Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

lap 10. It appeared that Homchick was sizing up Morris and just staying close behind. Homchick probed Morris at every chance around the track, seeking a weak spot. Homchick then took the lead in a fast section on th e back of the co urse. Morris then returned th e favor and led H omchick across the line. Another good battle wa s go ing on as McDonald and Nakamura traded fifth position while slici ng through traffi c. Morris held a 30 bikelen gth advantage over H om chick as he took th e whi te flag. Merk el a nd Paulk were a d istance a part and a good di stance a hea d of Nak amura who had drawn away from McDonald with Humble behind. • Results From left. Fred Merkel. Craig Morris and Mark Homchick after F-2. a nd Kickl igh ter wo n his battle with Vanderli nden for ninth. "I d idn 't think I co uld pull it off ," said a n elated Lawson. " We cha nged the engi ne after I cras hed and it was stronger than the one I was originally usi ng. H owever, I had to ride a lot more cautious because on the wet track you co uld spin the tires really easy." " We had the most practice laps in the rain," said Rainey, " so I was confident about doi ng well . I just rode my race . My helmet was moving around a bit, causing a 10lOfair to get in and that burned my eyes. Luckily, it stopped do in g that in the final laps." " It su re feels good to fina lly ge t everyth ing going right," said Cooley. " I feel we 've gotten just about everything together on the Katana and we should be getting stronger every race ." • Results SUPERBIKE: 1. Eddie llIwson (Kaw); 2. Wes Cooley (SOl); 3. Weyn e Rainey (Kaw); 4. Roberto Pietri (Han); 5. Mike Baldwin (Han); B. Harry Klinz· mann (Kaw ); 7. Ste"" Wi ... (Han); B. Thed Wolff (Suz); 9. Emie Klcldigh ter (Kaw); 10. Harry Vander · linden (SOl); 11. Rich Chambers (K_); 12. Ed Mullineaux (Kaw); 13 . Ruoty Sharp (Kaw ); 14. Rhys Howard (Kawl ; 15 . Marvin West (Kaw); lB. Mal · col_ Tunalali (Due); 17. Lynn M iller (SOlt 1B. David Hoyte (Kawl; 19. Alexander Bub (SOlt 20. Joe Pat· ton (Hon~ TIME: 32 min.• 45.279 """AVERAGE SPEED; 85 .322 mph. SUPERBIKE CHAMPION SHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Eddie l.lIwIon (B9); 2. Wayna Rainey (49t 3. S _ W . . (401; 4. W.. Cooley l38t 5. (TIE) Roberto Pietrill'had Wolff (34); 7. Mike Baldwin (32t B. Harry Klinzmann (2Bt 9. Rich Chambers 121t 10. Freddie Spencer (20). Formula Two Championship Series: Round tour Morris heads Homchick ELKHART LAKE, WI, MAY 23 "Sometimes you make your own breaks," said Craig Morris after his win in the Formula Two event. Morris, aboard his 10 Rampy Chevrolet/Suzuki of Taylor, Michigan, sponsored !l50cc air-cooled Yamaha, held off a late charge by Mark H ornch ick, on a water-cooled Yamaha 1£250 that is owned and tuned by Phil Schilling, the editor of Cycle magazine. Fred Merkel , on another water-cooled Yamaha, sponsored by Wright Motors of Lodi, California, withhelp from Jeff Brattan and Terry Earlandson, was third. Self sponsored Russell Pa ulk took fourth over a strong battle for fifth wh ich Nobuhi ro Na kam ura, on h is Toshiba sponsored Yama ha, wo n over Sam McDonald a nd his K&N Yamaha. "Traffic came in handy," said Mo rris . " I used it to my advantage mor e tha n once." " I got by Craig a couple of ti mes," said Homch ick, " but his bike had steam on me . I could brake better in a number of turns , but he had acceleration. I also blew the start - badly." " We were jetted just a bit too rich ," said Merkel, the Rive rside Formula T wo wi nner. " If we hadn't been I mi ght ha ve been able to ma ke the battle ahea d of me more interesting." A fin e mist hung in thea iras th e 50 rider Formula Two grid took the green flag. Pole sitter H omch ick appeared to bog for an insta nt and Bruce Maus was away a nd into tum one ahead of the field. Morris, from row Iour.,led across the line a t the end of lap one, followed