Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

C'I 00 0') ...... Sam Willis smoked to a record 4 ,80 second pass in Top Fuel on louisville's one-eighth mile strip, Dave Caldwell's Harley double topped Top Fuel Pushrod. By Tony Lee Photos by Tom Riles LO UIS VILLE, KY, MAY 15-16 Sixty riders set elapsed time and/or m iles per hour records, but on track records weren't the only kind of records that Bo O'Brochta scored his first Funny Bike win. Randy Mason bested Superbike Mike Keyte in Pro Stock. fell a t Ohio Valley Rac ewa y wh en th e International Drag Bike Association 's National Championsh ip tour stop ped there . Among th e eighth- mile records set were crowd pleasing passes that incl uded an unusual off the end of th e track record break ing 4.80/ 157.06 new Top Fu el record for Sam Wills. A 4.96/149.75 pass by Cra ig Burns racked up a new Funny Bike set esta blishing th e Burns/Berry/Hahn machin e as th e world 's top alky burner. In addition, th ere was a new Pro Stock mph mark a t 126.41 by Dave Schultz on his Kawasaki triple - a bik e no longer manufactured. Fans of th e Harley doubles got their jollies when numbers one and two Top Fuel/Pushrod qualifiers Steve Stordeur (5,411) and Dave Cauldwell (5.85) squared off in the TF/P finals. Two Harley-Davidson doublesl Cauldwell had elimina ted james McDonald in th e semis with a 5.62 /1110.79 to a broke-at-the-line attempt by McDona ld , while Stordeur had been dealt a free pass when blown H·D knucklehead favor ite Pete Hill was not able to show. Pete had sh ucked a moto r during time trials. In th e finals, Steve's bike broke off th e line.and Dave got a free shot a t the top money. Half th e sta nds got six feet taller wh en he laid down a 5.98/106.41 to cop th e win. OHC Top Fuel Two of the six OHC Top Fuelers qualified in th e four second bracket: Wills, on the Motorcycles Unlimited Kawasaki sponsored by MTC Engineering/Karata Enterprises, at the record selling 4.80/157.06 and Elmer Trett, on the Tretr's Speed and Custom/Karata Kawasaki, at 4.97. Larry McBride was just out of the fours on a johnson High Performance Kawasaki at 5.02 (Frog Thacker had entered on another jHP machine, but withdrew before he made a pass). Other TF/ O H C qualifiers were Chris Hand of Hickman/Hand Racing; Larry Hayes of Hayes & Marchman Racing and Da ve Cov ey sponsored by Lazar Nitrous Systems. Hayes rode a Honda ; the others were mounted on Kawasakis. In th e first round, H and anticipated th e green to dra w a red light and g ive 't he pass to Wills, Chris co~~ted through after the red at 6.76 while Sam used the opportunity to back up his new record with a 4.98.Trett trail- ; ered Hayes with a 5.04 to a 5.56 and McBride got a freebee at 5.011 when Cove y's ma chine broke during the burnout. Wills la id down a 5.011 on his earned bye in th e sem ifinals a nd Treu broke loos e, wh ile McBride laid do wn a good one. It was McBride at th e fin ish wi th a 4.95 to T retr's 5.11. On the fin al run Wills went back to th e fours wh ile McBr ide drifted into fives. W ill s won at 4. 971 1511_88; McBr ide posted a 5.011151151. Funny Bike Craig Burns highl igh ted Funny Bike quali fying with a bli ster in g 4.96/149.75 new record on th e Burns/ Berry/Hahn & Hahn Ra cing T eam alcohol Kawasaki, back ed also by Bill Hahn Products, Mr. Turbo and MTC Engineering. Bo O 'Brochta, on the JBC Ind ustr ies Karata sponsored Kawasaki earned th e second slot with a 5.15 while jon Baugh, on the Orient Express Kawasaki , sponsored by Kosman Specialties/Mr. Turbo/Simpson/VHT/ CastrelAPE was in third witha5.18 Other qual ifiers, in order, were: john Sands on a Motorcycle Sales & Servi ce Honda sponsored by Sears Die Hard/john Sands Racing; Wayne McMillan on a Glades Honda Center machine; Kevin Tooma on a Tooma Racing Enterprises Kawasak i; j im Deel on a Cycle Shack Kawasaki; Bru ce Li tton on an Ed Colwelt./E.']". Engineering/NGKIRiveria Engineeringsponsored Kawa saki; jon Cornell on a Rush Limousine/Cycle Sh op/ Wi seco sponsored Kawasaki and Bill Myer on an M&P Racing/Bob 's Machine & Balancing Kawasaki. In the first elimina tor round Burns ret ired Tooma with a 5.29 to a 5.60. Baugh got a freebe e at 5.29 when Litton broke wh ile McMillan strapped a 5.70 on M ye r 's broken 12.85 . O'Brochta smo ked a 5.26 to Deel's 7.65 and Sands punched Cornell's ticket with a 5.69 to a 6.16. In the quarierfinals, Burns coast ed through at 10.65 on an earned bye in which he broke; Baugh sent McMillan home with a 5.51 to a 5.64 and O'Brochta smo ked Sands at 5.115 to 5.67. In the semis Baugh had a 5.27 win after Burns' problem wh ile Bo bye't at5.16. On the final run it was O 'Brochta all the way with 5.19 to Baugh's 5.411. Pro St ock Pro Stock drew 110 entries a t Lou isville. IOBA 's Tony Lee promised that if the present growth continues IDBA will ra ise Pro Stock from a 16 bike field to 112 at the IDBA World Finals. Pro Stock number one qualifier was Da ve Shultz, on his Kawasaki triple: sponsored by Dave 's Carburetor Service /Fast by GastiMRE/Wiseco/NGK, with an off tra iler 5.56. It would have also been a new Pro Stock ET record had he been abl e to back it up. but Dave said th e bik e was weak and got weak er all weekend. The rest of the top eight qual ifiers, in order, were: Steve Tartaglia, sponsored by Performance Cycles , at 5.614; Barry Kogut, sponsored by Regency Kawasaki/MTC/SBM/MRE/MCU, at 5.619; Randy Mason, sponsored by MTC Engineering/DSC Performance, at 5.6119 and Ron Turner, sponsored by MTC Engineering/Ron Turner Cycl es, at 5.641. Sixth was Charlie Gressman, on a Ron Turner Cycles sponsored Suzuki, at 5.658; Superbik e Mik e Keyte, sponsored by SBM/ MTC/C&C/RPM /Kawa saki, at 5.664 and Joe Folgore, on a Cyp ro Suzuki, at 5.687. The differen ce between the number

• Cover