Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Marco Lucch ine lli (right) and Jimmy Adamo (left) piloted the two Cagiva entries. (Above) Adamo's Cagiva on Team Honda's motorized starting rollers; (below ) McDonald's FZ750, described by Spencer as the fastest bike. Formula 1 (Con tin ued f rom pa ge JJ) Superbike (Co nti n ued from page 8) eas t banking, and he wat ched his number disappear from first position, not even showing o n th e board, and he hoped it was just a mis ta ke. Spen cer pitted o n th e 36th lap for ga s, a wh eel chan ge and ca me out 24 seco nds behind; Cooley got gas on lap 37; Spencer led aga in on la p 39. Spencer won, a m inu te and 23 seconds a hea d o f Co ole y; H aney fin ish ed , sti ll a lo ne, in third . Ashmead was a lrea dy o u t, hi s bike cu tt in g OUI on the back stra ig ht a t th e head o f a plume of smoke. Quarterl y was OUI with a broken valve sp ring. Oliver 's bik e brok e a valve spring, too, but h e nursed it al ong , th e bik e pu lling fewer and fewer rpm with each lap, finall y vibrating terribly o n th e last la p - Oliver co ast ed across the finish lin e, Daytona 200 Qualifying Usted bel ow are the top 20 qualif iers f orthe 200-m ile Superbike race , 1 Freddie Spence r/ Ho ndo 2 Fred M erkol / Ho ndo 3 Kevin Schwentz /Suzuki 4 We. Coo ley / Hondo 5 Sem McDonold /Yomo ho 6 Ron Ho.lom / Hon do 7 Dove Busb y /Hondo 8 Jim my Adomo/Cogivo 9 J im my Filice/ Yomoho 10 Roberto Pletri /Hondo 11 Rueben McMurter/Yomoho 12 Pot Heman /H ondo 13 J off Honey /Hondo 14 Todd Bruboker /Hondo 15 Glenn Borry/Hondo 16 M ike Horth/Hondo 17 John Ashmeod /Hondo 1 B Ricky Ortondo/ Hondo 19 John Bottencourt/ Hondo 20 Terry Hem pton/Hondo • Treck record 1 :57.7 68 ' 1 :59. 680 2 :01 .380 2 :03.694 2 :03.7 15 2 :04.695 2 :04.697 2 :04.901 2 :0 4 .95 3 2 :0 5 .1 37 2 :05.332 2:0 5 .4 30 2 :05.491 2 :05.873 2:05 .962 2 :05.306 2 :06.322 2 :07.021 2 :07.282 2 :08.0 74 Adamo made it wi th o ne gas sto p, barel y, sbor t-s h if ti rig. o n reserv e, coasting ac ro ss th e line. Fili ce did, 100 , but nearl y ran o u t on th e last lap, Orlando's bike d ropped a valve. Asked how it felt 10 win th e Dayron a 200 - along with th e F- I and F-2 races - a t a pos t-ra ce press co nferen ce, Spence r said, " It was m ore o l a relief .. . aft er co m ing here [or so many year s a nd not winning th e 200 is frus tra ting. But it 's a grea t feeli ng 10 win a ll three races, th ree races I' ve neve r won before. " We did it toge ther," said Spencer, referring 10 hi s crew chief, tu ner, a nd fri end, Erv Kan em oto , w ho runs Spencer's Wor ld Ch am p ionship learn. H e paused , and ment ioned mechanic Mik e Velasco's work on hi s Superbi ke. A co u p le of foreign reporters as ked Spen cer if it was good [or raci n g th at he co u ld run awa y w ith a ny race he en tered , leave everyo ne so far behind. \\'o ul d spectators co me 10 see a race for seco nd place? Spencer seem ed tak en aback by the q uesrion, perhaps baffl ed , not kn owing wh at 10 reply, a nd ended by saying th at new tal ent in road racing had to co me from strong club .raci n g programs. H e m en tio ned Schwantz bv name a s an exa m p le o f a n up-and-co mi ng yo ung rider. Bu t' h e co u ldn't escape th e unescapable, [act o f Daytona 1985: T he re were two classes of rid ers .. . Freddie. Spencer. , . a nd everybody else. . • Results 1. Freddie Spencer (Hon); 2 . W ei Cool~{Hon); 3. Jeff Haney (Han); 4 . Ron Haslam (Han); 5. Rueben McMurter (Yam); 6 . J i m m y Filice (Yam ); 7. M ike Harth (Hon); 8 . Glen n Barry (Ho n); 9 . St eve Parrish (Yam); 10 . John Bett enco urt (Hon); 11. J immy Adamo (Cog); 12. Ve.. Kuth alaht i (Han); 13. Roberto Piet ri (Han); 14. John Long (Yam!: 15. Todd Br ubaker (Han!; 16. John Bulawa (Yam); 17. Rich Oliver (Kaw ); 18. Rich Shaw (Yam); 19 . Gar y Scan (Yam); 20 . Buddy Norto n (Su%). TIME: 1 hour. 58 min.