Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Fred Merkel won the Superbike race, jlgain. (Below) Sam McDonald (29) beat John Bettencourt at the line. Texan Kevin Brunson leads Dale Franklin in, Formuia Two; Brunson won on his Armstrong. It was his first National F-2 win. lot better than trying to push hard and maybe making a mistake. [ was having handling problems with the front end and the bike wasn't the easiest thing to ride. [ want to thank Mark Bogus, who put in a lot of time on the bike. We had the right combination except for a little luck." "['m just glad to be back racing," said Schlachter. ''I'm still missing a little bit of the edge [ had before [ retiredafterthe 1982 season, Still, I'm pleased with third. I feli good riding at Daytona and Hell even better here, so things are coming together. With back-to-back Nationals over the next two weekends I should be able to get right back in the groove. Stuart Toomey has the bike dialed in so all I have to do is show it the way to winner's circle." In the consolation event, Rueben McMurter took over the lead with half a lap to go int he five lap race and edged Jimmy Adamo at the finish by two bikelengths. Adamo, aboard the Team Leoni Cagiva, led from the start and was stalked by Kawasaki IOOOELR-mounted McMurter until he moved by. • Results 18·LAP NATIONAL: 1. Mike Baldwin (Han); 2. Nick Richichi (Vam); 3. Rich Schlachter (Han); 4. Randy Renfrow (Han); 5. Doug Brauneck (Yam); 6. Wes Coolay (Han); 7. Art Robbin. (Yam); 8. Rich Chambers (Vam); 9. Hap Eaton (Yam); 10. John Bettencourt (Han); 11. Uri Bergbsum (Suz); 12. Bruce Lind (Yaml: 13. Boonie Knott (Vaml: 14. Dave Schlosser (Vam); 15. Glenn laRock (Vam); 16. Thomas Mason (Han); 17. Terry Hampton (Han); 18. Kurt Wanner (Yaml; 19. William Himmelsbach (Suz); 20. Henry DeGouw (Vam). TIME - 44 min.• 7.011 secs. AVERAGE SPEED· 97.92 mph. . AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/ CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Ricky Graham (1051; 2. Randy Go.. (B9); 3. Ted Boody (601; 4. Scott Parkar (78); 5. Bubbs Shobert (74); 6. Doug Chandler (68); 7. Alex Jorgansen (62): 8. Terry Poovey (52); 9. Steve Morehead (481; 10. Jimmy Filice (43): 11. Jay Springsteen (39); 12. Pata Hames (36); 13. Steve Eklund (32); 14. Scon Pearson (30); 15. (TIEl Mika 8aldwin/Garth Brow/ Hank Scolt (24); 18. (TIE) Nick Richichi/Rich SchJac!Pte.I~_20c Kennv·_rt~XlI..•• • •• AMA Superblke Championship Series: Round 4 Merkel in command all the way ELKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 9 Honda's Fred Merkel'put in a IS-lap command performance at Road America to garner his third straight Superbike victory. Merkel's start-to-finish run out front was followed throughout the race by a duel between John Bettencourt and Sam McDonald, that was decided in McDonald's favor after an all-out drag race to the checkered flag. Kawasaki rider Dale Quarterley put together a come-£rom-behind charge which saw him move from last off the grid after stalling his bike's engine to fourth at the finish. Rueben McM urter pushed his Honda through traffic from a back row start to follow Quarterley home in fifth. Quarterley, on the Brockton Cyclessponsored mount, took the pole position for the final by virtue of winning the fastest qualifying heat. It was Quarterley's first-ever time on the pole for a Superbike Series race. Merkel sat alongside after winning his heat, which was run in a light rain. Pietri Racing's Roberto Pietri had his Honda in third with the Team . Leoni Cagiva of Jimmy Adamo the only twin in the first four rows -fourth on the line. The threat of rain left riders with a tough decision; Run slicks and hope that if it rained the race would be • slOpplllho 1beoy>OOU~JOolllliR. tires, or start on rain tires or a combination in between and hope that if only a light·rain fell the race would not be stopped. Merkel went with hand-cut grooves in his slicks, both front and rear, while Bettencourt had grooves cut in only his rear tire with a slick on the £ront. ''I'm jazzed," said Quarterley before the start. "A front row starting position is always good, but being on the pole for the first time is really