Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Kevin Schwantz rode to f irst place in the first AFM /Kerker West Coast Superbike Series event, beating Todd Brubaker and Wes Cooley. Schwantz beats everybody but Toland at Willow By J. D ean ROSAMON D. CA, MAR . 24 " Sch wa n tz is amazing," said Jim Vreeke after the finish of the first round of the Kerker/ American Federation of Motorcyclists' Superbike series, which Schwantz won. Schwantz, gridded a t th e back of th e p ack, du mped th e clu tch a t th e sta r t of the ei g h t-la p event, killing the motor. "I tri ed 10 to .tak e o ff easy to ge t throug h th e pack and just killed it," said Sch wa ntz. H e wa s a ble to resta rt the Yoshimura Suzuki , but not until everyone else wa s a lready into turn two . By th e en d o f th e seco nd lap , though , Schwantz had moved up to third, passin g nearl y everyo ne on th e track. Starfire Racin g 's T odd Brubak er was leadin g th e race, with two-time Na tiona l Superbike C ha m pion Wes Coo ley holdi ng seco nd o n a Honda Interceptor rented by the Super Team (fro m Da ve Bu sby) for Cooley to ride at Dayto na. O n th e th ird lap Sch wa nt z came very close to hi gh-siding in uph ill tu rn thr ee, riding with o ne foot on th e ground, mo tocross-style. " I had bot h feet o rr the pegs most o f th e race," sa id Schwantz la ter. Bu t the hard ridi ng paid o rr - o n the next la p Sch wa ntz got around Cooley wit h a smooth pass in the tum -two sweeper, and then se t his sights on Bru ba ker. On lap five Schwantz passed Brubak er in th e sa me spot - and th at was a ll she wrote. T he fan s went a bso l u tely wild as Schwa ntz took his Yoshimura / U.S. Suzu ki /N .D.lMikun i/MX Fox/ Dunl o p /Ca strol / Arai /Kushitani/SoCaI Gas-sponsored m o un t ro a popu lar victory with co nsistent I:29 la p tim es. Brubak er ra n a good ra ce in second. despite n u m erous ha ndl ing p rob lems . . " We JUSt put th e forks o n last ni ght." sai d Brubaker, "T hey're H a sla m 's fro m Da ytona , and th ey're just worn ou t. We a lso softened th e back suspension u p righ t before the race a nd just didn't ha ve th e ti me (0 sort everythi ng o ut." Coolev, fin ish ing third , had h is p roblem's as well : 'To~;a rd 'the en d of the race, Cooley got completely 'sideways in turn eigh t. " 1 JUS t tried to make u p a ll th e tim e I had lost, a ll in th e o ne turn , a n d it started ba cking itself in ," sa id Cool ey. "The bike wa s still set up stif f for Da ytona a nd both wheels just let go. " H e sa ved it, however, a nd took th ird, 20 seconds a head o f the battle for fourth betw een Vreeke and Ea rl Roloff. Vreeke, o n hi s new Kerker-sponsored FZ750 Yam aha , said "We learned a lot today. T he forks are j u n k a nd the jetting was sti ll wa y off. But just wa it un til we ge t it di al ed. It 's go t a lot o f pot ent ial. " The showdown many had been wa i ti ng for between 20-y ea r-ol d Schwantz a nd 22-yea r-o ld local h ot sho t Doug T ol a nd came down in the 600cc Supers tree t match. T ol and ro de h is FJ 600, th e bik e prepped-to-t he-teeth by La H abra Yamaha Service Manager Jim La Bine. Schwantz showed up wi th a stonestock FJ600 that h ad run up less th an 700 miles on th e street before bein g pressed