• 13.067 sees. AVERAGE SPEED: 102.989 mph . S pe n cer qu ickl y cu t hi s wa y .th ro ugh traff ic a nd passed Ba ldwin [or the lead a t th e sta rt/ finish line o n th e start o f lap four. From th ere o n, it was Spence r's ran '. By lap five of the 29-lap, 103.24mil e race, Spencer h ad opened up severa l seco nds of brea th in g room a nd was slicing hi s wa y th rough traf fic o n hi s works Honda NS R500.. Bal d w in , o n a p rod uc tio n RS 500 H o nda , had H a slam in close co m pa ny. A di stance behind a baul e developed betw een Rand y Renfrow , o n the Bigon ev/Ren frow Racin g H onda a nd Schlach ter. Cooley, o n hi s La rry Worrell- tu ned Wes Cooley and Asso- ' cia res H onda RS was six th. The Renfrow l chlach rer bail ie co n tin ued [o r a nother thre e la ps with the two repeatedly tradi n g posi tio ns u nti l Sch lac h ter gOI into a slide entering th e infi eld . By th e tim e he recovered , Renfrow had brok en a way. Ren[row th en mov ed in o n H a slam a nd Sch lac hter began to inc h back up. On la p 10, Ren frow moved a ro u nd H aslam ex iting th e chica ne. ch lac h ter was fifth with J imm y Adam o, on th e Tea m Leon i's 500 Cagi va G P bike, turn in g in a stro ng ride in sixth. T hree laps lat er a n engine failu re brought Adamo 's ride to a halt. Gas SLOp S began on lap 13 a nd jumbled u p th e field as o ne af ter a nother o f the top si x ca me in to refu el. Spencer co nti n ued 10 gri nd out dis tance on th e field. Ren frow got badly ou t of shape exiti ng the chicane o n lap 14 before m aki ng h is gas stop. " I was twisted up enough to whe re m y Ieet ca me o ff th e pegs," sa id Renfrow lat er. "After the race I rea lized th at making m y gas stop wh en I d id was a mi stak e because I los t to uc h with H a slam. If I h ad pi lied wh en he d id I mi ght have been a ble 10 ru n with him for th e rest o f th e race ," . H aslam ca me in [or' gas o ne lap lat er a nd wa~ quickly in a nd OUl. Baldwi n was th e next o f.rhe top three to ga s o n lap 18 with Spen cer still o u t o n th e track a n d build in g hi s adva n tage to nearl y'30 seco nds . Behi~d th e top ,fi,'e o f Spe nce r, Baldwm; Re n fro w , H a s lam - and Schlachter. i figh t for sixth was shaping u p among Coo ley, former 500cc s: Worl d Cha mpion Ma rco L ucchi ne lli (o n a wo rks Cagiva wh ich a rri ved fro m I ta ly 0t'! T h ursday), and En troph y Racing 's J ef[ H aney a nd h is RS500. As h is pit crew waited with a rear tire ready just in case , Spencer main ta ined hi s pa ce before co ming in a t the end of lap 2 1. H e was stopped for 16 seco nds . H is shield a nd tire were quickly chec ked duri ng refuelin g . Wha t too k m ore li me was a chec king of one exha ust pipe, which had sp li t a seam, " Wha t took most o f th e time was chec king on th e p ipe to see if th e sp lit wasn 't o n th e top where th e exhaust gasses could ge t suc ked in to the ca rbu reto rs, If th at wa s the case th en I wo ul d have had 10 call it a da y," said Spence r. " I was rid ing quite hard so th a t's wh y they had th e tire ready. Fortunately. I did n ' t n eed it. My strategy wasn 't to stay ou t as lo ng as I did. but after th e pipe broke the engi ne began to ru n pretty bad a nd the n it evened out. In stead of comi ng in when I was supposed to I ran a n ex tra two laps 10 see if the pace