Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

mula Two event. Merkel averaged 98.888 mph for 10 laps, or 33 miles, aro und the Riverside Racewa y lon g course on his Yamaha TZ2 50. (O f th e 25 riders, only one was not on a Yamaha, Armstrong-mounted Kevin Gardner). Approximately 10seconds in arrears of Merkel was K&N Motorcycles of Tulsa/Lectron/Dunlop/Champion/ Kal-Gard rider Sam McDonald, who has now made it into the winner's · circle in each of the four F-2 races held so far , strengthening his point lead a bit more. David Emde powered past Talladega winner Hugh Humble on the final lap for third place. Long Beach winner Dave Busby .looked like th e man to bea t. He won his heat race Sa turday and turned a 1:59.5 for a new 250cc lap record. During Sunday morning practice, th ou gh , his left pipe mount broke, a nd he and Danny Coe worked frantically 10 get it fixed a nd onto the grid before the one-m inute boa rd cam e o ut. . When the green flag dropped, Busby sho t into the lead . Don Greene, Humble and Alan LaBrosse dicing fo r position behind him. Green e attemp ted 10 outbrake Bu sby into turn seven on th e opening circuit, but it was no go for last year's n umber on e No vice. Greene eased past Busb y later that lap for the lead, but went too hot into seven th e next tim e around a nd en ded up parked on his side in the dirt. unhurt but fru stra ted. La Brosse took up posi tion a bo u t fou r bikelen gths beh ind leader Busby whi le Hu mbl e tried to prevent Mc Donald - ni nth o n the opening lap ...J from ca tch ing his draft. Merkel was up 10 fift h by this tim e, followed by Emde, J oh n Wi lliams and Rh ys Howard, winner of the o ther Sa turday h eat . Merkel adva nced two slo ts int o third on lap three, took a sh o rt breather. th en locked up the lead on lap five. From th ere, no one could catc h him. ' McDonald found h im self getting a little 100 hot into turns. "I go t a little sidew a y in a co u p le co rners and decided just 10 rid e my own race a nd cool it. It seemed to work out pretty good: luck was with me toda y," he said la ter. His consistently paced riding carried him pa st Humble, a nd wh en LaB rosse dropped out on lap six a nd Busb y DNF on lap seven with a broken crank, McDonald was . a clear runner-up. . Emde - forced to grid in back after a tardy wa rm -up lap - got the d riv e out of seven on his Bell/Bob Endicott racer to sew up thi rd pl ace on lap nine, leading Humble across th e finish line. Fred Winters work ed hi s way steadily up through the pac k, despite going a bi t wid e a nd into the din a time or two, and held off Will iams for fifth. . Christine Baur al so worked her wa y up from a bad stan - " I wasa bit int imi da ted th at first lap; guys were wea ving all over (joc keying for position)." - 10 cla im sevent h. Raben Runyon II , Rick Orlando and T on y Smi th Racing's G il Ma rt in rounded out the top 10. Results FORMULA TWO: 1. Fred Merkel (Yem); 2. Sem McDoneld (Yam); 3. David Emde (yam) ; 4 . Hugh Humble (yam); 5 . Fred W inters (Yam~; 6. John Wi l ~ Iiams (Yam) ; 7. Christine Baur (Yam); 8. Robert Runyon II. (Yam); 9. Rick Orlando (Yam): 10. Gil Martin (Yam): 11. Chr is Steward (Yam); 12. Benn y Del Mon ico (Yam); 13. Robert DeWin (Yam); 14 , Raymond Carson (Yam); 15. Kevin Gardner (Arm ); 16 . Gordon , Hedema rk (Yam ); 17. Dave Busby (Yam); 1B. Alan LaBrosse (Yam); 19, Rhys How ard (Yam); 20 , George M iller (Yam): 21. Joseph Ma cy (Yam): 22 . Brya n Chono (Yam); 23. Don Greene (Yam); 24. David Dwyh alo (Yam): 25 . Keith Kiyota (Yam). 200 Km lox Stock Statum/Krolick repeattheirwin By Lori Tyson Photos by Mark Kariya RIVERSIDE, CA, APR. 17 Terry Statum and Mike Krolick, th e winners of last year's Budweiser Two-hour race, put on an encore performance in . th is year's 200 kilometer Box Stock ra ce, leading the ent ire on e hour, 21 minutes a t a n average speed of 92.36 m il-« per hour on th eir Suzuki GS 1100. . But in the qual ifying heat race, the winning team placed on ly fourth overall. with the Bruce Hammer/John Ulrich team ta king the checkers first on their Suzuki GSIlOOEZ. Whitney Blakeslee/Lee Fleming held second on th e Ch ampion Moriwaki Kawasaki KZIOOO until the last lap of th e