into racebike duty the nigh t before by Yos himura R&D of America mecha ni cs Dave Wolman, Don Sa kak ura, and Kei ta Ko bayash i. Bo th Tola nd and Schwantz were gridde d near th e ba ck, but To land got h is th ro ug h th e traffi c a Iiul e easier, a nd qu ickl y grabbed th e lead , with Schwa ntz right on h is ta il. By th e third la p , th ey were three seco n ds a h ead of th e di ce for third between Pete Ca rroll , Mark Ru ffner a nd Ed Rag le. By th e end of the ra ce Tola nd held a seven -second advantage over the yo u n g T exan , Schwa ntz hold in g an eq ua l di stan ce o ver third-p la ce Rag le. In th e 600cc S tock Produ ction Schwantz go t a better sta n a fter To la n d wa s gr idded "eigh t ro ws back." Nigel G al e a nd Carroll sho t out front , and Schwantz was with in , , th,e lead grou p. " Nigel and Pete were in turn o ne, I was sti ll coming o u t of RZ35 0 Series winner Paul Va n Zuyle leads t hird-place Luis Sarzi early on; Terry St at u m (not shown) finished second. turn n ine," said Tola nd, "and I had all these guys to get th rou g h !" Schwantz had ta ken the lead , and was wai ting, he ju st knew Tola nd was . snea ki ng up on h im . Bu t Toland was still co ntend ing wi th th e traffic jam ca used by over 40 rid ers in o ne race. " I was j ust about to pass, a nd Ragl e fell righ t in front o f me in turn o ne," sa id Tola nd. But Tola nd got arou nd Schwantz anyway. " I tried 10 ge t Do ug back, bu t got cu t off by so me lapped rid ers," said Schwantz. " I bu m ped Nitto an d h it the h ol e o n th e o utside of turn five. I though t 'O h bo y, here I go ,' I th ought I was down." H e was n' t, bu t he was o n Tola nd 's tail. " I kept ge tti ng pi t signa ls saying plus zero, th en minus zero," sai d Tola nd. " I didn 't know what was goi ng o n." T ol and took th e win, Sch wa ntz a close seco nd . T ol and proved to be a tough co mpetitor in th e 750cc Stoc k Production as he too k his La H abra Yamaha FJ 600 to a hard-fought win, beating a ll the 750s, a nd a ll but th e top two Open class bikes (ridde n by Ea rl Rol off a nd Mart y Sharpe) a fter sta rting in the seco nd wave of a two-wave start. After starti ng nearl y last, T oland picked o ff riders, sometimes two or th ree a t a tim e, ca tch ing th e O pen bikes by th e fourth lap. In lap six, he saw so meone he wanted to ride with - Coo ley, w ho was pi loting a n FJ II 00 Yamaha . " I saw Wes in (turn) eight, a nd I th ough t, hey, I ca n p ass him. But I had to go around h im on the outside a t th e begin n ing o f th e turn, before the wind ca ug h t h im a nd ca rried him to the outs ide ," said Tola nd. And that he did, wh ich gave h im thi rd overa ll. ''I' m not u sed to a bike with no ground clearance," said Cooley. " I was ridi ng the bi ke, ra th er th a n riding the track, and yo u ca n ' t go fast that wa y. I need more time on th e bike. " Schwa ntz wo n th e 600cc Modified Prod uct io n, over Gale, a fter being h a nd ica p p ed by a 28t h-place starti ng posi tion . G al e p u t up a nobl e effort, but a bad co ld a ffected h is bal ance a nd timing , a nd he had 10 settle for second . Paul Van Zuyle too k h is seco nd co nsecu tive victory in th e Yamaha RZ350 seri es o n h is J ohn Lassa k Racing-sponsored