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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The 24-Hours ltllned under ....-th.n-lUnny conditions. WERAINipponclenso National Enduranu Road Race Series: RoundS Heschimura Racing romps in 24-Hours of Nelson Road Race By Rendy Merrs WARREN, OH, JULY 24-25 Dan Chivington, Bill Condin, Keith Marshall, Larry Shorts and Scott Strachan cruised to a runaway victory on their Hesch- 18 imura Racing/Nonhgate Honda Honda 750 Interceptor in the 15th Annual 24-Hours of Nelson. The drop of the checkered flag at 4 p.m. on Sunday, saw the team 26 laps ahead of the second place team, Team Cowboy. Third place went to Team Good Times. "Virtually problem free," was how Heschimura's Larry Shorts described his team's race over the two-mile Nelson Ledges course. Only a low-speed spill due to oil on the track and a flat rear tire late in the race slowed the team's charge. Crew chief Bob Hesch and head mechanic Keith Marshall, who also rode, conducted six tire changes and. according 10 Hesch. "burned only one quart of oil." The winners covered 1.940 miles in the race, just 60 miles shy of the record they established in 1981 on a Honda CB900F. Saturday's scheduled 3 p.m. start was delayed when a thunderstorm passed through the area and light· ning knocked out track communica· tions. The race got underway at 4 p.m. with 34 bikes taking the green flag. On the pole was Team Cowboy. the '82 WERA endurance champs, with Ray Dysle at the controls of the Park Honda/Metzeler/Ontario Moto Tech-sponsored CB II 00 Honda. Another pre-race favorite, Team Ontario, the current series point leader, was without regulars Lynn Miller and Luther Wikle who were in japan gelling ready for the Suzuka 8-hour round of the World Championship Endurance Road Race Series. Ontario's team captain, Keith Perry, enlisted AMA regular john Ashmead, Kevin Eby. Philipe Kostezer and Russ Paulk for the RK Chain/Bel-Ray/ Moto-X Fox/ND/Sure-Fire/Ontario MaIO Tech/Minor Tire/Cam 2/Lock· hart-sponsored CB 11 OOF Honda entry. Other teams with a shot at the overall win were Team Good Times with a Yamaha 550 Vision piloted by joe Fisher, Charles Brothers, Ron Mayfield and Bob Sellers with sponsorship from Yamaha, Dunlop and Arthur Fullmer; last vear's winners, Lyte Racing, with a Brooklyn Cycle/Meueler/Ontario Honda-sponsored Suzuki 750 for Richard Jagoe. Bob Miller, Paul McMillan, Paul Stokes and Bob Whelan; and Team Hammer with their Suzuki 1025 ridden by Tony DeSimone, Boonie Knott, John Ulrich and Joey Osowski. A down pour started as the grid was being formed and many teams were changing from slick tires to rain tires. Larry Shorts and the Heschimura Honda led the field around on the opening lap. Team Hammer was left at the line as they again suffered ignition problems and were four laps late leaving the grid. Lap two was led by Ashmead and the Team Ontario entry, while laps three through five were spearheaded by Ken Spurlock and the RC Yamaha 750 eca entry. Shorts lOok the lead back for good on the sixth lap and with the rain continuing 10 fall concluded the first hour by leading Spurlock and Ashmead across the start/finish line, all three on the same lap. The rain SlOpped as the race entered its second hour. Shorts had been turning laps in the one minute, 48 second range in the rain, but quickly dropped 18 seconds per lap off his time as the track began 10 dry. Chivington took over the Heschimura Interceptor and he also ran as though the event was part of WERA's sprint race series, rather than a 24-hour race, and soon had two laps on the secondplace Lyte Racing Suzuki and four laps on Team Ontario's Kostezer. The Team Hammer Suzuki with Ulrich at the controls had worked its way up to 11th. Going into the third hour, the standings changed dramatically as Kevin Eby dropped the Team Ontario entry when he hit oil while coming out of turn three. The spill broke the Honda's shifl lever and dropped them from their third place spot. DeSimone worked the Team Hammer Suzuki up to seventh midway through the third hour and Sam Williams worked Team Cowboy back up 10 fourth. Positions remained virtually the same through the fifth hour as Heschimura Racing maintained a four lap advantage over the Lyte Racing, who in turn had a one lap lead over the Team Cowboy Honda which had moved into third. The T. .m Heschimu... R.cing Interceptor C8ptured the over.11 win. As the bike's lights