clo sely by Nak amura, McDonald, John Williams and Alan Ward. Maus had dropped back to seventh. Morris, who crashed in his heat which was run in the rain on Saturday, showed his affinity for a dry track as he pulled out a gap starting on the second lap. Williams, Nakamura, McDonald and now Homchick made up the top five. Jimmy Filice, who didn't like riding in the rain and finished down in his heat, was rapidly moving up from his 25th spot start on the fifth row of the grid. Homchick, recovering from a slow first lap, came up to challenge and then pass Nakamura for second on lap three. Morris was six seconds ahead in first . Williams had also moved past Nakamura for fourth , leading McDonald and Rhys Howard with Hugh Humble close behind. By the end of lap five of the I4 lap, 56 mile event, Morris was averaging 90.608 mph and was still holding a six second lead over Homchick. Merkel was an equal distance back in third with Nakamura and McDonald close behind. Alan LaBrosse ran off onto the access road in tum five, allowing Paulk into sixth. Slowly, Homchick began to whittle away at Morris' lead, cutting two second on the seventh lap and another two on lap eight. By the end of lap nine, Homchick was within 20 bikeleng ths of Morris. Merkel was a distance back as Paulk moved into fourth - coming from 42nd on the grid. Nakamura was holding his own over McDonald with Humble close behind. Filice had now moved up to eighth. Morris led Homchick as the pair crossed the start/finish line to end FORMULA TWO: 1. Craig Morris (Yam); 2. Marlt Homchi cl< (Yam); 3. Fred Merkel (Vam); 4 . Russ Paulk (Yam); 5. Nobuh iro Nakamura (Yam); 6. Sam McDonald (Yam); 7. Hugh Humble (Vam); 8 . Tom Renn ick (Yam ); 9. J im Filice (Yam ); 10. Alen LaBro.se (Yam); 11. Carl Muffley (Yaml; 12. Gary Griffith (Vam); 13 . Bryan paquene (Vam); 14 . #53 ; 15. Dan Guglielmo (Yam); 18. Dayid Reed (Yam); 17. James Woolsey (Yam); 18. Cliyo Ng·A-Koin (Yam); 19. Denni. Hayslet (yam); 20. Wayne Canalo. TIME: 37 min .. 37 .043 sec. AVERAGE SPEED: 89 .320 mph. FORMULA TWO CHAMPIONSHIP POINTSTAND· INGS: 1. Sam McDonald (54); 2. Hugh Humble (44); 3. Craig Morria (36); 4. Fred Merkol (33); 5. Alan LaBros... (28); 6. Rich Schlachtor(201; 7. (TIE) Marlt HomchickiRuss Paulk (16); 9. John Will iams (15); 10. Dayid Emde (13). Battle of the Twins Tunstall r uns away ELKHA RT LAKE, WI, MAY 23 Malcol meTunstall, on the Syd's Cycles of St. Petersburg. Florida , spons ored Du ca ti , breezed to th e overall win a n d th e GP class win in the Ba ttle of th e Twins event. Kevin Bracken a nd J oey Mill s, both Ducat i mounted, mounted a last la p battle for seco nd overa ll a nd th e wi n in th e Expe rt Modified class th at went in Bracken 's favor by a slim margin. " I rode a conservative race," said Tunstall, although he had nearly one minute and 10 seconds on the second place finisher. "I kept getting signs that I was way ahead, but I wasn't goi ng to slack off even one bit. " "We had a good battle going," said Bracken, who rides out of Woods Motor Shop in Glendale, California. " I think I had a little motor on Mills." " We're running a conservative engine," said Mills. "We want to finish so we aren 't as yet trying to get as much power as possible. Sponsors make the sport and I want to thank Vernon 's Cycle Shop in Gretna, Louisiana. and Castrol for their help." Tunstall went immediately from winner's circle to the grid for the Formula One event. " T ha t's why I'm drinking a soda and not a beer right now," said Tunstall. Tunstall put his Ducati into overdrive off the start to take the early lead . Defending series champ Jimmy Adamo, also Ducati mounted, started very slowly and was about 20th as the field hit tum one. Tunstall had nearly six seconds on the field as they comp leted lap one. Adamo coasted into the pits for a hurried inspection by owner/tuner Reno Leoni. "The engine began popping and sputtering just after