Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Pietri and Merkel battled back and forth through traffic for fourth place/third place. The Superbike start: Cooley (34). McDonald (29). Merkel (84). Pietri (11). Quarterley (32) and the others" Serious racing: Cooley holding off Merkel and McDonald. the Yoshimura Suzuki :vs. two quick Hondas. 10 after the unofficial results were announced. "It wasn't that we actually won it but we were that close. I wish it had run the extra laps. I didn't want to see anybody get hurt but we had run four or five laps before the red flag, after the crash, and the rider was off the track. They said later that the ambulance couldn't reach him because it was on the inside of the track and he was on the outside, and that was the referee's decision to red flag it. I can live with that." But Cooley's reaction to news of his disqualification was not quite as easy-going. "I truly believe they (the Yoshimura mechanics) thought the motorcycle was within the weight rules," Cooley said later in his motorhome, as he worked on a written protest of his disqualification. "I believe we were within weight. We lost a lot of oil. The rules say a water-cooled bike can have water added before being weighed in case it evaporates, so why not allow us to add oil?" Merkel sympathized with Cooley's plight. "I think that's terrible," Merkel said. "Wes rode his heart out on that bike and the guys at Yoshimura are great guys. They would never cheat intentionally. It was the oil consumption of the bike. It was dry. If the race had continued it would haye run out. There was no foul play involved." But no matter what the reason, Cooley's bike was too light, and at press-time his disqualification stood. That unfortunate controversy, and the red-flag which preceeded it, overshadowed Merkel and Cooley's battle for first place. It started in the first heat race, Cooley jumping out in front of Merkel and leading, Merkel right behind. Four times Cooley was first across the line in the five-lap heat race. But Merkel took the lead on the last Lap, CooLey getting sideways in a lastcorner a ttempt to get enough drive to repass Merkel, and Merkel won. Rueben McMurter was third after fending bff a fourth-lap pass by SuperTrapp's Rich Oliver (Kaw), with Kevin Schwanrz and his Yamaha XV900 vtwin fifth. Sam McDonald won the second heat, lunging of( the line with a fantastic, ground-gaining start and.Ieading to the finish. (It was a wonder that McDonald could ride at all. He suffered from the flu, shivering and shaking in the pits despite moderate temperatures, lacking strength and energy but looking as cheerful as ever.) Pat Hernon (Hon) was second on the first lap of the second heat race before Dale Quarterley - who fought a wheelie off the line - passed on his bright-green GS Performance Kawasaki. Two laps later Roberto Pietri passed Hernon, and at the finish of the heat ~ace it was McDonald, Quarterley, Pietri, Hernon and Jimmy Adamo. When the green flag dropped for the final, it was Cooley and his GS750 in front. Since he last raced it - at Riverside - the bike had been fitted with new, higher-compression forced Mahle pistons and a stock cylinder head casting; at Riverside a radically re-machined, straight-port head aided top end but not mid-range power. Cooley's bike also sported a new stainless steel exhaust and made more power that it ever had before. McDonald was second, but close behind was Merkel, on his VF750FInterceptor, tuned by Mike Velasco to suit Laguna Seca. According to Velasco, a new exhaust system - shor.ler both in head pipes and overall - added power between 10,000 and 11,500 rpm. Velasco called that "improving the mid-range." Asked how 10,000 rpm could be considered "mid-range," Velasco said "For us that's mid-range. Redline is 13,500 and they don't get any lower than 7000 rpm, so 10,000 is about in the middle of that, and that's midrange. " It only took Merkel a lap to pass McDonald and latch onto Cooley, passing under the bridge out of turn seven. being repassed at turn nine or into the corkscrew, repassing in turn eight, the lead changing twice or three times a lap for the first five laps. McDonald hung