I was ru nni ng was fast en o ug h to keep Bal d win at bay in ca se I did need 10 change a tire ." Spencer still had nea rly a 17-second gap o n Bal dw in when h e got ba ck o n the tra ck, but th at was bein g slo wly whi tt led away by Baldw in a lthough h e got no sig na l fro m h is pit crew o f Spen cer 's problem . H aslam , a fte r th e pit-s top sh u ffle of th e sta nd ing s, mov ed back into th ird about 15 seco nds a drift of Ba ld wi n with Ren frow a short d ista nce a hea d o f fifth -pl ace Sch lac hter. Lucchi nel li had H aney [or compa ny wi th Cooley in .eig h th fol lo wed by H a sty Racin g's Do ug Brauneck (Ya maha T Z750) and M Ola Pl an In suran cesp o ns ored Alan Labrosse (H o nda RS500 ). All p ositions rem a in ed th e sa me 10 the fini sh . T here wa s o ne bi t of dra ma to be pl a yed before th e chec kered flag as Baldwin closed on a slo wi ng Spencer. Ba ldwin 's charge wa s foiled by slo wer traffi c a nd he was sti ll 10 seco nds behi nd pe ncer at th e fini sh. "The race go t a bit exci ti ng a fte r th e pipe broke a t aro und th e half way mark," sai d pencer a fter wa rd , ':1 figure I lost abou t 25 m ph top speed and a good bit of accelera tion off th e corne rs. " I didn 't kn ow Fredd ie wa s hav ing a problem ," said Baldwin . " I just kept m y pace up through out th e race figurin g that maybe so meth ing would go wron g a nd I would be in p osition to ca pi ta lize o n it. Tra££i c wa s bad. I got block ed o n every la p a nd you ca n ' t race th at wa y." ''I'm reall y pl eased with how things went," sa id Ha slam . " 1 was offered th e ride by Bob MacLean after Wayne Rain ey cra shed a nd broke h is co lla rbone. Th e race wen t smooth ly for me a nd this gives me a big boost for th e G Ps wh ich start in two wee ks. I got a cha n ce 10 ge t a lo t o f tim e o n a bike similar to what I'll be riding a n d tha t's a big p lu s." " We mad e a mis ta ke in p in in g ea rly, " sai d Renfrow , "a nd reall y I came in for th e stop way too slow and we were slow in fu eling . T he re wa s a lso so me co n fus io n in who was 10 tell me wh en to leave a nd th at cos t me time. I lost my op port uni ty for a race wi th H aslam in th e pits." "T he race was rea lly quite uneventIul ," sa id Sch lac hter. " I tried to slay with Ra nd y a nd Ro n ea r ly on, but I wa s slid ing th e bik e too much so I th ought I had better cool it a nd stay up o n two wh eel s. I had o ne real exciting time in turn one, After that I kn ew I bett er not push it. " • Results t . Freddie Spencer (Hon); 2. M ike Baldwin (Hon); 3 . Ron Hasl am (Hon); 4 . Rand y Renfrow (Hon); 5 . Richard Schlachter (Hon); 6. M arco Lucch in elli (Cag); 7. J eff Haney (Han); 8. Wes Cooley (Han); 9. Do ug Brauneck (Yam ); 10 . A lan Labrosse (Hon ); 11. Richard Cham bers (Yam!; 12. Ted Boody (Yam); 13. Art Robbin s (Yam!; 14. Hap Eaton (Yam); I S. Gregg Smrz (Yam); 16. Todd Bru baker (Han ); 17. Henry DeGouw (Yam); 18. Brent Ross (Yam!; 19. John Bettenco urt (Ho n); 20 . M an in Morr iso n (Suz). AMA GRA ND NA TI ONA L CHA M PIONSHIPI CAM EL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Scan Par ker (28): 2. SCott Pearson (25): 3. (TIE) Steve Eklund/Ale. Jorg ensen (24); 5. (TIE) Randy Goss/ Fredd ie Spe ncer (20 1 7 . Ter ry Poovey (1 8); 8 . M ike : Baldwin (16); 9. TIm M ert en s (12 ); 10 . (TIE) Ronn ie Jones/ Bubba Shobert / Randy Renfrow (11): 13. (TIE) Doug Chandler/ Richard Schlachtar (10); 15. (TIE)M ickey Fay/ Jeff Haney (9); 17. Wes Coaley( 8); 18. (TIE) Pete Hames / Doug Brauneck (7!; 20 . (TIE) Chris Carr/ Jon Cornwell/Alan Labrosse (6).

• Cover