Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126779
~ ~ , ,, :2 c:: 0' ,'A .... (J) ~ 0 Z :i 0 :> « 0 0 Z « ~ z 00 0 (J) O":i ....... > .... ii: ~ ,0 l!") ",...J C\J > al ~ ....... :3 0 .... 0 (J) :I: ~ l>. Rich Oliver pilots his winning, stock (but somewhat stripped) Ninja: (belowl Rick Mitchell is dogged by FJ600 pilot Pete CarrolL Kerry Bryant. Wendell Phillips and Rich Oliver hoist champagne after. winning; (below) the start of the small field. (Below) R'oger Hagie (shown) and Frans Van Den Broek have ye~r~ of six-hour experience; they finished third on a Randy Hall-prepped NinJa. Kawasaki, sUJeepsAFM Six-Hour By Lori Tyson RIVERSIDE, CA, JULY 8 The team of Kerry Bryan t/Rich 0 Iiver/Wendell Phillips took a stock Kawasaki Ninja to victory in the 10th annual American Federation of Motorcyclists/ND Six-Hour endurance race covering 564- miles at an average of 94 mph. They held a slim 12-second margin over second place Rick Mit- 16 chell/Chris Crowell on a II Kawasaki Superbike. It was a Kawasaki sweep as another Ninja piloted by 1982 SixHour winners Frans Van den Broek/ Roger Hagie took third overall. Not everyone agreed with the scorers. "I know we won, we were a lap and 10 seconds ahead with'a half an hour to go," said Crowell. ~'They couldn't have made up that much time on us." But apparently they had - the verdict stood as given. Even the start of the race held a few surprises. Crowell/Mitchell's other scheduled rider, Harry Klinzmann, didn't show up, which left them with a smaller team·than they had intended. Then the pre-race favorites, Team Ontario's Jim Vreeke/Ken Vreeke Mike Spencer, crashed out of the race on the warm-up lap. The turn-two crash broke the steering stem on the bike and left the team as reluctant spectators. Mitchell holeshot the start of the race, but Oliver had grabbed the lead by the end of the first lap. Mitchell was second across the line followed by FJ600-mounted Dave Sadowski/ Pete Carroll, Rl350 pilots Richard Scoular/John Glover, the Ninja of Hagie/Van den Broek, and a 750 Interceptor ridden by Salvo/Salvo/ Theobald: Shelton/Reinen, Costal Ahlstrom, Hulbert/de Bruin/Lenhardt and Strehlow/Dunn rounded out the top 10. . At the end of the first hour the order was virtually the same. Butat theone-and-a-halfhour mark Scoular, who had ridden so far without a pit stop, finally came in for gas and sent Glover out on the little Yamaha. Glover's ride didn't last long. One lap later he puJled in with a suspected broken crank and parked it for the day. A tired and disappointed Scoular still managed to thank Yamaha and Doug Van Almelo Engineering for his short but fast ride. Whey they retired they had the 350 in third place overall. Soon afterwards Carroll/Sadowski broke their bike's chain entering turn six and Carroll hi t the wall, unh urt. He picked up the bike, put the chain back on, and returned to the pits, handing the machine over to Sadowski, who had just hopped off a few moments before. (Sadowski was riding with a handicap - he could barely walk last week due to a back injury.) "Its really hot out there, the tire goes away after five laps and you just have to go where the tire lets you," said Sadowski as he went out for another stint. At the two-hour mark Bryant/Oliver/Phillips still held the lead pursued by Mitchell/Crowell one lap behind. Trailing the leaders by two laps were Van Den Broek/Hagie followed by. the 600cc battle between Bohrer/ Walsh/Matthews and Pace/Sharpe/ Sharp, the 920 Virago ridden by DeMuro/Van luyle/Ross, Gambo/ Smith and Carroll/Sadowski. Thirty minutes later with Bryant aboard, the Bryant/Oliver/Phillips machine started losing air in its front slick. Bryant pulled in to thepitsand they tried a new valve stem, in vain. Jim Moorejust happened to have his own Ninja streetbike parked conve- niently next to their pits. So they grabbed his front wheel with stock tire and used it. . At hour number three -Mitchell/ Crowell led followed three laps back by Van Den Broek/Hagie. After losing seven minutes in the pits with their flat tire, Bryant/Oliver/Phillips were four laps behind the leaders. Seven laps off the pace were Demuro/ Van luyle/Ross, and one lap behind them was the continuing fight among the 600ce pilots with Pace/Sharpe/ Sharp leading Carroll/Sadowski and Bohrer/Walsh/Matthews. The only major change in the next haH hour was that Carroll/Sadowski overtook DeMuro/Van luyle/Ross for the fifth overall spot. Four hours into the race leaders Mitchell/Crowell had their exhaust pipe break off at the header. "It started to fold under the tire in (turn) 7A," said rider Crowell. "I thought I hit oil, but)t was the pipe. I came in and we just tore it off. It's still running OK without it." Bryant/Oliver/Phillips were still following three laps down with Van Den Broek/Hag.ie on the same lap in (Con.tinued to page /8)