Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Randy Renfrow (96) held off Jimmy Adamo's square-four. two-stroke Cagiva (26) for third; that's Danny Chivington in the background. Rueben McMurter (24) led Sam McDonald (29) and Fred Merkel early in the Superbike race; they finished Merkel-McDonald-McMurter. make up time in the tighter corners." The rider with the biggest smile was seventh place finisher Russ Paulk "I feel great," said Paulk. ''I'm not sure what Rueben did, but I'll take the gift. I was wondering how I was going to get around him because while I had power on him on the straights, he had me covered in the tight sections. This is my first AMA Formula One race and I had good support from Ron Mass, who helped build the engine, and sponsors Team Hammer, Cycle Nuts and Bolts (of Clarkston, Georgia) and a lot of friends at Southern Tech." "Of all the times for them to throw the checkered flag," said McMurter. "I wa n't looking at the finish line or I wouldn't have pulled over. The shift lever was working itself loose and I didn't want it to come off in the final laps and leave me stuck in one gear. I felt I could stop, get it fixed and only lose one or probably two positions since I had a gap on the riders behind me." Three bikelengths 'separated McDonald and Merkel at the end of lap 14, as Merkel cast a glance over his shoulder for McMurter and found him to be some 20 bikelengths back. The rest of the field was just hitting the front straight as the front three blasted through turn one, the fastest corner on the track. The gap between the front three narrowed to 10 bikelengths as starter Steve Feraci gave the leaders the fivelaps-to-go sign. Pietri was still a safe fourth while Adamo was slowing, allowing Oliver to inch closer. One lap later, Adamo passed the start/finish line with a sour-sounding engine. Merkel took over the lead at the end of lap 17 with McM UTter dropping McDonald to third, the farthest back he had been since the start. Pietri held founh over Oliver. A tight battle ensued for sixth with Kocinski holding a slight edge on Hampton and Quanerley as the three swapped positions around the track. Kocinski, then Quarterley, dropped out with engine problems. Merkel held a 1.5-second advantage on McDonald as he took the white flag with McMurter a close third. Merkel added a bit over one second to that to post a 3.12 second margin over McDonald at the checkered flag. McMuner's last lap challenge was thwaned by slower traffic. Pietri and Oliver rounded out the-top five with sixth place Hampton the last rider not lapped by winner Merkel. "I basically went bowling for points," said Merkel of his win. "I wanted to see what pace my wrist would handle and by halfway it seemed to feel preuy good so I picked up the pace a bit." "I had two problems in the last half of the race although I don't want to make any excuses," said McMurter of his third place ride. "Slower riders hampered my charge a few times, but what was worse was I had a problem downshifting below third so I basically had to run third gear in the slower parts of the track and that didn't help things at all." Results FORMULA ONE: 1. Mike Beldwin (Han); 2. Rich Schlachtar (Han); 3. Randy Renfrow (Han); 4. Jimmy Adamo (Cag); 5. Dan Chivington (Vam); 6. Doug Brauneck (Vam); 7. RuBS Paulk (Vam); 8. Rueben McMurter (Kew); 9. Gregg Smrz (Han); 10. Doug Chendler (Han); 11. Boonie Knott (Suz); 12. Bubbe Shobert (Han); 13. Kevin Monahan (Kaw); 14. Dwayne Wassberg (Kaw); 15. Dave Kieffer (Kaw); 16. Hap Eaton (Yam); 17. Dave Schlosser (Vam); 18. •144; 19. Tom Mason (Han); 20. Mike Elmore (Suz). TIME: 32 min.. DB.686 sees. AVERAGE SPEED: 100.794 mph. FORMULA ONE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES POINT STANDINGS:P 1. Mike Baldwin (117); 2. Rich Schlachter (71); 3. RandY Renfrow (67); 4. Wes Cooley (58); 5. Doug Brauneck (46); 6. Kenny Roberts (40); 7. Rueben McMurter (29); 8. Doug Chandler (27); 9. Dan Chivinvton (24); 10. Art Robbins (23). AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/ CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS, 1. Ricky Graham (227); 2. Randy Goss (219); 3. Doug Chandler (183); 4. Scott Parker (166); 5. Bubba Shobert (156); 6. Ted Boody (155); 7. Alex J01'genson (1 18); 8. Mike Beldwin (1 17); 9. Terry Poovey (1 03); 10. Hank Scott (87); 11. Steve M01'eh8ld (831; 12. Pete Hames (80); 13. Rich Schlachter (71); 14. Randy Renfrow (67); 15. (TIE) Scott Pearson/ Gary Scott (61 ); 17. Wes Cooley (58); 18. (TIE) Steve Eklund/Jimmy Filice (56); 20. Doug Breuneck (46). --- Injured Merkel heals for win BRAINERD, MN, SEPT. 2 Honda's Fred Merkel, just two weeks after an accident at Sears Point which left him with a fractured right wrist, played a wai t-a nd-see- how- m y- wris t -feel s game in the 60-mile Superbike final. The wrist, repaired with two twoinch screws during surgery obviously felt, better than he had been telling everyone as Merkel broke away from Sam McDonald and Rueben McMurter in the final laps and took an easy win. McDonald's edge over McMurter for second was