Iive-lapper wh en their bike popped o u t of gear, leavin g the second pl ace spot on th e g rid 10 Tom Ball entyne/ Wendell Phillips on a Suzuki . The H ammer/ Ulrich team held , second much of th e 200K, but eventua lly they were beate n by one half bikel en g th by Bla kesl ee/Fl em in g. U lrich exp la ined lat er that he had run out of gas a t the 40·minu te mark a nd had 10 coa x the bike fo r a full lap back to a n unp repa red partn er. With H ammer dash in g madl y about to ready himself and go, U lrich esti mated they lost fro m 45 seconds to a fu ll min ute with the mishap. Seco nd place was a lso foug ht fOT by the Ball entyne/Ph ill ips team, as they went at it wi th H am mer/ Ul rich a nd Blak eslee/ Flem ing most of th e race bu t en ded up taking fourth overall. In th e75Occcl ass. th ere wasa threewa y duel for first betw een Craig Roloff/Earl Roloff, Tom Sh arp/Marty Sh a rpe and Denn is Fryer/Brian Stulbaurn. The Roloff team came awa y the victors on th eir Kawa saki GPz. Stulbaum/Fryer had led the ' first six laps on their Honda until an off-roa d exc ursio n lo st th em some time, a nd the y had to settle for third. The second pl acing Sh arp/Sharpe team al so diced wi th Ch ris Steward/ David Emde - Open classers on a Yamaha XV920 - for the first hour until Steward pitted. He sailed into th e pits way too fast a nd hit the wall , leaving bi ke parts everywhere. Steward was unhurt bu t dejected over being out of th e race . Wit h 2:11 lap ti mes, Steve Sow, denl Joe Bruscella took th e win in the 600cc cla ss on th eir San Diego Kawasaki GPz550 over Mark Redmon d! Scott H armal a o n another Kaw. The Francis Mazu r/Marc Salvisberg and Dave Busby/Dann y Coe teams battled it o ut until m isfortune stru ck them both out of the race. Busby/Coe were having lack of ground clearance problem s a ll day on th eir Yamaha Vision . event ua lly grindi ng through their cases. Mazu r/Salvi sberg crashed o ut near the end to finish fou rth. • Results 1200: 1. Mike Kro lic klTerry Statum (SUl ); 2 . Wh itney Blakeslee/lee Flem ing IK8W); 3. Bruce Hamm er /John Ulrich lSul); 4. Tom Ballentyne/ Wendell Phill ips (SUl ); 5. Art Chambers/Jed Hargen (Lav); 6. Chris Steward/David Emde (Yam). 750: 1. Craig Roloff /Earl Roloff (Kaw ): 2. Tom Sharp/Marty Sharpe (Kaw); 3. Br ian Stulbaum l Denn is Fryer (Han ); 4 . Jack Matlock/Steven Mallonee (Hon). 600: 1. J oe Bruscella /Steve Sowd en IKaw k 2 Scon Harmala/Mark Redmond (Kaw ); 3. Stewa rd Thomas/Roger Hagie (Kaw); 4 . Franc is Mazur/Marc Salvisberg (Kaw); 5. Wo ody Struys/Pete Struys (Kaw); 6 . M ic hael Johnson /Harold Parks (Yam); 7. Hen ry Tecla/ Joh n Ste vens (Kaw); B. Terry Mav es/ Torrey Bridgma n (Kaw ): 9. Flint / Carson; 10. Lee Sla ughter /Joh n Lassak (Kaw ); 11. Dave Busby/ Dann y Coe (Yam). (When you're building the stuffof legend, you have to destroyafew myths.) When Alex Jorgensen and Ron Wood decided to tackle the 1982 'IT series using a Can-Am Sonic*-based SOOcc engine, they were universally admired for their courage. But most people wondered about their sanity. Everybody knows it takes more than riding talent and technical knowhow to field a winner; It takes money. Big money. The kind of money that Yamaha and Honda and Harley are investing. We take great pleasure in exploding that myth. Ultimately what support money should buy is speed with reliability. At Can-Am, we've always believed that it's our job to build those things into our products before they leave the factory. Thatphilosophyhashelped]ohnMartin win the 175 class on a Qualifier* N and Bob Pierce the Open 4-stroke cl ass on a Sonic 500 in the ISDE Qualifiers at Tellico Plains,1N and Maplesville.AL and Zack Elkins the 175 class on a QualifierN at the Post, 'IX ISDE Qualifier: And it's one of the reasons why. Alex Jorgensen and Ron Wood are running up front in the Winston Pro Series. The kind of budgets these Can-Am teams are working with bear a lot more resemblance to privateer money than factory money. And we think that's important It confirms what we've been saying all along:. .we build our bikes to win you, not to glorify us. ~ ~! _ I , ~?' C)'C l~ ... ,,~ ~ WEWILLWINYOU. 9

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