neat." Unfortunately for Quarterley, he killed the bike's engine on the start and was some 300 yards behind the final rider off the grid by the time he got going. Merkel didn't wait for anyone and had established a clear advantage by the end of the first lap on the fourmile, 14-turn course. Bettencourt and McDonald were already into their confrontation over second a good distance ahead of Pietri. The battle for fifth was led by 1981-83 Canadian Superbike Champion Rueben McMurter on the Sports Afield/International World of Motorcycles/Action Accessories/Shoei/Dunlop Canada/ Phoenix Racing-sponsored Honda. Mike Harth, Glenn Barry, Ricky Orlando and Rick Chambers followed. By the fifth lap, Quarterley had sliced his way through traffic in an attempt to catch the front-runners and was in seventh, 29 seconds behind leader Merkel. Adamo's chance at a top placing had gone away on the second lap when he had to pit to repair a throttle cable problem. Pietri was slowly dropping back, the victim of an engine oil leak. At the halfway nags, Merkel was in complete command ahead of the continuing Bettencourt!McDonald battle for second. Quarterley was up to fourth with McMurter right on his rear tire. Merkel was averaging 95.192 mph as the strung out field headed into the final five laps. Bettencourt held the upper hand at the start7finish line over McDonald on each lap as the two went at it for second all over the track. McMurter continued to hound Quarterley in their fight for fourth. McMurter was lucky to be racing after not even getting one lap of practice before the final. "I was havi ng all sorts of transmission problems," said McMurter. "It's a new bike and getting used to riding and working on a Honda after Kawasakis for a long time is a bit rough. Fortunately, Udo Gietl of Honda was nice enough to let Merlyn Plumlee of his crew give me a hand sorting out the problems [ had." Merkel's overheating tires caused him to slow his pace quite a bit on lap 13 and the Bettencourt/McDonald £reight rrain closed to within seven seconds. The gap was the same as the white flag, signaling one lap to go, was shown to leader Merkel. Merkel waved to the fans and his pit crew as he took the checkered nag. Then all eyes turned to the bartle for second. McDonald pulled out of Bettencourt's draft as the two charged up the uphill straight leading to the start! finish line. McDonald pulled alongside and then moved past to lead the drag race to the finish by abouta bike length. Quarterley and McMurter rounded out the top five. Orlando, Barry, Hernon, Kocinski followed with Dave Schlosser, coming back from a heat race crash, 10th. Results 1. Fred Merkel (Hon); 2. Sem McDonald (Han); 3. John Benencourt (Hon); 4. Dale Quartarlev (kawl; 5. Rueben McMurter(Hon); 6. Ricky Orlando (Hon); 7. Glenn Barry (Han); 8. Pat Hernon (Han); 9. John Kocinski (Han); 10. De.. Schlosser (Han); 11. Csrry Bryent (Kaw); 12. Tom Mason (Han); 13. R_rto Pietri (Honl; 14. Mike Landrum (Hon); 15. Gary Horton (Han); 16. Deniel Have' (Suz); 17. John Jacob (Han); 1B. Fred Renz(Hon); 19. Rick Shaw(Hon); 20. Jimmy Adamo (Csg). TIME: 38 min., 10.905 sees. AVERAGE SPEED: 94.286 mph. AMA SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Frad Merkel (50); 2. John Benancourt (53); 3. Sam McDonald (45); 4. Dale au.""rley (42); 5. Rueben McMurter (34); 6. RictyOrlando (29); 7. R_rto Pietti (21); 8. Freddie Spencer (20); 9. Jimmy Adamo (18); 10. W.. Coolay(16). Formula Two Brunson wins swapfest ELKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 10 Kevin Brunson had the horsepower where it counted on-the last lap and put it to good use as he topped Dale Franklin for the Formula Two win. The two battled and swapped the lead for the final half of the 14-lap race with the margin of victory about 30 bikelengths at the finish. Don Greene came on strong on the final lap to take third, a short distance ahead of Chris Steward, with Joey Sommers rounding out the top five. For Brunson, a 20-year-old native of Texas and a student at North Texas State University, the victory was a sweet one since it was his first in Formula Two competition at a National. Brunson rode a Rotaxpowered Armstrong.

• Cover