onto Cooley and Merkel for a few laps, lost ground, gained ground. Quarterley came from two seconds behind McDonald to just behind him, Merkel-Cooley-McDonald-Quarterley all nose-to-tail in one right string. For a lap. Eager to pass McDonald, Quarterley grabbed too much throttle exiting turn seven over ripples in the pavement caused by racecars on the circuit; he slid his bike's rear wheel drastically, getting completely sideways. For a moment it Looked like Quarterley would high-side; a millisecond Later it appeared he would save it and a moment later he had crashed in the dirt. . The racing appeared over, Merkel a few seconds ahead of Cooley, McDonald secure in third. Behind, Pietri and McMurter ran toget.her Pietri usually leading McMurter close as a shadow - but McMurter sometimes passing before being repassed. Oliver was sixth ahead of Jeff Haney, Skiver and Hernon. But Merkel's lead was anything but secure. "After the first five laps I scorched the tire," Merkel would tell report.ers later "and it was all I could do to keep it on the racetrack. I was out of control. I kept pushing instead of letting the tires cool off a lap and getting back on it, and I lost two or three seconds one lap when I ran off the track exiting turn two. I kept going in the dirt and got back up on the track just before the bridge at turn four." Cooley, like Merkel, was on Michelin tires. But Cooley had selected a 1145C compound rear slick with a hard SFII £ront. Merkel's bike wore a rear tire two compounds softer t.han Cooley's, a 1026K rear along with an SFI2 front. So while Merkel's tire overheated and lost traction, Cooley's didn't. And as Merkel encountered trouble, Cooley gained and could see he was gaining. "Merkel couldn't get through the traffic (lapped riders)," Cooley would say after the race. "Maybe it was the experience I have, but they didn't seem to be in my way. The gap stayed kind of constant and then all of a sudden I was on his rear wheel. If I could get back within reach, I felt it. would go down to the wire. It showed in the lap times. Cooley's fastest lap was a I: 10.86, on the last lap, when he passed Merkel. Merkel's best lap was a 1:10.82, much earlier in the race, on the 12th lap. Most of Merkel and Cooley's lap times were 1:lls, with some 1:12s. Cooley flew past Merkel going into the last corner - turn nine - and led to the finish line, to be met by 'the red flag caused by Jim Poet's crash in turn four. McDonald was still third, but McMurter had just passed Pietri when the race was stopped. When the officials backed up the finish one lap, Cooley was relegated to second. McMurter to fifth and when Cooley was disqualified, the order settled at Merkel, McDonald, Pietri, McMurter. Mc.Donald shivered and got sick in the press room after the race, but said "being sick is no excuse. I don't like excuses." After most press people were finished interviewing and gone, Cooley learned he was disqualified, and protested. It was a poor finish to a great race: an anticlimax. Results 1. Fred Merkel (Honl 22 leps; 2. Sem McOoneid (Han) 22 lops; 3. Robeno Pietri (Han) 22 lops; 4. Ruoben .McMuner (Hon) 22 !eps; 6. Rich Oli_ (Kew) 22 lops; 6. Jeff Honey (Han) 21 lops; 7. Rendy Skiver (Han) 21 lops; 8. Pet Hernon (Hon121 lops; 9. Kevin Monehon 21 lops; 10. Terry Hompton (Hon) 211eps; 11. John Kocinski (Hon121 laps; 12. Ricky Orlondo (Hon) 21 laps; 13. Raben Holden (Suz) 21 lops; 14. TrygWllI1by(Hon); 15. C8rry Andrew (Kew) 21 lops; 16. Bernd Koegler (Han) 21 lops; 17. Cloude Hislop (Hon) 21 lops; 18. Denny Fryer (Hon) 21 lops; 19. Dole Zlock (Suz) 21 lops; 20. 0 .... Schlouer (Hon) 20 lops. AMA SUPER81KE CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS; 1. Frod Merkel (1161; 2. Som McOonold (88); 3. Rueben McMuner (70); 4. John 8ettencoun (53); 5. Dole auonerley (611; 6. Rober1o Pietri (48); 7. Ricky Orlondo (41); 8. Rich Oliver (40); 9. (TIE) Wei Cooley/Glenn Berry (32). Form..... rwo Raine)'top survivor By Lori Tyson MONTEREY, CA, JULY 22 Wayne Rainey came home from Europe to test and race at Laguna Seca and won the Formula Two race, an event marred (Continued to page 22)

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