about 20 bikelengths. In the 20-lap final, McDonald was in command early before Merkel and McMurter joined him to form a swapfest for the major portion of the 20 lap race until Merkel asserted the superiority of his factory mount and eased away from the battle behind him. McDonald put his Larry Kanotuned Honda into second for good with three laps togo while McMurter and his International World of Motorcycles Honda battled a shifting problem. The win upped Merkel's edge on McDonald to 20 points in the Superbike Championship Series standings, 156 to 1116. McMuner holds third at 1011 points. The final, originally scheduled for Saturday, was postponed to Sunday after rain delays stretched Saturday'S program out. McDonald held the lead at the end of the first lap with pole-sitter McM urter moving into second on the second lap. McMurter closed up on McDonald while Merkel played a waiting game in third. The strongest charge tn the first three laps was by Roberto Pietri, as he sped from the fourth row on the grid to fourth by lap four. . McMuner held the point on laps four and five with Merkel taking over on lap six. Merkel's right wrist was heavily taped and Merkel had said before the race that every lap past the first five would be a bonus, but that he wished to run as close to the front as possible and grab a top placing to pad his point lead. , The eighth lap saw Merkel lose some of his advantage to McDonald while McMurter was inching up from third. Honda rider Pietri held an edge on the Ducati of Jimmy Adamo in fifth. The halfway flags saw the battle for the lead tighten up with McDonald inching ahead of Merkel and McMurter and all three running within a span of six to 10 bikelengths around the three-mile track. The power advantage appeared to rest with Merkel on the mile-long front straight with McDonald and McMurter able to gain in the tighteF portions of the track. Merkel, due to his injury, wasn't able to use his brakes to full advantage. McDonald led laps 12 and 111 with Merkel and McMuner in tow. Pietri was a distant fourth ahead of Adamo. Rich Oliver held down sixth followed by Dale Quarterley, Terry Hampton, John Kocinski and Kevin Monahan.. Results 1. Fred Merkel (Han); 2. Sam McDonald (Han); 3. Rueben McMurter (Han); 4. Roberto Pietri (Han); 7. Rich Oliver (Kaw); 6. R.T. Hampton (Han); 7. Kevin Monahan (Kaw); 8. Dwayne Waslberg (Klw); 9. Larry Shorts (Han); 10. Tom Mason (Han); 11. Fred Giaimo (Kaw); 12. Dan Hayea (Klw); 13. Dale Quarterley (Kaw); 14. Devin Battley (BMW); 15. Rich Chambera (Han); 16. John Kocinski (Han); 17. Gary Horton (Han); 18. Jimmy Adamo (Duc); 19. Marvin West (BMW); 20. John Jacob (Han). TIME: 36 min.. 21.272 sees. AVERAGE SPEED: 99.025 mph. SUPERBIKE POINT STANDINGS: 1. Fred Merkel (156); 2. Sam McDonald (136); 3. Ru_n MeMurter (103); 4. Roberto Pietr; (77); 5. Rich Oliver (72); 8. (TIE) John Bettencourt/Ricky Orlando/Dale Quarterley (53); 9. W.. CooIey.(381; 10. Mike Honh (27). ForrnI*Two Labrosse edges Brunson in thriller BRAINERD, MN, SEPT. 2 Alan Labrosse grabbed his second Formula Two win of the '84 series in a tough race with Kevin Brunson, which saw the two within four bikelengths at the finish. Dale Franklin finished a distance back in third with Sam McDonald in fourth over Don Greene. Labrosse, aboard the MotoplansponsoredTZ250, was amonga snarling five-rider pack out front on the stan as was Brunson and his A.A. Harper-sponsored Armstrong. Franklin and his Motorcycle Works Yamaha and Honda 250 rider McDonald were also among the lOp runners. Dave Busby, the other rider in the opening five-way duel, found out the hard way it was raining on a portion of the track and crashed his Shoei-sponsored Kobas to end his race. The four soon broke into three when McDonald slowed. Finally, Franklin lost the draft of Labrosse and Brunson to set up a two-rider confrontation to the checkered nag. Tracy DeMuro almost didn't make the start, having pulled into the pits for repairs to his front brake after the field was given two warm up laps to check track conditions. DeMuro got his bike going just before the one minute sign went up. Busby and McDonald traded the lead through lap five, with Labrosse. Franklin and Brunson a heartbeat away. Greene, starting from the back of the grid after having engine problems - a broken piston ring - just prior to his Saturday heat race, slipped past Andy Price for sixth on lap six. Price, half a lap later, crashed, unhurt and out of the race. On lap eight, the front-running four were nearly 110 seconds ahead of Greene in fifth with Doug Brauneck in sixth. All attention. focused on the front four as they traded the lead among themselves all around the track. Lap 10 saw Labrosse in the lead over Brunson and Franklin, with McDonald a bit back having lost the draft of the leaders. Greene was 411.4 seconds adrift in fifth. . Sixth was held by Brauneck with Joe Lachniet, John France, Michel Pellarin and Doug Libby traili!1g. Brunson, the '811 winner at the uiacK, tookthe leadon lap )~andjust 9

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