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Piepri
challenged McDonald twice in the
first two laps, but then coasted off the
course with a broken bike on lap
three. Colorado's Ricky Orlando then
moved up and passed McDonald
briefly, but it was McDonald first
across the finish line.
When they lined up for the feature
event, Merkel hel.d the pole on t.he
Mike Velasco-tuned factory Interceptor. McDonald, riding with his right
thumb heavily taped as a result of
jamming it when he got off the
course in Friday's practice (when he
crashed in a chuckhole at about five
mph), was next to Merkel. Then
there was Cooley, whose Suzuki produced a howling scream that made
the Hondas seem flat and raspy in
comparison.
The start was delayed slight.ly when
Kevin Monohan dropped his Kawasaki in turn two on the warm-up lap,
leaving an oil deposit on the racing
line. Corner workers applied grease
sweep, and after another warm-up
lap, the field was set to go.
lt was Cooley in the point posit.ion
as the field swept through the lefthand first turn and up the hill.
McDonald was second initially, but
then was quickly displaced by Merkel
and McMurter.
At the end of a lap Cooley and
Merkel were mere microns apart, with
a very slight gap back to McMurter. Going into turn lIon the second
lap Merkel dove past Cooley and the
lead was his. Behind t.he first t.hree
were McDonald, northern California's
Scott Gray, Orlando, Rich Oliver
and Michael Harth.
At the end offive laps the order was
stable, Merkel had broken away from
Cooley and the rest of the pack, establishing a lead of over five seconds.
A lap and three-quarters later, the
lead was vaporized in a shower of
sparks, flame and exploding hay bales.
Th.e red flag was displayed immediately.
. Positions were reverted to the sixth
lap, and approximately 30 minutes
later, the race was restarted.
McDonald was once again the hare
off t.he line, but Cooley let that last
less than a lap. McM urter also passed
McDonald, who was followed across
the line by Orlando and Gray.
As Merkel had done to him, Cooley
left the pack, putting four seconds on
McMurter by the ninth lap.
As Cooley ran by himself, McMurter, McDonald, Orlando and Oliver
bunched up in what would develop
imo a tremendous four-rider duel.
Gray, riding a four-year-old Suzuki,
was in the thick of it at the beginning, but then had to pull off the
track on lap 14 with a flat front tire.
From laps 12 to 18, the battle for
second was worth the price of an
admission ticket. McMurter, McDonald, Orlando and Oliver weren't just
swapping posi tions two or three times
:s
Of.)
:s
a lap, but, "three or four times every
corner," according to McDonald.
By the 17th lap the battle had
broken down into a pair of battles,
McDonaldlMcMurter and Oliveri
Orlando. On lap 18 McMurter bobbled coming out of turn seven and
McDonald shot to an immediate sixbikelength advantage.
Cooley finished an easy first, more
than 10 seconds ahead in spite of
cooling his pace in the late laps.
McDonald was second over McMurter. The OliverlOriando duel might
have gone to the line, but Oliver's
bike had problems. Excessive crankshaft play evemually altered the ignition timing and he coasted across the
finish line, beating his fist on the
tank.
Former dirt tracker Jeff Haney rode
a smooth race to finish sixth over
Kerry Bryam and Bernd Koegler. Pat
Hernon and Carry Andrew rounded
out the top 10.
"Everything went smooth," said
Cooley. "I thought that after the way
the heat race wem Rueben would be
pressing me a little harder, but we
went to a little softer compound tire
for the main evem and it seemed to
work out perfectly. Honda gives me a
lot of support for the Formula One
class, but I th~nk it's good that we had
another brand in the Superbikes."
"That was a tooth-and-nail battle," said McDonald. "I don't think
any of us knew from one corner to the
next who was going to be leading.
That's what racing is all about and I
think we gave the crowd a helluva
show.'!
Asked if his injured thumb had
bothered him, McDonald said, "Yes,
especially after the restart. I cut my
fastest laps then but it was definitely
adrenalin."
"I'd hoped to keep up with Wes
like I .did in the heat race," said
McMurter. "'But I couldn't and I
ended up in the race for second. Then
I blew in one of the corners two laps
from the finish and let ~am get away.
I would like to thank Udo Gietl and
Mervyn Plumlee from American
Honda. After I dropped a valve in
Portland last week they helped me fly
my engine down to Los Angeles
where we worked on it in their shop
and ran it on the dyno before flying it
back here'." .
, .
Results
,. Wes Cooley (Suz); 2. Sam McDonald (Hon); 3.
Aueben McMurter (Hon); 4. Ricky Orlando (Han); 5.
Richard Oliver (Kaw); 6. Jeff Haney (Han); 7. Kerry
Bryant (Kaw); 8. Bernd Koegler (Han); 9. Patrick
Hernan (Han); 10. Carry Andrew (Kaw); 11. Jay
Tanner(Suz); 12. Vince Costa (Kaw); 13. Bruce Lind
(Hon); 14. Kevin Gardner (Kaw); 15. Jame. Adamo
(Cag); 16. Michael Hanh (Hon); 17. Scott Gray (Suz);
18. Terry Hampton (Han); 19. Fred Merkel (Han).
AMA SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES POINT
STANDINGS: 1. Fred Merkel (136); 2. Sam McDo·
nald (120); 3. Rueben McMuner. (90); 4. Robeno
Pietri (66); 5. Rich Oliver (62); 6. (TIEl John Bettencoun/Ricky Orlando (531; 8. Dale Quanerley (51);
9. We. Cooley (36); 10. Michae' Hanh (271.
Formula Two
Greene's win
extends lead
By John Ulrich
SONOMA, CA, AUG. 19
Don Greene won the Formula
Two race at Sears Point, riding
his Yamaha to win on his home
track and increase his alreadystrong championship points lead.
Second-in-points (and former points
leader) Chris Steward finished seventh and now trails Greene 83 points to
103 points.
Greene was favored all weekend.
He won his heat race on the same
tires he used to finish second last
week at Portland; his bike was basically untouched since that race. He
put on new tires before the final.
Portland winner Alan Labrosse won
the' other F-2 heat, passing Dave
Busby in the last turn.
But when the flag fell for the final,
it was Busby out in front on his
Yamaha, Greene right behind. Tracy
DeMuro and Labrosse were third and
fourth on the first lap, and that
quartet quickly pulled away from the
rest of the riders.
Busby and Greene gained ground,
together; Labrosse passed DeMuro.
Behind them, Dave Sadowski,
Steward and John Glover battled.
Sadowski leading Steward and Glover;
then Glover leading Sadowski and
St.eward. Glover gained a little distance, then lost it. Labrosse caught
up to Greene and Busby, and DeMuro
was alone, between the leading and
traiting groups: .•..•.•
9
