arl eyDavidson double, took th e w in in th e T op Fu ellPushrod class. H e defeat ed Steve Storde ur a nd h is H-D double whe n Sto rde u r broke comi ng orr th e li ne . T hronson clocked a 9.48/ 157.06 pass in winning. T he class was by invita tio n wi th Dave Ca u ldwell a nd Pet e Hill mak in g up the other half of th e foursome. In T op Fu el , Terry Kizer 's new Mo Par sons-p repa red Kaw asak i ca rr ied him to th e number one qualifyin g spot with wh at ap pea red to be an eas y 7.92. bUI it fail ed him m iserabl y wh en it ca me to h is semi pass aga ins t Larry H a yes. Kizer 's bik e broke o n th e starting lin e. giv ing H a yes. on th e H a yesMar chman H onda , a free p ass 10 a n easy 8.45/ 139.75. EImer Treu smo ked C h ris H and out of th e com pe titio n with a n 8.44/172.08 to H and 's up-insmoke 9.07/172.74. In th e Top Fuel fin al , all Larry Ha yes' dr eams ca rne true, He won T op Fu el -- against Elmer T retrl AI th e win light, th e clocks showed H ayes gal th ere first at 8.367 with Trell right behind him at 8.629. Cr ai g Burns, th e top qual ifier in Funn y Bike. ea rned h is way to th e second round of eliminations with a bye due 10 a slim field . Wa yne McMil lian tra ilered Ri ck Anderson while Bo O 'Brochta retired j on Cornel l. Dave Cov ey took a bye run wh en Chuck Custer didn 't sh ow . Kevin T ooma fell victim to j ohn Sands wh ile Bru ce Lilian handed a win to Carl Ca ruso when he crosse d th e center lin e on th eir run . N u m ber two qual ifier Vin ce San tangelo lost in th e fir st round when a cre wma n failed to rem ove th e safety lock from h is Air Sh ifter an d Sa nt a nge lo had to mak e th e run in firs t gear. Burns gal fas ter in th e next elimination ro u nd o n a secon d a nd un ea rned bye layin g do wn a 9.39/170.77 w he n M cMill en d i d n "t s ho w . O 'Broch ta a lso speeded up while Co vey slo wed down. Crowder had a bye, a nd Ca ruso broke on th e lin e g iving Sands a bye run . In the semi -fina ls, O 'Brochta turned in h is qu ick est run of th e weekend -8.39/ 151.77 -- bUI it wasn 't eno ug h to defeat Cra ig Burns' low ET of th e meet, a 7.89/173.07. Sa n ds stra p ped a win over Crowder 9.14/ 138.67 to 9.26/ 152.28 a t th e fin ish lin e C th e secon d or time. T he Funn y Bik e fin al p ilied the Burns/Barry Hahn Kawasaki oCCra ig Burns agai ns t th e Mo tor cycle Sa les & Service/Sea rs Die H ard H onda o f Sa nds. Burns' Mr. T ur bo charged rig left Sa nds' n ormall y as p ira ted ma ch ine on to p end, 8.23 10 8.85. T he P ro Cam p field s are ge lli ng quicker and faster , There was a 15 bik e ladder led by to p qual ifier j im Dod ich a n d hi s Su m p ter C ycl e/ Wiseco/ SBM/Kawasaki . Dodich took a bye on hi s first ru n , but didn 't back o rr a nd turned in a 8.78/ 150.2510 bet ter hi s qualifyin g lim e. First ro un d win s went to Danny Zimmerman , Marty Blade s, j oe Wa ldri p, j effery Reel. H a rold Windha m , H arnp Osborn a nd Vick i Farr. The action h eal ed u p in th e second ro un d wi th Dodi ch eas ing past Zimmerman . Blades top ped Wal dr i p whil e Reel go t a bye wh en Wi nd ham brok e. O sbo rn brok e o n h is ru n aga inst Fa rr gi ving her an easy ticket to th e sem i. In th e sem i-fina ls, jim Dod ich ou tra n Ma rty Blad es by fifteen hund redths at 8.70/ 150.50, a nd J eff Reel p u lled a h ol esh ot on Vicki Farr to get th e win light with a n 8.86/ 145.63 to Farr 's qui cker 8.81/ 146.34. On th e fin al run Dodi ch o u tra n Reel by four-hundredths 10 ge t th e win a t 8.94 against j e££' s 8.98. Th is year IDBA is running Spo rtsmen El im in ator under a new p ro ced ure th a t does not lim it th e elim inat or co m petitio n to just cla ss win ne rs. U n der th e new rules eac h eli m in ator class is run with a Qual ified field wh ich is determi ned by a ride r " ru n n ing fart hes t under or closest to th e record C th e cla ss goi ng in to th e or meet. " A few min or problems were enco untered wh en it was found th ere wa s no provisio n for ope n records in some classes. In add itio n. o fficia ls weren 't prepar ed for th e amazing number of sports me n entries. Steve Rouero. o n a n M&M Kaw asa ki, turn ed in a 10.85 o ff a 10.50 record to tak e th e Super Elim inator win . Roger Landers, on a Landers' Bikes Suzu ki, red li ghted on th e sta rt. Th e Competition Eliminator wi n went to Ga ry H yer, who pushed h is GOE-sponsored Kawasaki 10 .05 off th e cla ss reco rd w ith a 10.90. Arthur G aud et , jr. was Suzuki-mounted in hi s losin g rid e. Combo Eliminat or is a cla ss for sma ll di spl acement machines. Eddie G oad, o n a 500cc H onda. was th e winner. He bested Van Rayburn , on a 190cc Suzuki, OUI of Peavy Cycles/ Suzuki. •

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