replaced the sun, Shorts and the leading Heschimura Honda were turning laps at I: 19. Near midnight, attention was centered on the battle for second between Lyte Racing and Team Cowboy. Cowboy had made up a three lap deficit and moved around Lyte Racing for second. Both continued tocirculate on the same lap with Team Cowboy's Don Seilschottcutting laps in the I:21 range. Problems continued for Team Hammer and would throughout the rac!;. They went through three COl units, and saw their Chevron-sponsored Suzuki catch fire while they were draining the carb's f100t bowls of what they said was contaminated gas. To add insult to injury, they then came up with a leaking gas tank and had 10 replace that. "They said the D-Day invasion of Normandy was the longest day. I could argue with with that," said Team Hammer's John Ulrich. The battle for second ended just before midnight when the Lyte Racing Suzuki suffered a bent frame in a crash. The team went back out on the track but soon retired for good. With IO hours left in the race, Heschimura's lead over Team Cowboy was 24 laps. On the same lap as Cowboy were Racing Ollawa'sSuzuki GS550 and Team Bi Wheel. Team Edgewood had dropped a lap behind the third- and fourth-place teams after a rotor bolt broke on their Suzuki's crank and they lost 40 minutes replacing it. With eight hours left, Racing Ottawa started falling back due to a transmission input shaft that was going away. While Ollawa was dropping positions, Team Ontario had moved back up to sixth after suffering lighting problems in the wee hours of the morning. Heschimura enjoyed a 30 lap lead as the race entered its finaJ four hours. Cowboy still held second and they were followed by the Good Times Yamaha in third, Team Triad in fourth, and the Team Ontario Honda which had moved into fifth. There were 24 teams still in the race with three hours remaining and tension in the pits was evident, especially in the areas occupied by the leading teams. Team Ontario, racing hard for valuable series points, moved to within two laps of fourth place which was occupied by Team Triad. Their charge worked and as the race wound down Ontario moved into fourth. The checkered flag saw HeschimUTa the runaway wirtner. The wirmers, blued out of Northgate Honda in Warrendale. Pennsylvania, covered 970 Iapl, earning the Heavyweight ~ Superbike class win in addition WI the coveted overall victory. Team Cowboy finished second overall and second in Heavyweight Superbike, with Good Times Racing taking third and first in Middleweight Production, which earned them $200 of Yamaha contingency money. Padding their poiD! lead with a fourth place finish was Team Ontario, who led Team Triad home. • Results OVERALL: ,. _im..,. being (Hont 2. Tea", Cowboy (Hont 3. Team Good r _ (V....t 4. Team _rIt 0""';0 (Hont 5. Tum Tried (Hont 8. SuzulU_ (Suzj; 7. UL Reciftg (Hont 8. Team ... (V_mt 9. North Ridge llKing (V_mt 10. ~ _(V_mI. WEIIAINlPPOIIIDENSO Not.nONAL ENDURANCE ROAD RACE SERIES POINT STANDINGS: ,. T..... a-rio (1291; 2. T..... Cowboy (91t 3. Team 111I_ tSUZ/Ili: 4. North ~ Reing (1It 5. Reing (531; e. Tn.d1l8Ciftll f4zt7. UL Reing (34t 9. $porUIMn Cycln (24t 10. o...-/S_ ~_(211. World Championship 500cc MX Series: Round 9 Carlqvist wins British GP By Neil Webster. PARLIEGH CASTLE, ENGLAND, JULY 23 Yamaha's Hakan Carlqvist moved back to the top of the 500cc World Championship point standings with two easy molO wins in the British GP at Farleigh Castle. The tall ex-ice hockey star was never challenged during either molO. The only other rider to even lead one lap was Frenchman Jean-Jaques Bruno, aboard a Suzuki, who got the holeshot on the start of molO two. Carlqvist only stayed second for one lap before repeating his first moto performance and winning by a good margin. "I could win on this track every time," said an enthused Carlqvist. "It was very bumpy. especially in the second molO after the support classes had been on the track. Lt was difficult 10 keep riding hard in molO two, after winning the first molO so easily, and 1 eased off a bit which allowed Andre (MaJherbe) to close on me. I knew where he was and I kept a safe distance." Carlqvist's only challenger for the World Championship, Belgium's MaJherbe, couldn't match the Swede's brilliance on the Wiltshire track, but kepi Honda's title hopes alive with a 5-2 moto tally. Only five points separate the two with Carlqvist at 19S 10 Malberbe's 190.