machine, puttin g in fast I :36 lap times as he led a gang o f riders to th e flag . Ma lco lm H ill h eld a stro ng second until la p six , whe n hi s sh ift lever brok e, fo rcing him out of the -run n in g. Re ad racer- turned -dirt tracker-turned road raceraga in Terry Statu m ba tt led h is wa y into seco nd and left beh ind a dogfight for third betwee n Will y Sar zi, Steve Murray and Ray Straka. Sarzi took a well -deserved th ird in th e mon ey. Stra ka a nd Ra y Adams put on a good show in the O ver 40 race, in a m at ch tha t was whee l-to-w hee l th e enti re eig h t la ps. Stra ka won by a nose. The H onda 500cc " Min icep tor" series had a suprise winner - Don Biava , With 41 entries it looked to be a nyo ne's race, but with names like Dave Emde and Wes Cooley, no one expec ted Biava and Chris Grab au to be th e lead ers. Grabau and Bia va went at it ahead of th e cro wd , Marty Vogel , Joe Solis and Gale fighting over third. T h in gs up front sta yed pretty much th e sa me until the last turn of th e last lap, when Grabau lost it , cra shi n g unhurt. Biava took the win ah ead of Solis and Vogel. Gale and Hill took the la st two paying positions. Ernde, finishing sixth, said "I didn 't know h ow serious these guys were, I j us t took my bike right off th e street and put it on th e track. But I'll be ready n ext time." The sa me sent ime nt had been expressed many tim es th at day, by many riders. • Results KERKER SUPERBIKE: 1. Kev in Sc hwantz(Suz t 2. Todd Brubaker (Honl: 3. We. Coolay (Han). 600cc SUPERSTREET: 1. Doug Toland (Yam); 2Kev in SchwanlZ (yam); 3. Ed Ragle (Yam). 7SOcc SUPERSTREET: 1. Todd Brubater (Hon ); 2 . lee Fleming (Han); 3. Don Bia.a (Kaw). OPEN SUPERSTREET: 1. Oann y Doherty (Kaw); 2. JeH Stern (Suzl; 3 . Doug Myrick (Suzl. 600ccSTKPROD: 1. DougToland(Yamt 2. Kev in Schwantz (Yam); 3. Wa ~ Nitta (Yam). 750cc STK PROD: 1. Doug Toland (y am); 2. Nige l Gale (Yamt 3. Pete Carroll (Yam). OPEN STK PROD: 1. Earl Roloff (Kaw); 2 . Marty Sharpe (Yam ); 3 . Doug Myrick ISuz ~ HONDA VF500: 1. Don Bia.a (Han); 2. Joe Sol is (Han); 3. Marty Voge l (Han). RZ35 0: 1. Paul VanZuyle (Yam); 2. Tarry Statum {Yaml ; 3. Lu is Sarzi (Yam). 600Cc MOD PROD: 1. Ke.in Schwantz (Yam); 2. Nigel Gale (Yam ); 3 . Gary Tats um i (Ya m~. 750cc MOD PROD : 1. Lee Flaming (Honl; 2. John Harte (Hon ); 3. Bre tt Reichard (Kaw). OPEN MOD PROD: 1. Earl RoioH (Kaw); 2. Marty Sharpe (Yam l; 3. M ike Boyd (Yam ). F-l : 1. Wa lt Nitto (Kaw) ; 2. Robert Reinen (Hon ); 3 . Mi chael Kan e (H· D). F-2 : 1. neve Sadowski (Han); 2. Mark Smith (Yam); 3. Brian Hewett (Yaml. OPEN GP: 1. Denny Doherty (Kaw); 2 . JeH Stern (Suz ); 3. Edwin Woo (Yaml. 450cc MOD PROD: 1. Blaine Ida (Yam); 2. Steve Flem ing (Yam); 3 . Stephan Wickland (Han). 250cc MOD PROD: 1. Rye Hefley (Han); 2. Terry Yarge r (yam ); 3. Terry Deems (Yaml . OPEN TWINS : 1. M ick Of ield (Nor); 2. Simon Sm it h IDuc); 3. M ike Reynolds (Yam). 750cc TW INS : 1. Fred Eiker (Nor ); 2. M ichael Johnson (Vam ); 3. St eph an W ickland (Hon ). SING LES : 1. Mike Kane (H-D); 2. Robert Wi lso n (Han) . OVER 40: 1. Ray Adams (Han); 2. Ray Strota (Yam ); 3 . Randy Redmond (Ha n). SIDECARS : 1. Slocum /Hardwick (Kaw); 2. Ramir - • ez / Breede; 3. Wilson IT8ylor Q'aw). I .

• Cover