I left the line," said Adamo. " We're not sure what the problem is." After a quick change of jetting Adamo went back out. By the end of lap four Tunstall had pulled out a 35 second lead over Mills, who was the Expert Modified class leader. Tunstall ran in the GP ranks. The halfway flags saw Tunstall continue to put space between him- self a nd th e rest of th e field . Adamo, a lap down, was now running strongly. Doug Lantz had moved hi s way in to third beh ind Mill s. T un sta ll was cranki ng it o ut a t 90.338 mph over the fir st five laps and he ld a 45 second advantage o n Mill s with La n tz a dista nce back. Dou g Gross held the lead in th e Ama teur Modi fied class a nd sixt h overall behi nd G P leader Jon Minon no. Ho wever, Min onno's ride was q ui ckly co mi ng to a ha lt wi th a sick engine. On the white flag la p it was Tunsta ll wit h over a o ne minu te lead and not backing off o ne bit. Mill s continued his ride in second ahead of Kevin Bracken , who had put in a cons istent ride . La nt z had slipped off the pace. T unstall did n't let off until he saw the checkered flag . Bracken didn't slack off either, a nd his pe rsistence paid off as he nipped Mills for second by a bou t five bike lengths at the flag. Results • GP: 1. Mal colm Tu nstall (Du e); 2. Doug Lantz (Due); 3. J immy Adamo (Due); 4 . Jon Minonno (Tri); 5. Will iam Roseth . EX MOD : 1. Kevin Bracken (Duel: 2. Joey M ill s (Due); 3. Walt Schaoler(Tri); 4. W infrod Hopp (Duc); 5. Devin 8anlery (BMW) . AM MOO : 1. Douglas Gros s (Due); 2. Bru ce Du frene; 3. Dav id Vendol a (M ·G); 4 . Rona ld Ray· mond (Due); 5. Dan iel Luchon. STOCK: 1. David McClure; 2 . Chr is Steward (Vam); 3. Poter Bray (BMW); 4 . Stephen Hall (H-D); 5. Mark Mer cande nte (M·G). AVERAGE SPEED: 88 .886 mph. Sidecar £ssaffjCl1Ieger top hacks ELK H ART LAKE, WI, MAY 23. Pete Essaff and Den ni s Crueger, aboard th eir Lindsay Enterprises/ Castrol/Kawasa ki of Laconia. New Hampshi re, sponsored Kawasaki -po wered sidecar swep t to victo ry in the eig h t lap . 42 mile fin al. The du o was lock ed in a four chair . duel in th e ear ly la ps which ch an ged to a two rig duel on lap five. Essaff a nd Crueger took the lead on th e last lap a nd went on to win. "W e were taking it rather easy," said Essaff , " beca use th e track was a bit slippery and the sidecars will slide around rea l easil y." It was swap and swap some more in .th e opening laps of the sidecar final. Fredd Hopp and William Alston, in a Kawasaki powered rig , led the first of eight laps on Road Ameri ca's four mile course with Bruce Lind and Jack Hart pushing their Yamaha powered hack into the lead on lap two. Third place was also a good dice with first Bill Davidson and Pat Dunn, on a Suzuki powered rig, and then the Kawasaki of Essaff and Crueger holding the position. The top four sta yed quite close together, providing the fans with a good show. However, the Lind and Hart crew didn 't want to give up the lead to anyone. That front running show ended with both the Lind/Hart and Hopp/ Alston chairs not coming around at the end of lap five. On their retirement. Bradley and Thome Fulker , on a Yamaha chair, took the lead. followed very closely by Essaff/ Crueger. Ian Fillery and Brian Ceelen had put their Yamaha into third followed by John and Arthur Dailey in their Suzuki chair. Paul Knoll and Tim Mooney held down fifth, but their Kawasaki was well back. The positions flopped on the final la p as EssaffiCrueger pulled out to win, followed by the Fu lkers, the Dailey crew and Fillery/Ceelen. • Results SIDECAR: 1. Pete E••aff /Dennia Crueger (Kawl ; 2. Bredley FulterlThorno Fuler (Yamt 3. J ohn Dai· ley /Arthur Dailey (SOlt 4.lan Fillery/ Brian Cae',m (Yamt 5. Paul KnolllTim Mooney (Kawl . TIME: 24 min .. 4.792 """AVERAGE SPEED: 82.006 mph . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ .....1

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